CONWAY, Ark. (September 12, 2016) – Hendrix College will honor two outstanding alumni with the Hendrix Odyssey Medal at a special convocation on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 11:10 a.m., in Staples Auditorium.
Awarded by the Hendrix College Board of Trustees, the Odyssey Medal is given to Hendrix alumni whose personal and professional achievements exemplify the values of engaged liberal arts and sciences education.
The 2016 Hendrix Odyssey Medal recipients include:
- Wayland Holyfield ’64 (Artistic Creativity)
- Dr. Cathy Langston ’87 (Research)
About the 2016 Hendrix Odyssey Medal recipients
Native Arkansan Wayland Holyfield ’64 grew up in Little Rock, attended Hendrix and graduated from the University of Arkansas. Holyfield played in a band called The Rebels throughout college. After college, he performed in a group known as The General Store. He married the former Nancy
Selig of Conway and together they moved to Nashville for him to pursue a career in songwriting in 1972.
In Nashville, Holyfield became an award-winning songwriter whose works have been recorded and performed all over the world. His songs include Could I Have This Dance, Till The Rivers All
Run Dry, Some Broken Hearts Never Mend, You’re My Best Friend, You’re The Best
Break This Old Heart Ever Had, Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer, She
Never Knew Me, Put Your Dreams Away, Your Love Shines Through, You’re Going Out
of My Mind, Stop the Rain, Down in Tennessee, When You Get to the Heart, Wish I
Had A Heart of Stone, She Reminded Me of You, Don’t Count The Rainy Days, The
Blues in Black and White, Only Here For a Little While and Meanwhile. Holyfield also wrote Arkansas You Run Deep In Me, the official State Song of Arkansas.
In 1992, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He also has been honored as ASCAP’s Songwriter of the Year, two-time winner of the Music City News Top Country Hits Award, a Grammy Nominee and CMA Triple Play Award. He has received a total of
37 Performance Society awards and has written over 40 top 10 hits and 14 #1 songs. Some of the artists who have recorded Wayland’s songs are George Strait, Peter Townsend, Don Williams, Anne Murray, Brooks & Dunn, Reba McEntire, Patti Page, Randy Travis, Ronnie Milsap, Julio Iglesias, Crystal Gayle, Eddie
Arnold, Conway Twitty, Barbara Mandrell, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Charley Pride, Bill Medley, Mac Davis, The Oak Ridge Boys, Michael Martin Murphy, Mickey Gilley, John Anderson, Johnny Russell, The Statler Brothers, Waylon Jennings, Juice Newton, The Judds and George Jones.
He and Nancy have been married 45 years and have three grown children, Greg, Mark and Lee.
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Veterinary Internist and Nephrologist Dr. Cathy E. Langston ’87is considered a leading authority around the world on small animal nephrology and was instrumental in establishing a clinical dialysis program at the Animal Medical Center (AMC) in New York City, as well as providing guidance and
support to other hospitals that have launched such programs.
Before joining The Ohio State University in 2014, Dr. Langston trained at The Animal Medical Center in New York City, a fast-paced private not-for-profit teaching hospital. She stayed on as a staff veterinarian, participating in the training of over 500 interns and 65
residents in small animal internal medicine. She also completed a fellowship in Renal Medicine and Hemodialysis at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Langston is a graduate of Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Dr. Langston has managed countless animals with acute and chronic kidney disease. Her vast experience makes her an excellent resource for discussing nephrology with practicing veterinarians.
Her current clinical interests include treatment of chronic kidney disease, complications of hemodialysis, and treatment of anemia of chronic kidney disease. She is the author of more than 100 publications, including peer-reviewed journal articles and book
chapters. She has been invited to lecture nationally and internationally on nephrology. She has been involved in clinical research covering a variety of kidney conditions, including a clinical trial investigating a new drug to treat anemia of chronic kidney disease.
Nominations for the 2017 Odyssey Medals are due Dec. 31, 2016 and may be emailed to
president@hendrix.edu. For more information and a nomination form, visit
www.hendrix.edu/odysseymedal.
About Hendrix College
Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Founded in 1876 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884, Hendrix is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think
about Colleges and is nationally recognized in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings for academic quality, community, innovation, and value. For more information, visit
www.hendrix.edu.