Three Rhodes College students are among undergraduates recently selected to receive the prestigious Boren Scholarship, which funds study abroad with the goal of immersing students in a language critical to U.S. national security interests. Keira Larson ’21 will study Arabic in Jordan, as will James Blan ’23 in the United Arab Emirates. Thomas Cloyd ’22 is going to Azerbaijan to study Turkish. Sponsored by the National Security Education Program and administered by the Institute of International Education, the Boren Scholarships provide up to $25,000, depending on the duration of overseas study.

Dr. Brooke Schedneck’s latest book is "Religious Tourism in Northern Thailand: Encounters with Buddhist Monks." The book is based on her in-depth research into tourism, urbanization, and education as important factors transforming the Buddhist temples of Chiang Mai, where Schedneck lived for eight years.

Rhodes College will phase out its major in theatre starting in 2021, citing a lack in student interest in majoring in the discipline, provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Katherine Bassard announced. The college will work to establish co-curricular opportunities for students interested in theatre both on campus and in Memphis’ vibrant performing arts community.

Rhodes College celebrated the commencement of the Classes of 2020 and 2021 May 15. Their degrees were officially conferred May 2020. Rhodes also awarded the 2021 commencement awards, which include some of the highest honors the college recognizes.

The 2021 Clarence Day Awards for Outstanding Teaching and for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity are awarded to Dr. Brian Larkins and Dr. Scott Newstok, respectively. The Clarence Day Awards, presented to two faculty members each year, are two of the college’s highest honors for its faculty.

Six seniors’ portraits have been added to Rhodes’ Hall of Fame on the second floor of Southwestern Hall. They are K’nori Bone, Jacob Fontaine, Betsy John, Hannah Johns, Sydney Jones, and Mary Thomas. Selection to the Hall of Fame, which was established in 1931, is based on individual merit, leadership in student activities, service to others, and overall contributions to the campus community. Honorees are chosen by their peers.

The Rhodes Board of Trustees announced today that internationally renowned Blues artist, Blues Hall of Fame inductee, and Grammy Award winner, Bobby Rush, whose career spans eight decades, will be this year’s recipient of the Honorary Doctorate of Humanities.

With the support of the Mike Curb Institute for Music at Rhodes, Emma Jane Hopper ’22 and Elijah Matlock ’21 have been making quite a splash with Beyond Beale. The student-run podcast focuses on illuminating the underrepresented narratives of the Memphis music scene. In their first season, Matlock and Hopper took a deep dive into the integrated Memphis Country Blues Festival held at Overton Park Shell in the late 1960s; they also produced a mini-episode about the festival that garnered an honorable mention in NPR’s 2021 Student Podcast Challenge: College Edition.

Becca Risman '21 has used her passion for community engagement in Memphis as an Urban Fellow; studied urban planning in Sevilla, Spain; and will soon serve as a Work First Fellow in New York City with America Works, a nonprofit that seeks to alleviate poverty in major cities.