CONWAY, Ark. (April 25, 2022) — The 138th Hendrix College Commencement
will be held Saturday, May 14, at 9 a.m., at Young-Wise Memorial Stadium.
In the event of inclement weather, there will be two
ceremonies on Saturday, May 14, at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., inside the Wellness
and Athletics Center. The ceremony for Master of Arts in Accounting,
Interdisciplinary, and Social Sciences majors will begin at 9 a.m. The ceremony
for Humanities and Natural Sciences majors will begin at 1 p.m. The College
will share the final decision on whether to use the Inclement Weather Plan by 2
p.m. Friday, May 13, on Hendrix College social media and www.hendrix.edu.
Regardless of weather, Commencement will be livestreamed
at facebook.com/hendrixcollege.
Details for in-person attendees are available at www.hendrix.edu/commencement.
Hendrix will award posthumously the honorary Doctorate
of Humane Letters degree to alumnus and Civil Rights activist Jack Singleton
’63, who died in 2019. The degree was originally scheduled to be presented in
spring 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19.
About Jack Singleton
Jack Singleton graduated from Little Rock Central High School
in 1957. His sadness over the division and anger of the community surrounding
integrating the school inspired his life-long passion for justice. He graduated
from Hendrix College and earned a Master of Divinity degree from Perkins School
of Theology at SMU.
Singleton was known for his involvement in justice
ministries. While attending Perkins School of Theology at SMU, he became
involved in the civil rights movement, marching in Selma with Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. and hosting King on a visit to the SMU campus. Later in his life, he
would be instrumental in starting Arkansas’ first Habitat for Humanity
affiliate, and would also serve on the Board of Our House Shelter.
He worked for eight years as a staff member of Keep America
Beautiful, focusing on environmental issues and receiving two awards for his
work: the KAB Innovation Award for the Litter Free Zone Program for schools,
and the 2009 Arkansas Outstanding Environmental Educator. Singleton visited the
Monarch butterfly overwintering colonies in Mexico and helped many central
Arkansas schools create butterfly habitats on their campuses.
His most recent involvement as a Hendrix College alumnus was
participating in the annual Dean’s Civil Rights Trip, a student experience
funded by the Hendrix Odyssey Program. The group, led by Dean of Students Jim
Wiltgen and Chaplain J.J. Whitney ’96, made stops in Birmingham, Montgomery,
Marion, and Selma, Ala., Jackson, Miss., and Memphis, Tenn., to visit museums,
memorials, and historic sites. Having Singleton, a foot soldier of the civil rights movement, recount his participation in the Selma Ministers’ March, gave
students a valuable first-hand account of the events of March 9, 1965. Jack
Singleton died July 27, 2019.
Through his service to the College and to humanity, and his
efforts in working for justice, Jack Singleton inspired fellow members of the
Hendrix community, modeling what it means to live a life of accomplishment,
integrity, service, and joy.
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.