Class of 2026 Members Selected for Fulbright Student Awards

Sophia Cracraft, Lydia Gold, Melate Kebede, and Erin McTigue—members of the Rhodes College Class of 2026—have been selected to receive Fulbright U.S. Student Awards for the 2026-2027 academic year. The Fulbright Program currently facilitates the exchange of students and scholars between the United States and more than 140 countries, and applications for 2026-2027 continue to be reviewed. Rhodes is among the top producers of Fulbright U.S. Students. Cracraft and Gold in Taiwan, Kebede in Bulgaria, and McTigue in Germany will serve as English teaching assistants in their assigned countries and as cultural ambassadors for the U.S.

Lawson Recognized with SAGE Emerging Scholar Award

Dr. Kailey Lawson, assistant professor of psychology at Rhodes College, has been selected for the SAGE Emerging Scholar Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP). She will be recognized at the annual SPSP meeting to be held in February 2026 in Chicago, IL.

Rhodes Hosts Multilingual Memphis Coffee Chat

Rhodes College on Sept. 27 hosted a gathering of the Multilingual Memphis Coffee Chat, a regional network that brings together educators, administrators, and community organizations working to better serve second-language learning communities.

Stoddard Named a Trailblazer by American Chemical Society

Dr. Shana Stoddard, associate professor of chemistry at Rhodes College, has been selected as part of the 2025 cohort of Trailblazers by the American Chemical Society. The organization spotlights Stoddard in a special issue of its news outlet, Chemical & Engineering News, published Sept. 15. The issue features the work of scientists with disabilities and the ways they adapt their workplace to do science.

Today in Rhodes College History: Classes Begin in Memphis in 1925

Established in 1848 in Clarksville, TN, Rhodes College moved to its current location in 1925 under the leadership of then president Dr. Charles E. Diehl. The college (then named Southwestern) opened for classes on Sept. 24, 1925. Four hundred and six students and 16 faculty walked into a Collegiate Gothic building, now known as Southwestern Hall, that laid the foundation for the beautiful campus we see today.

Rhodes College Rises in U.S. News & World Report Rankings

Rhodes College rose four spots in U.S. News & World Report’s recently released 2026 Best Colleges rankings, to No. 55 for National Liberal Arts Colleges. The annual rankings evaluate four-year bachelor's degree-granting institutions across the nation. Rhodes also achieved top 50 recognition in several other key rankings areas.

Rhodes College Announces $2M Endowment to Support New Center for Career and Professional Development

Rhodes College today announced a $2 million gift from The Rhodes Family Foundation to name the director’s position for the college’s Center for Career and Professional Development. This will be the college’s first endowed staff position. The gift supports the center’s vision of “ensuring all students graduate from Rhodes College prepared, engaged, self-aware, and confident in their abilities both to lead and to fulfill professional, academic, and personal goals.”