Commencement 2023

Following one of the wettest springs on record, the sun came out for President Jennifer Collins’ rst (and the college’s 174th) Commencement at Rhodes.

Walker Coleman (near right) was presented with the Peyton Nalle Rhodes Phi Beta Kappa Prize, the college’s highest academic honor. e 2023 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards were presented to graduating seniors Mia Harris and Priscilla Foreman (center), and to Dr. Timothy S. Huebner (far right), associate provost and the Irma O. Sternberg Professor of History.

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Ryan Mire ’93, Mallory Mire ’23, Eric Teal ’91, Aaron Teal ’23, Liv Brien ’85, Peyton Brien ’23, Kim Collins Bates ’88, Rachel Bates ’23, Wright Bates ’87, Tim Davis ’87, Will Davis ’23, Wiley Pippenger ’23, Andy Pippenger ’93, Colin Johnson ’88, Anna Johnson ’23, William Jackson ’94, Molly Bradley Jackson ’94, Frederick Jackson ’23, Bridget Bradley Kantoff ’93

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While most seniors were receiving their diplomas in Fisher Garden, the Women’s Lacrosse team was in Geneva, NY, advancing through the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Upon their return, President Collins presided over her second Commencement exercise in three days, when a special ceremony was held for the senior team members in Troutt Quad.

Pioneering Scientist

Dr. Charles W. Robertson, Jr. ’65 Awarded Honorary Degree

Robertson, co-founder of NanoDrop Technologies Inc. (now Thermo Fisher Scientific), was awarded an honorary degree at Commencement.

Robertson holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Rhodes and a Ph.D. in physics from Florida State University. He worked for the DuPont chemical company for 29 years before he and his wife, Patricia, founded NanoDrop Technologies in Wilmington, DE, which was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2007. Under his leadership, NanoDrop pioneered microvolume instrumentation techniques that allow scientists to quickly and easily quantify and assess the purity of samples such as proteins and nucleic acids. NanoDrop instruments have been utilized in fields such as genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, molecular diagnostics, and bio-manufacturing.

A Rhodes trustee, Robertson and his wife are both members of the Benefactor’s Circle and Rhodes Society and over the years have generously funded various fellowships, projects, and facilities in the sciences. Dedicated in 2017, Robertson Hall on campus is named for Robertson’s parents, Lola and Charles Robertson, who both were Rhodes alumni, scientists, and educators.

Robertson also established the Jack H. Taylor student fellowship and the Charles W. Robertson Endowment for Student Research and Engagement in Physics. His gift of the Zeiss Confocal Microscope System helped support faculty research in the Department of Biology. More recently, Rhodes College has established a $1 million endowment, thanks to the generosity of the Robertsons, that will support faculty-led biology research projects. In addition, Robertson has worked with students on projects such as the Great NASA Moonbuggy Race. In the spring of 2021, a Rhodes team made up of faculty and students from various majors learned that a proposal for a four-inch cube satellite of their own design, named RHOK-SAT, was accepted by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. This program provides U.S. universities, high schools, and nonprofit organizations the opportunity to fly their miniature satellites aboard a NASA-sponsored rocket. It was Robertson who encouraged Rhodes to develop a proposal to be submitted to NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative and generously provided funding for the project.

Grateful for Robertson’s untiring support, Rhodes awarded him the 2008 Distinguished Service Medal. Now for his continued support and leadership, the college bestowed upon Robertson the Doctor of Science, honoris causa