Rhodes College President Marjorie Hass announced today that Dr. Meghan Harte Weyant will join the college’s senior leadership team as Vice President for Student Life beginning July 1, 2020. The appointment is the result of a national search led by a campus committee composed of faculty, staff, and students.

The Rhodes College Board of Trustees unanimously adopted the college’s new ten-year strategic plan, Achieving Our Best: A Strategic Vision for Rhodes College 2020-2030. The plan will strengthen the college’s commitment to provide a decidedly residential liberal arts and sciences education and maps the college’s objective to facilitate growth sustainably while maintaining and enhancing the academic and creative excellence that gives Rhodes graduates an edge that they carry throughout their professional life. 

Physics professors Dr. David Rupke of Rhodes College and Dr. Alison Coil of the University of California San Diego, along with a group of collaborators from around the world, have had a breakthrough in understanding a key process in galaxy evolution. Their findings will be published in the Oct. 31, 2019 issue of Nature.

Rhodes student leader Dorian Canales ’20 has set his sights on leading businesses into the future and empowering others to succeed. This past summer, he worked as a global planning and engineering technology intern at FedEx Express, as well as attended the Harvard Business School Summer Venture in Management Program. “Rhodes has helped me develop a strong foundation and the necessary transferable skills to thrive in any industry,” says Canales.

Alyssa Nucaro ’11, a teacher at Wooddale Middle School, is one of five individuals being recognized as a 2019 Educator of Excellence. Presented by the nonprofit organization New Memphis, the awards celebrate transformational leaders working in local schools.

Rhodes College launched a new Athletics Giving Challenge on Oct. 22, and the results are in—$71,232 in donations and 568 donors. “The outpouring of support we’ve received in our inaugural Athletics Giving Challenge was overwhelming and proves how special the Rhodes community is when it comes to our student-athletes,” says Matt Dean, director of athletics. “We can’t thank our alumni, parents, and friends enough for surpassing our initial goals.”

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded $900,000 to Rhodes College to support its innovative initiatives to educate students and citizens about social and cultural determinants of health. The new initiatives made possible by this grant will empower humanities and social science faculty to build out curriculum that more robustly incorporates issues of health equity and to strengthen and create public humanities partnerships in the Memphis region.

Visiting assistant professor and internationally-renowned music director, conductor, and scholar Zak Ozmo's Arts Entrepreneurship class, which has brought together students from a vast array of disciplines, seeks to broaden students' understandings of careers in the arts and expand their professional networks. The class includes a lectures series featuring Memphis leaders who work at the intersection of arts and business and is open to the entire Rhodes community.

Karl Erickson, assistant professor of art and art history, and Emily Burkhead, a senior urban studies major, will have their films featured at the annual Indie Memphis Film Festival to be held Oct. 30-Nov. 4.

Although Africans had a presence in the Americas in the 1500s, it is the year 1619—with the arrival of Africans in Virginia— that is commonly used as a starting point for teaching about slavery in the United States. The story of these captives 400 years ago has set the stage for discussions about the institution of slavery and its aftermath. Professors Trimiko Melancon, Gordon Bigelow, Kijan Bloomfield, and Charles McKinney are joining in Oct. 21 with a panel discussion on campus.