National and global news about Rhodes students and alums

Dr. Russell Wigginton, a member of the Rhodes Class of 1988, has been named president of the National Civil Rights Museum. He will begin the new position August 1. Wigginton’s professional career also spans more than two decades at Rhodes, having served as vice president of student life, vice president of external programs, vice president for college relations, assistant to the president for community relations, and faculty member in the history department.

Environmental science major Claire McGuire ’20 was a member of a research team at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, in 2018, focused on recording and analyzing microplastic pollution in New England salt marshes. Now, she is one of the authors of “Salt Marsh Sediments Act As Sinks For Microplastics And Reveal Effects Of Current And Historical Land Use Changes” published in the international peer-reviewed journal Environmental Advances.

In September 2019, Rhodes College’s Liberal Arts in Prison Program began its first for-credit classes—a four-course, 12-credit sequence called Culture and Values—with inmates of the Women’s Therapeutic Residential Center (WTRC), a 1,200-bed facility operated by the Tennessee Department of Correction in Henning, TN. In May, five participants received an Undergraduate Certificate in Liberal Arts from Rhodes at a graduation ceremony held at WTRC.

Dr. Kimberly Kasper, assistant professor of anthropology at Rhodes College, is a contributor to Black Food Matters: Racial Justice in the Wake of Food Justice, a collection of essays edited by Hanna Garth and Ashanté M. Reese and published by University of Minnesota Press. The book recently was selected for “Public Picks 2021” by Public Books, which is an online magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship. Editors chose books that “dazzled, challenged, and inspired” them most over the past year.

Rhodes alumna Shavonne Bragg ’19 is the recipient of the 2021 Shell Urban Science Educator Development Award, presented by The National Science Teaching Association and sponsored by Shell. A science teacher at Double Tree Elementary School in Memphis, Bragg is among top science educators from around the country to receive the award.

Dr. Christopher Seaton, professor of mathematics at Rhodes, is a 2021 recipient of the Mentor Award from the Council on Undergraduate Research’s (CUR) Mathematics and Computer Sciences Division. The award recognizes three mentors (early career, mid-career, and advanced career) for their leadership and accomplishments in mentoring undergraduate students in research involving mathematics, computer science, or statistics.

Rhodes chemistry major Dasha Safarian ’21 has had a manuscript based on her undergraduate research published in peer-reviewed scientific journal Computational and Theoretical Chemistry. The paper is also co-authored by Megan Simons, who graduated in 2019 from Rhodes with degrees in mathematics and chemistry, and Rebecca Evans, who also graduated 2019 with a degree in chemistry. The research describes possible treatments for prostate cancer.

Isabel López ’23, an economics and international studies major at Rhodes College, is one of 20 students across the country selected as a Key into Public Service Scholar by The Phi Beta Kappa Society, the nation’s oldest collegiate honor society. The award recognizes students who have demonstrated interest in working in the public sector and possess a strong academic record in the liberal arts and sciences.

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.