Dr. Leslie Petty, associate professor of English and chair of the department at Rhodes College, was presented the 2022 Jameson M. Jones Award for Outstanding Faculty Service on Aug. 19 at the college’s Opening Convocation. This is an annual ceremony to mark a new academic session and welcome the new Rhodes class.

Rhodes College has been known to catch the eye of onlookers and visitors of the college, but its own students helped it earn the No. 20 spot on the “Most Beautiful Campus” list of The Princeton Review’s latest college guide: The Best 388 Colleges: 2023 Edition.

The academics, a quality education, the friendly community, a beautiful campus, and support from professors are just some of the reasons members of the incoming class say they have chosen to make Rhodes College their new home. The college will be energized by 488 first-time, first-year students.

Visitors of Rhodes College often will comment that the campus’ Collegiate Gothic architecture, with its limestone arches, stone walls, stained-glass windows, and slate roofs, makes them feel like they are in England. Twenty-one Rhodes students had the opportunity to actually study in England as part of the Rhodes Summer School in London program led by Associate Professor of Music Vanessa Rogers in coordination with Professor of Art Victor Coonin and professors and staff from the United Kingdom.

Saylor Tettleton ’22 will be studying in Germany for one year as a Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange Fellow. She is one of only 75 Americans awarded the compeitive fellowship, which is funded by the German Bundestag and U.S. Department of State. Tettleton graduated from Rhodes in May with a bachelor’s degree in educational studies and is interested in learning more about educational systems in Germany over the next year. She plans to teach at the elementary school level when returning to the U.S.

Rhodes College had 397 student-athletes named to the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Academic Honor Roll for 2021-22, making it another banner year in the classroom for the Lynx. Of those being recognized this year, 154 student-athletes from fall sports teams made the honor roll, 59 from winter sports teams, and 184 from spring sports teams.

Samuel Cross, a rising junior from Griffin, GA, is among the new members of the 2022-2023 Hillel International Student Cabinet. His one-year term began in July. Founded in 1923, Hillel International has grown into the world’s largest Jewish campus organization.

The Rhodes Singers and Chamber Singers went on an international choir tour in May that included performances in Germany and the Czech Republic. The choirs performed in beautifully historic cathedrals and churches to packed houses of enthusiastic audiences, whose appreciation demanded encores.

A successful project completed for a course often can inspire a student to dig deeper into a subject through research, or even apply for an internship to further their knowledge. That’s what happened to rising senior Jalen Essick. As part of the Intro to Urban Studies course taught by Prof. Shaolu Yu, he prepared a research paper and presentation about the Memphis International Airport’s impact on the city of Memphis’ economic vitality. Now, he is an intern at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson Airport.

Rhodes College is featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2023, a best-selling college guidebook that includes profiles of more than 300 of the “best and most interesting” colleges in the country. The guide recognizes Rhodes for educational opportunities beyond campus and strong programs in economics, English, international studies, history, chemistry, business, biology, and psychology.