Rhodes College is a four-year, private liberal arts
college located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Founded in 1848, Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students. About one third of Rhodes students go
on to graduate and professional school soon after graduation,[1]. The acceptance rates to law and business schools are around 95%, and the acceptance rate to medical
school is nearly twice the national average.[2]
Rhodes College is featured in Loren Pope's, Colleges That Change Lives and is featured on the cover of the 2008 Princeton Review Complete Book of Colleges.
History
Rhodes College traces its origin as a degree-granting institution to the Masonic University of Tennessee, founded in 1848 in
Clarksville, Tennessee. The institution became
Montgomery Masonic College in 1850 and later was renamed Stewart College in honor of its president William M. Stewart. It was
under Stewart's leadership that control of the college passed from the Masons to the
Presbyterian Church in 1855. In 1875, the college added to its
undergraduate program a School of Theology and became Southwestern Presbyterian University. The School of Theology operated until
1917.
In 1925, president Charles Diehl led the college in a move to its present campus in Memphis, Tennessee (the Clarksville campus would later become Austin Peay State University). At that time, the college shortened its name to
Southwestern. In 1945, the college adopted the name Southwestern at Memphis, to distinguish itself from other colleges and
universities containing the name "Southwestern." Finally, in 1984, the college's name was changed to Rhodes College to honor
former college president Peyton Nalle Rhodes.
Since 1984, Rhodes has grown from a regionally recognized institution to a nationally ranked liberal arts college."[3] Even as overall enrollment has increased over the past twenty
years, the student body has comprised increasing proportions of students from outside Tennessee and the Southeast region.[4]
The current president of Rhodes is Dr. William E. Troutt, who joined the college as
the 19th president in 1999. His predecessor, Dr. James Daughdrill, served as president for over a quarter century.
Campus
The campus covers a 100 acre tract in midtown Memphis across from Overton Park and the
Memphis Zoo. Often cited for its beauty,[5] the campus design is notable for its stone Gothic
architecture buildings, thirteen of which are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1] The original buildings, including Palmer
Hall (1925), Kennedy Hall (1925), and Robb and White dormitories (1925), were designed by Henry Hibbs in consultation with
Charles Klauder, who designed many buildings at Princeton University, alma mater of college president Charles Diehl. Later buildings were designed
by H. Clinton Parrent, a young associate of Hibbs who was present from the beginning. Parrent's buildings include the Catherine
Burrow Refectory (1957), which was an expansion of Hibbs' original dining hall. Parrent also added Halliburton Tower (1962) to
Palmer Hall. The 140-foot bell tower was named in honor of explorer Richard
Halliburton. Rhodes maintains its Collegiate Gothic architecture, including the new Barret Library (2005) designed by the
firm of Hanbury Evans Wright and Vlattas.
Students and faculty
Rhodes enrolls 1690 undergraduate students from 43 states, the District of Columbia, and 5 foreign countries; about 86% are
Caucasian, 6% are African American, 5% are
Asian and 1.6% are Hispanic. Fifty-seven percent of students are
female. The student-to-faculty ratio is 11:1.[6] Popular
majors include economics and business administration, Biology,
Political Science, English, and
International Studies.
Traditions, sports, and clubs
Rhodes is one of 62 colleges recently classified for both "Curricular Engagement" and "Outreach & Partnerships" in the
"Community Engagement" category by The Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Approximately 80% of Rhodes students participate in some form of community
service by the time they graduate.[7] The college's new
curriculum includes a requirement that students participate in activities that broaden the connection between classroom
experiences and the outside world. The mission statement of the college also reinforces community engagement, aspiring to "graduate students with...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."
Central to the life of the college is its Honor Code, administered by students through the Honor Council. Every student is
required to sign the Code, which reads, "As a member of the Rhodes College community, I pledge my full and steadfast support to
the Honor System and agree neither to lie, cheat, nor steal and to report any such violation that I may witness." Because of
this, students enjoy a relationship of trust with their professors and benefits such as taking closed book final exams in the
privacy of their own rooms.
The college mascot is the lynx and the school colors are red and black. The athletic teams
compete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in the
NCAA's Division III. Rhodes counts one national championship to
its credit - awarded to the 1961 baseball team.
Rites of Spring, a three day music festival in early April, is a major social event of the school year, and typically attracts
several major bands from around the country. In recent years, an adjunct celebration called Rites to Play has brought to campus
elementary aged children from all of the various community agencies and schools that partner with Rhodes. The Rhodes students
plan, organize, and execute a carnival for the kids.
Greek Life
There are a number of social fraternities and sororities at Rhodes. Approximately 50% of the students are members of Greek
organizations. The fraternity and sorority lodges are not, however, residential, and most Greek-sponsored parties and activities
are open to the entire campus.
Sororities
(in order of establishment at Rhodes)
Fraternities
(in order of establishment at Rhodes)
Noted alumni
Business
- John H. Bryan '58, former CEO of Sara Lee
- RJ Harper '78, Senior Vice President, Golf, Pebble Beach Resorts
- Stinson Liles '92, Co-Founder, Red Deluxe
Brand Development
- William J. Michaelcheck '69, CEO Mariner Capital
- Vicki Gilmore Palmer '75, Executive Vice President, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc.
- Knox Phillips '67, CEO Phillips Recording Studio
- Arthur Rollins '81, one of the country's top financial advisers[8]
Medicine
- John Robertson '68, President, American Association of Neurologic Surgeons
Civic
Culture and Performing Arts
- Ken Cameron '89, Associate Curator, New York Botanical Garden
- Dixie Carter '62, Actor
- Dina Facklis '93, Director, Second City National Touring Company
- Sid Selvidge '65, Executive Producer, Beale Street Caravan, a globally-syndicated radio
program
Scholars
- Joseph M. Ajello '62, Senior Research Scientist, Cassini UVIS Co-Investigator, Earth and
Space Sciences Division, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- John H. Churchill '71, Secretary, The Phi Beta Kappa Society; President, The National
Humanities Alliance
- Mark D. West '89, University of Michigan Nippon Life Professor of Law; Director of the
Academic Program for the Center for Japanese Studies
- Sidney Strickland ’68, Vice President for Educational Affairs and Dean of Graduate and Post
Graduate Studies, Rockefeller University
Authors
- Charlaine Harris '73, Best-selling mystery writer
- John Boswell '67, author; Publisher, John Boswell Associates
- Richard Jennings '66, author of children's books
- Steve Stern '70 author of Lazar Malkin Enters Heaven and
The Angel of Forgetfulness
- Peter Matthew Hillsman Taylor '39, award-winning author
- Anne Howard Bailey '45, television writer
Government and Military
Noted staff
Administrators
- Timothy Sharp, Dean of Academic Affairs-Fine Art. Conducted the Rhodes Singers and MasterSingers Chorale in performances at Carnegie Hall.
- William E. Troutt, President, former Chair of the American Council on Education
and the National Commission on the Cost of Education and member of the Lincoln Commission on Study Abroad.
- Dave Wottle, Dean of Admissions, Olympic gold-medal winner.
Professors
- Andrew Terjesen, award-winning Philosopher.
- Tina Barr, award-winning poet.
- Eric Gotlieb, Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, 2004 Fulbright
Scholar
- Timothy Huebner, Professor of History, 2004 Tennessee Professor of the Year by The Carnegie
Foundation and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education
- Michael Leslie, Professor of English and the Dean of British Studies at Oxford (the oldest
American exchange program at Oxford University)
- David McCarthy, Professor of Art, Smithsonian Fellow[2].
- Mark Muesse, Associate Professor of Religious Studies. Produced two lecture series and
companion books on Hinduism and on Axial Age Religions for The Teaching Company.
- Michael Nelson, Professor of Political Science, author, and media analyst focused on the American presidency.
- Marcus Pohlmann, Professor of Political Science, coach of the Rhodes Mock trial program,
President of the American Mock Trial
Association. Coached Rhodes to record numbers of national championships (4), finals appearances (7), top-ten finishes (16),
and consecutive top-ten finishes.
See also
References
- ^ Franek, Robert et al, The Best 361 Colleges: the Smart Student's Guide
to Colleges, Random House, Inc., New York, 2006, p. 424.
- ^ Pope, Loren, Colleges that Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the
Way You Think About Colleges, Penguin Books, New York, 2006, p. 185.
- ^ Pope, Loren, Colleges that Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the
Way You Think About Colleges, Penguin Books, New York, 2006, p. 181.
See also "Best Liberal Arts Colleges", America's Best Colleges, US News and World Report, 1999-2007.
- ^ data available via Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), National Center for Education Statistics.
- ^ as in Turner South's Blue Ribbon, Princeton Review,
Collegiate Gothic: The Architecture of Rhodes College by William Stroud, and other sources
- ^ These figures are published in the Rhodes College Common Data Set
- ^ Franek, Robert et al, The Best 361 Colleges: the Smart Student's Guide
to Colleges, Random House, Inc., New York, 2006, p. 425.
- ^ "Top-Ranked on
Barron's List of Top 100 Advisors"
External links
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