Hendrix Magazine - Spring 2010

spring 2010

hendrix magazine A Magazine for Alumni & Friends

Spring 2010 Volume 22, Number 2 Editor Helen Plotkin plotkin@hendrix.edu Art Director/Designer Joshua Daugherty Alumnotes Editor/Designer Courtney Johnson ’12 Staff Writers Natalie Atkins Katie Rice ’10 Mark Scott Staff Photographers Joshua Daugherty Courtney Johnson ’12 Contributors Stuart Holt Kirk Jordan Bruce Layman ’12 David McCollum Rob O’Connor ’95 Brian Rejer Susan Robbins ’86 Beth Tyler The Hendrix Magazine is published

by Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Avenue, Conway, Arkansas 72032-3080. This magazine is published for Hendrix College alumni, parents of students and friends. Permission is granted to reprint material from this magazine provided credit is given and a copy of the reprinted material is sent to the Editor.

Postmaster, please send form 3579 to Office of Institutional Advancement, Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave., Conway, AR 72032-3080 501.450.1223 Fax 501.450.3881 Alumnotes submission deadlines: Spring Issue: Mar. 1 Fall Issue: Oct. 1

Printed on paper containing 10% post-consumer recycled content with inks containing agri-based oils. Please Recycle

Photo by Joshua Daugherty

on the cover: Dr. Chuck Chappell ’64, Professor of English, is retiring after 41 years on the Hendrix faculty. (Story, page 14) Dr. Chappell posed for this photo in the Art Department photo studio. The photographer was Bruce Layman ’12, an art major from Oklahoma City, Okla. Joshua Daugherty planned the photo and served as art director. The photograph took three hours to set up and included 369 books on loan from Bailey Library.

12

The Halls of Home

14

Retiring after 41 years

20

Living Large at the SLTC

28

1984 and the Big Dance

30

Young Entrepreneurs

Whether in a traditional residence hall or an apartment at the edge of campus, where you live helps define your Hendrix experience.

English Professor Chuck Chappell ’64 reflects on his 41-year Hendrix career and his plans for an active retirement.

Students have a new living room, playroom, study room, performance hall and dining hall in the Student Life and Technology Center, the new hub of campus life.

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Alumnotes At Home at Hendrix Campus News Development Faculty News

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Hendrix Through Time In Memoriam Marriages New Children President’s Message

Competing in the NAIA national playoffs is a special memory for members of the 1984 basketball team. Most came back to campus in January to recapture the moment.

Recent Hendrix graduates pool their creativity, tech savvy, political interests and energy to build a new company from the ground up.

a message from the president

Photo by Joshua Daugherty

The academic year is coming to an end, with much-anticipated graduation just days away for the Class of 2010. In addition to celebrating the accomplishments of our students and faculty (Read about our latest Watson Fellow on Page 4 and Dr. Tom Goodwin’s latest national honor on page 8), it is also time to reflect on the past year and what Hendrix has accomplished as an institution.

For one thing, we’ve kept our focus through the worst economy since the Great Depression. Our attention has not wavered from our students and the quality of their educational experience. We felt the impact of the stock market plummet in our operating budget and called on our faculty and staff to work smarter, harder and more creatively to stretch our budget to meet our needs – and they have. We called on our alumni and friends to support Hendrix with their gifts, even as they, too, felt the impact of the bad economy – and they did.

We committed the institution to moving forward even in tough times.

We knew we could not hunker down and wait for things to get better before pressing on toward our goal of establishing Hendrix as a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences education – and we haven’t. We are moving steadily toward our goal in our $100 million campaign, which is set to end in December 2010. (See page 47). We opened the new Student Life and Technology Center in January, the last major capital project in our campaign. We hope to complete raising the $26 million needed to pay for the building by the end of the current fiscal year on May 31, 2010 – and with your help we will.

The new SLTC has already become what we envisioned: the vibrant center of student life on the Hendrix campus and a catalyst for creativity and innovation for students and faculty. One example of creative use of the technology available in this new building is the College’s first Red Brick Film Festival. Using inexpensive Flip cameras checked out from the SLTC, Hendrix students produced 3-minute films and submitted them for review. The awardwinners debuted during the film festival at the end of April. Visit our Web site for the list of winners and more information. This year’s festival was a pilot for what we hope will be an annual event and just one of many ways the SLTC supports the dynamic learning environment at Hendrix. (For more information about the SLTC, see page 20.)

Hendrix is becoming known nationally for its innovative approach to higher education. Last fall, U.S. News & World Report listed us as the No. 1 “Up-and-Coming” liberal arts college in America based on our record of innovation in the classroom and in our buildings and facilities. We count that recognition as proof that our efforts to cultivate a spirit of innovation on campus are having an impact. We promise to do more. Stay tuned.

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J. Timothy Cloyd, Ph.D. President

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campus news

campus news work of alumnus featured in the new burrow

The Rwandan Presidential Scholars Program, a partnership with the Rwandan government that began three years ago by bringing four students to the U.S., has now grown to include 16 U.S. colleges throughout the south and will educate more than 110 Rwandan students in the fall. Members of the consortium, representing nine states, met during a two-day conference at the Clinton Presidential Library recently to discuss the past, present and future of the consortium. Rwanda’s Ambassador to the U.S., James Kimonyo, was a special guest at the event.

New to the consortium for the 2010-11 school year will be Millsaps College (Miss.), Morehouse College (Ga.), Spelman College (Ga.), Washington and Lee University (Va.), and the University of Central Arkansas. The program is expected to bring 30 new Rwandan students to the U.S. this summer to begin their educational careers, joining with the 80 already taking part in the program.

The Rwandan students currently studying in the U.S. have performed well academically – the group averages a 3.64 grade point average with 16 of the students earning perfect 4.0 GPAs since beginning their studies.

A Hendrix-led higher education consortium with Rwanda was the brainchild of David Knight ’71, the Chief Legal Counsel at Stephens Inc. He is a member of both the Hendrix College Board of Trustees and the Bridge2Rwanda program, a non-profit effort co-founded by former Stephens Inc. investment banker Dale Dawson.

Knight worked with Hendrix College President J. Timothy Cloyd to begin Hendrix’s relationship with Rwanda in 2007, and both men have been instrumental in recruiting new colleges to the consortium during the past three years.

James Hayes of Pine Bluff, a 1988 graduate of Hendrix College and an award-winning art glass designer, created a unique lighted glass chandelier that hangs above one of the most popular student gathering locations on the campus – The Burrow inside the College’s new Student Life and Technology Center. Hayes, who describes his glass designs as “playful, adventurous, colorful and distinctive,” created the design specifically for his alma mater.

Hayes created the sculpture with Hendrix in mind, utilizing the College’s school color of orange as the base.

However, he also utilized several different colors to reflect the diversity and vibrant nature of the College, according to Karla Carney-Hall, Hendrix’s Vice President for Student Affairs.

Hayes personally installed the chandelier one piece at

James Hayes ’88 created the art glass chandelier that adds a “Hendrix touch” to The Burrow. See timelapse photography of the chandelier’s installation at hendrix.edu/ hendrixmagazine.

Photo by Joshua Daugherty

from 1 to 16: rwanda consortium membership grows

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campus news

a time. It took him approximately four hours to construct the 220-piece chandelier, a project he spent four days sculpting.

The design was an immediate hit with Hendrix students.

“Student comments have been very positive, and students have compared it to the recent movie images of Alice in Wonderland, Disney movies, and other fun-filled images that come to mind,” Carney-Hall said. “The most common phrase around the sculpture has been that it just feels like Hendrix.”

Four Hendrix students celebrated a heavy snowfall in February by building a seven-foot tall igloo. From left, Timothy Nichols ’10, William Wilcox ’11, Jake Mitchael ’11 and BJ Fogleman ’10 show off their creation.

professor featured on cnn Dr. Lisa Leitz, an assistant professor of Sociology at Hendrix and the wife of a U.S. Naval aviator who was deployed in support of the war in Afghanistan, was featured on CNN’s American Morning program. In her public comments, Dr. Leitz, along with members of Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), asked President Obama to consider the sacrifices of military families while weighing the country’s strategy in Afghanistan, saying military families “are being crushed by the weight of the current wars.”

Dr. Leitz’s husband, Lt. David Dufault, was stationed

aboard the USS Nimitz from which he flew missions over Afghanistan as an F/A-18F aviator.

“Hundreds of thousands of us strive to keep marriages and families from falling apart as our loved ones repeatedly deploy without the recommended and necessary down time,” Dr. Leitz said. “Personally, I have barely seen my husband in the last three years … When he returns from this deployment, he will have served away from his home base for 26 out of the last 36 months. These deployments have meant a life on hold. It added years to my time in school, I’ve had to move and set up our first house without him, and we have postponed dozens of decisions about our family’s future.”

students get creative with snow With snow falling rapidly during a snow storm in February and a little extra time on their hands, four Hendrix students took advantage of the winter weather to create a seven-foot-tall igloo in a field adjacent to The Hendrix Corner apartments. The large structure, capable of comfortably seating 10, became a novelty in Conway, drawing numerous spectators, photo-takers, and curious passersby wanting a peak inside the igloo.

The four students – B.J. Fogleman ’10, Timothy Nichols ’10, William Wilcox ’11, and Jake Mitchael ’11 – were proud of the structure and happy to show off their creation.

“We think it’s very cool and extremely unique,” said Fogleman. “In the two days (following) its construction, many Conway residents have stopped to take pictures and several have come to let their children play inside. Traffic slowed to a crawl much of the day on Mill Street as people stopped to look at the igloo and snap quick pictures with cell phones.”

It took the group eight hours to construct the igloo, working mainly with snow that collected on cars in the parking lot. It didn’t take long before motorists began to notice their work, honking support as they passed by.

Upon completion, Fogleman said the group went inside and noticed it was significantly warmer inside. So comfortable, in fact, two of the architects – Wilcox and Mitchell – even slept in the igloo overnight as temperatures fell well below freezing.

thomas receives watson fellowship

Courtesy Photo

Hendrix College senior Nathan Thomas, an anthropology major from Fayetteville, Ark., has received a prestigious Watson Fellowship, a $25,000 award that will allow him to travel and study globally. He will use his award to investigate cultural education in four metropolitan primary schools in Australia, Finland, South Africa and India.

Thomas was one of 40 graduating college seniors nationally to receive the fellowship, given by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. The grant provides a one-year grant for independent study and travel outside the United States. The Thomas J. Watson Foundation was created in 1961 as a charitable trust by Mrs. Thomas J. Watson, Sr., in honor of her late husband, the founder of International Business Machines Corp., widely known as IBM. Since that date, the Fellowship Program has granted more than 2,300 Watson Fellowship awards, with stipends totaling more than $29 million.

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Student delegates from Hendrix College won the top delegation award at the 2009 Arkansas Student Congress competition at the Arkansas State Capitol, an event sponsored annually by the Arkansas Communication and Theatre Arts Association. The Hendrix students were congratulated by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe during an event in the Governor’s Reception Room.

Hendrix junior Derek Cash of Vilonia won the coveted Marguerite Metcalf Award for Parliamentary Procedure, the top individual award, which is named for a former speech teacher at Hendrix. As a group, all four of Hendrix’s bills were passed out of committee, a notable accomplishment.

Hendrix College has fielded 31 delegations at the event dating back to 1979.

Hendrix Speech Communication instructor Mary Melekian Richardson is the group’s coach.

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Top: Hendrix’s team was one of six in the nation to receive a Best Delegation award at the 2009 American Model United Nations Conference.

Bottom: Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe congratuates the Hendrix team, which received the top delegation at the 2009 Arkansas Student Congress.

Courtesy Photo

hendrix selected as best delegation

A $600,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has funded an innovative approach to interdisciplinary study at Hendrix College. The program, called “Crossings,” will simultaneously link courses from different departments and blend classroom educational opportunities with hands-on experiences.

Crossings ties into the college’s engaged-learning “Your Hendrix Odyssey” – specifically combining professors and courses from a variety of subject areas to create a unique, broad-reaching sequence. For example, Philosophy Associate Professor Fred Ablondi, Psychology Associate Professor Jennifer Peszka, and Philosophy Professor Lawrence Schmidt have joined to create a Crossing called “Study of the Mind,” which will provide students an opportunity to examine the mind from

Courtesy Photo

Hendrix College’s Model United Nations team garnered one of six national “Best Delegation” awards at the 2009 American Model United Nations Conference, establishing Hendrix as one of the elite Model UN teams in the country.

The Best Delegation award, presented by the Secretariat of the 2009 American Model United Nations Conference, was presented at the final session of the four-day conference in Chicago. More than 80 colleges and universities and 1,400 student delegates attended this year’s AMUN Conference. The Hendrix team won its award for its representation of the U.N. delegation of the United Kingdom.

“To be ranked as the best Model United Nations team in the country is an exceptionally big honor and a tribute to these students who worked extremely hard to achieve this award,” said Dr. Daniel J. Whelan, an assistant professor of politics and international relations at Hendrix who teaches the Model UN course that prepared students for the conference.

“All of the students did stellar preparatory work, and were individually complimented several times throughout the conference for their depth of preparation, knowledge of the topics and the U.N. system, and their deep understanding of the UK’s positions on the various topics discussed and debated at the conference. I am extremely proud of them.”

Six Hendrix students also won separate Best Delegation awards for their work in three of the Conference’s simulations.

$600,000 aids innovative program

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campus news

hendrix team wins national model united nations awards

campus news

new coach mccracken leads warriors to impressive season

Photo by Bruce Layman ’12

needs better caption

Christina Byler ’10 put up impressive individual statistics as part of the championship team.

multiple perspectives. Students will learn how the newest advances in science can help answer some of the oldest questions in philosophy.

Dr. Jay Barth, M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of Politics and Director of Civic Engagement Projects at Hendrix, will serve as the dedicated faculty leader for Crossings and will oversee the project.

The new program comes five years after Hendrix created Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning.

Like Crossings, Odyssey builds upon the College’s historical strength of encouraging students to undertake engaged learning projects, such as undergraduate research, to enhance, expand, and frame the knowledge and questions they encounter inside the classroom. As part of Odyssey, all Hendrix students are required to participate in at least three engaged learning projects drawn from three of the following six categories: Artistic Creativity, Global Awareness, Professional and Leadership Development, Service to the World, Undergraduate Research, and Special Projects. To increase the breadth of engaged learning experiences, students must complete their three required Odyssey experiences in separate project categories.

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The 2009-10 Hendrix College women’s basketball team gave Warrior fans something to cheer about this year after completing one of the most exciting seasons in program history.

First-year head coach Thad McCracken turned the Warriors into Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) west division champions and post-season contenders after an average 2008-09 season. McCracken guided Hendrix to a 20-5 overall record (tied for 4th in program history) and 13-3 SCAC mark (4th in program history). He took on a roster that lost just one player due to graduation and finished 14-12 and 7-8 in the SCAC last year.

McCracken received recognition for his outstanding season, selected as the 2010 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Small College Coach-of-the-Year.

“Being named small college coach-of-the-year was something special for me,” said McCracken, who was previously the team’s assistant coach. “I was fortunate enough to take over a roster stacked with talent and they just needed the right guidance. I was very pleased to see our three seniors (Lindsay Merritt, Amanda Morris and Chelsey White) go out on top. They have been through a lot over the past four years and deserve credit for sticking with the game they love.”

Senior forward Christina Byler (returning in 2010-11 for a 5th year) joined Merritt, Morris and White to lead the Warriors on the court and were all thrilled when they heard the news of McCracken’s hiring.

“It was a very comforting feeling when we learned he was going to be our coach,” said Byler.

“Right off the bat, he told us that this is work but it also should be fun,” said Merritt.

“We really appreciate how he can break down the game,” said Morris.

“Coach was a real friend to us for three years,” said White. “When we needed guidance or there was something we were not sure about in basketball or in college, he was the coach we went to. He became a mentor to us.”

Byler picked up her first All-Conference First Team award after being named to the Second Team the previous two seasons. She led the league in scoring with 17.3 points per game and ranked third with 9.1 rebounds per game.

Her 90.2 free throw percentage ranked fifth in the nation and set a new Hendrix single season record (2nd in SCAC).

With 1,324 career points, Byler is fifth on the Warriors’ alltime list.

Morris joined sophomore guard Anna Roane on this season’s All-SCAC Honorable Mention list. Morris led the league with 4.8 assists per game (115 total) and her 2.21 assist-to-turnover ratio ranked sixth in the nation. She finished her career with 616 points, 320 assists, 118 treys and 131 steals.

The Warriors went on a trio of win streaks this year, including a four-game stretch to start the season. Hendrix’s first loss was at Colorado College, which deserves an asterisk, considering McCracken was absent from the game due to the birth of his first child (Kaden) and the women played in Colorado Springs, Colo. (over 6,000 ft. above sea level). Hendrix then went on a six-game streak in the heart of its conference season and lost just once in January to

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the village goes vertical

Six of the 50 singlefamily homes in Phase I of The Village at Hendrix have been sold. Five are available for sale, including the first Live-Work townhouse that will serve as the Conway Symphony Orchestra Designer house in September.

Courtesy Photo

The Village at Hendrix, a walkable, New Urban neighborhood connected to the Hendrix campus, has gone vertical.

The Village is an integral part of the master plan of Hendrix College and is a vibrant community offering people of all ages and backgrounds a neighborhood living experience like nowhere else in the region. It has quickly set a new standard in Central Arkansas for responsible, sustainable community development.

With the arrival of new companies, retail businesses and restaurants, The Village has also reinforced the college’s critical role in the economic development of the city. As it grows, The Village will continue to provide exciting possibilities to connect the campus and the community.

Phase I construction and sales are under way, including 50 single-family detached houses, 61 townhouses and live-work townhouses, and 63 apartments. Six houses have sold, and one is currently for sale. Three additional homes for sale are under construction as well as a live-work townhouse that will serve as the Conway Symphony Orchestra Designer House in September.

Residents enjoy: restaurants, shops and businesses within a 3-minute walk; access to Hendrix College amenities such as plays, musical performances, lectures, art exhibits and athletic events; traditional and timeless architectural styles, beautiful streetscapes and green spaces, and covenanted building codes that will ensure the beauty and integrity of the neighborhood for generations to come.

Construction began on the 100,000-sq.ft. regional headquarters for Southwestern Energy Company on the north side of The Village in late 2009. The company plans to employ 400 people in fields such as engineering, information technology and accounting when it opens in late 2010.

Respect for the natural environment and local ecology are central to The Village’s philosophy of design. The Village is reclaiming and revitalizing the creek that winds through the property to protect the water quality as it flows through the constructed wetlands and marshes.

Work on this 12-acre watershed reserve with trails, floating boardwalks, bridges and an outdoor classroom will begin in May and is expected to be completed by November. Martin L. Smith of Ecological Design Group, who created the Clinton Presidential Library and Heifer International landscapes, developed the landscape architecture for the project.

Panera Bread Co., ZaZa, Inc. and Village Books, a community bookstore operated by Barnes & Noble, will open in Market Square in August.

Concurrent with the development of the neighborhood, the state highway department is renovating Harkrider Street on the west side of The Village. When complete, Harkrider Street will be an attractive, safe, and more efficient four-lane thoroughfare with a tree lined divided median.

To experience The Village through a community walk and tour of homes, contact Beth Tyler, Director of Marketing and Sales, at 501.730.5048 or tyler@thevillageathendrix.com. Or, visit us on the web at www.TheVillageAtHendrix.com.

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campus news

DePauw, who would go on to win the SCAC Tournament.

The Warriors ended the regular season on another four-game win streak and made it five in a row when they took down Oglethorpe in the opening round of the SCAC Tournament. The remarkable season came to a close when Centre knocked Hendrix out of the post-season in a nail-biting 86-77 loss in the semifinal round.

For more information on Hendrix Athletics please visit www.hendrixwarriors.com or contact Brian Rejer, Sports Information Director, at 501.450.1426. Follow Hendrix Athletics on Twitter (www.twitter.com/Warrior_SID).

Goodwin

By Helen Plotkin Editor Dr. Thomas E. Goodwin will add another national award to his long list of honors this summer. In June, Dr. Goodwin will receive the CUR Fellows Award, which recognizes excellence in undergraduate research. The Award will be presented at the 2010 Biennial Conference of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah.

Dr. Goodwin is the Elbert L. Fausett Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Julia Mobley Odyssey Professor at Hendrix, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1978.

The CUR Fellows Awards are presented to CUR members who have developed nationally respected research programs involving undergraduate students. Two CUR Fellows were selected this year. Dr. Gilles Einstein, Professor of Psychology at Furman University, is the other honoree.

Dr. Goodwin said he is most pleased that, as a CUR Fellow, he will receive a CUR Student Research Fellowship to support continued involvement in undergraduate research for a deserving Hendrix student.

Nancy Hensel, Executive Officer of CUR, said, “CUR Fellows is an award that recognizes significant contributions to student development and learning as well as the quest for new knowledge through research. CUR is pleased to honor Dr. Einstein and Dr. Goodwin with our highest award. They are both examples of the commitment and dedication of CUR members to excellent teaching and scholarship.”

Dr. Goodwin received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Ouachita Baptist University in 1969 and a Ph.D. from the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville in 1974. After postdoctoral appointments at Rice and Texas A&M, and a short stint in chemical industry, he came to Hendrix with a strong belief in the value of involving undergraduate students in meaningful research projects.

Dr. Goodwin sums up his philosophy this way: “Science is taught by doing science; the scientific method is inculcated by practicing it in the laboratory and the field.”

His hands-on approach to teaching science has brought recognition to Dr. Goodwin and Hendrix, but most importantly, has created a climate where students learn and excel. A former undergraduate student wrote: “To put it succinctly, excluding my parents, Dr. Goodwin has been the most important influence in my career.”

Dr. Goodwin’s area of expertise is synthetic organic chemistry, and for many years that was his primary research focus at Hendrix. In 1993, he was the Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Heterocyclic Compounds.

He later developed a specific research interest in chemical communication among elephants which led to a National Science Foundationfunded collaboration with a behavioral biologist and a biochemist.

This research has expanded to include collaborations with biologists

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Photo by Jason Jones

faculty news

Dr. Tom

to study chemical communication by other mammals, including maned wolves and several lemur species.

Undergraduate students have benefited enormously from these collaborations. Because his research on chemical communication in endangered species occurs at the interface between chemistry and biology, Dr. Goodwin’s students learn to think about chemistry as part of their natural world in a truly interdisciplinary manner.

In addition to a continuing interest in mammalian chemical signaling and synthetic organic chemistry, Dr. Goodwin and his students have been involved for several years in the development of environmentally benign (“green”) experiments for the introductory organic chemistry laboratory Dr. Goodwin has mentored the research work of approximately 120 undergraduate students over the course of 32 years. During his career, he has been recognized for his exceptional teaching practices, including being named the Carnegie/CASE U.S. Professor of the Year for Baccalaureate Colleges in 2003, the only national award recognizing excellence in teaching at the college level.

“Dr. Goodwin is one of Hendrix’s most distinguished faculty members,” said Hendrix Provost Robert L. Entzminger. “Not only is his teaching and mentoring legendary among Hendrix students, he was a national pioneer in demonstrating the value of undergraduate research programs, and his leadership and example were crucial in developing Hendrix’s Odyssey Program, which emphasizes handson learning experiences as a central component of undergraduate education.”

Watch a brief video interview with Dr. Goodwin at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine

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faculty news

Dr. Jennifer

Peszka When you attended Hendrix College were you a Lark or an Owl? Chances are your grades were affected by your sleeping habits, according to research presented by Jennifer Peszka, an associate professor of psychology at Hendrix, during last year’s annual Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting. Peszka is becoming one of the nation’s foremost experts on sleep study research, especially research associated with college students and young adults. Her research has recently been featured by Time magazine and the Arkansas DemocratGazette, along with numerous newspapers and magazines throughout the world.

Peszka earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington and Lee University in 1994 and her master’s and doctorate from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has been at Hendrix since 1999.

In her research, Peszka refers to early-to-bed and early-to-rise students as larks, while those late-night studiers are owls. The new data she presented last year suggest a student’s sleep schedule had a lot to do with his or her grade point average – specifically, night-owls have lower GPAs than fellow students who prefer to go to bed earlier. While that isn’t a huge surprise, Peszka’s new research goes further, quantifying the impact of erratic or inadequate sleep on grades.

According to Time, Peszka asked a group of 89 incoming Hendrix College freshmen ages 17 to 20 to fill out a questionnaire about their sleep preferences prior to arriving on campus. Regardless of how much they actually slept, Peszka asked them whether they considered themselves owls, larks or, in the case of those who were neither very late or very early sleepers, robins. Students also answered questions about their sleep “hygiene” — factors that contribute to quality of sleep, such as adhering to a regular bedtime, waking up at the same time every day, or exercising or drinking caffeine before trying to sleep. One year, Peszka asked the same students to fill out another similar questionnaire to determine whether their sleep schedules were associated with GPA. The ultimate conclusions were clear. The owls averaged a 2.84 GPA at the end of their freshman year, while larks and robins both averaged 3.18. Peszka also compared the students’ high school GPAs with their college scores, and found that owls had lost an entire GPA point once entering college — larks and robins also saw their grades drop (a common

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Photo by Bruce Layman ’12

By Mark Scott Staff Writer

occurrence as students transition from high school to university), but not as much.

The study did not delve into the details of why owls may perform worse in school, but Peszka told Time it may boil down to “an owl living a lark’s schedule.” Students with late bedtimes still end up taking early morning classes, which means they often end up feeling sleepier and less alert during the day. In Peszka’s study, night owls slept 41 minutes less each night than the other students, but were still attending early classes, during which they reported sleepiness and inability to concentrate, which led to lower scores at exam time.

Peszka and two other researchers, including her husband, David Mastin, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, are continuing their research, with the study expected to be finalized later this year. Additionally, she also recently presented a study related to the effect of console and computer game play on sleep hygiene.

Watch a brief video interview with Dr. Peszka at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 9

faculty news

hendrix faculty news

In addition to their work in the classroom, Hendrix faculty members engage in research and professional activities that expand their expertise and enrich their teaching. Here is a small sample of the professional activities of Hendrix faculty. See the full list at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine.

• Fred Ablondi, associate professor of philosophy, published “What We Talk About When We Talk About Lowe” in The Red Sox and Philosophy.

• Jay Barth, M.E. & Ima Graves Peace Professor of Politics, published “The Media, the Medium, and Malaise: Assessing the Effects of Campaign Media Exposure with Panel Data,” in Mass Communication and Society.

• Chris Campolo, associate professor of philosophy, presented “Deep disagreement in a multicultural world,” to the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation at the University of Windsor in Windsor, Ontario.

• Stella M. Capek, professor of sociology, presented “Caught Up In The Mix” at the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment meeting in Victoria, British Columbia.

• Andres Caro, assistant professor of chemistry, received the Research Corporation Cottrell College Science Award ($44,869 for 2009- 2011) for his research on reactive oxygen species and CYP2E1dependent oxidation of mitochondrial DNA in liver cells.

• Andrea Duina, assistant professor of biology, received additional funding for his research “Analysis of the role of histone H3 in transcription elongation.” His funding from the NSF RUI has now been extended for 2011-2013, for $473,089.

• Karen Fannin, assistant professor of music, published “The Battle Pavane by Tielman Susato” in Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.

• Courtney Hatch, assistant professor of chemistry, received the Corporation for Science Advancement, Cottrell College Science Award for her research “Heterogeneous processing of mineral aerosol by reactive gases in the Earth’s atmosphere.” The 2010-2012 award is for $45,000.

• J. Brett Hill, assistant professor of anthropology, published “What Difference Does Environmental Degradation Make? Change and its Significance in Transjordan” in The Archaeology of Environmental Change: Socionatural Legacies of Degradation and Resilience.

• John Krebs, professor of music and humanities area chair and Karen Griebling, professor of music, (with Jackie Lamar, UCA) performed at the World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.

• Lisa Leitz, assistant professor of sociology, co-organized and presided over a the session “The Effects of the Iraq War on the U.S. Military and Peace-Making” at the American Sociological Association annual meetings in San Francisco, Calif.

• Matthew Lopas, associate professor of art, exhibited his work “Panoramic Interiors” at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas, Texas.

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• Jay McDaniel, Willis T. Holmes Distinguished Professor of Religion and Nancy and Craig Wood Odyssey Professor, taught a five-day course on Buddhism and Christianity at the Vancouver School of Theology.

• Kristi McKim, assistant professor of film studies, presented “Ephemeral Style: Intimate Scale and Subjectivity in Doris Dörrie’s Cherry Blossoms” at the 2009 World Picture Conference at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla.

• Rod Miller, associate professor of art, presented “Perelandra: The Synoptic Lewis” at the Perelandra Project Colloquium, St. Stephen’s house in Oxford, England.

• Jenn Penner, assistant professor of psychology, presented “The Effects of Site Provisioning on Cache Pilfering Rates in Eastern Gray Squirrels” at the Animal Behavior Society Annual Meeting in Pirenópolis, Brazil.

• Rebecca Resinski, associate professor of classics, published “Revising Pandora (and Rewriting Eve) in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Wonder Book,” in Asterisks and Obelisks: Classical Receptions in Children’s Literature.

• John Sanders, professor of religion, published “Theological Muscle-Flexing: How Human Embodiment Shapes Discourse About God” in Creation Made Free: Open Theology Engaging Science.

• Allison Shutt, associate professor of history, chaired the first African Studies Association conference in New Orleans, La. • J. Aaron Simmons, assistant professor of philosophy, published “Revisiting Gender Inclusive God-Talk: A New, Wesleyan Argument” in Philosophy and Theology (with Mason Marshall).

• Damon Spayde, assistant professor of physics, published “Strange Quark Contributions to Parity-Violating Asymmetries in the Backward Angle G0 Electron Scattering Experiment” in Physical Review Letters.

• Tom Stanley, Bill and Connie Bowen Odyssey Professor of Economics and Business, published “Publication Selection Bias in Minimum-Wage Research? A Meta-Regression Analysis” in the British Journal of Industrial Relations (with Hristos Doucouliagos).

• Carol West, professor of English, received a grant from the Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad Program to support five weeks of curricular development activities in Senegal and The Gambia.

• Daniel Whelan, assistant professor of politics and international relations, published “The Reality of Western Support for Economic and Social Rights: A Reply to Susan Kang” in Human Rights Quarterly (with Jack Donnelly).

www.hendrix.edu

Courtesy Photo

Courtesy photo

at home at hendrix:

Highlighting Alumni Faculty and Staff

J.J. Whitney ’96 J.J. is originally from Bentonville, Ark., and attended Hendrix, graduating in 1996 with a B.A. in Spanish. After leaving Hendrix, she attended Boston University School of Theology where she received a Master of Divinity degree. She began her professional work at Hendrix in 2002. She currently serves as Associate Director of the Miller Center for Vocation, Ethics, and Calling and as the Assistant Chaplain for the College.

When J.J. is not working, she enjoys Jazzercise and watching “Lost.” She also enjoys going on dates with her husband, Kaleb Barrett, to Mike’s Place in Conway or Lily’s Dim Sum in Little Rock, and playing Star Wars with her 4-year-old son, Jack.

life as a student As a student, J.J. participated in the choir and served as secretary during her junior year. The Candlelight Carol service and spring choir tours are some of her fondest memories. One moment that is frozen in her memory is being thrown into the fountain on her 21st birthday — in January!

During the first two trimesters of her senior year, she studied abroad in Madrid, Spain. In addition to building proficiency in the Spanish language, J.J. believes that her experience abroad positively affected her life. She says of the experience, “Living in another country taught me about my own culture, honed self-discipline, self-reliance, and independence in traveling, and gave me insight into what it means to be ‘different.’ Without my study abroad experience, I would not have been prepared to take on the duties in my current vocation.”

www.hendrix.edu

life as an employee J.J. was originally hired by the college as the Program Coordinator for the HendrixLilly Vocations Initiative.

Although she performed chaplaincy functions in this job, it was not until 2004 that she was given the Assistant Chaplain title. Then in 2008, with the generous gift of Bob & Nadine Miller, the Hendrix-Lilly program became the Miller Center for Vocation, Ethics, and Calling and J.J. was named Associate Director.

In addition to many other job duties, J.J preaches at chapel and co-administers the sacrament of Holy Communion during weekly services. She also leads other religious programs on campus, mentors students who are interested in ministry, leads vocation workshops for interns in non-profit and religious organizations, and leads at least one mission trip per year. Outside of the duties her job demands of her, she has also taken on teaching the first-year Explorations seminar for the past four years.

Although she is a fairly recent graduate, J.J. has seen many changes at the college since her time as a student.

The college is no longer on a trimester system, and she has personally enjoyed watching the Odyssey program take shape. “It has been exciting to see what ignites student passions and how they are given the chance to ‘try out’ these passions in the world,” she says.

J.J. says, “I think the Hendrix community truly wants to make a difference in the world and I find that kind of energy contagious.” Perhaps that is why she has chosen to make her home at Hendrix.

Photo by Stuart Holt

By Natalie Atkins Staff Writer

Top Left: J.J. and Anna Sanders ’96 on a spring choir tour during their junior year Top Middle: Albine Niwemugeni ’11, J.J. and Hannah Hooker ’10 on a mission trip to Taizé, France in May 2009

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 11

Residence Hall or Apartment?

By Katie Rice ’10 Staff Writer

Photo by Courtney Johnson ’12

For students living in Hendrix’s six traditional residence halls, each spring brings up a difficult question: Should I stay or should I go? Incoming freshmen are required to live in one of the res halls, but upperclassmen can choose from a cornucopia of other housing options, including theme houses and a variety of apartment complexes.

After a year or two of dorm life, many students can’t wait to have their own bathrooms and kitchens. But leaving the effortless camaraderie of group living isn’t easy. Particularly in the apartments, it takes some effort to strike a balance between independence and isolation.

“I like Raney a lot because it’s just one hallway and so you get to know everyone really easily,” said Michaelene Miller, a freshman from Little Rock. “There aren’t a lot of places to hide in Raney, and it’s the smallest dorm, so everyone gets to know each other.”

Miller and her roommate, freshman Mauren Kennedy of Bentonville, live together on the third floor of Raney. Located next door to the library, Raney has the reputation of being a cloister for the studious “Raney nuns.” But what Miller appreciates most is the hall’s central location, which keeps her engaged in campus life.

For next year they have their eyes on the presidential suite – the largest room in Raney, which is annually bestowed upon the new

Roommates Michaelene Miller ’13 and Mauren Kennedy ’13 in their Raney Hall room

12 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

Photo by Courtney Johnson ’12

Housing options offer students more choices

Roommates Jen Baker ’12 and Olivia Harrington ’12 in their apartment at The Hendrix Corner Raney Hall president. Kennedy is about to begin campaigning, but even if she isn’t elected the roommates plan to stay in one of the residence halls.

“As a freshman and sophomore I feel like I should be in the center of campus so I can grab all the opportunities that are available. It’s easier to do that living on campus,” she said. “We’ll move into an apartment junior or senior year for sure, because by that time you have your friends and you know what you want to do and you have your basic schedule down.”

Few sophomores live in Hendrix apartments, since that space is in high demand by upperclassmen.

“We got lucky,” explained Jen Baker ’12, who lives in The Corner apartments with her roommate Olivia Harrington ’12. The two became best friends when they lived down the hall from each other in Couch Hall last year. They relish the privacy of having their own bedrooms and bathrooms, and they say it’s actually easier to be social in an apartment.

“In an apartment you can have a couple of friends over and it’s not a big deal,” Baker said. “You don’t have to worry about your neighbors.”

She and Harrington make an effort to invite friends over. They host weekly “family dinners” with their friends, and they have a guestbook and a bathroom guestbook that they ask visitors to sign. They’ve even transformed one of their closets into a teensy third bedroom for friends who want to stay overnight.

Both Baker and Harrington make an effort to hang out on campus, so they still feel like part of the Hendrix community.

“When it’s nice outside we’ll hang out in the pecan court or in the Murphy house after classes, and we study in the library and hang out in the student life center a decent amount of time,” Baker recounted.

“I don’t feel distant from campus or anything; I still feel like I’m involved.”

The only downside of their move to The Corner at the intersection of Mill and Front streets was trying to furnish the apartment. Baker and Harrington had to bring furniture from their homes in St. Louis and New Orleans, respectively.

“It’s going to be a big hassle to move out at the end of the year, since both of us are studying abroad next semester,” Baker said. “But we both think it’s worth it. With being abroad, we’re not sure where we’ll live when we come back. But we’d like to keep living in [The Hendrix Corner]. We like it a lot.”

www.hendrix.edu

housing traditions 2010 edition The school year begins with Shirttails, the rowdy inter-dorm dance competition.

Martin cheers for Veasey, Hardin supports Raney, and Couchies root for one another.

Galloway, typically an upperclassman hall, cheers for their few freshers who perform. aug

Every Saturday, Rage Against the Deli offers Couchies and their friends a cheap, home-cooked dinner, since the cafeteria isn’t open. aug

Students dress up in their best animalprint loincloths for Jungle Boogie, the rainforest-themed dance party usually hosted in Couch lobby. aug

Hardin Hitman, a scaled-down version of the annual campus-wide Assassins game, gives Hardinites a good reason to get to know each other. Each player is given the name of a target to “hit,” and the last one standing wins. sep

Do you remember the annual parties, events and traditions that marked your days at Hendrix? Do you ever wonder what kinds of memories today’s Hendrix students are creating? We asked a graduating senior to interview her classmates and create a rundown of the residence-hall-related events that have marked her last four years. She created this month-by-month rundown of the many ways recent Hendrix students have found to entertain themselves. If reading this sparks your own memories, share them at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine.

favorite movies. Professors and staff bring their costumed kids by to trick-or-treat.

Only at Hendrix do Halloween revelers dress up as Rod Blagojevich. Hosted

by Martin Hall, Ghost Roast brings all the costumed folks to the Brick Pit to dance until they don’t notice the wind-chill. oct

The hungry boys of Hardin go through scores of burgers and hotdogs at the annual Hardin Hall Cookout.* nov

Usually held at a park or a ranch near Hendrix, the annual Galloway Hayride involves a bonfire, hotdogs, cheap beverages, and s’mores.* nov

Students flock to the annual Raney dec Banquet, an enormous theme dinner that serves up to $500 worth of fancy food.

sep

The last party of the year, Elf Roast tends to get a little wild. In 2006, the masses of partiers literally caved in the floor of the so-called Party Cottage. Now moved to a more stable location, the party still features a DJ battle.

Hendrix students reclaim the sideoct ponytail and leggings each fall for ’80s Night, usually hosted in Martin Hall.

With their identities shielded by improvised masks (made of empty beer cases), Martin men streak through Bailey Library and across the Veasey Beach. This marks the official beginning of Finals Week.

Party and a Picnic takes place at Toad Suck Park, featuring egg-tossing competitions, three-legged races, and beverages. Martin men each invite a date on their roommate’s behalf.*

Veasey ladies invite their dates to a romantic Sadie Hawkins-style dinner, Moonlight Harvest.* oct

Couchies break out their knives and oct scraping spoons for Pumpkin Palooza, with prizes for the most creative carvers.

Toasted pumpkin seeds for all.

Hosted by the Galloway RAs, A Very Harry Halloween offers Potter fans a chance to sip butterbeer and munch Bertie Bott’s every-flavor beans as they re-watch their oct

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dec

dec

As finals get overwhelming, students turn to the masseuses Raney hires each year. Many of the newly-relaxed students stay to watch a Disney movie. Others rush back to the library. dec

Galloway RAs host an annual Lunar New Year feast, with cultural activities and tables full of catered Chinese food. Crab Rangoon for all! jan

For everyone who loves “I Love the ’90s,” Martin Hall presents a brand new theme party: the ’90s party. Too soon? feb

Contradicting its nerdy reputation, Hardin hosts the annual Masquerave, a techno dance party that allows masked Hendrix students to enjoy a rare moment of anonymity. feb

The on-again, off-again Sham Roast has only happened once in the past four years. But the hype surrounding the Martinhosted party, which featured the ultra-popular musician Girl Talk, gives students hope that the party will solidify into a true tradition. mar

In preparation for Bondage Bash, a lowkey date night, each Raney girl secretly invites a date on her roommate’s behalf.

When the girls arrive at the event, they find their appointed dates by looking to see who is wearing the tie they decorated.* mar

Grass skirts, coconut bras and Hawaiian shirts are standard at Veasey Luau, a tropical dance party often hosted in the Brick Pit. Attendees can take a break sipping fruity virgin drinks at the “mocktail” bar. apr

Offering “3 hours of peace & music,” Hardstock is an outdoor music festival that is supposed to take place on the Hardin Hall patio and adjacent green space. But more often than not it gets moved indoors because of rain. apr

As if once weren’t enough, Martin men streak through the library again at the beginning of Spring finals week. may

may

To help relieve the shock, the Raneypaid masseuses return.

* only residents and their guests

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 13

Celebrating Chappell’s 41-year Hendrix career

By Helen S. Plotkin Editor

Question: You have been part of the Hendrix family since your freshman year in 1960. So why did you pick Hendrix? What drew you to Hendrix as a student?

“Teaching is a calling, I believe. Teaching Hendrix students is a privilege.”

That is how Dr. Charles L. Chappell ’64, Professor of English, describes his 41-year career at Hendrix. Since word spread that Dr. Chappell is retiring when the academic year ends in May, students have been packing his classes for the privilege of saying they studied with a true Hendrix legend.

When Dr. Chappell carries the Hendrix mace for the last time at commencement on May 15 and changes his title to Professor Emeritus, he’ll be taking with him a treasure trove of institutional memories, the best wishes of his colleagues and the hearts of hundreds of Hendrix students who have learned from him over the past four decades.

So, how is Dr. Chappell getting ready for the transition from full-time professor to professor emeritus? What are his retirement plans? How did he wind up at Hendrix in the first place? Dr. Chappell answered these questions and more in an interview with Hendrix Magazine. As you might expect in any discussion with a master teacher, we learned a few things. For example: Chuck Chappell was born at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where his father was stationed during World War II. His dad was a psychiatrist, who was a resident at the famed Menniger Clinic in Topeka, Kan., after the war. His mother was a mathematician who worked at the Smithsonian Institution and was a teacher. His dad, one of Arkansas’ first board-certified psychiatrists, practiced at Fort Roots in North Little Rock and helped develop the program in psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. He grew up in Little Rock and attended First United Methodist Church where Winston Faulkner ’48 was his youth director.

After graduating from Hendrix with honors in English, he earned a master’s degree and then a Ph.D. in English from Emory University.

He was a teaching assistant at Emory and an instructor in English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute before joining the Hendrix faculty in 1969. He is married to Carol Weygandt Chappell ’70 and is the father of Christopher Paul Chappell, Timothy Brooks Chappell ’98, and Michael Charles Chappell ’03. His book, Detective Dupin Reads William Faulkner: Solutions to Six Yoknapatawpha Mysteries, was published in 1997.

Answer: I grew up knowing about Hendrix because of my Methodist connections. Many of the wonderful people at First Methodist had come to Hendrix.

I was at Central High as a sophomore in 1957. I mostly didn’t know what was going on. The schools closed in ’58-’59, so I did correspondence work in the 11th grade and my parents moved to Memphis where I finished high school.

My older brother missed his senior year because of the schools closing. Hendrix accepted him – and several other students in the same situation – without him having graduated from high school. I came to visit my brother and the people were so friendly here that I decided this is where I wanted to be.

My parents were disillusioned with what was happening in Arkansas. When I told them that I wanted to go to Hendrix, they didn’t say I couldn’t, but they asked “Do you really want to go back to Arkansas?”

So, my dad came and talked with (President) Marshall Steel and with (Dean of Students) Bob Meriwether. I couldn’t believe he did that, but as a parent now I understand why. When he got home, he told me I could come to Hendrix. He said ‘they have the right values and the right approach to academics.’ ” I came to Hendrix in 1960 and roomed with John Roberts, a friend of mine. Then I roomed with Bill Tidwell. Simon Bookout and I roomed together for close to three years. We were living in Millar during the Great Train Wreck. (Read the Great Train Wreck story online at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine) I lived in Martin Room 316 with Simon and Greg Williams. It was in Dead End. My son Tim lived in the same room in Martin for a time.

www.hendrix.edu

Q. What’s a favorite memory from your student days?

A. I went to all the ballgames when I was a student here; many of us did. Of course, basketball was all there was after football was dropped in my first year. I went to the last game in Axley Gymnasium and the first game in Grove Gym as a student. So did Larry and Hilda Hancock Malpica, both ’64, and Maribeth Woodfin Garrison ’64.

So, I made a point of going to the last Grove game and the first game in the Wellness and Athletics Center, as did the others. Of course,

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 15

faculty profile

“Topped Forty”

Q. What’s your favorite spot on campus?

A. My office! I have this great view. I can look out over the central part of campus. It’s beautiful in the spring and fall. I walk around campus all the time. I love the fish pond, the gazebo, the Pecan Court. That’s the essence of Hendrix to me.

Q. When did you first decide to become a teacher?

A. As a student, I was very fortunate to take a course with Helon (Sanders Smith) Yates. She was an excellent teacher and took a personal interest in her students.

My professors suggested I might be a teacher during my freshman year. I took courses with Walter Moffatt ’32 and Paul Faris and Helen Hughes. I decided to become an English major in my freshman year. I didn’t know I’d get a chance to teach at Hendrix.

Q. How did that happen – your coming back to Hendrix to teach English?

A. I’d finished the classwork for my Ph.D. at Emory and was teaching at Virginia Tech, when I got a letter from Walter Moffatt saying they would have a position in English and asking if I’d like to apply. Boy, did I! The school had changed when I came back as a teacher.

It had grown to about 1,000 students and changed to the 3-3 system.

I joined my mentors. I had studied with them and now they became my colleagues. Then they retired and we replaced them with dedicated, talented people like the ones they replaced.

Q. Many alumni memories were created on the Faulkner pilgrimages you led to Oxford, Miss. Tell me a little about how that all started.

A. The first one was in 1983, the first year I taught the Faulkner course. I’ve taken 14 student groups and one alumni group to visit Rowan Oak, Faulkner’s home. The Hendrix-Murphy Programs in Literature and Language have sponsored the trips.

Col. James M. Faulkner (William Faulkner’s nephew) was our host at Rowan Oak. He also visited Hendrix several times to talk about his uncle and share a slide show. He made his first visit in 1977 and his last trip in 2001. We developed a friendship and in 1997, for Faulkner’s 100th birthday, he came here, when he had a choice of places to visit.

On Faulkner’s actual 100th birthday we read aloud The Sound and the Fury. It was an all-day event. We started at 8 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. Students, faculty, staff took turns reading. It was exhilarating.

Q. Tell me about the postcards A. I got married on June 21, 1969, in Ohio, where Carol is from, and we drove to the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, for our honeymoon. I was to start teaching at Hendrix that fall.

William Faulkner wrote a book called The Wild Palms.

It’s a counterpoint – one of Faulkner’s experiments. There are two separate stories that don’t intertwine except for a

16 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

Photo courtesy of the Hendrix College Archives

faculty profile

Maribeth was there since (Coach) Cliff (Garrison) was being honored.

coincidental place. One called Old Man is set during the flood of 1927. The Tall Convict – we don’t know his name – is sent in a rowboat to rescue some people. All he wants to do is get back to prison where there are no women. Near the end of the story, you find out why. He was arrested for robbing a train to impress a woman. When she gets married, she sends him a postcard from a Birmingham hotel.

It’s a picture of the hotel with an X marked over one of the rooms. The message says “This is where were honeymonning at. – (Mrs.) Vernon Waldrip.”

I’d taught that work and knew the story. So, on our honeymoon I sent postcards to the people here in the English Department and others. I wrote the same message on the back and signed them Mrs. Vernon Waldrip.

Years later, I told a class here in Southern Literature course about it and I started to get postcards. I’ve gotten hundreds of them over the years. Some of them are creative variations. Some of them were quite funny. It’s a way of keeping contact with students so I’ve kept doing it.

Col. James M. Faulkner (white hair) talks with Hendrix students at the gravesite of his famous uncle.

www.hendrix.edu

faculty profile Photo by Joshua Daugherty

Q. What are your retirement plans?

A. For more than a dozen years, I’ve taught at Life Quest for older adults. I teach a literature course for four Wednesdays in July, two hours at a time. They also have fall, spring and winter classes. I’ll be doing that this summer and will also teach some other time during the year.

So, I’ll still do some teaching … but I won’t have papers to grade. I do love to teach, but I won’t mind not grading papers.

Carol and I will travel more. Two of our three sons live in the San Francisco area. So, I’ll go see them – and the grandchildren. I’ll do some reading; I might do some writing.

We have a house in Heber Springs that Carol has planned. She just loves it there, and so do I. So, we’ll spend more time there. It is powered by solar energy. One of our sons works in that field and helped us get it all

set up. I plan to stay busy and active, but to set my own schedule. I asked Bob Meriwether ’49 when he retired what the best part of retirement was and he said being able to set his own schedule. I’m looking forward to that.

Q. Why are you retiring now?

A. We have outstanding young faculty in our department who are experienced teachers. I feel good about the department. I feel it is as strong as it has ever been. It is a modern and future-looking department.

I feel good about retiring now because I think the department is in a good place and that I’m leaving what was entrusted to me in good hands.

I feel so blessed and so lucky. I’ve been fortunate to be able to be here all this time and to have these opportunities. Not many people get to work in their ideal job as long as I have.

Dr. Chappell’s collection of honeymoon postcards from former students illustrates the creativity of alumni, who put their own spin on a message from a Faulkner tale.

Photo by Bruce Layman ’12

Odyssey Endowment honors Chappell

www.hendrix.edu

Chuck Chappell’s Last Lecture during Alumni Weekend ’10 ended with a surprise announcement.

Former classmates, family and friends worked behind the scenes to establish the Dr. Charles M. Chappell Odyssey Endowment in honor of the retiring English professor and member of the Class of ’64. The group collected more than 50 gifts totaling $54,235. The Chappell Odyssey Endowment will provide financial support for students and faculty members to pursue Odyssey experiences related to the study of English. The funds generated by the endowment will be awarded competitively through the Odyssey Program, with preference being given to English majors.

Simon D. Bookout ’64 (right) and Robert D. Cabe ’63 co-chaired the Chappell Odyssey Endowment Committee. Other members include W. Christopher Barrier ’64, Jack L. Blackshear ’64, W. Dent Gitchel ’63, Cyril Hollingsworth, Diane Haynie Lyons ’65, Ark Monroe ’64, Hilda Hancock Malpica ’64, and Michael V. Hutchison, associate vice president for Development at Hendrix.

To learn more about how you can contribute to the Chappell Endowment, please contact the Office of Advancement at 501.450.1223 or malpica@hendrix.edu.

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 17

faculty profile

The ‘Cheers to Chuck Chappell’ Project

By Susan Robbins ’86 What does a group of aging baby boomer alumni do when they want to pay tribute to one of their beloved professors who is about to retire? Why they set up a Facebook group and start messaging like crazy!

When we heard that Dr. Chappell would be delivering his “last lecture” at Alumni Weekend 2010, two fellow English majors and I, from the class of 1986, decided that we would share our memories of Dr. Chappell. This was not that unusual because, on occasion, we e-mail each other short essays on some topic or another for no other reason than we enjoy reminiscing about our college days and also still enjoy crafting a piece of writing. We exchanged our memories and then it hit us.

What if we gave these tributes to Dr. Chappell? What if we encouraged some of our fellow alumni to do the same? We would find a way to compile notes of congratulations and appreciation and present them to Dr. Chappell on Alumni Weekend.

And just like that, the Facebook group “Cheers to Chuck Chappell” was born. In a short time, the group grew to more than 150 members. But we still wanted to contact all the former English majors. With help from Pamela Owen ’82 in the Alumni and Constituent Relations office, that task was accomplished. Then the notes, e-mails, Facebook postings, and pictures started pouring in.

The tributes came from former Hendrix students of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and ’00s.

They came from many different states, from Canada and New Zealand. They came from numerous alumni-turned-professors, teachers, executives, stay-at-home moms, editors, and even a Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

Dr. Chappell’s students had done well in the years since Hendrix, and they wanted to thank him for his inspiration. They also wanted to thank him for his devotion to his students, his scholarship and his friendship.

Pulitzer Prize winner Doug Blackmon ’86 said of Dr. Chappell’s devotion to literature, “I came to share in and be inspired by that awe, and it helped me see that there was a value and viability in a life of letters.” And Lindsey Smith ’94, now an English professor

18 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

at Oklahoma State University, wrote: “To this day, I use notes from your class as I prepare my own lecture notes! I so much appreciate all you have done for me as I have made my own way in academia.”

Mel White ’74 credits Dr. Chappell with a great deal as well. “Chuck is responsible in a big way for getting me started on my writing career. When I applied for my first journalism job at the Arkansas Democrat in 1974 I had nothing to show the managing editor, Jerry McConnell, except a paper (on Moby Dick) that I had written at Hendrix. Chuck had given me an A+ for it and had written some nicely encouraging comments. Jerry gave me the job, and I’ve always thought that the paper had a lot to do with it. Chuck’s comments gave me a boost in confidence, as well, and the discussions about literature in his classes helped me understand what I did and didn’t like about writing.”

Of course, no student of Dr. Chappell’s could ever forget his quick wit. “I cannot imagine English literature or Hendrix College without your constant jokes and puns and your infectious laugh,” wrote Charter Morris ’00.

While his humor is unforgettable to his former students, his kindness is what defines him for most of us. Nearly every letter, e-mail or posting contained some remembrance of Dr. Chappell, the gentleman. “You were always the trusted, level-headed man we all knew would do the right thing, in your kind and gentle way,” Ann Laux Turney ’75 noted.

Elizabeth Farris Bumpers ’97 wrote, “Long after I graduated from Hendrix, Dr. C and I voted at the same place for the 2004 presidential election. I was pregnant and very sick, and he found a chair for me to sit in during the wait, and moved it for me whenever the line moved! What a gentleman!!!”

Jenny Noble Anderson ’02 called Dr. Chappell, “unfailingly enthusiastic and so wonderfully approachable... People like you made freshmen like me feel less homesick.”

Could there be any higher compliment paid to a professor? Cory Ledoux ’00 echoed the sentiment, “He was always extremely generous with his time and energy, not to mention the unfailing kindness of his disposition. In fact, in my own teaching experience, I have tried to

model interactions with my students as much as possible on memories of working with Dr. Chappell.”

Certainly, when any of us think of Dr. Chappell, we instantly think of William Faulkner, too. Leave it to Werner Trieschmann ’86 to find a certain irony there. “Dr. Chappell always struck me as the most genial and genuinely nice professors on campus, which was odd considering how much he loved the degenerate, drunken yet admittedly genius writing of William Faulkner,” Trieschmann noted. Many alumni had fond memories of the trips to Oxford, Miss. Andrea Edwards, ’86 wrote, “What a privilege to journey with you to Yoknapatawpha County--you and Mr. Faulkner made quite a pair. And how could I forget the really important things you taught me, like where to find the best catfish in Oxford...”

Another favorite memory often mentioned was Dr. Chappell’s legendary postcard collecton from former students with the words, “This is where were honeymonning at. Your friend, ( Mrs.) Vernon Waldrip.” Waldrip was a character in Faulkner’s story, “Old Man.” Binky Martin ’86 wrote, “I’m not sure how large his collection of postcards has gotten.

But I do know that my postcard is one of his favorites: a postcard from the Arkansas School for the Blind with the line written in Braille.

He mentions it every time I see him, and that makes me happy.”

Putting a scrapbook together and reminiscing via Facebook has given many of us the chance to thank our beloved professor. I feel especially privileged to have been the person to collect these notes, memories and good wishes. I got to see the common theme running throughout and it is this: You inspired us Dr. Chappell! You inspired us with your outstanding teaching, your devotion to your students, and your uncommon kindness.

And so we toast to Dr. Chappell, in the words of Melissa High Simpson ’94, “May you revel in your retirement, knowing that you have taught well, mentored well, and befriended well.”

Your friends, The many (Mrs.) Vernon Waldrips out there, (your former students and forever fans).

www.hendrix.edu

Photo by Paul Faris, courtesy of the Hendrix College Archives

Today, Reynolds Hall stands as the home of computer science and mathematics classes on campus. It is part of the Charles D. Morgan Center for Physical Sciences (along with Acxiom Hall).

The building was extensively renovated in 2000.

Photo by Joshua Daugherty

2010

www.hendrix.edu

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 19

hendrix through time

1940 Science Hall was completed in 1931. In 1950, the building was named John Hugh Reynolds Hall after former president, John Hugh Reynolds. It housed biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics classes.

Technology and Student Life tied together in new center It’s a living room. It’s a game room. No! It’s a technology center. It’s a learning space. But, that’s not all. It’s a dining hall, a post office, a gathering space, and a performance hall.

It’s where Hendrix Odyssey experiences begin, where weekly Religious Life fellowship dinners occur, and where you go for a video conference with your study partner in China. It’s the new Student Life and Technology Center and it has quickly become the center of life on the Hendrix campus.

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Services, Tutoring, and Multicultural and International Student Services to create a one-stop student service area for our growing student body,” Dr. Carney-Hall said. “The SLTC represents our commitment to strong community, student-centeredness, engaged learning, and the future.”

what’s inside

The SLTC includes the Oathout Technology Center designed for interactive group work, offices and work space for student organizations, programming areas for the Hendrix community, a café, game room, and post office on the first floor of the building. The second floor houses the new dining hall, kitchen, servery, and small dining rooms.

The Oathout Technology Center (OTC) is a vibrant, open computer center for both work and play. It includes computer workstations with space for several individuals to work together. The stations are configured in various ways from soft, comfortable seating with large flat panel displays mounted on the wall to more traditional computer-type desks with widescreen monitors. The software available includes creative suites for making presentations and videos. The workstations can also be used for electronic gaming.

The OTC also contains a small seminar-type classroom that houses the latest technology available in the Hendrix College classroom so students can practice presentations. The final component to the OTC is a video conference room, which can be used for multiple purposes,

Photo by Joshua Daugherty

The $26 million building, the biggest capital project in the history of the College, opened in January when the students returned for the start of the spring semester.

A series of events were planned to introduce the Student Life and Technology Center (SLTC) to the campus and community. Events included an open house for the campus and another for the Conway community, plus a special meal prepared and served by Dining Services to celebrate the new kitchen and dining hall.

During the first week of classes, the Nannie Worsham Student Performance Hall was christened with four nights of performances and activities that drew more than 400 students to each event.

Shortly after the building opened, the Hendrix Board of Trustees and the Hendrix Alumni Association Board of Governors met in the SLTC and saw first-hand how students are enjoying the new space. The first off-campus group to use the facility was the Arkansas Higher Education Coordinating Board which conducted its quarterly meeting in the SLTC at the end of January.

Students, faculty and staff were eager to check out the new building as the spring semester began. Now, it has become part of the daily routine and a convenient place for students to take advantage of services and programs on their way to the dining room for a meal or the post office to pick up their mail. That’s exactly what the building planners hoped would happen, according to Dr. Karla Carney-Hall, vice president for Student Affairs.

“The SLTC combines campus resources like Residence Life, Career Services, Academic Advising, Disability

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Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 21

ubiquitous technology

Photo by Bruce Layman ’12

KHDX, the College’s 10-watt tower of power, has a prominent location in the new SLTC. Passersby can watch students like Dave Keine ’10 host their radio programs in the glassenclosed broadcast booth, which sits just inside the south entrance of the building.

but is equipped with technology primarily for video conferences.

The college’s radio station, student newspaper offices, yearbook, and other student-related organizations are adjacent to the OTC. The area includes dedicated space for the Student Senate and for the Social Committee, including a work area and meeting space. In addition, conference rooms, seminar rooms and offices are scattered throughout the building.

The blend of high-tech with the warmth and character of a traditional campus center is a hit with students, according to Chance McDermott ’10, outgoing president of the Student Senate. Integrating technology into a public space is one way to keep social media from replacing face-to-face interaction, he said.

“I like being here, and everyone I’ve talked to does, too.

The game room is packed with folks playing pool, airhockey, and, my favorite, table tennis,” McDermott said.

“There are always students occupying the lounge and hanging out in the chairs in the back hallways.”

Gathering student organizations together in the SLTC is also improving communication and collaboration, he said.

“The student organizations have spacious, yet integrated offices that allow us to communicate like neighbors,” McDermott said. “I can’t tell you how important this will be for the smooth functioning of the major groups like Social and Media committees.”

Many alumni have fond memories of good friends and fun times in Hulen Hall. McDermott believes today’s students are forming similar memories.

“I can already tell that the SLTC will be creating new friendships and strengthening old ones for a long time to come,” he said.

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The SLTC is a different kind of student life center because of the level of technology that is distributed throughout the building. Hendrix President J. Timothy Cloyd said this integration of technology with activities of daily life reflects a cultural shift that has occurred over the past decade.

“We have a new generation of students for whom technology is ubiquitous. It has become part of the culture. It is how they play; it is part of their social network; part of their hobbies, their church and spiritual life. Technology is where connections are made,” President Cloyd said.

“When Starbucks introduced WiFi it really hit me,” President Cloyd continued. “What people really wanted was to take their laptop to the coffee shop and play games, drink their coffee and talk with friends. It was a place to see and be seen and the technology was just always there.”

President Cloyd said that the need for a new student center was evident when he first joined the Hendrix staff in the mid-1990s as Vice President for Development. If, as planned at one time, a new student center had been built in the last decade, it would have been a radically different building, he said.

“Since 1996, there has been a revolution in technology,” he said. “In 1996, the average cell phone weighed six pounds. We had bag phones and those huge ones with the battery in the trunk.”

“The whole digital revolution created a democratization of technology. We used to have ‘keepers’ of technology. You had to check it out, take special care with it because it was so precious,” President Cloyd continued.

“We had people who knew how to use technology and those who didn’t. We still have people who really know how to use the technology, but almost everyone can at some level. My parents, who are in their eighties, have their laptop and send e-mail.”

“Access to technology is access to knowledge. So, the digital revolution has democratized knowledge as well as technology. If knowledge is power and knowledge is democratized, then power is distributed everywhere,” President Cloyd said. “People can create things today with a computer that only a few people with special equipment and experience could create a decade ago. That’s why I wanted the digital editing suite in the Oathout Technology Center. I wanted our students to have the power to create their own video projects – and post them on YouTube.”

origin of the idea Hendrix is the only institution in Arkansas to combine a student center with a technology center and one of the few in the nation. As planning for the building began, representatives of the College sought out other institutions where cutting-edge technology centers were housed in informal spaces.

“A group of Trustees went with me and others to visit Emory and Georgia Tech and Rollins College where they have technology centers. We hired the people who worked on the Cox Center at Emory to help us think through how to set up the Student Life and Technology

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Center,” President Cloyd said. “We couldn’t select the new technology until right at the last minute because things are changing so fast. So, we built the infrastructure and planned the types of things we wanted, waiting until the very last minute to purchase the hardware and software … and I’m sure that some of the things we purchased a few months ago are already out of date.”

more than a living room “The SLTC is not just a living room. It is comfortable like a living room, but it is also a globalized space because of the technology,” President Cloyd said.

He envisions a future where Hendrix students in the SLTC could participate in classes taught by professors at Heilongjiang University, our sister campus in China, using the video conference center.

• Or, students in Dr. Jay McDaniel’s World Religions course could talk with a “virtual” classroom visitor about the practice of Buddhism in China.

• Or, business students could connect through technology to work on joint projects with students in other countries, learning to work across cultural, distance, and language barriers in the same ways that business professionals do every day.

President Cloyd is talking with other presidents in the Associated Colleges of the South (a consortium of 16

of the best liberal arts colleges in the South, including Hendrix) about ways to use technology to collaborate to provide courses that wouldn’t be economically feasible for one institution to offer alone.

“We can do so much by combining resources … even hiring faculty together and cross-listing courses,” President Cloyd said. “The technology offers the opportunity of connecting face-to-face with another human being and learning from them – no matter where they are.”

a commitment to the future Like most of the buildings at Hendrix, the Student Life and Technology Center has been funded by donations from alumni, parents and friends of the College, along with support from foundations and corporations. Funding the SLTC is one of the priorities of A Commitment to National Leadership: The Hendrix Campaign, the College’s $100 million fund-raising drive. The $26 million building is the largest component of the campaign, which ends in December 2010. Hendrix is currently working to raise the remaining funding for the SLTC by June 2010 to qualify for the $750,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation of Troy, Mich.

For more information about the campaign and the Kresge Challenge, turn to Page 47 or contact the Office of Advancement at 501.450.1223.

Technology clusters scattered throughout the building are popular with Hendrix students who use the spaces for both work and play. Students can plug in their laptops to collaborate on group projects. A Nintendo Wii and an XBOX 360 provide students with opportunities to play games such as Rock Band, which Laura Aday ’12, Jess Gunnell ’11 and Liz Slatton ’12 are enjoying.

Photo by Courtney Johnson ’12

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Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 23

Photo by Bruce Layman ’12

David Hagan ’11 celebrates his birthday in the new dining hall with a cake and a song from the cafeteria staff and friends.

Hulen traditions live on in new cafeteria

• The cafeteria continues to celebrate traditional theme lunches like Robert Burns Day, Rock & Roll Day and Outback Day.

The shiny surfaces and open layout of the new cafeteria have brought a modern flare to mealtimes at Hendrix. In addition to the Homestyle line and the grill, a “World’s Fare” station now offers traditional cuisine from around the world, and a fiery brick oven cooks up six varieties of pizza each day. But below the bells and whistles of the new cafeteria, the traditions from Hulen live on.

• Long lines form at the Homestyle station on Fridays at lunchtime, as folks wait anxiously for their chicken strips and macaroni and cheese.

• The cafeteria ladies still sing and clap as they present each student with a cake on his or her birthday. And the acoustics of the new dining room make the traditional birthday song (“Happy happy birthday, we’re really glad you came...”) sound even louder.

• Students rush to alert one another if a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies is ready at the dessert station.

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• Diners can choose from six flavors of ice cream and a table full of toppings every Thursday at the sundae bar.

• Students, professors and community members gather for roast beef and breaded shrimp at Sunday brunch.

• The staff is proud of how it responds to student requests. They continue to invite new recipes in the “Recipes from Home” box, and old suggestions like Ritzy Chicken have become Hendrix classics.

• Students still celebrate if they find one of the rare, glitter-covered Disco Trays, which are said to bring good luck.

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First ‘green’ building The Student Life and Technology Center was constructed with environmentally friendly features with the goal of becoming the College’s first LEED-certified building. At press time, Hendrix had completed the documentation and application process and was expecting notification at any time of its LEED status.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the recognizable industry standard for sustainability.

The U.S. Green Building Council program offers several levels of certification ranging from basic-level certification to platinum-level which represents the ultimate in environmental sustainability.

The College accrued points in five green design categories: sustainable site, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.

Constructing the new SLTC as the College’s first green building is a natural outgrowth of the Hendrix community’s deep commitment to sustainability and respect for the environment. Much of the College’s building in recent years has been undertaken with respect for the impact of the construction on the environment, although this is the first time that Hendrix has applied for LEED certification.

As an Odyssey project in the Special Project category, four Hendrix students designed and implemented an educational project to help the Hendrix community understand sustainability and the “green” aspects of the Student Life and Technology Center. The students prepared educational material that was used to create a Web site, video and brochure about the building’s green aspects.

Dr. Karla Carney-Hall, vice president for Student Affairs, and Dr. Joyce Hardin, professor of biology, were advisers for the student team, which included Taylor Kidd, Catherine Lilly, Lauren Ricci, and Alex Schroeller.

Designing and building a LEED-certified building requires careful planning, balancing philosophical commitment with the need to contain costs. Green features of the SLTC include:

Photo by Bruce Layman ’12

A sustainable Odyssey

• Efficient fixtures such as sensor faucets, dual-flush toilets, and more sanitary waterless urinals will reduce Hendrix’s water consumption by more than 140,000 gallons, a reduction of almost 60 percent.

• Diverting more than 75 percent of the total construction waste from landfills, including being the first in Arkansas to reuse ground gypsum wallboard (drywall) waste. The SLTC’s drywall waste became topsoil fill in the landscaping of The Village at Hendrix.

• Drought-tolerant vegetation planted around the SLTC and a highly efficient drip irrigation system for watering and landscape maintenance.

• Building on an already developed site to reduce the building’s impact on the local environment.

• A high efficiency filtration system and individual thermal and lighting controls to improve the health and well-being of occupants and visitors.

• Using roofing material with a high solar reflectance index, a measure of the roof’s ability to reflect the light of the sun off the building, instead of absorbing it.

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• Promoting use of alternative transportation by including easy access to bike racks and showering and changing facilities in the building and by designating specific parking spaces near the building for alternatively fueled cars.

For more information about the green features of the SLTC visit www.hendrix.edu/LEED.

Features like the skylight in the vaulted ceiling of the Dining Hall provide natural light in the Student Life and Technology Center, reducing energy costs and making the interior of the building a warm and inviting space.

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 25

a student’s perspective 26 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

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a student’s perspective Students dance beneath the falling confetti at SoCo 54, a disco themed dance party. Social Committee transformed Hulen Hall into the infamous Studio 54 for one last time. SoCo 54, one of the most anticipated parties of the year, was the final SoCo event held in Hulen Hall.

Photo by Alyssa Moran ’11 www.hendrix.edu

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Photo by Bruce Layman ’12

25 years later, that Hendrix team reflects special bond

By David McCollum What those 1984-85 Hendrix Warriors accomplished is obscured by a different culture, a different basketball era, a modest record, a first-round exit and conferences, affiliations and facilities long past.

During one of the heydays of the late Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference, Hendrix was the dominant team of the late 1970s-1980s. The 1984-85 Warriors won the school’s fourth AIC championship in six years.

But that team was the only team in Hendrix history to qualify for the NAIA national tournament in Kansas City, a popular, hotly contested tournament in those days because many of the teams now in NCAA Division II were still in the NAIA at the time.

The recurring wrench in the Hendrix machine had been the NAIA District 17 tournament, which brought together all the AIC teams plus the independents for a single-elimination tournament (at Little Rock’s Barton Coliseum in

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those days) to determine the NAIA representative.

The AIC was extremely balanced in those days. Most of the time, the teams would beat up on each other during the regular season so much, it was difficult for any team to achieve a national ranking that would lead to a favorable seed in the national tournament. Very, very few teams won both the regular-season title and the District 17 title, which usually required three victories during a long weekend. The AIC was so competitive from top to bottom that come tournament time, the re-energized teams formed a many-pronged gauntlet that could rip the regular-season champion (and major target) apart. The AIC championship was an albatross for most teams going into the district tourney.

Those 1984-85 Warriors were not a talent team, but they were a balanced team inside and out, had a collection of outstanding athletes and played ferocious defense. They played together nicely, helping define synergy, a popular word in the era to define chemistry and togetherness.

Back row from left to right: Terry Bradshaw, Mark Cothren, Wyndell Hunt, Rodney Reese, Dwayne Gardner, Dr. Bill Rollefson, Jack Moffett, Tony Petty, Robert Wright, Coach Cliff Garrison, and Manager Albert Ussery Front row: Nick Lasker, Anthony Greene, Lloyd Jackson, Statistician Larry Graddy, Coach Randy Deaton, and Coach Jim Holland Not Pictured: Mark Hamby, David Hertberg, Jeff Johnson, and Manager Danny Williams

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It’s also interesting and insightful the wide variety of professions the Warriors have settled into now.

Conway’s Nick Lasker is a middle school principal in Lantana, Texas. Terry Bradshaw is in management at Wurth Industries in Conway. Dr. Bill Rollefson is a physician at Arkansas Heart Hospital. Mark Cothren works at Acxiom. Anthony Greene is a vice president for a claims consulting company in Kansas City. Dwayne Gardner works in management for Walmart in Palestine, Texas, and also pastors a church. Wyndell Hunt works in management at an insurance company in Mission City, Texas. Tony Petty works in pharmaceutical sales in McKinney, Texas.

Rodney Reese works in the trucking industry in Beebe. Lloyd Jackson works for Conway Public Schools. Robert Wright is director of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Faulkner County.

Mark Hamby, a former Central Baptist College star and athletic director, coaches at Magnet Cove. Jeff Johnson is in business in northeast Arkansas.

Albert Ussery, a manager on the team, manages a Pizza Hut in Little Rock. Statistician Larry Graddy, who developed the first computerized stat program in Arkansas, is an attorney in Conway and president of the Warrior Booster Club. Assistant coach Randy Deaton is athletic director in Stuttgart.

Assistant coach Jim Holland coaches seventhgrade basketball and teaches physical education at Bob Courtway Middle School. Garrison is retired but still teaches a coaching course at Hendrix.

But here’s what’s really impressive about this group. The Hendrix roster that year contained 15 players. Twelve of them returned for Friday’s ceremony. Hamby couldn’t attend because of a medical situation with his mother but came to Conway on Saturday for the second day of the reunion. Johnson had a business commitment Friday but also joined his former teammates Saturday. One player, David Hertberg, had no current address and did not attend.

That’s 14 of 15 players, a manager and all coaches who returned for the reunion.

The Warriors were 21-11 in 1984-85.

But 25 years later, it probably recorded its greatest, and most cherished, statistic.

— David McCollum is a sports columnist for the Log Cabin Democrat in Conway, Ark. This article was published in the January 18, 2010 edition of the Log Cabin Democrat and is reprinted by permission.

Photo courtesy of the Hendrix College Archives

The Warriors defeated Arkansas Tech in a tightly contested title game to finally earn the NAIA spot denied their predecessors, many of whom had more marquee players.

They went to Kansas City, played like they had stage fright and lost to a pretty good Georgia Southwestern team in the first game.

Those NAIA days are now a distant memory to the Warriors, who are in a different world in NCAA Division III. The AIC, characterized by intense, in-state rivalries, is no more. Barton Coliseum is basically a rodeo arena, little used except around State Fair time. The NAIA tournament is far out of the national spotlight. Grove Gymnasium, the cracker box the Warriors played in, is long gone. From its rubble grew the ultra-modern $26 million Student Life and Technology Center, the newest building on a growing campus. The 1984-85 Warriors assembled in the new Grove, which is contained in the modern Wellness and Athletics Center.

During a halftime ceremony Friday (Jan. 16), the former players walked onto Cliff Garrison Court, named in honor of their coach, who received a rousing ovation.

The smiles, the handshakes and the hugs indicated the team still has a special bond.

You could hear it in the conversation Friday night around food and scrapbooks at a reception.

Back row from left to right: Mark Hamby, Wyndell Hunt, Mark Cothren, Rodney Reese, Terry Bradshaw, Bill Rollefson, Jeff Johnson, Jack Moffett, Robert Wright, Tony Petty, and Dwayne Gardner Middle row: Danny Williams, Anthony Greene, David Hertberg, Nick Lasker, Jon Stearns, Lloyd Jackson, Mitchell Combs, and Albert Ussery Front Row: Coaches Randy Deaton, Cliff Garrison, and Jim Holland

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Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 29

alumni profile Photo by Kirk Jordan

If Google and Facebook had a baby…

Hendrix alumni create innovative legislative tracking company

By Mark Scott Staff Writer Joe White’s desk is a well-used round kitchen table, a stark difference from the polished furniture in other suites of his downtown Little Rock high-rise building. On this particular day, three take-out coffee cups sit on top of his desk in varying states of empty, and one unmistakably empty beer can lays on its side.

A 2004 Hendrix College graduate with a degree in biology, Joe is the top – and only – sales and marketing agent for Capsearch, an innovative company developed by fellow Hendrix alumni Katie Bodenhamer ’01 and Matt Price ’03. Three of Capsearch’s four-person team, the Hendrix trio incidentally weren’t close friends while at Hendrix, but they have now invested their time, money and energy in a company that started small but shows significant signs of prospering into a profitable nationwide political search corporation.

Their office is undoubtedly Hendrixesque – their conference table is of the foosball variety, and Joe is able to locate his dusty framed diploma with relative ease – leaning atop a built-in bookcase in his office. Gathering together in one office, Matt brings in an old metal lawn chair more fitting for a front porch, similar to the ones outside Martin Hall.

Specifically, Capsearch is a Web-based research utility providing lobbyists, legislators, educational institutions, businesses, and associations with real-time information and analysis on changes in state legislative

30 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

and governmental activities. According to its Web site, Capsearch uses innovative technologies combined with an experienced staff to provide the most comprehensive service in the market. “Our analysts have the detailed knowledge that gives you the competitive edge,” the site advertises. “Our technology provides you the most options to disseminate your message wherever it needs to go.”

Pressed for a layman’s description of their business, however, Matt describes Capsearch as “Bloomberg for legislative data.” Katie’s description is even clearer for members of their Millennial generation: “If Google and Facebook had a baby, and that baby had a knack for government data, that baby would be Capsearch.”

Their service is much like Katie describes – a search engine of specific legislative bills, committee reports and agendas, along with a social media element that allows users to comment on posts, create personal coalition groups, and share information electronically. Each member of the Arkansas General Assembly receives a complimentary account, and users can interact directly within the service through a mechanism called “Chatter.” It is especially useful to political observers when multiple meetings are occurring at the capitol – users can attend a committee hearing in one room while tracking a bill’s progress from a meeting across the hall through their computer, iPhone, or PDA device. Users can also create lists of topic-specific bills to utilize in more formal reports. Most lobbyists in Arkansas are clients; fitting, since Capsearch is the first step toward full-fledged digital lobbying.

Katie Bodenhamer ’01 and Matt Price ’03 left comfy jobs for Gov. Mike Beebe to start their own company, one that they expect to expand to all 50 states in the next year.

Bodenhamer and Price weren’t business majors and didn’t take many business classes while at Hendrix, but they say the knowledge they gained as undergraduates has provided them with the skills to be successful in the business world.

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Photo by Kirk Jordan

Matt and Katie’s resumes both traverse from Hendrix College to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and back to the Capitol in Little Rock, where both were working for Gov. Mike Beebe in 2008. Somewhere along that path, Matt envisioned Capsearch, noticing there was no real-time provider for legislators, lobbyists, and others interested in the fast-paced political world to track legislative activities. Information at the Capitol would sometimes take days to be reported, and businesses interested in legislative developments and outcomes were hiring two or three extra employees to simply track bills and activity throughout the legislative session. There are often more than 2,500 bills introduced into a three-month session of the legislature.

The two ultimately had a jump off the cliff moment, left the governor’s office to create Capsearch in September of 2008, and worked to have their product up and running for the Arkansas General Assembly’s regular session in 2009. What prompted the change from a steady paycheck to a risky self-started business?

“I guess you can call me a contrarian,” Matt said.

“Even since my Hendrix days, I’ve always wanted to have my own company like this, and to ultimately make lots of money. But I thought about owning my own company about like winning the lottery – it was nice to think about, but I never saw it as a reality.

Starting this company was a measured risk that has really been a lot of fun.”

“It really took a lot for us to do it,” Katie added. “We really had good gigs at the time. But it came down to the fact that I wanted a challenge. This is probably something that Matt has always wanted to do, but I never really saw myself doing something like this.

“I don’t know why I did it some days,” she continued. “I’m glad I did it, and at the time I saw it as an exciting opportunity. It was definitely a risk that paid off.”

They worked to sell their new product, as their first clients, including lobbyists, the University of Arkansas System, the Municipal League, and the Association of Arkansas Counties grew from 50 initially to 100 throughout the first session. Now more than 250 people utilize Capsearch’s services. They added Karl Hills, a technical officer who has worked to make the product more user-friendly.

Following the legislative session, Matt and Katie regrouped and analyzed their business, from their client growth to the services provided. They decided to hire another employee, and Joe came on board to direct marketing and client growth efforts, leaving a job in financial services. Matt and Joe were old acquaintances from their high school football playing days at Little Rock Catholic High School, and remained acquaintances through college.

Joe’s decision to join this alumni entrepreneurial crusade was perhaps a little more personal.

“There’s no way I could live with myself if Matt went off and did something great and I wasn’t a part of it,” he said. “Nothing would piss me off more.”

Katie and Matt credit Joe’s enthusiasm for the growth of Capsearch throughout the U.S., relying on him to attract new users as the system develops in other states. Using the Arkansas model, Capsearch has

alumni profile

A jump off the cliff moment

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developed similar programs that are being used in California, Alabama and Illinois. The company plans to expand to all 50 states by next year.

Ultimately, they say their Hendrix backgrounds give their business a base to work from: common friends, shared experiences, unique perspectives on government and the world. They are business professionals who didn’t take business courses while in college, but yet credit their college experiences for preparing themselves to be successful.

“I think it gives us a base to work from,” Matt said. “We’ve hired Hendrix students as part-time workers – we know what to expect from Hendrix graduates. It’s kind of weird how these things just happened, but we owe a lot to Hendrix.”

They insist their company’s growth and success won’t change them – Joe doesn’t plan on trading in his eclectic desk, blue jeans will remain the typical office dress code, and the occasional beer can isn’t frowned upon by the bosses. But they do anticipate one major change – “Perhaps we’ll get a better foosball table,” Joe said.

Learn more about CapSearch at www.capsearch.com

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 31

photos from

alumni weekend Alumni Weekend 2010 was one of the most popular yet. More than 500 alumni returned to the college to visit with old friends and celebrate the accomplishments of the College. The $26 million Student Life and Technology Center (SLTC) served as the epicenter of the festivities. In addition to housing many of the weekend’s events, an open house allowed returning alumni to tour the new building and visit the offices of student organizations. For many, one of the highlights of the weekend was the “Last Lecture” of English professor Dr. Chuck Chappell, who is retiring at the end of the school year (see page 14). A unique event to Alumni Weekend 2010 was the gallery tour in Little Rock. Seven art galleries in Little Rock and North Little Rock are owned

by Hendrix alumni, all of whom graciously opened their doors on Saturday evening to other alumni. The weekend also featured the Half Century Club Luncheon honoring the class of 1960, a Service of Consecration for the SLTC, James Hayes ’88 discussing the chandelier he created for the SLTC (see page 3), reunion parties in Little Rock and Conway, Warrior Booster Hall of Honor banquet, and the annual Alumni Association Awards Brunch.

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01: Nathan Schlientz ’00, Leah Hybel Schlientz ’00, Will Schlientz, Erin Heidi, Nate Heidi ’00, Vafa Ferdowsian ’98, Amy Polk Ferdowsian ’00 and Olivia Ferdowsian 02: Chuck Chappell ’64 presents his “Last Lecture” to a packed house.

03: Julie Dunn Stewart ’97, Matt Dunn ’00, Suzi Vinson Dunn ’70, Amy Dunn Johnson ’96 and Jim Dunn ’70 04: David Spatz, Frank Smith, Dr. Chris Spatz ’62, Mandy Williams Thompson ’97, Lauren Turnbow ’00

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05: Bill Puddephatt ’74, Nancy Allenbaugh Puddephatt ’77, Posey Smith, Elizabeth Smith Small ’81 06: 1960 Classmates (seated) Martha Lou Blackwell Peters, Joyce Peier, Carol Ann Nolley, Pat Lile, Kay Ridgway, Sandra Barnett, Nel Settle, Jo Anne Efird, Sammye Johnston, Liz Williams, Lynn Lindsey, Judy Magness, Linda McDaniel, Kathryn Spore, Anne Miller, (standing) Bob Perry, Ernie Martin, Don Nolley, Billy Humphrey, Ralph Watson, Melvin Ridgeway, Richard Knoll, John Tudor, Bill Johnson,

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Gary Frederick, Joe Hollyfield, Pete Smith, Charles Dunn, Gladwin Connell, Jim Henry, John Choate, Gary Parchman, Hugh Donnell, Jim Ross, Jerry Robbins, Darrell Smith, Joe Guenter and Nancy Conrad Rankin 07: Kendra Wescott Wright ’90, Louis Cupp ’90 and Melinda DeRoeck Young ’90 08: (seated) Clarissa Thomas ’95, Brent Covington ’95, John McAteer ’95, (standing) Avery Garner ’95 and Elizabeth Bridges ’95

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alumni weekend 2010 gallery

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alumni weekend 2010 gallery

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09: 10: 11: 12: 13:

Stacy Sells ’82, Rosi Smith ’78 and Jim Gray ’80 Students and recent alumni take part in Frisbee Golf on campus.

Marthelle Williams Stover ’55, Carl Stover Meg Daniel Hayes ’86, James Hayes ’88 (See New Marriages) Emily Harmon, Todd Harmon ’70, Beth Allen Harmon ’71

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14: Diana Arms ’74, Jon Arms, Sharon Wood Thompson ’59, George Thompson ’48 15: Dian Baldwin Bacon ’80, Jay Newman ’81, Sue Gattinger Farris ’80, Gil Newman ’80, Debby Eubanks Furry ’79, Frank Parke III ’80, Robert “Bo” Frazier ’81, Elizabeth Smith Small ’81

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16: Joe Guenter ’60, Helen Guenter, Tommy Reeves ’63, Roger Lee Harrison, Mary Rayborn, Bill Smith ’63, Joe Hollyfield ’60 17: Carolyn Laux Eastham ’72, Charles Feild ’75, James Cox ’72, Patti Shields Cox ’75, Ann Laux Turney ’75, George Spencer ’75, Lauren DeLano ‘13 18: Continental breakfast on Butler Plaza 19: Matt House ’96, Amy Dunn Johnson ’96, Mary Ann Gwinn ’73

www.hendrix.edu

19

21

20: Tadd McCullough ’00, Nathan Mattox ’00, Lara Davis Mattox ’98, Matt Dunn ’00, Wesley and Julianna Mattox 21: (back) Lara Davis Mattox ’98, Devin Lonergan Holt ’00, Julie Puryear Crouch ’00, Berre Burch ’00, Cathleen Staggs McFarlin ’00, Jenna Carter ’00, (front) Jessica Bartnik ’99, Mary Beth Spivey Tabor ’00, Camille Coker Parker ’00, Dawn McCoy ’00, Amy Jackson ’00

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 35

alumni weekend 2010 gallery

17

alumnotes

alumnotes Connecting with Classmates 1952

1963

Rev. Frank A. Jones of Conway received the Governor’s Award for the Arts for his storytelling to both youths and adults alike. The entire Jones family was present at the award ceremony: Sue Osment Jones ’50, Rock Jones ’80, Brick Jones ’82, and Pebble Jones Sutherland ’85.

Rev. Jones spends his free time giving Bible lectures at his church as well as teaching in the Course of Study School at Hendrix for secondcareer pastors.

Vance Strange of Conway was presented with the Meritorious Service Award for the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame. Strange is a former Warrior coach of track, basketball, and swimming and is a member of the Hendrix College Hall of Honor.

1952 Gloria Kirk Merrill of Forest City, Ark., is enjoying retirement and her grandchildren.

Wayne Upton has given about 400 books to the Alexandria Black History Museum in Alexandria, Va.

1964 Wilandra Stafford Dean was re-elected to the Pulaski County Quorum Court. Dean has been serving for 32 years.

W. Christopher Barrier, a member of Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates and Woodyard, PLLC of Little Rock, has been recognized as a leader in real estate by the 2008 Chambers USA Guide. Recently an article authored by Barrier titled “Flag on the Play!” was published in the Arkansas Bar Association Quarterly journal on penalties in real estate transactions and litigation.

R. Duane Stephens received the W. Z. Hickman award for Historic Preservation in recognition for his commitment to historic preservation efforts in Independence, Mo., through advocacy, education and outreach, and philanthropy.

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Dr. Alton Loveless ’59

recently authored two books: Come Travel with Me and And Who Will Follow. Dr. Loveless began Come Travel With Me in his head during a 145-day stay in two St. Louis hospitals. Upon returning home, he continued to work on this novel. Local towns, places near Conway, and the area where he grew up influenced the background of the novel. Both books are published by Xlibris and may be purchased at various national retailers.

36 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

Share your news with other alumni by visiting www.hendrix.edu/alumni and using the online form.

Information received after March 1, 2010 will appear in the fall edition.

Stephens also retired in June 2009 from his position as Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church after 42 years of service.

1966 Dr. Charles Mel Gray of Minneapolis, Minn., completed six years of service as President-elect, President, and past-President of the Association for Cultural Economics, International. He has now been appointed to a three-year term as Editor-in-Chief of the academic and practitioner research journal, Nonprofit Management and Leadership.

Warren Pearce of Colorado Springs, Colo., retired after 41 years of enjoyment with the AF Satellite community. He is now exploring new ways to spend his free time.

1967 C. Richard King resigned from the Kaufman County Environmental Co-op board after seven years.

King was also elected to the Board of College Mound Water Supply Corporation of Terrell, Texas, and appointed as Election Judge for Kaufman County.

1968 Vickie Witt Dunn started a new job as Assessment Supervisor and Pre K director for Fayette County Schools in Somerville, Tenn., after 31 years of service as a high school counselor.

Joe Purvis was named one of the best lawyers in America and in Arkansas in the area of workers compensation.

Susan Turner Purvis teaches art at Gibbs International Studies Magnet School in Little Rock where she has twice been named Arkansas’ Elementary Educator of the year and once named Arkansas’ Art Educator of the Year.

1969 Barbara Bouwman Honea of Corsicana, Texas, now has two grandsons, Dylan and Dominic, and her son is an aspiring screenwriter in California.

1970 Claudia Van Deusen became a volunteer in mission for the United Methodist Church. In March, she moved to Northern Chile where she teaches English to the children of Colegio Metodista Robert Johnson in Alto Hospicio. www.hendrix.edu

Elsie A. McKee of Princeton, N.J., traveled to Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Germany, Lebanon, Australia, and New Zealand to lecture on the 500th anniversary of John Calvin’s birth.

Robin Rumph of Benton, Ark., delivered a featured presentation at the Association of Behavior Analysis International titled “Climate Change and Cultural Level Change.”

1974 Melinda Morse of San Ramon, Calif., participated in the Cliburn Foundation’s 2nd Annual Contest for Amateur Pianists. Morse and other participants were featured on the Cliburn Foundation’s YouTube channel. Her video may be found at cliburn.org.

Max McCalman ’75

Charles Feild of Little Rock was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health in the United Kingdom.

of Brooklyn, N.Y., co-published his third book, Mastering Cheese, Lessons for Connoisseurship from a Maitre Fromager. It was featured on a segment of CBS’s The Early Show as a great holiday gift for the foodie on your list. On their website the book is described as “an essential companion for the cheese lover who fancies him/herself to be an expert.”

1976 Debi Johnston Barnes was recently appointed as Co-Chairman of the 2010 Technology Task Force Committee of the International Spa Association. Barnes is the owner of Turtle Cove Spa at Mountain Harbor Resort near Mount Ida, Ark. Mark Denman of Houston, Texas, was re-elected to his fourth term on Nassau Bay City Council with no opposition. In August Denman was elected Vice Chairman of the U.S. Rice Millers Association, a trade organization that represents the U.S. rice milling industry and works to promote increased consumption of American-grown rice.

Dr. David Thigpen has been selected to the Henderson State University’s Reddie Hall of Honor. He has coached at various institutions and is now the Associate Athletic Director for Henderson.

1979 Deborah Eubanks Fury recently relocated from Ft. Worth, Texas, to Fayetteville, Ark., in November 2009 to join ITC Infotech, a technology vendor for Wal-Mart in Bentonville, as a Project and Customer Relationship Manager.

1981

1982

Chris Heil of Maumelle, Ark., started a new business, Distribution By Air, a freight exporting company. Heil also recently became a grandfather after the birth of his granddaughter, Emery Jayne.

Bert Griggs now lives in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., not far from the beach and enjoys the San Diego climate with his son and wife. Griggs helps develop and fund healthcare service technology companies in radiology, chronic pain management, and orthopedics.

Holly Hirchert of Champaign, Ill., has been employed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency as a field inspector for five years.

Col. LeAnne Pittman Burch returned home after a one-year army tour in Afghanistan.

She served as a judge advocate for the combined stabilization transition command at Camp Eggers in Kabul.

10th edition of Spatz’s textbook published

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Dr. Chris Spatz ’62, emeritus professor at Hendrix College, recently celebrated the publication of the 10th edition of his textbook, “Basic Statistics: Tales of Distributions.”

The text is written in an informal style with examples from research and everyday life. The book has been used at more than 500 colleges and universities since it was first published in 1976.

It has been adopted at both Hendrix College and the University of Central

www.hendrix.edu

Arkansas.

Dr. Spatz grew up in Conway and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Hendrix and later a Ph.D. from Tulane University. He did postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, and joined the Hendrix faculty in 1973, retiring from teaching in 2003.

Dr. Spatz is also the author of a textbook on research methods published

by McGraw-Hill.

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 37

alumnotes

1973

1975

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Kimball Sudderth Ford of Memphis, Tenn., was appointed to the Executive Committee of the United States Board on Books for Youth (USBBY).

alumnotes

1984

1988

Sylvia McDaniel Hoke is a proud Hendrix alumna and parent.

Her daughter Sarah Hoke ’09 is in Hendrix’s Master of Accounting program and her son Joseph Hoke ’11 is a history major.

Andrew Fearn is the branch manager of the Pearland Library in the Brazoria County, Texas, Library System.

1986

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Dr. James W. Bryan IV was elected to a three-year term on the Board of Delegates of the Arkansas Academy of Family Physicians in August 2009.

Dr. Joe Hollyfield earns accolades for vision research Dr. Joe G. Hollyfield, ’60 was the inaugural recipient in March 2009 of the Llura and Gordon Gund Professorship in Ophthalmology Research at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine. The professorship is one of a number of honors Dr. Hollyfield has earned recently.

He received the Proctor Medal and delivered the Proctor Lecture at the annual meeting in May 2009 of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). Established in 1949, the Proctor Medal is the highest honor given by ARVO and was the first ophthalmology-related award to honor exceptional contributions in either basic or clinical sciences.

He developed a new animal model for age-related macular degeneration that was published in February 2008 in Nature Medicine. His model is being used as a platform for preclinical testing of drugs designed to prevent this disease.

Dr. Hollyfield said the lessons he learned at Hendrix, where he earned a degree in biology, are still serving him well.

“Hendrix was such a great place to be while completing the transition into early adulthood,” he said. “I think the main thing that I began to understand while at Hendrix was the notion that almost any complex issue can be separated into a series of smaller manageable problems. This has served me well both in and out of the laboratory.”

38 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

Carolyn Ellis is the Chief Financial Officer of Document Capture Technologies, Inc., a publicly traded company specializing in scanner and scanner related technologies. She and her husband Rob Winkelman live in San Diego, Calif., with their 4-year-old daughter Grace.

P. Luevonda Ross received the 2009 Professor of the Year award from the Student Bar Association and the Mock Trial Coach of the Year Award from the Black Law Students Association at Faulkner University Jones School of Law in Montgomery, Ala.

1987 Todd and Terry Holt recently moved to Hot Springs from Jonesboro, Ark. Todd was promoted to Regional Executive for the South Central Regional Office of Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield.

1989 Lori Arnold Burton of Fort Smith, Ark., left the corporate business world to spend her time raising her two young sons, Thomas and Kyle.

Ferba O’Kelley of Fort Smith, Ark., earned a master of science degree in Special Education Instruction and returned to work with Bost, Inc., as Early Childhood Education Coordinator.

Stuart Jackson of Little Rock was appointed by Gov. Mike Beebe to serve as a Special Justice on the Arkansas Supreme Court.

1991 Glen Hooks works as Regional Director of the Eastern U.S. for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign, helping organize campaigns to stop coal-fired power plants and move the U.S. toward clean energy solutions.

Hooks has also recently been appointed to the Little Rock Sustainability Commission and is the Vice-President of the Arkansas Local Foods Initiative.

Mike McCoy of Fayetteville, Ark., was recently appointed to Associate Manager of Shopper Insights for Kellogg’s, supporting the Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club accounts. (See New Children)

www.hendrix.edu

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Dr. Gary Bolding ’75 is chairing Stetson University’s Art Department in Deland, Fla. Bolding has been a member of Stetson’s faculty for the past 20 years. He is currently showing “Itching and Scratching: 20 Years at Stetson,” which features representative pieces from his different artistic periods and traces his evolution as a painter during his professorial years.

Bolding grew up in Arkansas

Mark Barr of Austin, Texas, has been awarded a one-month writing residency at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for Arts in Nebraska.

Ruth Eyres of Sherwood, Ark., joined the Easter Seals Arkansas Outreach Staff in January 2009.

Ruth serves as a special education consultant providing student specific technical assistance for teachers throughout Arkansas.

1993 E.B. “Chip” Chiles IV of Little Rock, was recognized in “The Best Lawyers in America 2010” in the areas of Appellate Law, Bet-theCompany Litigation and Commercial Litigation.

Chiles is a member of Quattlebaum, Grooms, Tull & Burrow PLLC. “The Best Lawyers in America” bases its listings on a year-long survey of the

www.hendrix.edu

1996

legal profession in which attorneys nationwide rate the top practitioners in their specialties in their jurisdictions.

JoAnna Holt is working on her master’s degree in Counseling at the University of Arkansas and will graduate in May 2010.

1994 Melissa High Simpson was named Cabot Community Editor for Little Rock Family magazine and promoted to Managing Editor of Hope for Women magazine.

Matt House of Little Rock, was the first recipient (2008-2009) of the Judy Ryan Gray Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, awarded by the Arkansas Bar Association at its June 2009 Annual Convention in Hot Springs, Ark.

Dr. Kevin Koehler, a Lieutenant Colonel with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard’s 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, completed his second combat tour in Taji, Iraq, in August 2009.

1995 Neal Moses of Rochester, Mich., is currently a Human Resources Manager at Ford Motor Company in Southeast Michigan.

Amy Dunn Johnson of Little Rock began work in October 2009 as the Executive Director for the Arkansas Access to Justice Commission, which coordinates efforts to improve access to the civil justice system for poor and near-poor individuals who cannot afford attorneys. (See New Children) Misty Leigh Williams recently relocated to St. Simon’s Island, Ga., where she is the Clinical Director of an Internal

Medicine Hospitalist program. She and her husband, Marty Fitzjurls have a young daughter, Mary Ford Fitzjurls.

1997 Derrick W. Smith of Little Rock was appointed to the Arkansas Lottery Commission and subsequently elected Secretary/ Treasurer and named Chairperson of the Legal Committee.

(See New Children)

Kristin Putchinski ’97

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1992

and Memphis, Tenn. He received a bachelor’s degree in drawing and painting from Hendrix and later earned a master’s degree from Brooklyn College. His work has been shown in more than 100 group exhibitions and more than 20 solo exhibitions in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Korea, and Mexico.

His work is also found in public and private collections around the globe.

is still making her living and participating in the creative economy as a full-time musician, songwriter and composer under the name ellen cherry, a project she began while at Hendrix. This year, she celebrates the release of (New) Years, her fifth original work produced from her label and studio, Wrong Size Shoes, based in Baltimore, Md.

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 39

alumnotes

Exhibition recounts painter’s evolution

1998 Jamey Campbell started working at the Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin, Tenn., in June 2009 as the Coordinator of Student Activities. The 2009-2010 sessions are Campbell’s 10th academic year as a Student Affairs professional. (See New Children) Shawn J. Johnson of Little Rock was recommended to President Obama by United States Senators Blanche L. Lincoln and Mark Pryor for a presidential appointment as United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas.

1999 Prof. J. Aaron Christopher teaches

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In October 2009, Hendrix alumni Richard Hawthorne ’98, Trent Hubbard ’98, Liz Goldner Hubbard ’00, Karen Steelman ’98, and Shawn Johnson ’98 had a getaway weekend in the beautiful town of Calico Rock, Ark. During the weekend, they stayed at “Ed’s Rock Lodge,” a cabin owned by Ed Matthews, former Vice President of Development, and his wife Pat.

accounting at California Baptist University in Riverside, Calif., and is pursuing his Ph.D. at Claremont Graduate University.

Alex Faris is a clinical psychologist at the University of Wisconsin Student Health Center in Madison. Faris recently published articles in the Journal of Clinical Psychology and Human Services Today. (See Marriages)

2000 Mary Katherine Razer Parson was named Teacher of the Year at Little Rock Central High School for the 2009-2010 school year.

She was also named 2009 Arkansas Biology Teacher of the Year by the National Association of Biology Teachers.

Ashley Goodson lives in New York City and loves it. Goodson has completed four marathons, four half-marathons, and three triathlons in the past 12 months and plans to run the New York City Marathon in 2010. She recently celebrated her 30th birthday in Ireland with U2 in Dublin.

Kate Matlock completed her master’s degree in Design Studies in December 2009, at Central Saint Martins, London. Matlock’s graduation exhibition at the Truman Brewery displayed the artifacts iterated throughout her research about how digital presence can strengthen trust in offline relationships.

2002 Ashley Harden Hill and her husband Brian recently purchased the Jonesboro Sylvan

Learning center. They have more than 100 students attending in-center and several hundred more from the surrounding school districts.

2003 Jessica Duke Alexander received a Ph.D. in Psychology from Emory University and has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Concord University, a small liberal arts college in Athens, W. Va. Dr. Lauren P. Blair is a postdoctoral associate in the Pathology Department of Yale University studying the role of histone demethylases in breast cancer progression.

Emily Cheek of Richardson, Texas, curated an exhibition of paintings by Hendrix Professor Matthew Lopas.

Matthew Lopas: Panoramic Interiors was shown at

Alumnus Leads Local Organizations Eric Bell ’06 was elected President of the Greater Washington Jump$tart Coalition in October 2009 and is the youngest state leader in the country.

Greater Washington Jump$tart is a local coalition of organizations dedicated to improving financial literacy of kindergarten through college age youth by providing advocacy research, and educational resources. Jump$tart strives to prepare youth for lifelong successful financial decision making and, by working collaboratively, more resources are available to achieve this

40 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

task. Bell has helped the organization increase their number of partners by over 400% in six months.

In January 2010 Bell helped start Next Generation Leaders and was appointed chairman of the board.

Next Generation Leaders is an organization dedicated to enriching the economic future of Washington, D.C. by offering a platform for talented young professionals to become active members of the DC Chamber of Commerce and build strategic partnerships with the local business community.

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alumnotes

2001

Brian A. Vandiver has joined the Little Rock office of Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard, PLLC as counsel.

www.hendrix.edu

Laura Leigh Hampton recently left the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Benton County, Ark., and moved to WinstonSalem, N.C., to become the Senior Manager for the Employment Law Counsel at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

Aaron Strong is entering his second year as a resident at Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.

2004 Scott Michael Morey relocated from Longview, Texas, to Little Rock to serve as a National Bank Examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.

Erin Rowe is living in Maui for the year and attending culinary school before she returns to Sifnos, Greece, a tiny, white-washed island in the middle of the blue Aegean. She hopes to fuse all of these great experiences in world travel, fine art, Pacific-rim cooking, and writing into a unique career. Her “all paths lead to one” philosophy is very reflective of the “unto the whole person” approach learned some five years ago. www.hendrix.edu

alumnotes

Chris Daily completed his Ph.D. in Chinese Religions at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Daily was elected as a permanent Fellow of the Roy Asiatic Society and was awarded a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Chinese Religions by the British Academy.

Anna Patterson Strong is a graduate student at The Clinton School of Public Service.

2005 Mark Schwartz graduated from the University of Arkansas in May 2009 with a master’s degree in History.

2006 Robert Alexander completed a master’s degree in Pharmacology at the University of London, King’s College London.

He has been accepted to a Ph.D. program at the University of London, University College London where he will focus on the molecular biology of lung fibrosis.

Eric Bell was recently promoted to Assistant Vice President at the Citi Private Bank. Bell has also begun work toward a master’s degree in business administration at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. (See story on page 40) Alisha Burrow received an MBA in Marketing from the University of Phoenix and is the Executive Director of Tourism for the City of Buda, Texas.

Molly M. Housh is working toward a master’s degree in Divinity from Harvard Divinity School.

Jonathan Self received a master of fine arts degree in Acting from Western Illinois University. Self also won the Irene Ryan Classical Acting Award for his region.

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the McKinney Avenue Contemporary in Dallas, Texas, from Sept. 5 until Oct. 10, 2009.

Award-winner Mike Crimmins (center) stopped by to talk with the 17 Hendrix students who presented posters at the American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco. Professors Randy Kopper, David Hales and Liz Gron accompanied the students.

American Chemical Society honors Mike Crimmins ’76 Dr. Michael T. Crimmins ’76 was honored in March by the American Chemical Society for his sustained record of achievements in the synthesis of architecturally complex natural products. He received the Ernest Guenther Award in the Chemistry of Natural Products and presented his award address before the Division of Organic Chemistry in San Francisco.

Dr. Crimmins grew up in Conway and graduated from Hendrix with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He received the McHenry Award, an honor given to the top senior chemistry major. “Hendrix College left an impression on me and I owe much to my experience there,” says Dr. Crimmins.

Dr. Crimmins earned a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1980.

He studied photochemical processes to make molecules, which became a popular topic throughout his career.

Currently, he is the Mary Ann Smith Professor of Chemistry and Senior Associate Dean for Natural Sciences at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he has been recognized with university-wide awards for teaching. His innovative work in the synthesis of ginkgolide B has become a standard of strategic planning included in many graduate synthesis courses.

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 41

alumnotes

Brooke & Huey’s NYC Adventure

Photo by Felisha Weaver

Brooke Augusta Owen ’01 and her dog Huey recently left their cozy Arkansas home for the bright lights of New York City.

Brooke is the Director of Institutional Gifts at the New York City Opera and is responsible for all governmental and foundational fundraising, including the company’s joint $200 million capital campaign with the New York City Ballet. Interestingly, she works alongside George Steel, the company’s general manager and artistic director and the great nephew of former Hendrix President Marshall Steel. Brooke previously worked as the Director of Planned Giving at Hendrix College. She contributes her “New York observations of a displaced belle” on her blog: http://southernexpat.wordpress.com/.

From Physics to Farming

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Cody Hopkins ’01 and Andrea Todt recently visited Manhattan where they received the Glynwood Harvest Wave of the Future Award.

The award identifies and celebrates cuttingedge work being done across the nation to support sustainable agriculture and to diversify regional and local food systems.

Hopkins and Todt created Falling Sky Farm in Marshall, Ark., where they combine a desire to farm and live sustainably with their Internet savvy. The farm uses livestock management techniques such as “holistic pulse grazing” in order to maximize the productivity and meat quality. Currently all of the farm’s products are marketed within 150 miles, and they hope to market at least 25 percent of the products within 50 miles. This approach to marketing complements their commitment to sustainability.

Hopkins is also responsible for the creation of Conway Locally Grown in 2008, an online marketing system for fresh farm produce. In a little over a year the network grew to include over 200 members and 25 farmers. He has since consulted with at least three other communities about starting their own locally grown network.

Hopkins work has also benefited local food pantries.

Conway Locally Grown donates 20 percent of its $25 membership fees and a percentage of each week’s sales to

42 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

the St. Peters Episcopal Church food pantry. In addition to Locally Grown, Hopkins is a founding farmer of the yearround Village Community Market in Hot Springs Village, a unique and innovative Farmers Market.

Hopkins graduated from Hendrix in 2001 with a degree in physics. “Hendrix helped me develop the tools and open-mindedness I need to find and pursue work that is meaningful to me and my community. People often ask how I went from physics to farming and I usually just ‘blame’ it on the liberal arts experience. I left Hendrix interested in so many things,” said Hopkins.

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alumnotes Courtesy Photo

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Lily Grace, 5, and Ella Reece, 2, the daughters of Chris Harrison ’95 and Jan Green Harrison ’97 enjoy their first trip to the beach in Hendrix garb.

marriages 1977 Donna P. Duerr ’77 to Rob Marston, Dec. 9, 2008.

1986 Meg Daniel McCluskey ’86 to James Hayes ’88, Aug. 1, 2009.

1995 Chris Dudding ’95 to Thuc-Doan Vo ’96, Oct. 31, 2009.

Colt Douglas Scotten, first son, first child, to Shelly Peterson Scotten ’02 and her husband Doug, July 13, 2009.

Eliza Clare Counts, first daughter, first child, to Leigh Lassiter-Counts ’01 and Richard Counts ’01, April 11, 2009.

Michael Licatino ’06 to Lauren Katherine Weygandt ’06, at Greene Chapel, May 31, 2008.

1991

Matthew Presley ’06 to Chaela Sickbert ’08, June 6, 2009.

2007 Thomas Henry ’07 to Merry Miller ’08, Aug. 1, 2009.

2008 Corey Villines ’08 to Charles Thomas Brooks Jr., Dec. 24, 2008.

Clarissa Thompson ’95 to Kefus C. Thomas, May 30, 2009.

new children

1998

1989

Martin Eckles ’98 to Margaret Nipp, May 2009.

Nicholas, first son, second child, to Rhonda Primm Flannery ’89, July 7, 2008.

2005

Merrick Kefala, third son, third child, age 2, welcomed into the family of Lynda Potter Russell ’89 and her husband Clarke, June 13, 2009.

Carol Nixon ’05 to Brandon Ricketts, Aug. 8, 2009.

2006 Emily Elizabeth Wells ’06 to Raydodd Cardell Hester ’06, July 11, 2009.

www.hendrix.edu

1990 James Andrew, second son, second child, to Sheryl Griffith Nolan ’90 and her husband Andy, July 22, 2009.

Nicholas Brendan, second son, second child, to Mike McCoy ’91 and Sarah Hardin McCoy ’93, Feb. 20, 2009.

Virginia Maryh Harvey, first daughter, first child, to Andi M. Thompkins ’91 and her husband Joe Harvey, Jan. 6, 2009.

1992 Pilar Camille Retamales, first daughter, first child, to Anne Amis ’92 and her husband Jamie Retamales, July 28, 2009.

Andrew Richard Tingler, first son, first child, to Jennifer Platt ’92 and her husband Sam Tingler, Jan. 21, 2010.

1993 Elias Cole, first son, second child, to Christopher Lemmonds ’93 and his wife Charlotte Dayer Lemmonds ’94, Sept. 25, 2009.

John T. Markey V, first son, third child, to John Markey ’93 and his wife Jennifer, November 2009.

Christopher Anthony, second son, second child, to Julie Horn Penna ’93, Nov. 5, 2009.

1994 Reed Allen, second son, third child, to Dr. Matthew P. Jackson ’94, July 11, 2008.

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 43

alumnotes

new children (cont’d)

1998

Kellan Michael Allen, first son, first child, to Gretchen Rapp Sakkinen ’94 and her husband Shane, Aug. 21, 2009.

Abira Mayakan, second daughter, second child, to Jason Bintliff ’98, Feb. 22, 2010.

Abira joins her big sister Indira Mbale, born May 15, 2008.

Cooper Christopher, second son, second child, to Kellie Morris Tolin ’94 and her husband Dell, Nov. 4 2009.

Nicholas Miller, second son, second child, to Jamey Campbell ’98 and his wife Jen Girten, Sept. 7, 2009.

Jonas Slade Veach, first son, first child, to Steven Veach ’01 and Suzanne Biedman ’00, Apr. 2, 2009.

1995

Julianna Lee, first daughter, second child, to Lara Davis Mattox ’98 and Nathan Mattox ’00, Oct. 27, 2008.

Evelyn Grace, first daughter, first child, to Randall A. Hughes ’01 and Julie K. Wood Hughes ’00, Nov. 18, 2009.

Avery Kendall, first daughter, first child, to Tammy Stamps Heise ’98 and her husband Kevin, July 8, 2009.

2002

Rebecca Anne, second daughter, third child, to Sheryl Davis Debenham ’95 and her husband John, Jan. 2, 2010.

Abigail Clair, first daughter, third child, to Jennifer Cordi Haden ’95 and her husband Joel, Mar. 16, 2010. Abigail joins her big brothers William, 3, and Ethan, 1.

Charlotte Nixon-McClure, second daughter, third child, to Tim McClure ’98 and Alice Ann Nixon McClure ’01 , Dec. 20, 2009.

Tyler Reed, first son, first child, to Mary Margaret Jackson ’95 and her husband Jay, Mar. 3, 2009.

Maximilian Edward, third son, third child, to Brian Raines ’98, Nov. 20, 2009.

Harry Luke, first son, first child, to Neal Moses ’95 and his wife Jenifer.

1999

1996

Andrew Ayres, first son, first child, to Mary Margaret Ratliff Gay ’99 and her husband Kevin, June 17, 2009.

Robert Timothy, third son, third child, to Carrie Henderson Chiaro ’96 and her husband Mark, Nov. 19, 2009.

Nicolas Gianni, second son, third child, to Maria Eckhart Constantino ’96, June 25, 2009.

Emery Anne, second daughter, second child, to Amy Dunn Johnson ’96 and her husband David, June 9, 2009.

Sean Andrew, first son, first child, to Laura Joy Napieralski Pennington ’99, April 7, 2009.

Baron Scott, first son, first child, to Dr. Brian S. Wayne ’99 and Dr. Rachel L. Wayne ’99, July 12, 2009.

Hayes Barrett, second son, second child, to Beau Wilcox ’99 and his wife Shannon, July 30, 2009.

1997

Jacob Kristopher, first son, second child, to Laura Yerton Adkins ’99, April 15, 2009.

Lorelei Ruth, first daughter, first child, to Courtney Huffman Gasper ’97, Dec. 21, 2009.

2000

Elijah, fourth son, fourth child, to Diana Hua Nguyen ’97 and her husband Tom, Sept. 23, 2009.

Lucas Vihn Nguyen-Powell, first son, first child, to Jennifer Powell ’97 and her husband Thi Nguyen, Jan. 31, 2009.

Andrew Christopher, first son, first child, to Derrick W. Smith ’97 and his wife Gwendolyn, Dec. 29, 2009.

44 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

Madeline, first daughter, first child, to Elisabet Allen Bell ’00 and her husband Guy, July 28, 2009.

Ella Grace and Harrison Graham, second son and first daughter, second and third children, to Sarah Tisdale Horton ’00, April 16, 2009.

Aiden Christopher, first son, first child, to Chris Hansen ’00 and Suzanne Jensen Hansen ’00, Dec. 2, 2008.

Seth and Eli, first sons, first children, to Shane Spears ’00 and his wife Teryn, Sept. 4, 2009.

2001

Noah Lane, first son, second child, to Amber Barber Feyen ’02 and her husband Bruce, Aug. 17, 2009.

William James Hamilton Mason, second child, to Elaine Fernandez ’02 and Benjamin Mason ’02, June 24, 2009.

Isaac Archibald Roes, first son, first child, to Erin Hollis ’02 and her husband Aldwin Roes.

Jack Henry Davenport, first son, first child, to Dr. Juliana K. Leding ’02 and her husband Cable Davenport, Oct. 1, 2009.

Kimberly, first daughter, first child, to Patricia McMarus Tauer ’02 and Anthony Tauer ’03, May 26, 2009.

2003 Samuel Herbert, first son, first child, to Kathryn Gardner Allen ’03 and her husband Benjamin, Sept. 25, 2009.

Nora, first child, first daughter, to Krista Lancaster ’03, May 2007.

2004 Abigail Lorelai, first daughter, first child, to Elizabeth Niles McDowell ’04 and her husband Tony, July 14, 2009.

Zoe Lucia, first daughter, first child, to Nicole Loggms Orueta ’04, Aug. 24, 2008.

Eliana Grace, first daughter, second child, to Brent Reader ’04 and his wife Kendra, Oct. 1, 2009.

www.hendrix.edu

Joe Slattery ’47, who died on Friday, Oct. 2, 2009, will be remembered by millions of Chicagoans as the voice of Jewel groceries, after more than three decades doing radio and television commercials for the company.

Slattery, born in Memphis, Tenn., in 1922, served in the Army Air Force during World War II as a pilot before

attending Hendrix and earning a degree in English. Slattery started his career in radio while he attended Hendrix and for many years he was the announcer for the “Ozark Jubilee,” a television show in Springfield, Mo. In 1960 he moved to Chicago to work for ABC as an announcer and a news anchor on radio and television

but later decided to pursue freelance announcing work full time. He began working for Jewel in the mid-1970s and his voice quickly became linked to the company. In his later years he worked exclusively for Jewel, a popular grocery store chain in the Chicago area.

Gladys Blakney Allen ’49 Bill Vernon Dennis ’49 Ernest Hankins Jr. ’49 Frank E. Robins III ’49 Doyle Wade Ward ’49 Agnes Craig ’50 Edward A. Halter Jr. ’50 Lucy Word Morgan ’50 Rev. Norris Steele ’50 Kylde Hanson Stephens ’50 Bill Sybert ’50 Frances Jane Stephens Trimble ’50 Dr. Earl Hughes ’51 Esta Medora Saxon Butler Williams Kirkley ’51 William Cook ’52 Dolly Huff McClanahan ’52 Martha Sue McLellan Smith ’52 Edward P. Kendall Jr. ’53 William Thomas Murry Jr. ’53 John Bennett Silaz III ’53 Charles Wilkin ’53 Buren Charles Smith III ’54 Sue Alread ’55 Gerald K. Hilton ’55 Charles Hicks ’56 Patricia Bass Hyatt ’56 Rev. Robert W. Johnson ’56 Dr. Gene D. Pynes ’56 Joyce Cannon Baker ’57 Joe K. Cummins ’57 Joseph Robbins ’57 Linda Cherry Roseman ’59 Troy Joseph Bradbury Jr. ’60 Virginia Pool Murphy ’60 Stephen Franklin “Butch” Crouch ’61 Virginia Ann Hodges Hunter ’61 Robbie Godwin Staton ’61 Dr. H. Dabbs Woodfin Jr. ’62 Raymond A. Pritchett ’63 Harry M. Harmon ’64

George Stephen Smith ’64 Michael Lee Mizelle ’67 Lolly Ledbetter Shaver ’67 Cullen Tarver Weeden ’68 Aline Goodwin Jackson ’70 Jackie Mann ’71 Shannon L. Shock ’72 J. Michael Young ’74 William Greer Guinn ’75 James S. Hudson Jr. ’76 Charles Robert Barton Jr. ’77 Mary Poteet ’78 Paul Sessions ’78 Virginia Tucker ’78 Mary Josephine McKnight Runge ’79 Lucinda Jane Burleson Horton ’81 John C. Mason ’85 Christopher Lance Keller ’86 Janet P. Butler ’89 Michael K. Moore ’89 Donna Dinwiddie ’90 Heidi C. Bottomley Meyer ’93 Jeremy Jason Wise ’98* Lianne Quinton ’08

in memoriam Mildred Murrie Lee ’29 Thelma Fish Giessen ’34 Mildred Townsend Menefee ’34 Virginia Grinstead Spain ’35 Doris Rhodes Saul Beck ’36 Mary Sue Anderson Evans ’37 Julia Lemley Ellis ’38 Paul T. Hardy ’38 Lynn C. Heflin ’38 Enid Kimes Hendrick Thurston ’38 Thomas Rumph ’39 Albert C. Shepherd ’39 Thomas Carlyle Huff ’41 Louise Criswell Pittman ’41 Elizabeth Ann McCuistion Richardson ’41 Donna Rae Driver Schmetzer ’41 Lloyd Leslie Derden ’42 Annette Philips Hughey ’42 Lois Whitehead Langston ’42 John Bonar Moore ’42 Fred Grady Roebuck Jr. ’42 Carolyn Buckley Wiley ’42 Frances Gene Murry McCarty ’43 Florene White Moore ’43 Richard Mason “Dick” Perdue ’43 Harlow Stewart Sanders ’43 Wanda Gibson Wimberley ’43 James A. Few ’44 Rev. John H. Lane ’44 Frances Juanita Wahl Milam ’44 Oliver Wood McClintock Jr. ’46 Carolyn Camp Smith ’46 Frances Sarna ’46 Mary Alice Browne Moritz ’47 Joe Slattery ’47 Lyndell P. Watkins ’47 Charles Harmon Hunt ’48 Robert Wheeler McDaniel ’48 Dr. James E. Murphy Jr. ’48 Troy D. Bledsoe ’49

www.hendrix.edu

J. W. Lofton – Former trustee (1986-1994) Eugene M. Frank – Former Trustee (1972-1976) *In Afghanistan

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 45

alumnotes

Hendrix alumnus was the voice of Jewel

alumnotes

alumni voices

For the complete stories visit www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine Alumni are invited to submit essays to the editor at plotkin@hendrix.edu

“Rubbing Elbows with History” An excerpt from a narration by Bill T. Utley ’34 about his experience at the 1940 Democratic National Convention.

“The door to the Secretary’s suite was barricaded by a most formidable person who challenged everyone seeking entrance, and virtually no one was making it past him. This called for a desperate strategy. By now I had worked my way forward and there was but one person ahead of me and he was trying to convince the ‘keeper of the portal’ that his business warranted admission. It was now or never. Taking a deep breath I stepped forward and, in the most official and commanding voice I could muster, said, ‘Gentlemen, I have a most pressing appointment with the Secretary. Will you please let me by?’ ‘Oh, excuse me,’ was his reply as he stepped aside, moving the frustrated person with him and, in the same motion, opened the door. As it closed behind me I took a moment to get my breath, collect my thoughts and compose myself.

The Secretary was now readily accessible and most gracious when I explained my situation. He gave me a note to a Mr. Andy Frain whose firm was handling internal traffic at the Coliseum, the Convention site.

46 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

Suffice it to say, I lost no time getting to him. The note did the trick for he gave me a badge and credentials for an Assistant Sergeant at Arms, and assigned me to a VIP section, up a broad staircase and just above the main floor. Frain also said I would be assisted by two uniformed Chicago police, and that I should be on station by 5:30 p.m. This struck me as a bit heavy on control, and early too, for as I recalled, the ‘call to order’ was 8 p.m. But, who was I to question a professional? I was in and that was the important thing.”

“The Train” An excerpt from a short story written

by James M. Walton ’60, a retired attorney living in Illinois, about a trip with his family to visit the first church served by his father, Aubrey G. Walton ’28, a Methodist minister who served the Louisiana Area as Bishop.

“Both my sister and I remember the trip, but neither of us can remember just when it occurred. The date is not really important--it was sometime around 1950. My father and mother, and my sister and I were on a family summer vacation. Wherever else we went on that trip, the place which is relevant was our stop in Calico Rock.

At that time, Dad was the pastor of the First Methodist Church in Little Rock. He and my mother were

returning to the place where Dad had served his first ‘charge.’ They still knew some of the people in the town and took the opportunity of our trip to stop for a visit–the first since they left some twenty years before.

Calico Rock is a small town in north central Arkansas, south of Mountain Home and northwest of Batesville.

Before we arrived, my father told my sister and me that the people in this town and in the surrounding areas had a special characteristic. They did not ask anything about another person’s personal life. They would not ask us where we had been or where we were going, what we had done or what we were going to do.

My sister and I were cautioned that we ourselves were not to ask any personal questions of anyone in town during our stay. And, indeed, other than one question asked by the teenage daughter of one of the families with whom we stayed, no one in Calico Rock asked us anything about our personal activities.

After we left Calico Rock for wherever else we were headed, Dad told the story of his and my mother’s arrival in this town in November of 1931, and this story provided an illustration as no other of the practice of the locals to mind their own business and not to meddle in the affairs of others.”

www.hendrix.edu

Calling Hendrix Alumni: We’re in the Homestretch!

By Rob O’Connor ’95 Director of Foundation Relations Hendrix is in the homestretch of the largest comprehensive campaign in the history of the college. With the support of alumni and friends, we have received more than $97 million in gifts and pledges (as of April 25, 2010) toward our $100 million campaign goal.

Two priorities remaining in our campaign are increasing support for the Annual Fund and meeting a prestigious challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation of Troy, Mich., to complete the Student Life and Technology Center (SLTC).

The Hendrix Annual Fund (which includes the Alumni Loyalty Fund and Parent Fund) provides much-needed student scholarship and financial assistance, as well as critical academic and student life resources. With 1,463 students on campus this year, the Hendrix Annual Fund has never been more important.

The 2009-2010 Annual Fund goal is $1.9 million. Currently, we have raised $1.36 million. To meet our Annual Fund goal by May 31, 2010, we must do two important things: • We need 20 new President’s Club members and 25 Young President’s Club members to meet our goal

by May 31. The college is looking for a total of 70 new President’s Club members ($1,000/year) and 50 new Young President’s Club members ($500/year for alumni who graduated in the past 15 years). www.hendrix.edu

• We need to increase overall alumni participation, regardless of the dollar amount. While Hendrix competes with some of the country’s leading liberal arts colleges, the percentage of our alumni who give annually falls far short of our peers (e.g. 30 percent for Hendrix versus approximately 40 percent at Rhodes College, etc.). Currently, alumni participation in the Annual Fund is at 25 percent toward our goal of 32 percent for this fiscal year.

The Kresge Challenge provides an extraordinary opportunity to complete the fundraising for the SLTC. Hendrix has raised more than $25 million toward the $26 million goal. To successfully meet the challenge, we must secure the remaining $995,000 in gifts and pledges for the SLTC

by June 2010. Naming opportunities still exist for gifts and pledges at the $25,000+ level.

Thank you for helping to make a difference in the lives of our students and faculty with your gift.

Hendrix Alumni Loyalty Fund Leigh Lassiter-Counts ’01 501.450.1357 annualfund@hendrix.edu www.hendrix.edu/giving

For more than 25 years, Hendrix students have called alumni during the annual Fall Student Phonea-thon. The students typically reach 5,000 alumni during the annual phone-a-thon week to ask for gifts to the Annual Fund.

The phone-a-thon allows students to share their current Hendrix experiences with alumni and to learn more about the traditions of years past.

Hendrix Kresge Challenge Michael V. Hutchison 877.208.8777 501.450.4574 Hutchison@hendrix.edu

Make your gift by May 31!

Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010 47

development

Photo by Joshua Daugherty

development

Walter Moffatt ’32

Photo by Joshua Daugherty

As a professor of English, Dr. Walter Moffatt ’32 created a lasting legacy at Hendrix College during his lifetime. During his 29 years as a member of the Hendrix faculty, Dr. Moffatt had a strong presence in the Hendrix community. When he died on Christmas Day 2007 at the age of 96, he added to that legacy through a generous donation to the college in his will. With this gift to the new Student Life and Technology Center, the impact of his long and well-lived life will be felt by generations of Hendrix students who did not have the privilege of calling him “Professor.”

Hendrix College often hears from alumni, staff, friends, and faculty, such as Dr. Moffatt, who have named Hendrix College as a beneficiary in their estate. These commitments play a vital role in the mission

of the college. If you would like to have an impact on the college today and make a designation in your estate through an IRA, insurance policy or bequest, please provide the language below for your attorney: “I hereby give, devise, and bequeath to Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas, (the sum of $___) or (____% of my estate) or (specific items or property) or (the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate). This gift may be used to further the educational objectives of Hendrix College in such a manner as the Trustees of the College direct.”

In addition to your attorney, please notify the Hendrix College Advancement Office of your intentions so that we might be able to honor you and your commitment to Hendrix.

Thank you for your interest in leaving a

Courtesy Photo

Leaving a Legacy

legacy that will support the experience of generations of students at Hendrix.

You may also wish to further designate your gift for a particular purpose or program.

We invite you to contact us to learn more about the benefits as an estate gift donor.

Please contact the Advancement Office at 501.450.1223 if you would like further information.

The office of the Director of International Studies in the Student Life and Technology Center is named for Dr. Moffatt.

48 Hendrix Magazine | Spring 2010

www.hendrix.edu

Survey responses help shape magazine redesign

Office of Institutional Advancement and Planning W. Ellis Arnold III, J.D. ’79 Executive Vice President and Dean of Advancement

Hilda Malpica ’64 Assistant to the Executive Vice President

Patti Cain Administrative Asst. for Development and Alumni Relations

Advancement Services Dan Turner Director of Advancement Services

Almost 1,000 alumni responded to a Hendrix Magazine readership survey in late October and early November 2009. You told us what you liked about Hendrix Magazine – and what you didn’t. Thank you!

The redesigned magazine you hold in your hand is a direct result of your input.

You told us you were most interested in alumni activities and accomplishments, profiles of alumni and faculty, and historical features. You said that life in the residence halls was an important part of your Hendrix experience and that you wanted to know what it was like for today’s students.

You mentioned that you would like to read articles written by other alumni with diverse viewpoints and unique voices.

You also told us that your time at Hendrix was fun and that the magazine didn’t capture that feeling of fun and excitement you remembered.

More than 150 of you shared specific suggestions for stories or new recurring features. All of your ideas and suggestions were reviewed and a number of them are reflected in this edition.

Among the ideas you suggested that you’ll find in this edition: • An old photo of a spot on campus, paired with a photo of the same spot today.

• Stories about residence hall life and traditions • A look back at the 1984 basketball team • Stories written by Hendrix alumni • A student-taken photo that captures a little of the fun of campus life We shared the survey results with the Alumni Board of Governors, and the board’s Communications Committee provided helpful feedback on our redesign plans.

The most obvious changes are a fresh new design, new typography and a new size. This edition of the magazine

is slightly wider than previous issues and has more pages. The typeface used throughout the publication is FF Meta, which has both a serif and a sans-serif version, along with numerous other variations. Photos are larger and stories are a bit shorter. We’ve included more alumni profiles and tried, as we select our stories, to be more conscious of the varying interests of Hendrix alumni, who are some of the most diverse and eclectic people on the globe.

Expect to find more of your ideas and suggestions in future editions. The magazine will continue to be a work in progress, evolving with each edition. We hope we can count on your continued feedback to help us create the kind of magazine that you want to read and share with others.

Please respond to future surveys with your thoughts and e-mail or call with your comments on this edition.

In future editions, we hope to fill this space with alumni-written essays that either reflect on your time at Hendrix or discuss how the Hendrix experience influenced the course of your life. Submissions (electronic preferred) for the Fall edition should be received by the editor no later than Sept. 1, 2010. We look forward to sharing your writing with your fellow alumni.

We also encourage you to check out Hendrix Magazine on the Web at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine.

You’ll find “Web extras,” including longer versions of some magazine stories and other materials that enhance what you’ve seen in the print version. We intend to make further enhancements and upgrades to the Web version as we move forward.

Thank you for your involvement in Hendrix and for the time you spend reading Hendrix Magazine. Keep talking to us about what you want. We’re listening!

Yvonne Morgan

Helen S. Plotkin, Editor plotkin@hendrix.edu

Lindsay Singer

Director of Research and Prospect Management

Alumni and Constituent Relations Pamela R. Owen ’82 Assoc. Vice President for Alumni and Constituent Relations

Claudia Courtway Director of Parent Relations

Barbara Horton Director of Stewardship, Alumni and Constituent Relations

Julie Janos ’94 Director of Target Cities Programs

Teresa Clogston Osam ’72 Coordinator of Special Events

Communications and Marketing Helen S. Plotkin Assoc. Vice President for Communications and Marketing

Natalie Atkins Communications Assistant

Joshua Daugherty Web Designer/Multimedia Programmer

Mark Scott Director of Media Relations

Development Michael V. Hutchison Associate Vice President for Development

Jack Frost ’72 Senior Development Officer

Melissa Jenkins Assistant Director of Annual Giving

Leigh Lassiter-Counts ’01 Director of Annual Giving

Robert O’Connor ’95 Director of Foundation Relations

Office of the Chaplain J. Wayne Clark ’84 Chaplain and Director of Church Relations

J.J. Whitney ’96 Assistant Chaplain Assistant to the Chaplain

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Little Rock, AR Permit #906 1600 Washington Avenue Conway, Arkansas 72032

online extras This edition of Hendrix Magazine is available online at www.hendrix.edu/hendrixmagazine. The online version features the information available in print, plus a number of extras available only on the Web. • Time-lapse photography of the installation of • Complete text of the “Alumni Voices” stories James Hayes chandelier in the SLTC that are excerpted on Page 46 • Full text of Dr. Chuck Chappell’s magazine article • Links to short video interviews with Dr. Tom about the “Great Train Wreck of 1963” Goodwin and Dr. Jennifer Peszka • Link to video of Dr. Chappell’s Last Lecture to • More detailed information about faculty alumni given during Alumni Weekend ’10 research and publications

stay connected Join the Hendrix Web Community where you will find tools to help you stay connected with your classmates and the College. As a member of the Web Community, you can update your personal information, submit information about your achievements and milestones for publication online and in print, and find contact information for classmates who are also community members.

Visit www.hendrix.edu/alumni to learn more.

Send your comments and questions to alumni@hendrix.edu