Dr. Erin Dolgoy and Dr. Larryn Peterson were presented with Rhodes College’s highest honors conferred on faculty at the college’s annual Awards Convocation held April 26 on campus.
Dolgoy, associate professor and chair of politics and law, received the Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Teaching, which is a recognition of pedagogical excellence and creativity. Peterson, associate professor of chemistry and chair of biochemistry and molecular biology, received the Clarence Day Award for Outstanding Research and Creative Activity, which is a recognition of major scholarly or creative contributions to one’s discipline.
The awards, first given in 1981, were established by businessman and Rhodes alumnus Clarence Day and are provided by the Day Foundation.
More about the recipients:
Dr. Erin Dolgoy began her career at Rhodes in 2013 as a political philosopher and earned tenure in 2023. She has served as department chair since the fall of 2023 and teaches in multiple areas, including politics and law, philosophy, Search, and the Liberal Arts in Prison program.
“Her colleagues offer extraordinary praise for her teaching, appreciating how she strives to develop independent learners and critical thinkers in her classroom,” said Dr. Timothy Huebner, provost and vice president for academic affairs, who made the presentation.
Nominators commented on how Dolgoy has created environments where thinkers can question each other’s premises, reevaluate their positions considering new evidence, and consequently reach differing conclusions.
“What these remarks also emphasize is that Erin isn’t merely interested in teaching our students what to learn about political philosophy, but how to learn,” said Huebner. “She provides them with a model for combining curiosity and intellectual humility. Especially in our highly charged and often divisive national climate, Erin does an extraordinary job of teaching our students how to engage with each other openly and respectfully.”
Dolgoy extends this type of engagement well beyond the classroom, advising student advocacy groups such as Just City Advocates and IGNITE. She also founded and serves as advisor for two student clubs, Pizza and Politics and Politics and Film, which invite students from all disciplines and political perspectives to join in conversations about the political landscape.
In nomination letters, students repeatedly applauded Dolgoy’s care for their personal well-being. A former student wrote, “I was deeply homesick during my first year—and especially my first semester—at Rhodes. I had grown up on a farm in a rural community, and despite loving my classes, friends, professors, and Memphis, I often felt displaced and lost. During one of our many visits during office hours, Dr. Dolgoy encouraged me to explore my agricultural background and rural roots through writing . . . she helped me find my voice.”
Another student wrote, “She has advised me on proper knitting technique, reading material, my senior thesis, my challenging relationships with my roommates, and everything in between. There is nothing more I could ask for from a mentor.”
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Dr. Larryn Peterson has been a member of the Rhodes faculty since 2011 and earned tenure in 2018. She has served as chair of the interdisciplinary program in biochemistry and molecular biology since 2019.
“Larryn has established an extremely active, student-centered research program,” said Huebner in making the presentation. “During the past 13 years, she has involved 57 Rhodes undergraduates and four high school students in her research. In addition, she has received two National Science Foundation (NSF) grants and published numerous peer-reviewed articles. In short, she has established herself as a highly regarded scholar on our campus and beyond.”
Peterson’s scholarship focuses on synthesizing novel organic compounds and their usefulness for medicinal purposes such as in the case of Parkinson’s disease. She also has been working on the production and testing of compounds that could serve as next-generation antibiotics to treat multi-drug resistant pathogens.
“Students are the driving force in Professor Peterson’s research laboratory and are directly responsible for high-impact results that lead to publications and conference presentations,” noted her colleagues. In the last three years, she and her students have made 27 presentations at major international science conferences.
Students also benefit from the grants Peterson has received, including a $400,000 NSF grant that enabled the Department of Chemistry to purchase a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectrometer; a $294,000 NSF grant providing funds to be used directly for student research; and an American Chemical Society grant that has created research opportunities for local high school students from underrepresented backgrounds.
Rhodes students have commented on how Peterson motivates them to accomplish far more than they could imagine on their own and to “learn from failed experiments to approach each new day in lab with excitement and ideas of things to try next.” One nominator wrote, “With her guidance and willingness to listen and support all my crazy ideas, I was able to complete my honors thesis in organic chemistry and present at many conferences.”
In appreciation of Peterson’s mentorship, a former student wrote, “I not only gained a solid foundation in academic research, but also developed critical skills in problem-solving, experimental design, and data analysis. More importantly, her guidance instilled in me a sense of confidence and independence that has been instrumental in my academic and professional endeavors.”