There is a new addition to the Memphis Zoo family—Kosti the elephant—and she getting to know the zookeepers as well as Animal Behavior and Conservation Fellows from Rhodes College. The fellowship familiarizes students with the evolutionary, neural, and environmental behavior of animals.

Eight talented local high school students have been on campus this summer participating in the American Chemical Society’s Project SEED program hosted by Rhodes College’s Department of Chemistry. The students are conducting meaningful research under the supervision of Rhodes faculty within the chemistry department and biochemistry and molecular biology program.

Molly O'Shea, who recently graduated from Rhodes College with a bachelor’s degree in international studies and history, is the college’s latest recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Student Award for the 2022-2023 academic year. She will serve as an English Teaching Assistant in Turkey beginning in the fall. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.

When Michael Lamb ’04 was a student at Rhodes College, he received the highly coveted Rhodes Scholarship (England) and published a book about community engagement. Now a tenured professor, he has published a book on character education. “My own character was formed significantly during my time at Rhodes, both in the classroom and in the community,” says Lamb. “I am grateful to Rhodes for offering a robust liberal arts education that emphasizes community engagement and teaches students how to live and lead.”

Dr. Jennifer M. Collins took office today as the 21st president of Rhodes College. She joins the national liberal arts college after serving as the Judge James Noel Dean and professor of law at Southern Methodist University in Texas. “I am truly honored to be joining the incredible community at Rhodes College today,” says President Collins. “I am very much looking forward to partnering with our wonderful faculty, staff, students, alumni, and community partners in the great city of Memphis to enhance the outstanding educational experience we provide and champion our commitments to service and inclusive excellence.”

Rhodes College is being awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Research grant in the amount of $639,165 to continue research performed by Professor of Chemistry Loretta Jackson-Hayes and Professor of Biology Terry Hill with students in their labs. The research explores cell growth and division of fungi and has potential to find more effective antifungal drugs.

Twenty Rhodes College students recently immersed themselves in the sights and sounds of Ecuador through the SPAN 209/309: Spanish in Latin America course taught by Dr. Eric Henager and Dr. Bruce Milton Jackson Jr. of Rhodes Spanish Studies, in coordination with professors from Ecuador.

Rhodes College art history alumna Robyn Barrow ’15 has been selected as a recipient of the prestigious Paul Mellon Fellowship awarded by the National Gallery of Art’s Center for Advanced Study of the Visual Arts. She will begin the fellowship Fall 2022, spending two years doing fieldwork abroad before her residency in Washington, DC.

A team of three rising seniors at Rhodes—Thu-Trang Nguyen, Jana Turner, and Jiaxuan (Jade) Yang—recently earned the second-place prize of $500 in a data visualization contest for college students presented by the National Institute of Statistical Sciences. The Rhodes submission for the national competition was part of a midterm project in the Math 235: Data Visualization course taught by Dr. Erika David Parr in spring 2022.

Rhodes has landed on Money’s Best Colleges in America 2022. Editors of the magazine spent months evaluating data on quality, affordability, and student outcomes of more than 600 four-year colleges across the country. Rhodes also is among the magazine’s top 50 Best Colleges in the South.