Four Rhodes employees— Sara Harris, Kate Collier, Melissa Campbell, and Elisha Vego—were recognized with the college’s 2024 Outstanding Staff Awards at the annual Service Recognition Brunch held May 14. Staff members with 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service also were honored at the program held in the McCallum Ballroom. Cornett Townes was recognized as the Loretta Watkins Outstanding Housekeeper and Fred Garrett was recognized as Outstanding Campus Safety Officer.

Blair Kinsey is the recipient of the Peyton Nalle Rhodes Phi Beta Kappa Prize. The 2024 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Awards were presented to graduating seniors Mia-Miracle Craig and Oliver Hurst and Professor of Music William Skoog. The college presented the Distinguished Service Medal to Brian Foshee, who recently retired as director of physical plant at Rhodes.

Six graduating seniors’ portraits are being added to Rhodes College’s Hall of Fame on the second floor of Southwestern Hall. They are Asya Bray, Sam Frank, Oliver Hurst, Claire Kiernan, Hailey Smith, and Justin Thompson. Selection to the Hall of Fame, which was established in 1931, is based on individual merit, leadership in student activities, service to others, and overall contributions to the campus community. Honorees are chosen by their peers.

Economics and mathematics major Drishti Bhatia ’26 presented the winning pitch at the recent Rhodes College Venture Challenge, gaining the $15,000 Grand Prize to help launch PlatePlan, which she co-founded with business major Winston Gasch ’26. Kyla Bursey ’24 was selected People’s Choice Award winner, based on votes by the audience.

Lily Whitesell's passion for STEM subjects flourished into endeavors spanning multiple disciplines, institutions, and countries while at Rhodes.

Blair Kinsey ’24, Hannah Meit ’25, and Lily Whitesell ’24 participated in the 84th William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition. The rigorous competition is administered by the Mathematical Association of America, and the Rhodes students competed with some of the brightest minds from colleges and universities across the country, including Harvard, MIT, and Princeton.

Four Rhodes students—Parth Sinojia, Samuel Lippe, Shayla Garrison, and Lauren Surratt—presented research at the 26th Annual Conference on Research in Undergraduate Mathematics Education held recently in Omaha, NE. Prof. Erika David Parr accompanied the group and also presented at the conference, which had more than 300 in-person and 100 virtual attendees.

Molly Hirner, a Rhodes College junior pursuing a major in economics and mathematics, has been selected to receive the Fulbright Canada-Mitacs Globalink Research Internship, which is intended for U.S. students to undertake advanced research projects in their area of interest for 10 to 12 weeks at a top Canadian university.

Rhodes faculty and students participated in the 2024 Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM) held Jan. 3-6 in San Francisco, CA. The annual event, with more than 17 organizations participating, is known as the world’s largest mathematics gathering.

Rhodes College hosted the annual meeting of the Tennessee Academy of Science (TAS) on campus in November, and several Rhodes students received awards for their research. Dr. Gregory Vieira, assistant professor of physics at Rhodes, served as local arrangements chair.