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.

Dr. John Copper, who is a globally renowned scholar in Asian affairs, has published a new book titled Donald J. Trump and China, which assesses the relationship between the United States and China.

Rhodes excels among national liberal arts colleges in the number of graduates accepted into medical schools. Over the past six years, 86 percent of its graduates with a GPA greater than 3.4 and an MCAT score above the 57th percentile have been accepted into medical schools.The 2019 application cycle includes 44 Rhodes graduates offered admittance to medical schools, with Vanderbilt University, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, George Washington University, and University of Chicago among the list.

The National Science Foundation awarded Rhodes College $650,000 to increase the academic and career success of lower-income, academically talented STEM students at Rhodes. The eighteen students selected will receive a scholarship to reduce, or even eliminate, their need for federal student loans, participate in a new course on applications of computational thinking and a science-focused first-year writing seminar together, engage in grant-funded summer research experiences, live together in a designated residence hall, and receive peer mentoring.

Dr. Valerie M. Hudson, an expert on gender and international security and a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, will present “The First Political Order: Sex and World Politics” Oct. 24 at Rhodes College. In her forthcoming book, The First Political Order: Sex, Governance, and National Security, Hudson has researched how the subordination of women in social and political structures has wide-ranging implications for global security and development.

There is no one path to breaking into the art industry, but for Jenna Gilley, the journey has included internships with the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art and the UrbanArt Commission, as well as travel to Meknès, Morocco, where she learned about the city’s arts communities.

Dr. Charles McKinney, Neville Frierson Bryan Chair of Africana Studies and associate professor of history at Rhodes College, will be the featured speaker for ArtCafé Conversations at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art Sept. 25. He will discuss select pieces in the museum’s permanent collection by African American artists.