Recent Rhodes College graduate Janay Kelley ’24 has curated the Threaded Legacies exhibition currently on view at Memphis’ Cossitt Library. The exhibition is a result of a project titled “Threading Legacy: Artistry, Ritual, and Southern Black Women Lineages” that Kelley worked on in 2023 as a fellow in the eight-week Rhodes Institute for Regional Studies.

Rhodes College visitors often become enamored when stepping on the picturesque campus for the first time, so it is no surprise that the college is among Architectural Digest’s “64 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America.” The publication notes the college’s “beautiful wooded campus with uniformly Collegiate Gothic buildings made of Arkansas sandstone, Vermont slate, and Indiana limestone.”

Dr. Shana Stoddard, associate professor of chemistry at Rhodes College, has been selected to receive the 2024 Lloyd N. Ferguson Young Scientist Award for Excellence in Research from the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers. She will be presented the award at the organization's national conference in September.

While students at Rhodes College, alums Robyn Barrow ’15 (art history) and Alexandra Cronin ’15 (English) bonded over the love of books, creative writing, and good food. Now the author duo, whose pen name is Quinn Connor, has published a new book titled The Pecan Children.

Among student opportunities at Rhodes are work experiences in other countries through the Mertie Buckman, Morelle Legge, Wasfy Iskander, and William Theodore Eckles international internship programs.

Rhodes College is among the “50 Best Value Liberal Arts Colleges in the United States 2024 For International Students” published by Study Abroad Aide. In addition, Rhodes has earned a distinguished position in the top 33 percentage of Best Value universities/colleges worldwide.

Artwork by Brooklyn-based artist Esther Ruiz is being featured in a solo exhibition titled Uncharted at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, CT. The artist received a bachelor’s degree in studio art from Rhodes in 2011, and her work has been reviewed in publications including Art News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.

Four Rhodes employees— Sara Harris, Kate Collier, Melissa Campbell, and Elisha Vego—were recognized with the college’s 2024 Outstanding Staff Awards at the annual Service Recognition Brunch held May 14. Staff members with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service also were honored at the program held in the McCallum Ballroom. Cornett Townes was recognized as the Loretta Watkins Outstanding Housekeeper and Fred Garrett was recognized as Outstanding Campus Safety Officer.

A book by Dr. Sarah Ifft Decker, assistant professor of history at Rhodes College, has been recognized with the La corónica International Book Award for best monograph on medieval Iberian literatures, languages, and cultures. It is titled The Fruit of Her Hands: Jewish and Christian Women's Work in Medieval Catalan Cities.

Dr. Cary Fowler, the U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security and a member of the Rhodes Class of 1971, has been named a 2024 World Food Prize Laureate for his longstanding contribution to seed conservation and crop biodiversity. He will share the $500,000 award with Dr. Geoffrey Hawtin, founding director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust.