The Magazine of Rhodes College • Fall 2011 • Fall College Rhodes of Magazine The TheThe Magazine ofof Rhodes CollegeCollege • FallFall 20112011 Generations Fall Cover_'11.indd 1 10/12/11 12:07 PM FALL 2011 Contents VOLUME 18 • NUMBER 3 2 Generations Things have changed at Rhodes through the years, yet the basics remain 10 Holding Forth 2 Students report their research in a dazzling display of disciplines 16 ‘There isn’t an app for this’ Alums recount their time in the Peace Corps, which this year marks its 50th anniversary 26 The Class of 2015 See who’s here 30 Introducing the Day Scholars The college welcomes 10 students who are the fi rst recipients of the new Day Scholarships 31 Alumni News Class Notes, In Memoriam The 2010-2011 Honor Roll of Donors 10 On the Cover Phil ’79, Lisa ’80 and Will Mischke ’13, a family within the Rhodes family, in the Bryan Campus Life Center. (See story on page 2.) Photography by Justin Fox Burks 16 Contents_Fall ’11.indd 1 10/17/11 3:16 PM 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. Summer 2011—Volume 18, Number 3 EDITOR Martha Hunter Shepard ’66 GRAPHIC DESIGNERS Larry Ahokas Robert Shatzer CONTRIBUTORS Jay Adkins, Richard Alley, Justin Fox Burks, Ellen Dubin, Dean Galaro ’11, Chris Hartlove, Bryan Meltz, Bob Narod, Corey Nolen, David Ottenstein LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Please address postal correspondence to: Martha H. Shepard, Editor, Rhodes Magazine, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: (901) 843-3544 Fax: (901) 843-3579 CLASS NOTES: Please send all Class Notes including marriages, births and obituaries to: Alumni Offi ce, Rhodes College, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690 Phone: (901) 843-3845 Fax: (901) 843-3947 E-mail: [email protected] RHODES CENTRAL INFORMATION: 901-843-3000 RHODES ALUMNI OFFICE: 1 (800) 264-LYNX RHODES ADMISSIONS OFFICE: Visit rhodes.edu/news for the latest stories and features 1 (800) 844-LYNX about people and events. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: RHODES, 2000 North Parkway, Visit rhodes.edu/magazine, or click the code, to see both an Memphis, TN 38112-1690 online and a page-turning version of the magazine. While CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Please mail the completed form below and there, be sure to check out the web-only content: label from this issue of RHODES to: Alumni Offi ce, Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112-1690 • Photo gallery of Rhodes life from the 1950s to present Name • Video of the day in the 1970s when the monkeys from the zoo found Street their way to Rhodes • Compelling fi rsthand accounts of alums’ experiences in the Peace City State Zip Corps Home Phone Business Phone • In Print—new books by faculty and alumni E-mail Employer Title Contents_Fall ’11.indd 2 10/17/11 4:28 PM GENER JUSTIN FOX BURKS Phil ’79, Lisa ’80 and Will Mischke ’13 in the Bryan Campus Life Center { 2 } F A L L 2 0 11 • R H O D E S rhodes.edu Generations2-la.indd 2 10/17/11 3:06 PM ATIONSBY MARTHA HUNTER SHEPARD ’66, RESEARCH BY DEAN GALARO ’11 hat makes Rhodes what it is? What’s changed inspiring students and guiding them to an appreciation in the last 60 years? A lot. And what hasn’t? of their fellow man and service to the community, WCertainly not the essentials. Some changes which to me is the true essence of education.” Says have been signifi cant, like having six presidents, from Brandon Couillard ’05, “The ability to think critically Diehl to Troutt and a student population that’s gone and adapt to a fl uid environment is no doubt credited to from some 300 to 1,800. The Rhodes curriculum, in my liberal arts education.” many ways a living entity, can change over time. But what’s constant is the faculty’s commitment to refi ne its Rhodes’ signature interdisciplinary course, “Man,” core, always providing students the skills fundamental to now “Search,” has been around since 1945. In 1986 a liberal arts education. So here’s a digest of how things the name changed from “Man in the Light of History have changed yet stayed the same on campus from the and Religion” to “The Search for Values in the Light mid-1940s to now. of Western History and Religion.” Alternative Bible and history courses were available, and in 1983 that CLASSES option was named “Life: Then and Now,” offering Back in the day, Dr. Diehl recruited as many Rhodes methodological approaches to the study of religion. Scholars as he could for the faculty. There were one or Both tracks were, and still are, eye-openers, even two women faculty members. (Today, of 140 full-time foundation-shakers for many students. faculty, 60 are women.) There were 8 a.m. Saturday classes. Seniors had to take—and pass—“comps,” three- Loyd Templeton ’56 says, “I took the Man course hour written comprehensive examinations in their and was lost at fi rst, but soon ‘got the picture’ that majors. In the late ’60s into the ’70s, Third Term was everything we were studying, everything that I had popular, a few weeks of individual student-designed ever studied, came together to build a rich and whole courses. Today, students can enroll in a “Maymester,” appreciation of life, learning and understanding.” four-week courses in countries around the world led by Rhodes faculty. The college’s expansion of educational For John Rone, Man made him “completely rethink my opportunities through the years has been its basic tenet: approach to my religious upbringing. It has continued to provide the best liberal arts education anywhere. to help me draw my own conclusions about the continuum of history.” Carole Branyan ’67 and John Rone ’71 can testify to that. She has been auditing classes at Rhodes since Phil Mischke ’79 took Man; his son Will ’13 followed retiring three years ago; he has worked at the college for the Life path. It happened with the Carroll family as well. 34 years. Among the things that haven’t changed, she Says Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82, “I loved the program. It says, are the “great professors and challenging classes was my fi rst in-depth exposure to philosophy, religion where the faculty really know their students.” Rone and history.” Daughter Piper ’13, a Neuroscience major, agrees: “The vision of President Diehl for a campus “took Life and I loved it. I had Prof. Gail Streete and she of close-knit students and faculty is still very much made the course very enjoyable. After taking a course in in evidence.” Bill Coley ’50 believes the faculty “were Judaism my sophomore year I decided it would defi nitely responsible for instilling the spirit of the college— be worth it to become a Religious Studies minor.” rhodes.edu F A L L 2 0 11 • R H O D E S { 3 } Generations2-la.indd 3 10/17/11 3:06 PM COREY NOLEN Heidi Carroll made carbon copies, with plenty of Wite- Out at hand. While her “big thrill” was borrowing her father’s electric Smith-Corona with a correcting ribbon, her daughter Piper, on the other hand, says, “When it comes to papers there is defi nitely nothing better than the double monitor computers on the second fl oor of Barret—you can have up websites, your paper, maybe even Pandora all at once.” Adds Will Mischke, “Coffee from the Middle Ground (the Starbucks in Barret Library) is a very common study aid.” Personal computers would come along in the ’90s, which found Sarah Sears and most students spending considerable time in the Mac Lab. Likewise, English major Katharine Etchen ’05 studied in the Buckman computer lab, not in her room, which she says “produced subpar results.” When Campus Safety would close down the lab at 2 a.m. she’d move to the Lair. Brandon Couillard, now her husband, and his fellow Economics majors preferred study groups in Buckman Hall classrooms, complete with dry erase boards and rheostat lighting. John Rone ’71, Carole Branyan ’67 and Bill Coley ’50 in Barret Library CAMPUS LIFE In counting the hallmarks of the college, generations point to its beauty, educational excellence, the Man/ STUDYING Search track and of course, the Honor Code. In place The library, always a primary study space, has moved since the early 1900s, it allows the campus to live in a around—it’s been the Paul Barret Jr. Library since trusting, respectful and peaceful environment. 2005; Burrow from 1953-2005; and from 1925-53 it was located on third fl oor Palmer, currently home to Another kind of code guided students in the past, English Department faculty offi ces. In Palmer, there namely the dress code—skirts for women, jackets and was “a hand-operated pulley-lift to deliver books to and ties for men at dinner—that lasted until the late 1960s. from the library,” according to Loyd Templeton. For many years now, T-shirts and fl ip-fl ops take a student from day into evening. Study methods throughout the years have gone from longhand to broadband. Bill Coley, Loyd Templeton and Chapel attendance in Hardie Auditorium, with the Mischkes, along with Carole Branyan, John Rone, worship services and community speakers, was Heidi Hayslett Carroll ’82 and Jim Golden ’85, usually mandatory until 1968. At fi rst, it was fi ve days a week, studied in the library.