Rhodes students enrolled in the course Environment and Society in the spring of 2020 used innovation and creativity to make a real-world contribution within the field of environmental studies and sciences. Collaborating with five local environmental nonprofits—Memphis City Beautiful, Memphis Tilth, Project Green Fork/Clean Memphis, The Compost Fairy, and Wolf River Conservancy—they co-created infographics that will be used to promote the programmatic activities of each environmental nonprofit in Memphis and Western Tennessee. The course was taught by Dr. Kimberly Kasper, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology.

As part of Rhodes’ efforts to offer expertise to the public on the most important issues of the present, the college is launching a second Rhodes Responds series, Black Communities and Law Enforcement.

Rhodes alumna and Union City, TN, native Allison Bruff ’14 is one of four individuals appointed as a 2020-2021 Supreme Court Fellow, according to an announcement by the Supreme Court Fellows Commission. She was selected as part of a highly competitive national process, culminating with interviews by the Commission in Washington, DC. Each Fellow will serve a one-year term beginning in September 2020.

Rhodes College joined the ranks of hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide in becoming a member of the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD), a national organization dedicated to supporting faculty and their professional development in academia. 

Rhodes College and Baptist Memorial Health Care have announced a comprehensive partnership to provide COVID-19 prevention, monitoring, testing, tracing, and health care services to students, faculty, and staff members. Forming this partnership with Baptist addresses the need for a full-scale safety protocol led by public health experts. Baptist will assist the college with developing its health and safety protocol plan and implementation strategies for that plan, including testing, tracing and care.

Professor of Biology Terry Hill and Professor of Psychology Marsha Walton have been awarded national research mentoring awards by the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR.)

"Remarkably, with few exceptions, the concerns raised by Black students almost forty years ago are the same concerns we have heard voiced by Black students in the past three weeks. The similarity of our experiences highlights that neither my experiences from over three decades ago nor the experiences of Black students today are unique to our particular moment in the history of the Rhodes. Instead the similarities underscore that there are some persistent challenges at Rhodes. Our students today have demonstrated extraordinary courage and agency in revealing Rhodes’ imperfections and in prompting the institution to move forward. Their critique stems from their loyalty to Rhodes and their desire to see Rhodes live up to its potential."

Rhodes chemistry alumna Caroline Magee ’19 has had manuscripts based on her undergraduate research accepted for publication in two peer-reviewed scientific journals—Computational and Theoretical Chemistry and the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry.

Mariam Khayata ’22, an international studies and political science major at Rhodes College, is one of 20 students selected as a Key into Public Service Scholar by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s oldest collegiate honor society. The new scholarship program recognizes students with a demonstrated interest in working in the public sector and a strong academic record in the liberal arts and sciences.

Recent Rhodes graduate Monroe McKay has excelled as an athlete, an outstanding student, and a caring volunteer in the community. This was amply illustrated this past April when not only was he recognized among the best local football players by the Memphis Chapter of the National Football Foundation, but also he presented his genome research remotely at The Allied Genetics Conference 2020 conference. His mantra is “The secret to living is giving,” and he says Rhodes has prepared him to succeed after graduation.