The Magazine of Rhodes College Fall 2014
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THE MAGAZINE OF RHODES COLLEGE FALL 2014 THE VALUE OF THE LIBERALLIBERAL ARTS EssaysEssays onon LifelongLifelong Learning Learning l THE RHODES VISION Rhodes College aspires to graduate students with a life-long passion for learning, a compassion for others, and the ability to translate academic study and personal concern into effective leadership and action in their communities and the world. We will achieve our aspiration through four strategic imperatives: Student Access To attract and retain a talented, diverse student body and engage these students in a challenging, inclusive and culturally broadening college experience. Student Learning To ensure our faculty and staff have the talent, the time, and the resources to inspire and involve our students in meaningful study, research, and service. Student Engagement To enhance student opportunities for learning in Memphis. Student Inspiration To provide a residential place of learning that inspires integrity and high achievement through its beauty, its emphasis on values, its Presbyterian history, and its heritage as a leader in the liberal arts and sciences. Adopted by the Rhodes Board of Trustees January 17, 2003 FALL 2014 • RHODES rhodes.edu rhodes.edu FALL 2014 • RHODES 1 FALL 2014 VOLUME 21 • NUMBER 3 is published three times a year by Rhodes College 2000 N. Parkway Memphis, TN 38112 as a service to all alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of the college. Fall 2014— Volume 21, Number 3 EDITOR Lynn Conlee GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Larry Ahokas Bob Shatzer PRODUCTION EDITORS Jana Files ’78 Charlie Kenny Justin McGregor Ken Woodmansee STUDENT EDITOR Caroline Ponseti ’15 COPY EDITOR Anna Acerra CONTRIBUTORS 40 Shelley Choudhury ’15 John Churchill ’71 Emily Clark ’15 Dr. Cary Fowler ’71 Dr. Loretta Jackson-Hayes A Message from the President Dr. Tom McGowan 4 Dr. John E. Murray Michelle Parks 6 Campus News Joel Parsons ’07 Scott Samuelson Briefs on campus happenings Elisha Vego Rev. Dorothy Wells ’82 48 Student Spotlight CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Justin Fox Burks Jamie Harmon 52 Faculty Focus Corey Nolen EDITOR EMERITUS Martha Shepard ’66 54 Homecoming/Reunion Weekend INFORMATION 901-843-3000 58 Alumni News Class Notes, In Memoriam ALUMNI OFFICE 1 (800) 264-LYNX ADMISSION OFFICE The Honor Roll of Donors 2013-2014 1 (800) 844-LYNX 2 FALL 2014 • RHODES rhodes.edu 44 20 54 10 The Value of the Liberal Arts 11 Contributors Lead by Example By Lynn Conlee 12 No Magic or Mystery—Just Charity, 32 Integrative Learning and the Value Civility, and Integrity of Liberal Arts Education By Dr. Cary Fowler ’71 By Dr. Tom McGowan 15 Success Story: The Bridge to 36 Fleeing from the Liberal Arts? Everywhere Not So Fast By Lynn Conlee By Dr. John E. Murray 16 The Future of College: Not an 39 Success Story: Students Gain Via Either/Or Co-Authorship By John Churchill ’71 By Caroline Ponseti ’15 20 Equipped for Life with the Gift of 40 Examining Life Under a Broader Scope Learning By Dr. Loretta Jackson-Hayes By the Rev. Dorothy Wells ’82 44 Richness in the Eye of the Beholder 24 The Liberal Arts and the Fate of By Joel Parsons ’07 American Democracy By Scott Samuelson 47 Success Story: Art Works By Lynn Conlee 28 Defining Success the Liberal Arts Way By Shelley Choudhury ’15 rhodes.edu FALL 2014 • RHODES 3 A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT Why the Liberal Arts Matter hy the Liberal Arts Matter” is the theme of a conference that will bring faculty “W from leading liberal arts colleges to Rhodes this fall. It is also the subject of a year-long set of conversations we are having on campus this year. The long-standing debate in higher education about liberal arts vs. vocational/professional education has become a much more prominent topic in the media and among Washington policy makers. Many voices today call into question the relevance and utility of what we do, and this negative message has been very effective. While our overall enrollment, student profile, and prospective student interest in Rhodes is at an all-time high, across the country applications to liberal arts colleges are down significantly. It is time to advance a more accurate narrative about how a residential liberal arts experience provides the best undergraduate education possible. The very Students pose outside Palmer Hall, ca. 1929 thoughtful articles in this Rhodes magazine issue speak to the value and life-changing character of a liberal arts education. 4 FALL 2014 • RHODES rhodes.edu We have good data about the impact of the liberal arts at Rhodes and how it changes student lives, but nothing is as compelling as alumni testimony. I continue to be inspired by the experiences alumni share about how the Rhodes community transformed them and shaped their futures in ways they never could have imagined. The total impact of a liberal arts education cannot be quantified. As Dorothy Wells ’82 concludes in her essay, “the gift of a liberal arts education is priceless.” I would love to hear about how the liberal arts at Rhodes made a difference in your life. Please email me your story at [email protected]. I look forward to hearing from you. Summer Service Fellows outside Paul Barret, Jr. Library, ca. 2013 rhodes.edu FALL 2014 • R H O D E S 5 CAMPUS NEWS LIZ DAGGETT From left: Shane Watson ’14, Lara Johnson ’16, Emily Heine Mellon Innovation Grant Awarded ’15 and Phoebe Driscoll ’15 Rhodes College has received a $600,000 grant from The Andrew Rhodes Students’ Films Selected for W. Mellon Foundation that will be used to hire top-tier, post-doctoral Indie Memphis candidates who will help implement new, leading-edge teaching, technology, and research methodologies; establish a team of Rhodes student Phoebe Driscoll '15 won faculty “Innovation Fellows” to develop new academic courses and the coveted Hometowner Award for her research projects that connect the college with communities in documentary Pharaohs of Memphis during the Memphis and throughout the Mid-South; and develop a cohort of 17th Annual Indie Memphis Film Festival. student “Engagement and Digital Scholarship Fellows,” who will work She was one of four Rhodes students who had directly with both the post-doctoral candidates and current faculty to films chosen as part of the juried event. In contribute to the work of the college in ways that complement their addition to Driscoll, Emily Heine ’15, and Lara classroom education. Johnson ’16 each had films selected that they made in connection with last summer’s Rhodes “We are extremely grateful to the Mellon Foundation for supporting Institute for Regional Studies. Shane Watson ’14 our efforts to enhance and expand the liberal arts experience at produced his film for his Art 114 course. Rhodes,” says Elizabeth Thomas, associate professor of psychology, director of the urban studies program, and director of the Memphis Driscoll’s documentary, also done as part of Center at Rhodes. “We received the grant in large part because of Rhodes Institute of Regional Studies, is an our successful track record establishing innovative, interdisciplinary up-close look at the community of dancers offerings such as the Memphis Center, which was seeded with a shaping a legacy of Jookin, a style of dance that grant from the Mellon Foundation, and serves as a lively working originated in Memphis in the 1980s. The other space where students and faculty collaborate on new and existing three films are short form. Heine’sNo One projects and together build a community of engaged scholars who are Sees You explores the complex tension between interested in a wide variety of topics related to the human experience graffiti and public art in Memphis and the of Memphis and the Mid-South region. With this most recent gift, artists that no one sees. Johnson’s Geekland: we will be able to build on our successes and incorporate new Fan Culture in Memphis is about the struggles methodologies and strategies that will greatly enhance the learning of being a geek/nerd/fan in the South. Watson’s environment for both faculty and students for years to come." How Will My Story be Told? brings awareness to the unjust murders of African Americans in the The Mellon Innovation Fellows Steering Committee accepted United States and the media representation of applications this fall for faculty Innovation Fellows. Rhodes faculty those who were murdered. were invited to apply for funding to expand current classes, create new classes, or conduct research projects that “show promise of student, faculty, institutional, or community impact.” 6 FALL 2014 • RHODES rhodes.edu Campus News.indd 6 11/3/14 4:55 PM DR . G EOFF BAK E W ELL Rhodes Degree Pays Off In an article published this fall, Forbes listed Rhodes graduates as 24th in the nation for highest earnings at mid-career when compared with other liberal arts college graduates. Additionally, Rhodes is in the top 100 of national colleges for earnings of its recent graduates, according to data compiled by PayScale. “I find this list quite heartening,” wrote Forbes columnist Susan Adams. “It’s borne out by a study released in January from the Association of American Colleges and Universities, which showed that by the time liberal arts graduates are in their 50s, they earn at least $2,000 more than grads who majored in pre-professional subjects.” Adams went on to say, “But most important, know that the skills you get while studying English, history or philosophy, of critical thinking, Search for Values in the (Rainbow) Light of Western History and Religion. For students in Dr. Geoff Bakewell’s summer of communicating clearly, of the world’s great literature and art, and of Search class, at least some of the light was at the end of America’s place in the trajectory of world civilization, will make your life the rainbow.