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.

Blair Kinsey is the recipient of the Peyton Nalle Rhodes Phi Beta Kappa Prize. The 2024 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards were presented to graduating seniors Mia-Miracle Craig and Oliver Hurst and Professor of Music William Skoog. The college presented the Distinguished Service Medal to Brian Foshee, who recently retired as director of physical plant at Rhodes.

Rhodes College seniors Lucia Berkey, Riley Damiano, Piper Huddleston, and Gwen Williams have been selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Student Awards for the 2024-2025 academic year. Beginning in the fall, Berkey, Huddleston, and Williams will serve as English teaching assistants and Damiano as a researcher in their assigned countries. The Fulbright Program currently facilitates the exchange of students and scholars between the United States and more than 140 countries.

Six graduating seniors’ portraits are being added to Rhodes College’s Hall of Fame on the second floor of Southwestern Hall. They are Asya Bray, Sam Frank, Oliver Hurst, Claire Kiernan, Hailey Smith, and Justin Thompson. Selection to the Hall of Fame, which was established in 1931, is based on individual merit, leadership in student activities, service to others, and overall contributions to the campus community. Honorees are chosen by their peers.

The 175th Commencement of Rhodes College will be held Saturday, May 11, at 8:30 a.m. in the Hubert F. Fisher Memorial Garden on campus. Prior to the commencement, the Baccalaureate Service will be held on Friday, May 10, at 3:30 p.m. in the Bryan Campus Life Center.

Cali VanCleve, a Rhodes College sophomore majoring in international studies and Russian, is one of 20 students selected as a Key into Public Service Scholar by The Phi Beta Kappa Society.Chosen from more than 700 applicants attending Phi Beta Kappa chapter institutions across the nation, each 2024 scholar will receive a $5,000 undergraduate scholarship and will participate in an educational conference held in Washington, D.C.

Senior studio art major Alice Malone had her video titled Mask featured at the West Virginia Mountaineer Short Film Festival held April 18-21. Karl Erickson, assistant professor of art at Rhodes, also participated in the festival on a panel discussion about art and artificial intelligence and showed his animation Infinite Choices of Latent Space.

Senior computer science major Abbie Seale worked on a project with University of North Texas researchers last summer, and their research will be published in a special volume focusing on state-of-the-art technologies pertaining to digital information and communications.