Erika Pope, musical arts coordinator for the Rhodes Department of Music, serves as the 39th National President of Tau Beta Sigma, which is a co-educational National Honorary Band Sorority. Dr. Carole Blankenship, chair of the Rhodes Department of Music, is finishing up a two-year term as president of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Ava Mitra, a senior neuroscience major from Bangladesh, shares with us her experience of adapting to American culture while shaping and adapting her own identity. Finding her communities through involvement in cultural groups, club sports, and classrooms—in particular, the neuroscience labs where she has conducted research all four years—and through sharing her culture and experiences with others, Mitra has forged strong connections while achieving academic success at Rhodes.

Dr. Timothy Huebner, the Irma O. Sternberg Professor of History and associate provost at Rhodes College, has been named chair of the board of editors of the Journal of Supreme Court History, published three times a year by the Supreme Court Historical Society in Washington, DC. In June 2021, Melvin I. Urofsky retired from the position after serving the Supreme Court Historical Society for 30 years.

Audiences of the Rhodes Theatre Guild’s upcoming production—The Eternal Sleepover—will interrogate suspects, discover clues, and uncover lies to solve a whodunnit. Co-directed by Eliana Mabe ’23 and Caitlin Evans ’22, the student-led show runs Nov. 19-20. The crime, backstory, and main acting scenes will occur in Blount Auditorium, while character interrogations will occur in Buckman Hall’s first floor classrooms. To join in on the sleepover theme, the audience is asked to attend in pajamas.

Housing thousands of works of art, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art is a staple of Midtown and a frequent afternoon excursion for Rhodes students. For Olivia Lane '22 and Fatima Leal '23, who both interned at the museum this past summer, Brooks is now home to their first forays into professional curation. “Rhodes students are receiving an education that will not be complete without ties like this one,” says Leal. “To be involved in the larger tessellation that is Memphis is to truly experience the city that is giving us a home for four years."

Rhodes College is discontinuing its Master of Arts in Urban Education program effective July 1, 2022, says Dr. Katherine Bassard, provost and vice president for academic affairs, due to loss of external funding. “The decision to end the program is a difficult one,” says Bassard. “Ultimately it was decided it would be in the best interest of students and faculty to retain the popular and effective undergraduate curriculum while not trying to maintain a graduate program without the necessary resources.” Rhodes will not be recruiting students in the Master of Arts in Urban Education program for fall 2022 and beyond. “We remain absolutely committed to supporting students currently enrolled in the program and to giving them an opportunity to complete their degrees,” says Bassard.

Four Rhodes College seniors are competing for the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which provides a $36,000 grant for purposeful, independent exploration abroad in 2022. If selected, fellows execute their conceived projects by traveling outside the United States for one year. They are Chris Prigg, Aidan Smith, Marley Wisby, and Lauren Yenari.

Dr. Elizabeth Thomas, professor of psychology and Plough Chair of Urban Studies at Rhodes College, was presented the 2021 Jameson M. Jones Award for Outstanding Faculty Service at the college’s Opening Convocation held Oct. 21 in Fisher Memorial Garden. Opening Convocation was postponed until after fall recess to allow the campus community to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This ceremony marks a new academic session and welcomes the new Rhodes class.

Working toward a more equitable healthcare system in the United States means understanding the social and cultural determinants of health. Rhodes College, thanks in part to a three-year grant received from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2019, has been robustly incorporating issues of health equity into its liberal arts curriculum; developing health equity education in Memphis hospitals for current and future physicians; and deepening partnerships with healthcare, cultural, and social justice organizations.

The New York City Internship Program runs through mid-December for a total of 16 academic credits. It is made up of an eight-hour academic internship and two courses. One course focuses on the theater industry, on and off Broadway, as well as the personal, cultural, and professional value of theater. The other course delves into the history of the people of New York. Fieldtrips and walking tours to New York City’s neighborhoods, museums, and other cultural venues are part of the course content.