CONWAY,
Ark. (February 23, 2015) – Hendrix students pursuing careers in the United Methodist Church, social
justice, the news media or writing will have a new source of support for summer
projects, thanks to the new John S. Workman Summer Project Grant at Hendrix
College.
The grant
honors the late John S. Workman, who
died last year. A 1950 Hendrix graduate, Workman was the founder
of Campus Kitty, the student philanthropic organization, and was student body
president. A United Methodist minister and journalist, he was the fifth in a
line of Methodist ministers in the Workman family stretching back to the
earliest days of Methodism in America.
Workman served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific,
Japan and Korea. He earned degrees from Hendrix and Southern Methodist
University and received honorary doctorate degrees from Hendrix and Philander
Smith College. He served on the Hendrix Board of Trustees from 1987 to 1993. In
1992, he received Hendrix’s Ethel K. Millar Award for Religion and Social
Awareness. He served as religion editor for the Arkansas Gazette and was one of Arkansas’ most respected and
influential voices on religion and its importance in American life.
The new grant
is made possible by a gift from Workman’s wife, Elizabeth T. Workman ’50 and
her family. The fund will assist rising junior or senior students.
“I know
that my husband John would be pleased
with this gift, and our family looks forward to meeting the first grant
recipient this summer,” said Mrs. Workman.
Her daughter, Susan Workman Jones ’78, added, “Following Dad’s death last
year, Mom knew she wanted to do something to honor him at Hendrix where our
family’s roots run deep.”
“We were
happy to work with Mom in establishing this fund to honor Dad’s memory, and to
continue a Hendrix tradition of educating people committed to helping and
serving others,” said John S. Workman,
Jr. ’75.
Additional donations to the fund are welcome
and may be made by calling the Hendrix Office of Development at 501-450-1223 or
may be made online at www.hendrix.edu/giving.
Founded in
1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences
education. This year, Hendrix was named the country’s #1 “Up and Coming”
liberal arts college and #8 in the nation for “Best Undergraduate Teaching” by U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the 2015 Fiske Guide
to Colleges, Forbes magazine's list of America's Top Colleges, the 2014 Princeton Review’s The Best 378 Colleges, and the latest
edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think about Colleges.
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For
more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.