CONWAY, Ark. (October 20,
2017) – Thirty Hendrix College sophomores recently have been named to the
newest class of Murphy Scholars in Literature and Language. This year’s group is the third cohort to
take advantage of the enhanced opportunities in literature and language the
program offers.
The new Murphy Scholars were
formally inducted at a special ceremony
Tuesday, October 17, in Reves Recital Hall. They joined the 20 inaugural Murphy
Scholars named in 2015, and the 25 named in 2016.
Murphy Scholars explore
literature and language at a more intensive level by participating in
designated study, travel, research, and service experiences in literature and
language. Members of this year’s cohort represent 17 different majors and three
different minors.
“This is another fantastic
group of Scholars,” said Hope Coulter, director of the Hendrix-Murphy
Foundation Programs in Literature and Language, which developed and oversees
the Murphy Scholars program. “They’re passionate about everything from foreign
policy to theatre, Jane Austen to Gabriel García Márquez. Collectively they’re
fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Latin, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi,
Urdu, and American Sign Language—and those are just the languages they’ve
happened to mention so far!”
The
Class of 2020 Murphy Scholars in Literature and Language are:
- Hannah
Austin of Little Rock, Arkansas (Psychology and Neuroscience)
- Megan
Bellfield of North Little Rock, Arkansas (History and Spanish)
- Emily
Bowie of Cabot, Arkansas (Undecided)
- Bailey
Brya of Rogers, Arkansas (International Relations)
- Nicola
Bryan of Little Rock, Arkansas (Psychology and English–Literary Studies)
- Liam
Carey of Tulsa, Oklahoma (English–Creative Writing)
- Leah
Crenshaw of Texarkana, Arkansas (Biology and English–Creative Writing)
- Jessica
Frazier–Emerson of Texarkana, Texas (Undecided)
- Emily
Gardner of Little Rock, Arkansas (Theatre Arts and English–Creative Writing)
- Mackenzie
Gearin of Osceola, Wisconsin (Interdisciplinary Studies and English–Literary
Studies)
- Emma
Gimenez of Madrid, Spain (Psychology and Neuroscience)
- Haven
Griffin of Little Rock, Arkansas (Neuroscience)
- Olivia
Hardick of Austin, Texas (History and Spanish)
- Jane
Henderson of Benton, Arkansas (Psychology)
- Clay
Johnston of Benton, Arkansas (English–Creative Writing)
- Charlie
Jones of Benton, Arkansas (Psychology)
- Sam
Kalmbach of Shreveport, Louisiana (Classics)
- Ashton
Leach of Benton, Arkansas (History & English–Film Studies)
- Kaitlin
Lowe of Little Rock, Arkansas (English–Literary Studies)
- Emma
Morton of Marmaduke, Arkansas (English–Literary Studies)
- Kennedy
Reynolds of Conway, Arkansas (History and Spanish)
- Ana
Romero Flores of Memphis, Tennessee (Spanish with a minor in Sociology)
- David
Samuel of Albuquerque, New Mexico (Undecided)
- Madeleine
Scott of Tucson, Arizona (Biology and French)
- Maddy
Shaddox of Cabot, Arkansas (English–Creative Writing)
- Carlee
Shepard of Greensboro, North Carolina (Biology and Environmental Studies)
- Rachel
Shepherd of Fort Smith, Arkansas (Psychology and Religious Studies)
- Jonah
White of Mountain Home, Arkansas (Theatre Arts with a minor in German)
- Shelbey
Winningham of Searcy, Arkansas (English–Creative Writing with a minor in
History)
- Jasmine
Zandi of Little Rock, Arkansas (International Relations and Environmental
Studies)
Examples
of current Murphy Scholars’ projects:
- Last
winter break, Murphy Scholars headed to both warmer and cooler climes. David
Tate ’18 immersed himself in Spanish while living with a family in San Pedro la
Laguna, Guatemala. Lexus Raney ’18 braved the Paris winter to study French
intensively at the France Langue School.
- Laela
Zaidi ’18 forged her own “tale of two Oxfords”: while studying abroad at Oxford
University, she held an editorship at the Oxford Review of Books; and back in
Arkansas for the summer, she interned with the Oxford American magazine in
Little Rock.
- Annika
Miller Patterson ’18 and nine other Murphy Scholars undertook a spring study of
“Family Storytelling and the American Experience.” After reading and discussing
short stories about family experience, they wrote and shared their own
vignettes from family histories.
- Last
summer, Graydon Carter ’19 took courses at the University of Arkansas’s
journalism school to investigate “Tools of the Trade: An Introduction to
Journalistic Storytelling.”
- Rebecca
Levin ’19 plunged deep into “Learning Biblical Hebrew” in an intensive online
course offered by Erasmus Academy: “The multitude of reading, parsing,
conjugating, and translation exercises frequently left me drained, but also
vitalized by the learning. The instructor was not, despite my expectations, an
older Rabbi. Instead, he was a young Ph.D. candidate in Old Testament studies
who often cracked jokes relating to modern-day popular culture (most of which
went over my head).”
- At
the International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen, China—which she was already
attending with her botany mentor, Dr. Ann Willyard—Hanna Liebermann ’19 not
only got to improve her Mandarin, but made a side study of international
science communication and the role of multilingualism.
About
the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language
Since 1978, the
Hendrix-Murphy Foundation has enriched the study of literature and language for
the Hendrix community. It was established by the late Mr. Charles H. Murphy,
Jr., former Chair of the Board of Murphy Oil Corporation and former member of
the Hendrix Board of Trustees, in memory of his mother, Mrs. Bertie Wilson
Murphy, who possessed a lifelong love of literature and language. Current
Hendrix-Murphy offerings include the Murphy Scholars Program, the Distinguished
Visiting Writer series, immersive foreign language experiences, a playwriting
contest and other literary competitions, a student reading series for original
works, study abroad opportunities, literary discussion groups, internships, and
local outreach to strengthen literature and language in the community beyond
Hendrix.
About
Hendrix College
A private liberal arts
college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns recognition as
one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That
Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic quality and
rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture in numerous
college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has been
affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.
Photo
by Mike Kemp