Rhodes Magazine Fall 2013

THE MAGAZINE OF RHODES COLLEGE

Galaxy

A of

Potential

FALL 2013

Renovated science facilities promise to attract the best and brightest.

THE FUTURE UNFOLDS Plans for the renovation of Rhodes Tower include new labs, classrooms, offices, and physical plant improvements. An architect’s cutaway illustrates the range of potential uses for the six-story, 21,660-foot space.

FALL 2013

VOLUME 20 • NUMBER 3

is published three times a year by Rhodes College 2000 N. Parkway Memphis, TN 38112 as a service to all alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff, and friends of the college.

Fall 2013— Volume 20, Number 3 EDITOR

Lynn Conlee

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS

Larry Ahokas Robert Shatzer PRODUCTION EDITORS

Jana Files ’78 Carson Irwin ’08 Charlie Kenny Ken Woodmansee CONTRIBUTORS

Lauren Albright ’16 Richard J. Alley Justin Fox Burks Julia Fawal ’15 Jim Kiihnl Michelle Parks Jill Johnson Piper ’80 P’17 Elisha Vego

8

EDITOR EMERITUS

Martha Shepard ’66 INFORMATION 901-843-3000 ALUMNI OFFICE 1 (800) 264-LYNX ADMISSION OFFICE 1 (800) 844-LYNX Rhodes Tower Photo illustration by Larry Ahokas Photo by Jim Kiihnl

4

A Message from the President

6

Campus News Briefs on campus happenings

30

Student Spotlight

34

Faculty Focus

36

Alumni News Class Notes, In Memoriam The 2012-2013 Honor Roll of Donors

2

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

rhodes.edu

16

75 8 75

Situating Beloved Texts:

A Trip to Berlin Impacts Search Faculty Enhancing the liberal arts experience—this time for professors!

Rhodes and Beyond Tucked between Alumni News and the Honor Roll lies a special story about a growing college treasure.

rhodes.edu

16

By Design:

Full Renovation to Transform Rhodes Tower With its quirky architectural history and planned renovation, Rhodes Tower tells the tale of two centuries in science education.

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

3

A Message from the President

The Campaign for Rhodes

W

elcoming our very talented Class of 2017 this fall provided a most meaningful reminder of how much the Campaign for Rhodes matters to our students and our college. Increasingly, our students arrive on campus from all across our country and all around the globe. Rhodes is affordable to many of these students because of the scholarships provided by alumni, parents, and friends of the college. Newly funded opportunities for research, internships, and service proved to be the deciding factor for many of them to attend Rhodes. Funds donated for faculty support and new faculty positions help ensure that students learning experiences will be exceptional.

So many of you have given and continue to give generously to help us achieve our goals to provide the best possible support for students and faculty. Thanks to you, much has been accomplished to enhance the student experience and make our great college even better. But our work is not yet done. We extended our Campaign for Rhodes and expanded our goal to $303.5 million for student and faculty support. We added a component essential for the continued success of our

4

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

students—updated and expanded science facilities.

As you read in this issue the storied history of the Peyton Nalle Rhodes Tower, many of you will be reminded of the opening of the Frazier Jelke Science Center in 1968. So very much has changed since then.

Our track record of student success in the sciences and our partnership with truly world-class institutions such as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has created unprecedented student interest in the sciences.

More than 40 percent of the Class of 2017 intends to major in the natural sciences.

With all we have to offer, our science facilities simply have not kept pace. Since Frazier Jelke Science Center was built, student enrollment in the sciences has tripled. We are now ranked in the top 10 of liberal arts colleges nationally for graduates in the natural sciences.

We are very proud of the great work of our faculty and students, but they must have the facilities they need to continue this momentum.

While student interest has increased dramatically, changes in how science is taught are even more significant. Science today has become more interdisciplinary.

rhodes.edu

Peyton Nalle Rhodes Tower, dedicated to the study of physics

Historically, all science majors at Rhodes graduated in either biology, chemistry, or physics. While these majors remain prominent in our science curriculum, new interdisciplinary science majors, including biochemistry and molecular biology, neuroscience, environmental sciences, and environmental studies, are among some of our fastest-growing majors.

Lab work has also become more project oriented, experimental, and interdisciplinary. Instead of the traditional “lab partner” approach, our students engage in more collaborative group work with other students and as research assistants with faculty members. Many of our students present their research at national conferences and are listed as co-authors on articles alongside our accomplished faculty. To maintain this new focus on collaboration, our facilities must support new approaches to teaching and learning.

We are committed to giving every student the best education possible in the classroom and the best chance to grow and develop both on our campus and beyond our gates through truly exceptional opportunities. We do that particularly well in the sciences. You

would be so proud of the testimonials we receive from our Memphis partners about how our students excel.

The integration of the sciences, humanities, and social sciences—and their interconnectivity—makes the sciences unique at Rhodes.

The continued support of our entire college community is critical as we aim to raise $42 million to renovate and expand our science facilities. With the recently announced $4.4 million Plough Foundation grant, we have received about $10 million in philanthropic commitments toward this goal. We ask you to join us in achieving our goals for the sciences and our overall campaign. Each of us benefits when bright young minds take what they have learned and experienced at Rhodes and begin to impact the world. With your help, I am confident we will soon have the science facilities that best support the students and faculty at Rhodes. Please do all you can to help us with this important initiative.

Contact Vice President of Development Jenna Goodloe Wade at 901-843-3850 or goodloe@rhodes.edu for more information.

rhodes.edu

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

5

CAMPUS NEWS

Plough Foundation Awards $4.4 Million Grant

By Lynn Conlee In late August, a celebration took place in the renovated lobby of Frazier Jelke Science Center.

Students, faculty, staff, and special guests arrived to honor the Plough Foundation for its $4.4 million grant to help fund renovations to Rhodes’ science facilities. The grant was the second-highest one ever given by the foundation.

Phase 1 is the renovation of Rhodes Tower. In May 2014, the Department of Physics will move to temporary quarters on Rhodes’ extended campus in the former Evergreen Presbyterian Church facilities. The renovation is expected to take 15 months and to be completed in time for the 2015 academic year. Once the work is done, the tower will be transformed. (For more on the Rhodes Tower renovation, see page 16.)

Plans for Phase 2 are still very much in the works, but will result in a new three-story science facility in the parking lot currently west of Briggs Student Center. Briggs itself will be repurposed as academic space. All the science buildings will be connected underground so that movement from one facility to another can be done without concerns about inclement weather.

These renovations follow the Rhodes master plan, which features an academic campus core encircled by residence halls.

6

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

New Student Programs Hope to Enhance College Experience

By Julia Fawal ’14 To support first-year students and sophomores in their college journeys, two new programs hit Rhodes College campus this year.

Known as Fob into Five and S’MORES, the programs work differently, but both are aimed at capitalizing on what the college already offers and adding to the student’s college experience.

Fob into Five emerged after a group that included student affairs staff leaders and students Brooke Bierdz ’15 and Rhodes Student Government President Sallie Handley ’14 came together to brainstorm ways to improve the first-year experience. The group realized that Rhodes offers a variety of programs and events, so they wanted to find a way to bring them all together into a first-year program.

Fob into Five encourages first-year students to swipe their key fobs at a series of 45 social and educational events throughout the semester. For every five events they “fob” into, their name gets thrown into a raffle for prizes ranging from Rhodes apparel to a $300 travel voucher. But what is getting most of the students talking (and fobbing) is one of the bigger prizes: a ticket to see Justin Timberlake when he graces the FedEx Forum stage in November.

S’MORES is a similar program for sophomores, though it is geared more toward helping them learn about themselves and prepare for their futures beyond Rhodes. The initiative combines activities ranging from “Managing Personal Relationships” to career-oriented programming such as “Creating Your Individual Professional Brand.”

S’MORES also offers a prize incentive for attending events. But for both programs, the biggest prize of all is developing a real connection to Rhodes and everything the community has to offer. rhodes.edu

Virtual Chapters Link Alumni

By Julia Fawal ’14 Relying on the convenience of technology, Rhodes Alumni Relations created two virtual chapters this summer that now unite alums all over the world.

“We are really trying to engage as many alumni as we can,” says Director of Alumni Relations Tracy Vezina Patterson ’84, P’17. “These virtual chapters are a way for them to stay connected to the community.”

The college’s first virtual group launched in June 2013 to support Rhodes’ LGBT alumni. EquaLynx, with a group page on Facebook and the Rhodes alumni website, is open to friends, supporters, and members of the Rhodes LGBT community. The chapter plans to start its own mentor program, and is hosting a career panel and cohosting (along with the college’s other LGBT organizations) a reception for alumni and students on Saturday, Oct. 26, during Homecoming/Reunion Weekrhodes.edu

end. To get involved or for more information, contact Patterson at pattersont@rhodes.edu.

The newest chapter, fittingly launched on July 4, 2013, is for Rhodes alumni in the military. Titled Red, Black and True, the chapter consists of a Facebook group and a spot on the alumni website. The chapter is open to former military members as well, giving active-duty personnel the chance to turn to retirees for advice as they transition back into civilian life.

To verify that your military service is reflected in your record, please review your information on Lasting Lynx or contact the Alumni Relations Office at alumni@rhodes.edu.

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

7

KYLE GRADY

Equestrian statue of King Frederick II of Prussia on the boulevard Unter den Linden in Berlin; created between 1839 and 1851 by the sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch.

8 8

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

rhodes.edu

SITUATING BELOVED TEXTS

A Trip to Berlin Impacts Search Faculty

By Dr. Geoff Bakewell

reat ideas are not born in a vacuum; they have contexts and consequences. United in this conviction, 20 faculty members from the Search for Values in Light of Western History and Religion program visited Berlin in May. Our goal was to enhance our teaching of the liberal arts that lie at the heart of a Rhodes education. Founded in 1945 and focused on works from the ancient Near East to the modern West, Search has encouraged generations of students to investigate “questions about the meaning and purpose of life.” Its many thousands of alumni still benefit from its academically rigorous training. And they cherish the ideas they encountered and the friendships they made in its classrooms.

r h oBakewell d e s . e d uis director of the Search for Values in Light of Western History and Religion programFat A LRhodes L 2 0 1 3College.

• RHODES Dr.

9 9

Francesca Tronchin

Glazed brick decoration on the Ishtar Gate, Babylon

10

earch program faculty are volunteers drawn from many departments at the college and bring a wealth of professional expertise to the program. I, for instance, am a classicist, trained in the languages and cultures of ancient Greece and Rome. But my colleagues include linguists, medievalists and Shakespeareans, Platonists and Kantians, American historians, experts on the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, political scientists, and historians of art and music—to cite but a few.

Each year we gather for two weeks in May for the George Porter Douglass Seminar, which mirrors life in our classrooms. Put differently, we search. We spar intellectually; discuss our pedagogical past, present, and future; and recommit ourselves to the program and its goals.

This year, however, we chose to do something different. We wanted to situate our beloved texts more concretely. So for eight

days we visited Berlin, taking in sites and museums, hearing lectures formal and informal, and talking among ourselves about our vocations as teacher-scholars. We returned to Memphis reinvigorated, eager to share our new learning with colleagues and students alike. In what follows, I offer five brief examples of how the Berlin trip will inform our teaching. Similar moments could be adduced almost ad infinitum by any of those present.

Gilgamesh On our first full day in Germany’s capital, we visited the Pergamon Museum, located on Museum Island in the middle of the River Spree. The building derives its name from the monumental altar and sculptures removed from the precinct of the Temple of Zeus in the ancient city of Pergamon (in modern Turkey). It houses other wonders as

FALL 2013 • RHODE S rhodes.edu

KYLE GRADY KYLE GRADY

Whether it was the church doors in Wittenberg or the Stasi prison in the former East Germany, the visual reminders that ideas have consequences were fascinating.

—Dr. Patrick Gray, Associate Professor | Religious Studies

KYLE GRADY

well, including the reconstructed Ishtar Gate from Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. What struck me most deeply, however, was the exhibit titled “Uruk: 5000-Year-Old Megacity.” This collection of architectural remnants, sculpture, and small finds brought to vivid life the civilizations that gave birth to Gilgamesh, our first text in Humanities 101, the beginning semester of Search. We learned firsthand about the canals and water driving the agricultural revolution in the Fertile Crescent. We grasped how timber, metal, and mud brick enabled Uruk’s famous walls and temples to rise.

Above all, we saw the centrality of writing, not just for recording agricultural surpluses and listing occupations, but for preserving the legend of the city’s greatest king. Over the years, scholars have used numerous clay tablets (most of them fragmentary, written in diverse cuneiform languages, and sometimes smaller than a deck of playing cards) to reconstruct the many versions of his tale circulating in the ancient Near East. To see before me some of these same tablets, several inscribed over three millennia ago, was to glimpse the only immortality Gilgamesh ever achieved, despite his arduous search.

FRANCESCA TRONCHIN

Iliad On another day we visited the Antiquities Collection housed in the Altes Museum, a glorious structure designed and built by Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the 1820s. Among its many holdings is a superb set of Greek vases, including the famous Berlin Foundry kylix (drinking cup) made in the early fifth century BCE. Its interior shows a scene familiar from Book 18 of the Iliad. The god Hephaestus is presenting a new set of armor for From top: Achilles to his mother, the nymph Thetis.

Athenian vase Corinthian helmet Generations of Searchers have pored over Classical Greek bust of Athena Homer’s description of the famous shield, A marble kore, or statue of a maiden

rhodes.edu

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

11

KYLE GRADY

Above: Fra Angelico’s The Last Judgement altarpiece Below: The French Cathedral on the Gendarmenmarkt KYLE GRADY

comparing its depictions of cities at war and at peace.

But the vase in Berlin does something truly extraordinary, for its exterior depicts the everyday goings-on at a real-life bronze foundry in ancient Athens. In gazing at the cup, I imagined the wealthy aristocrats, taught by memorizing Homer, who put it to their lips at the ribald drinking parties (“symposia”) common in the classical city.

But even as they did so, these men were simultaneously (and involuntarily) raising their cup to other, less celebrated contemporaries—the poorer craftsmen, often immigrants and sometimes slaves, who made the arms that the wealthier donned.

Martin Luther We also visited a different sort of arms depot, the ornate Zeughaus, now housing the German Historical Museum. Its numerous exhibits document the astonishing highs and ghastly lows of the country’s history.

My favorite was the presentation of Martin Luther in his milieu. I first focused on a copy of his famous, unsmiling portrait made by Cranach the Elder. But my understanding of the man soon deepened and changed. For one thing, hanging right beside him was an equally large portrait of his unsmiling wife, Katharina. Together the two paintings were a forceful reminder of Luther’s break with the medieval practice of clerical celibacy and of the increased space afforded women and family life.

Moreover, I learned that Luther did not nail his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the All Saints Church in Wittenberg in 1517.

The myth likely arose during the subsequent 12

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

rhodes.edu

KYLE GRADY

Rhodes Russian studies professor Valeria Nollan walks through the Garden of Exile, part of the Jewish Museum.

Nollan was in a Displaced Persons (DP) Camp with her Russian parents in Hamburg after the war. Her father was a prisonerof-war in a POW camp, and her mother was a forced laborer brought to Germany against her will. More than 12 million Russians and Ukrainians died in Germany in POW and DP camps, according to statistics of Slavic POW and DP camp refugees compiled at the University of Hawaii.

rhodes.edu

13 FALL 2013 • RHODE S

13

conflict between the church’s defenders and its would-be reformers. The new movement was fueled by politics as much as religion. As the fragmentation of the Holy Roman Empire increased, monarchs and electors strove with one another for power. The Thirty Years War that devastated central Europe in the early 17th century was one of the chief results.

Throughout all the strife, common people played an increasingly important role.

Luther was, of course, not the first to criticize the Roman Catholic church, nor to violate its ban on translating scripture from Latin into the vernacular. But Gutenberg’s printing press and his invention of movable type made possible the widespread distribution of Luther’s works and increased the ferocity of the ensuing propaganda war. The exhibit also did full justice to the anti-Semitic strain that emerged in Luther’s later writings.

Haunted History and Modern Totalitarianism No visitor to Berlin can escape the city’s somber past. Reminders of it are everywhere. On one afternoon we went to the

KYLE GRADY

Topography of Terror, an extensive indoor/ outdoor museum erected on the site of the former Gestapo headquarters on Prince Albert Street. The photographs and documents there trace in moving detail the rise of the Nazis and their persecution of Jews, homosexuals, communists, Poles, Russians, Romani, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and the handicapped, among others. Particularly chilling was the copy of the sole surviving agenda from the Wannsee Conference, where military officers and Reich bureaucrats plotted the “Final Solution of the Jewish Question” over lunch.

On another day, we toured the haunting Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. Its 2,711 stone monoliths, blank and evenly spaced in rows of varying height, were commissioned and paid for by the German government. They provide an eloquent, silent commentary on the nearby Reichstag and Brandenburg Gate. And on almost every city block, visitors trip over the “Stolpersteine,” small metal plaques set into the pavement to record the acts of inhumanity that transpired on those particular spots.

My colleagues and I came away stunned by Germany’s darkest hours.

But we were also inspired by the earnestness of its attempts to come to terms with the past (“Vergangenheitsbewältigung”). We talked about how far American society still has to go in acknowledging our

Search faculty members discuss how the Berlin humanities seminar will impact their teaching.

14

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

rhodes.edu

KYLE GRADY KYLE GRADY

rhodes.edu

First, the trip to Berlin reminds us, crucially and concretely, of the interconnectedness of the humanities and of the artificial nature of the boundaries we impose between historical eras, academic disciplines, and individual works. Second, it speaks to the importance of place. The texts we study arose, are perpetuated, and must be interpreted in diverse material contexts. Finally, it testifies to a truth that all humanities students know: the search for values is ongoing and lasts a lifetime.

The Reichstag, meeting place of the German parliament, the modern Bundestag

KYLE GRADY

country’s own historical misdeeds. And we reflected that the Search program itself was born as a response to the horrors of World War II. Critical engagement with crucial Western texts remains one of the most important means of preserving our humanity.

Finally, a visit to the Hohenschönhausen Memorial brought home for us the horrors of modern totalitarianism. Until 1989, the East German Stasi (Ministry for State Security) used the site to confine and interrogate political prisoners. Abandoned amid the chaos of reunification, the buildings were eventually acquired by a group of former inmates, many of whom now conduct tours there. While physical torture was not unknown, most of them remember far more vividly the intentional psychological duress that was a distillation of much of everyday life behind the Berlin Wall. In touring the grounds, we saw how versions (some would say perversions) of Marxist thought joined with Prussian efficiency to create an environment inimical to democratic individualism.

So what is the ultimate payoff to Search and to Rhodes of our expedition?

Marble double herm from the first half of the 3rd century CE, showing the philosophers Seneca (l) and Socrates (r), Pergamon Museum

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

15

JUSTIN FOX BURKS

16 16

FALL 2013 • RHODE S rhodes.edu

BY DESIGN FULL RENOVATION TO TRANSFORM

RHODES TOWER

By JILL JOHNSON PIPER ’80, P’17

W

hen students arrived for classes on September 16, 1968, there had risen in the east a brand new

star in the firmament over Southwestern’s Collegiate Gothic campus: a customized six-story tower dedicated to the study of optical physics. Part of the brand-new

17

rhodes.edu

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

17

Frazier Jelke Science Center, the tower was a visual expression of the growing national excitement over the sciences, which had been fueled in Stauffer was so excited about part by the space program and the the prospect of teaching race to the moon.

Fast-forward some physics at Southwestern, he 40-plus years and took a cut in pay from his job a different type of excitement as engineer for Westinghouse surrounds the in Baltimore. physics facility.

Today, Rhodes Tower joins the rest of the Frazier Jelke Science Center as the core of a planned renovation project that, upon conclusion, will usher in a new era of scientific endeavors, made possible by the most advanced laboratories and classrooms available on any campus. The renovations are being funded in part by a $4.4 million grant from the Plough Foundation, awarded in August, and will begin in May 2014. Securing ongoing funding for the project is a major part of Rhodes’ current capital campaign.

Built Like an Aircraft Carrier

A

t the 1968 opening convocation, President David Alexander dedicated the $2.5 million Frazier Jelke Science Center, which represented a three-fold expansion of space for the sciences on campus. The three major fields—biology, physics, and chemistry—had all shared space in Kennedy Hall since the 1920s. “The Frazier Jelke Science Center is the realization of a

18

dream four decades old,” the Southwestern News (the predecessor of Rhodes magazine) proclaimed in an article titled “Science Center is High Wide and Handsome.”

Anchored by the existing Kennedy Hall on the west, the science complex included 89,250 square feet for biology (the portion below grade), physics (the sixstory tower on the east), and mathematics (Ohlendorf), leaving Kennedy for the chemistry department. Much of the buzz was about the wonders in the new tower. A “coelostat” (pronounced seal-uh-stat) allowed students to observe sunspots and solar flares through a series of mirrors placed in a vertical shaft running from the rooftop of the tower into an interior room on the second floor of the physics building. Students constructed their own “spectrometer,” a tool for analyzing the light reflected from a planet or beamed by a star, saving the college some $30,000 by building it themselves. Some of the new departmental equipment was so sensitive, it could register vibrations from the elevator or from traffic on North Parkway. Most amazing of all were the twin observatories on the roof, which made Southwestern the largest star-gazing facility in the south. The observatory featured both a student telescope for experimenting and a research telescope for faculty use.

Hallam Boyd, president of the philanthropic Frazier Jelke Foundation, was instrumental in securing an initial gift of $500,000 to construct the new complex. In 1965, the Tennessee Higher Education Commission exceeded that amount with their largest single construction grant, $593,748. The Ford Foundation supplied another $1.9 million.

FALL 2013 • RHODE S rhodes.edu

The observatory atop Rhodes Tower, circa 1975.

Perhaps because it was the only building on campus with two names, many students believed “Frazier Jelke” honored two scientists from the college’s Clarksville era. “Oh heavens no,” says Fritz Stauffer, retired associate professor of physics (19641990). “No scientist would have had that kind of money in the ’60s.” rhodes.edu

Stauffer was so excited about the prospect of teaching physics at Southwestern, he took a cut in pay from his job as engineer for Westinghouse in Baltimore. He noted the new facilities were “twice as big” as those at Johns Hopkins University, where Stauffer studied and worked in the ’50s, having finished a master of science degree in physics FALL 2013 • RHODE S

19

at Bucknell University in 1952. “Many people are in awe of physics,” he said. “But it’s not so much a matter of brains as it is a matter of interest.”

Among “I would like to take this the new bells and opportunity to state for the whistles in Rhodes Tower were a record that Peyton Rhodes, machine shop, an electronics shop, an who was then president, gave optics shop, and a the Physics staff an almost complete collection of photographic free hand in the design of the portraits of Nobel Physics Tower from a systems Prize winners for physics, among point of view.” Dr. Jack Taylor ’44 them Albert Einstein, Pierre and Marie Curie, Enrico Fermi, and Donald Glaser, who developed the “bubble chamber” after observing the behavior of bubbles in a glass of beer.

Even the office equipment was designed for physics. Lynda Gayle Teague Deacon ’69 worked for a year after graduation as the departmental secretary in the new building. “I had a brand new IBM Selectric with the flying ball. One of my jobs was to type faculty research papers, and the professor of astronomy would write these astronomy equations that could last for pages and pages. You had to start typing in the middle of the line and count back to the margin so the type was centered on the page.

There was a different flying ball for each task, with Greek symbols, physics symbols, and mathematics symbols, and still another with parentheses, stars, and triangles,” recalls Deacon. “Sometimes it 20

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

would take me a whole day to type up one page of equations and I would have no idea what they meant. Then the astronomer would come in the next day and say, ‘I’ve changed the equation. Now everything that was an X is a Y.’” The twin observatory domes and the exterior design of the physics building differentiate it from its neighbors. Although reflecting the stunning architecture of Palmer Hall and Kennedy Hall, Rhodes Tower lacks the many architectural angles and adornments that make Collegiate Gothic so arresting. But its box-like structure came about intentionally.

Explains Stauffer, with optical physics (the behavior of light), ambient light from any direct source could skew the results of the exacting experiments the students did.

Therefore, on the east side, windows admit light into only the stairwells, while on the west side, windows illuminate faculty offices or classrooms.

The building’s interior was equally quirky. Dr. Jack Taylor envisioned it that way. Taylor (d. 2012) graduated from Southwestern in 1944 and returned to join the faculty in 1956 at the invitation of his mentor, Dr. Peyton Nalle Rhodes.

Taylor taught physics until his retirement in 1992. In his History of the Department of Physics, he wrote: “I would like to take this opportunity to state for the record rhodes.edu

Left: An early architectural model of the new science complex shows it located north of Briggs Student Center.

Above: The actual structures, seen during construction, occupy the heart of the campus’ academic core.

that Peyton Rhodes, who was then president, gave the Physics staff an almost free hand in the design of the Physics Tower from a systems point of view. Another way of putting this might be to say that the design of a physics building is too important to trust to an architect.”

Having served at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington D.C. during World War II, Taylor applied the concepts he learned there to the physics building.

The original blueprints were reconfigured, and the interior design pushed in the direction of less Collegiate Gothic, more aircraft carrier.

“It (the tower) has six stories, including one below ground level, and, in cross section, is similar to an aircraft rhodes.edu

carrier,” Taylor wrote. “The toilets, stairwells, elevator, pipe shafts, vertical duct systems, etc., have all been located on one side in what would correspond to the island on an aircraft carrier . . . This width conforms generally with the other buildings on the campus, all of which are of Collegiate Gothic type.” Taylor had little interest in frills. “What have washrooms to do with science? Nothing,” Taylor told the Commercial Appeal. “So we put them out of the way.”

WEB EXTRAS Read Dr. Jack Taylor’s history of the early Department of Physics: rhodes.edu/physics/history.

See an interview with Dr. Jack Taylor at rhodes.edu/magazine.

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

21

“Colleges are expected to involve students in research, and it’s a challenge to do that with a facility from 1968.”

In 1981, the college dedicated the tower to former president Rhodes, one of the college’s two presidents who were physicists (the other being the college’s very first president, William May Stewart). Dr. Rhodes was brought to campus in 1926 to head up the physics department by then President Charles Diehl, himself a physics major in college, and went on to take Diehl’s place as college president in 1949. In 1984, the college was renamed in his honor.

Many physics-related college names pepper the campus landscape, but they are not the department’s only brush with fame.

Even the occasional celebrity would drop by, recalled Stauffer, whose other passion besides physics was baseball. (Stauffer Field was named to pay honor to his coaching years, which lasted from 1968 to 1977.)

“I was going up the stairs one day, when 22

Brent Hoffmeister

down comes Jack Taylor with actor William Shatner. Shatner had come to check out the observatory for some project, but I don’t think anything ever came of it.”

Positrons & Pedagogy

N

ewton’s Law is still Newton’s Law, but the teaching of science has changed since the 1960s. At Rhodes, enormous changes have taken place, especially in the last decade, and the physics department has responded accordingly.

Since the 1960s, the student population has doubled and the number of students studying some area of science has tripled. About 30 percent of Rhodes students indicate interest in the health professions and around 40 percent plan to major in the natural sciences. As part of Rhodes’ Foundations curriculum, all students must take a course focused on scientific approaches to the natural world, so improvements to the science facilities affect, literally, every single student.

The sciences have adapted in many other ways to the changes of the past 40 years. Through the addition of “topics” courses to the physics curriculum, for example, the department has created “broader appeal on campus for physics,” says Brent Hoffmeister, chair of the Department

FALL 2013 • RHODE S rhodes.edu

justin Fox Burks

of Physics. A student wouldn’t have found Physics of Music in the college catalog in 1969-70. This course involves the sounds and vibrations involved in the creation and performance of music, he explains.

“I want the students to understand how acoustic instruments make music,” says Hoffmeister. Every student is required to make an original musical instrument, write a technical paper explaining the physics behind it, and then play it as their final exam. “Some of the ‘music’ you wouldn’t necessarily recognize as musical,” he notes, but the instrument has to be playable.

Medical physics is also a newer course of study, reflecting the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of science teaching at Rhodes. A PET scan shows how organs and tissues are working through the use of positron emission tomography.

Explains Hoffmeister, “I tell students the only widespread application I know of antimatter, which was once the stuff of science fiction, is in the hospital. The ‘P’ in PET scan stands for positron, which is the antimatter equivalent of the electron.”

“Colleges are expected to involve students in research, and it’s a challenge to do that with a facility from 1968,” says Hoffmeister. But as a testament to the dedication of both students and faculty, despite the obstacles, Rhodes remains at the forefront of student research. The Rhodes Chapter of the Society of Physics Students has earned recognition from the national society for some 15 consecutive years. The group builds a moon buggy and participates in NASA’s Great Moon Buggy Race each year and conducts demonstrations during Rites of Spring. Through the department’s rhodes.edu

Overcrowding of current science center facilities has meant utilizing the wide hallways of Frazier Jelke for refrigerated storage.

Memphysics class, taught by Dr. Shubho Banerjee, physics students go into the city’s schools to demonstrate physics and raise awareness of the discipline to young learners. And, you have not experienced Christmas until you are caroled by Rhodes physics students, who have reworded holiday classics with physics-themed lyrics delivered with heart-warming zest.

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

23

No More Cookbook Experiments

O

ne of the more timeless features of October on campus is the annual pumpkin drop, conducted from the rooftop of Rhodes Tower. Students perform an experiment involving a frozen pumpkin, tremendous height, and curious onlookers below. The point of the experiment is to measure any tribo

luminescence at the moment of impact.

Tribo luminescence, Hoffmeister explains, is the same effect you get if you bite down on a wintergreen breath mint before a mirror in a darkened room—you may see a few blue green sparks.

In the pumpkin drop, theory suggests that if you freeze a pumpkin thoroughly with liquid nitrogen to about -200 degrees F, when the pumpkin shatters, it should

1 Research Lab Suite 2 Research Lab Suite 3 Animal Suites 4 Neuroscience Lab 5 Ecology/Environmental

Studies and Sciences Lab 6 Office/Research Lab Suite 7 Office/Research Lab Suite 8 Office 9 Introductory Lab 10 Theoretical Labs (2) 11 Faculty Offices (3) 12 Academic Resources 13 Advanced Lab 14 Experimental Labs (2) 15 Offices (3)

1

16 Studio 17 Intermediate Lab 18 Faculty Lounge

2

19 Seminar Room 20 Office 21 Experimental Lab

3

22 Optics & Electronics Lab 23 Astronomy Lab 24 Observatory 25 Observation Deck

4

Biology Physics Mechanical

24

First Floor

G

Proposed Rhodes Tower floorplans

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

rhodes.edu

produce light, or tribo luminescence.

So far, students at Rhodes have not recorded any detectable luminescence at the point of impact, although it is possible ambient light could make it hard to see. However, repeating the experiment despite a consistent negative result has become a campus tradition. The pumpkin drop exemplifies the kind of creative, collaborative experiment that has come to characterize the student experience of the sciences at Rhodes.

“In the 1970s, the teaching model was ‘cookbook’ experiments,” explains John Olsen, associate dean of Academic Affairs and a biologist by specialty.

Industry standard back then was for students to replicate results that had been

“We give the students amazing experiences, but the laboratory spaces were not designed to maximize the kinds of technical and scientific equipment that are in the current labs.”

demonstrated in the lab many times over, just like following a recipe. “We knew what the outcome was going to be,” Olsen says.

“Now, with faculty guidance, students design their own experiments. Science is a much more open-ended discussion.”

Olsen adds that, “It also means that a lab that was designed to produce a certain

13 5

17

23

9

10 6

John Olsen

14

18

14

19

10

7

11

15

11

15

11

15

20 24

21

12

16

22

Third Floor

Fourth Floor

Fifth Floor

25

8

Ground Floor/Second Floor

Sixth Floor

For information on naming opportunites, contact Jenna Goodloe Wade at 901-843-3852 or goodloe@rhodes.edu.

rhodes.edu

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

25

Drawings of the optical equipment included in the newly constructed physics tower helped illustrate the extent to which the 1968 science center brought Rhodes into the then-modern era.

set of results is obsolete.” Students no longer work side-by-side in pairs reproducing predetermined data; rather, three or four students may share high-tech resources at a “pod” or collaborate on the construction of a moon buggy.

The interdisciplinary sciences have also led to the creation of four new majors since 2005: biochemistry and molecular biology, neuroscience, environmental sciences, and environmental studies. These disciplines reflect the more collaborative aspects of current and future education 26

in the sciences that eschew the old “lab partner” model for project-oriented and experimental lab research.

“We give the students amazing experiences, but the laboratory spaces were not designed to maximize the kinds of technical and scientific equipment that are in the current labs,” Olsen says.

“We realized we had a mismatch between modern pedagogy and dated facilities.”

According to Olsen, Rhodes has already created a conceptual bridge to the “interdisciplinary hub” idea, with Frazier

FALL 2013 • RHODE S rhodes.edu

Through the department’s Memphysics class, taught by Dr. Shubho Banerjee, physics students go into the city’s schools to demonstrate physics and raise awareness of the discipline to young learners.

Jelke at the center and Kennedy, Ohlendorf Hall, and Rhodes Tower as the spokes. “It’s already true that Frazier Jelke has become a hub in an intellectual sense, in a way that shows the interconnectedness of the sciences.”

The next step in the process is to renovate the science center buildings to mirror new pedagogy and carry the college into the still-young 21st century. Overall, the goal for science facility improvement is $42 million, which will fund first-class, state-ofthe-art labs and classrooms for all disciplines connected to the sciences through planned renovations and, ultimately, construction of a new science building.

Some of these improvements may seem a long way off, but in Olsen’s view, they are light years closer than they have ever been: “To those of us who have been here a long time, the renovation was something we’d do in the distant future. I’m excited that this is going to come true within the next couple of years. We are going to make something happen in the sciences.”

Perhaps it is appropriate to conclude with the words of Jack Taylor: “It has been my experience since coming to Southwestern that if you have a worthy project, or idea, that there is very likely someone somewhere who will be willing to give you support.” rhodes.edu

Members of the Plough Foundation joined President William E. Troutt and members of the Rhodes community to celebrate the foundation’s $4.4 million grant to help fund science facilities improvements. Sharing the special moment were L-R: Bob Wallace, Mike Carpenter, Johnny Moore ‘88, Diane Rudner P’07, and Dr. William E. Troutt.

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

27

28 28

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

rhodes.edu

RHODES TO ALASKA

By Richard J. Alley

I

n late June 1963, a group of intrepid would-be scientists and faculty—soon to include Peyton Rhodes—set off from the Rhodes (Southwestern) College campus headed for the interior of Alaska.

Through a contract with the Air Force, the two graduate and four undergraduate students and company would be living in a make-shift camp at World War II-era Gulkana air field to view a solar eclipse.

The group’s surviving members will be meeting at Rhodes this fall for the 50th anniversary of the solar eclipse trip. Back on campus, they will reminisce about the trip and speak to physics students to try and imbue them with the sense of adventure and possibilities they felt at the time.

“The students in the physics department have heard about the Alaska eclipse expedition and, for most of them, it’s total fantasy,” says Charles Robertson ’65, Rhodes trustee and founder of NanoDrop Technologies, which he sold to Thermo Fisher Scientific in 2007. “It’s back in something like the dark ages, and so I think the object is to partly bring it out of the dark ages and just kind of inspire students with what you can do if you really set your mind to do it.”

rhodes.edu

For information contact Jenna Goodloe Wade at 901-843-3852 or goodloe@rhodes.edu.

As one of the students on the excursion, Robertson remembers the project well.

“Solar eclipses have always been an opportunity to study the solar atmosphere, even today, in a way that’s not easily doable even from space,” Robertson says. “The object that is blocking out the bulk of the light of the sun is not in the atmosphere and, consequently, there is no scatter light associated with it. And that blocking thing is moving across the face of the sun, so you can sort of, if you’re very quick, pick your moment and how much of the sun you’re seeing.”

For four weeks, the team from Rhodes developed a real sense of camaraderie as they lived in tents, hiked the Copper River, and fought off mosquitoes.

“They were big and very aggressive,” Robertson remembers. To survive on their per diem, the college students found Swanson TV dinners for a dollar a piece in a nearby supermarket and ate them four times a day.

The anniversary celebration takes place on Oct. 24, with a public reception from 3:30 to 4 p.m. in Rhodes Tower 226 and a panel discussion featuring members of the expedition at 4 p.m. in Frazier Jelke-B.

29

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

29

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

The Class of 2017 JUSTIN FOX BURKS

The Class of 2017 assembles for Opening Convocation

T

he student spotlight feature for this issue shines not on an individual student but rather on the entire Class of 2017. As in recent years, the college attracted a diverse lineup of first-years, who have a half-semester behind them by now. Over time, their accomplishments will no doubt appear on these pages. Until then, we will let the numbers and names do the talking.

A total of 545 first-year students enrolled this fall. Multicultural students make up 22 percen of the class. Fifty-one percent of the class attended public high schools, while 49% attended private schools.

30

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

Half of our new students graduated in the top 10% of their class. Three-fourths had grade point averages of 3.5 or above.

As always, we continued our efforts to recruit a class with wide geographic diversity. Strong states and cities for the Class of 2017 included Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, with growing interest noted in the northeast and middle Atlantic states, Atlanta, Chicago, St. Louis, and parts of California.

Additionally, we gained 35 international students.

“Once again, Rhodes has attracted a stellar incoming class for

the fall,” says J. Carey Thompson, vice president for enrollment and communications and dean of admission. “While many liberal arts colleges have experienced declines in enrollment and quality, Rhodes has become increasingly selective while enrolling somewhat larger classes than expected and attracting students from more distant locales.

The quality of the student coming to Rhodes continues to be impressive.”

— Lynn Conlee

rhodes.edu

Connor Abdolhosseinzadeh Iman Abdulkadir Claire Adams Ozakh Ahmed Grace Akangbe Maddie Alagia Sam Allen Kerry Anderson Lily Kate Anthony Virginia Ariail Zainab Atiq Alex Atkins Ford Aur Emily Ayers Asad Ayub Samuel Baderdeen Erin Bailey Athena Baker James Baker Jay Baker Allie Baldassaro Peter Baricev Sarah Barnes Emma Barr Jake Barrett DJ Barrow Trey Bates Bailey Battle Nick Beachy Kristina Beall Joel Beck Erica Becker Caroline Bell William Benson Ben Bentley Reid Besch Erin Best Liam Bitting Aubrey Blackstock Dylan Bliss Annie Bober Joseph Boltuc Laura Bonds Caroline Borron Prianka Bose Alexa Bosley Dane Bourgeois Dylan Boutwell Brandon Box Lucy Bradley Bianca Branch rhodes.edu

Weston Breay Jeana Brickner Kennedy Brislin Mackensie Brislin Robert Brooks Mason Brown Lisle Bruns Madalyn Bryant Andrew Buckmeier Will Budner Jim Bugg Drew Burford Olivia Burton Mackenzie Busby Monica Bushong Caroline Butler Katie Butler Murf Butler Olivia Butler Ryan Calkins Nalan Callonas Erica Carcelen Helen Carmody Claire Carr Za’na Carter Joey Carton Henry Castner Hunter Cates Katiebeth Chapman Malcolm Charles Xuyan Chen Yuan Chen Christina Choi Lizzie Choy Mason Church Sharadyn Ciota Michael Clark Patrick Clark Sam Clark Anna Grace Claunch Saira Clayton Rachel Cofield Micah Cohen Rebecca Cole Tori Conklin Lindsey Conley Becca Cook Robin Copple Liam Coyle Jefferson Crabtree Emily Crenshaw

Amanda Crist Hogan Crosby Lexie Cross Elise Crosswhite Mary Crowell Jamie Crowley Samhitha Curpad Kira Curry Madeline Davis Justin Davis-Morgan Michael Decindis Eric Decker Amanda DellaGrotta Daulton DePatis Brendan DePoy Graham Derrickson Dane DeSpain Laura Dew Petra Dhinakaran Christina DiFelice Ashley Dill Rebecca Dill Erika Dillman Angela Dirghangi Carolyn Dishuck John Dodd Tyler Douglas McKenzie Drake Jessica Ealy Andrew Earle Grant Ebbesmeyer Sheldon Ebron Michael Edwards Lilly Elkin Matt Ellis Lizzy Epps Gracie Erwin Marissa Evans Sara Ewel Rejina Fahhoum Monica Falcon Christine Farha Mackenzie Farrington Von Felton Sarah Ferguson Sarena Fernandez Samie Fetzer Arnon Fischer Meaghan Fogarty Emily Fougere Veronica Francis

Justice Franklin Jill Fredenburg Olivia Gacka Laurel Galaty Wyatt Gale Natalie Galindo Tyler Gee Justin Geeza Nico Gentile Bucky Gerson Lindsay Gess Rachel Glazer Nicolette Glidden Katie Goebel Mikey Gonzalez Meredith Graf Ruthilah Graff Aika Graham Alex Graves Alexandra Greenway Eliza Griffey Catherine Grimes Elise Grisoni Ben Gross Joseph Gross Alaina Grundy Kevin Guevara Cassidy Guida John Gulbin Erica Hadley Jack Hagedorn McCall Hagler Nick Hallmark Julia Hamilton Tucker Hanemann Emily Hanson Georgia Harris Rachel Harris Benjamin Harrison Tyler Harvey Rebecca Haskins Corena Hasselle Ben Haugen Rob Hawkes Jazzy Hawkins Grant Hechinger Jay Hedges Alli Heinemeyer Jake Helt Hannah Henderson Korey Henkle FALL 2013 • RHODE S

31

Austin Henyon Robert Hereford Hannah Hernandez Laura Hernandez Alana Heyrana Jacob Hill Carolyn Hilley Sam Hilley Stuart Hines Erin Hisey Sophie Hoffman Sam Holder Emma Holtzman Michael Houle Alex Howell Carissa Howie Andrew Hughes Olivia Hughes Christine Hume Ryan Hunt Alaina Hurley Angie Hurlow Kayleigh Hynes Jack Ingalls Nikki Isaacson Maddie Izard MG Jadick Jennie Jaggers Eilidh Jenness Augie John Ian John Kyle Johns Allie Johnson Logan Johnson Seth Johnston Ethan Jones Matthew Jones Sam Jordan Alex Junquera Grady Kable Zach Kauffman Max Keeton Katie Keller Nolan Kelly Becky Kempf Roz KennyBirch Anum Khan Imran Khan Sehrish Khan Natey Kinzounza Matt Koch 32

Rosie Kopman Bailey Kramer David Kroll Piyush Kumar Jocelyn Labombarde Josh Ladd Alonzo Lagrange Adrienne Lamb Brooks Lamb Sara LaMonica Zac Lange Dan Lanza Alex Lasco Patrick Leavey Charlie LeBlanc Harrison Leeson Annie Leonardi Matt Levy Trevor Lew Edie Lewis Sandra Li Emily Lichtenberger Yu Lin Tierney Linville Forrest Lloyd Ben LoPrimo Siena Loprinzi Jackson Lourie Andrew Lowrie Nicholas Lowrimore Elise Lowry Alex Lunyong Aaron Lynch Parker Lyons Maren Mabante Emma Maccurdy Luke Malanchuk Kendall Malone Miriam Maloney Cooper Manley Peyton Marshall Alec Marshman David Marsicano Tanner Martin Matt Marvick Mary Elizabeth Massey Amelia Mathis Katie Matney Xavier May Joey Mayo Ritika Mazumder

Michael McCanless Jamie McCoy Brad McCullough Jackson McDaniel Matthew McDonald Malerie McDowell Price McGinnis Daniel McGowan Maddie McGrady Palmer McGraw Bryce McPherson Kate McPherson Mary Kate Meacham Maddie Mechem Rebecca Meng Angel Mercado Joel Michelson Pryce Michener Colton Miller Maris Mills Prasaad Milner Jack Minahan Clare Misko Nicole Mohey-el-dien Conor Monks Zach Monroe Alexis Moore John Moore Taylor Morris Jack Morrison MaKenzie Mosby Savannah Muir Isabelle Mulder Colleen Mullaney Emily Neale Isabelle Nelson Brynna Newkirk Tucker Nichols Meredith Noah Abbie Norris Claire Norton Bennett Notestine Miranda Nowell Isabella Nugent Matthew Nungesser Ginika Nwoko Trey O’Bannon Shannon O’Brien Ryan Olive Emma Oliver Daniel Olivier

Jazmin Otaduy-Ramirez Alex Overstreet Joseph Ozment Shannon Paaymans Jennifer Park Carolyn Parks Margo Parks Mary Passmore Alisha Patel Jeesha Patel Mira Patel Shaun Patel Josh Patterson Swathi Pavuluri Anna Pearson Brandon Pelts Rahul Peravali Regan Perrodin Caylon Pettis Caitlin Pettman John Pilon Calli Pinckney Kenneth Piper Sam Pittman Lucy Pitts Nathaniel Plemons Alec Pollard Sam Polzin Jaylen Powell Nathan Powell Shreve Pratt Rosalia Preiss Jimi Quattrocchi Nicole Quinones Jordan Quintin Donny Ramier Sami Ramsey Saniya Rashid Annie Rebbe Bobby Rector Kendall Reed Spencer Regelson Rashad Reisman Matt Renzo Alexus Rias Kyle Richter Tripp Riddle Emily Rife Lucy Right Kaeli Rives Anna Rodell

FALL 2013 • RHODE S rhodes.edu

JUSTIN FOX BURKS

Kassie Roeser Jess Rogowiec Amanda Rubin Maddie Russo Caroline Ryan Sarah Sabin Maiar Salameh Katelyn Sanchez Mary Sanderson Lee Sands David Sarkan Adrian Scaife Connor Scanlon Erica Scheller Julia Schiciano Paul Schifani Charles Schneider Henry Schott Madison Sears Sandro Secino Billy Seibel Samantha Servidio Kristen Shackleford Amit Shah Morgan Shaw Elizabeth Shearon Clare Shelburne Caleigh Shepard Mimi Shepley Marni Sheps Roc Sherrell Harris Short Kayla Shorten Pete Showalter Myrna Sidarous Austin Siegfried Lee Silberberg Anna Singletary KK Slatten Joanna Smilari Arden Smith Blaire Smith Henry Smith Michelle Smith Nathan Smith Sara Smith Sophie Smith Erica Smythe Breanna Sommers Sylvie Sontheimer Drake St. John rhodes.edu

Matthew Sterba Hannah Stevens Luke Stevens Harper Stiles Julian Stinson Will Strong Jimmie Stuckey Brennan Sullivan Alex Sutphin Caroline Sutton Cayce Sweat Kelsey Sweeney Lauren Sylwester Omid Taghavi Caroline Taufic Alex Taylor Jared Taylor Emily Teague Erika Teahan Mary Madison Tesler Annie Thomas Noah Thompson Cole Thornton Brittney Threatt Kayla Tinnon Conner Tipton Tyler Tisdale Haider Tiwana CJ Toohey Amanda Toumayan Maddie Towne Evan Tucker Meredith Tufton Mary Beth Turner Albert Vacheron Nathalie Vacheron Emily Valentino Kirkwood Vangeli Sarahanne Vaughan Anna Volkov Katie von Salza Brown Sarah Wachter Meaghan Waff Anna Wahlgren DJ Walker John Wancowicz Jolie-Grace Wareham Henry Weinreich J.J. Weir Charlie Welsh Patrick West

Grace Whelan Morgan Wilkins Adrian Williams Andrew Williams Bakari Williams Brandon Williams Cullen Williams Michael Williamson Ethan Williford Danielle Wilson Kayla Wilson Mac Wilson McKenna Wilson Mason Windatt Claira Winget Isabel Wittman Evan Wladis Anania Woldetensaye

Jonathan Woo Maria Woodrow Ginger Woods Hailey Woods Corbin Wynn Jean Xiong Hong Xu Haobo Yang Sam Yarborough Andrew Young Robert Younger Maria Yousuf Nancun Yu Annie Yungmeyer Yantao Zhang Leo Zhou Jessica Zweifel

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

33

FACULTY FOCUS

New Faculty Jim kiihnl

L-R. bottom: Julia Hanebrink, Chien-Kai Chen, Brandy Brown, Catherine Welsh, Courtney Collins ’05, and Erin Kaplan. Middle: Renée Johnson, Ryan Mattson, Mary Doherty, Elizabeth Young, Erin Dolgoy, Leah McGray, and Treena Basu. Top: Andrew Gardner, Geoffrey Maddox, Andrew Zagorchev, Sujan Dan, Peter Hossler, and Jonathan Cook.

O

ur Faculty Focus for this issue falls on the new members joining us this year. As usual, Rhodes attracts a diverse and talented group of academicians, and we are happy to welcome them to the campus.

Treena Basu joins the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science as assistant professor. Basu has a PhD in applied and computational mathematics from the University of South Carolina. Most recently, she was a visiting assistant professor at Ithaca College, where she taught statistics and calculus courses.

Sarah Boyle will continue her work in the Department of Biology in a tenure-track position as assistant professor. Boyle has a PhD in biology from Arizona State University. For 34

the last four years, she has been a visiting assistant professor at Rhodes teaching animal behavior, plants and people, and geographic information systems courses.

Brandy Brown joins the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures as instructor of French. Brown expects to receive a PhD in French and Francophone studies from The Pennsylvania State University in the spring.

Chien-Kai Chen joins the Department of International Studies as assistant professor. Chen has a PhD in political science from Boston University. Most recently, he taught undergraduate courses for Boston University’s Department of Political Science and Department of International Relations.

Courtney Collins ’05 joins the Department of Economics as assistant professor. A Rhodes alumna, Collins has a PhD in economics from Texas A&M University. Most recently, she was an assistant professor at Mercer University, where she taught courses in macro and microeconomics and introductory econometrics.

Jonathan Cook joins the Department of Psychology as assistant professor. Cook is expected to receive a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri in the spring.

Cook most recently worked at the Coalition Against Rape and Domestic Violence in Fulton, MO. Sujan Dan joins the Department of Commerce and Business as assistant professor. Dan has a PhD in mar-

FALL 2013 • RHODE S rhodes.edu

keting from Texas A&M University.

Most recently, he was an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Tennessee, where he taught courses in global marketing strategy and product and service management.

Mary Doherty joins the Department of Biology as assistant professor in environmental biology with a specialty in microbial ecology. Doherty has a PhD in organismic and evolutionary biology from the University of Massachusetts. Most recently, she held a postdoctoral position at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences.

Erin Dolgoy joins the Depart ment of Political Science as the Thomas W. Smith Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow. Dolgoy has a PhD in political science from Michigan State University.

Andrew Gardner joins the Department of Biology as a postdoctoral fellow. Gardner has a PhD in botany from the University of WisconsinMadison.

Julia Hanebrink joins the Department of Anthropology and Sociology as assistant professor. Hanebrink expects to receive a PhD in anthropology with a concentration in disasters, displacement, and human rights from the University of Tennessee this year.

Hanebrink also is codirector of the National Institutes of Health, Minority Health International Research Training Program at Christian Brothers University. rhodes.edu

Peter Hossler joins the urban studies program as assistant professor.

Hossler has a PhD in geography from the University of Georgia. Most recently, he was a research associate in urban political economy in the School of Geographical & Earth Sciences at the University of Glasgow.

RenĂŠe Johnson joins the Department of Political Science as assistant professor in political economy. Johnson has a PhD in political economy/public policy, American government, and methodology from SUNY at Stony Brook. Most recently, she was assistant professor of political science at Kent State University, where she taught graduate and undergraduate courses in public policy and political economy.

Erin Kaplan joins the Department of Economics as assistant professor.

Kaplan has a PhD in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Most recently, she was visiting lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh.

Geoffrey Maddox joins the Department of Psychology as assistant professor. Maddox expects to receive a PhD in cognitive psychology (aging and development) this year from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. Ryan Mattson joins the Department of Economics as assistant professor. Mattson has a PhD in economics from the University of Kansas. Most recently, he was a research associate at the Center for Financial Stability in New York, NY.

Leah McGray joins the Department of Music as assistant professor. McGray expects to receive a PhD in conducting from Northwestern University this year. In 2012, McGray received the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship. She is cofounder and conductor of Windago, a Toronto-based wind and choral ensemble.

Catherine Welsh joins the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science as assistant professor in bioinformatics. Welsh expects to receive a PhD in computer science from the University of North Carolina this fall.

Most recently, Welsh taught undergraduate computer science and assisted in a graduate-level data mining course for the University of North Carolina.

Elizabeth Young joins the Department of Physics as assistant professor.

Young expects to receive a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University this year.

Young received a graduate fellowship in aerospace engineering from the National Science Foundation.

Andrey Zagorchev joins the Department of Commerce and Business as assistant professor. Zagorchev has a PhD in finance from Lehigh University. Most recently, he taught principles of managerial finance, financial management, and principles of investing and personal financial planning courses at Concord University.

FALL 2013 • RHODE S

35

We advance science, relieve suffering and question the deepest mysteries of the human condition.

Dr. Randall R. Rhea ’77 Alumnus. Trustee. Physician. Patient Advocate.

Committed to his Patients.

More than 30 years of experience and recipient of 2006 Volunteer Physician of the Year for the state of Virginia by the Virginia Academy of Family Physicians

Committed to his Community.

Sixth term as president of the Bradley Free Clinic. Founding member and vice-chair of Project Access of the Roanoke, a program where physicians agree to see a limited number of indigent patients at no charge.

Recipient of the 2009 Unsung Hero Award—Physician, awarded by the Virginia Health Care Foundation.

Named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club.

Committed to his Alma Mater.

Campaign gift to support the sciences and scholarships for students. Second term on the Board of Trustees.

Longtime member of the Charles E. Diehl Society and Bellingrath Society.

When we combine the accomplishments of alumni with the dreams and ambitions of our current students we can impact the world. Please join us in our efforts.

2000 North Parkway Memphis, TN 38112-1690 www.rhodes.edu

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID SENATOBIA MS PERMIT NO. 109

JUSTIN FOX BURKS ED UTHMAN ’74

Now and then: The Rhodes College Pep Band at Homecoming/Reunion Weekend 2012 (top) and as red-coated troubadors in 1972 (bottom). Alum Ed Uthman ’74 photographed the group during his tenure at then Southwestern.