National and global news about Rhodes students and alums

Dr. Scott Newstok, professor of English and founding director of the Pearce Shakespeare Endowment at Rhodes College, has been granted a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to teach and research in Spain during the 2022 fall semester at the Universidad de Murcia. The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government’s highly prestigious international educational exchange program.

Last summer, Jay Chatterjee '23 served as a Policy Research Intern in Macedonia, Greece, and is excited to again intern abroad this summer in London as a recipient of a Mertie W. Buckman International Internship Award. “The Rhodes Edge is real," says Chatterjee. "That’s helped with my internships and networking. To me, it’s all about bridging the gaps. It is about learning in a smaller, liberal arts environment and then applying what we are learning in a broader, global context.”

Rhodes College senior Sabrina Simpson recently won the Undergraduate Paper Prize presented at the Southeast Regional Conference of the Association for Asian Studies. The award was for her paper, “Animal Ethics in Thai Buddhism,” which she wrote for the Buddhism in Thai Society Summer 2021 course taught by Dr. Brooke Schedneck.

The Rhodes College chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) has won an Outstanding Chapter Award from the SPS National Office. The designation is given to fewer than 10 percent of all SPS chapters at colleges and universities in the United States and internationally, and it recognizes high levels of outreach as well as unique approaches to fulfilling the mission of SPS to “help students transform themselves into contributing members of the professional community.” The Rhodes chapter is advised by Professor of Physics Dr. Brent Hoffmeister and is led by student officers Giuliana Hofheins ’22 and Olivia Kaufmann ’23, both physics majors.

Facing massive power outages in Memphis caused by the recent ice storm, the Rhodes College mock trial teams quickly packed up and headed to Olive Branch, MS, to turn hotel rooms into courtrooms for Regional Tournaments hosted by Connecticut College and Pennsylvania State University via Zoom Feb. 5-6. Rhodes B finished as Regional Champions with a perfect record after defeating teams from the University of Maryland, SUNY-Binghampton, Holy Cross, and Villanova.

Rhodes College alumni Adam Wyatt ’21 and Veronica Kilanowski-Doroh ’21 recently presented research at the annual meeting of the Society for Classical Studies, which is the national association for classical studies. Their papers were written in conjunction with Ancient Mediterranean Studies courses at Rhodes in the fall of 2020 and selected by anonymous reviewers appointed by Eta Sigma Phi, the honorary society for the discipline.

Dr. Brent Hoffmeister, professor and chair of physics at Rhodes College, has been named a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America for contributions to the understanding of ultrasound characterization of bone. His research involves medical applications of physics.

Rhodes College juniors David Caddle, Walker Coleman, Priscilla Foreman, and Jimmy Mullen are competing for the 2022 Truman Scholarship, the premier graduate fellowship in the United States for those pursuing careers as public service leaders. The award provides up to $30,000 to apply toward graduate school. Recipients must be nominated by their institution, have outstanding leadership potential and communication skills, demonstrate academic excellence, and be committed to careers in government or the nonprofit sector.

Dr. Mary Miller, professor and chair of biology at Rhodes College, supported by a collaborative team of biology faculty, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant of more than $350,000 for a three-year project titled “MRI: Acquisition of a Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorter (FACS) Supporting Multi-Disciplinary Approaches to Exploring Biological Responses.”

Michael Morgan, director of financial aid at Rhodes College, has been elected to serve as president of the Southern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (SASFAA), effective July 1, 2022. “I am honored to be chosen for this important role,” says Morgan. “Professional organizations such as SASFAA develop leadership within our profession and fight for the needs of current and future students, ensuring an affordable education for all who wish to attend college.”