News and information about the Rhodes campus experience.

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.

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.

U.S. News & World Report has named Rhodes College one of the nation’s most innovative national liberal arts colleges in its 2020 Best Colleges rankings. Rhodes was also recognized as a “Best Value College” and on the list of national liberal arts colleges with the “Best Undergraduate Teaching Degrees.”

Electric guitars. Snake skin. The noise of early punk rock colliding with the Greek myth of Medusa. These were the sights and sounds of the McCoy Theatre over Labor Day weekend, when playwright Krista Knight and New York musician and composer Barry Brinegar came to campus to work with the Rhodes College cast on the upcoming Memphis premiere of HISSIFIT.

Bill Cochran has announced that he will retire as Rhodes’ head men’s golf coach at the end of the 2019-20 season. This season will be Cochran’s 19th year as the Lynx head coach.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will deliver Rhodes College’s annual Constitution Day lecture on October 3. “We are honored to have Justice Breyer join us in Memphis,” Rhodes President Marjorie Hass says. “Our community will get a rare look behind the scenes of the Supreme Court. Lectures like this one are a key component of the transformational experience we provide for our students.”

Of its more than 2,000 students, who come from 47 states and represent 54 countries, approximately 520 first-year students and 18 transfer students have committed to enroll fall 2019. Multicultural and international students make up 40 percent of the Class of 2023—an 8 percent increase compared with last year’s incoming class.