Rhodes College

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This article is on the private, non-profit university in Memphis, for the chain of for-profit colleges, go to Rhodes Colleges, Inc.

Rhodes College

Image:Rhodes seal2.PNG

Motto Truth, Loyalty, Service
Established 1848
Type Private
Endowment US$252,000,000
President William E. Troutt
Faculty 180 (152 full-time, 28 part-time)
Undergraduates 1689
Location Memphis, Tennessee, United States
Campus Urban, 100 acres (400,000 m²)
Mascot Lynx
Affiliations Presbyterian
Website http://www.rhodes.edu/

Rhodes College is a four-year, private liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1848, Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students.

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Rhodes College traces its origin as a degree-granting institution to the Masonic University of Tennessee, founded in 1848 in Clarksville, Tennessee. The institution became Montgomery Masonic College in 1850 and later was renamed Stewart College in honor of its president William M. Stewart. It was under Stewart's leadership that control of the college passed from the Masons to the Presbyterian Church in 1855. In 1875, the college added to its undergraduate program a School of Theology and became Southwestern Presbyterian University. The School of Theology operated until 1917.

In 1925, president Charles Diehl led the college in a move to its present campus in Memphis, Tennessee (the Clarksville campus would later become Austin Peay State University). At that time, the college shortened its name to Southwestern. In 1945, the college adopted the name Southwestern at Memphis, to distinguish itself from other colleges and universities containing the name "Southwestern." Finally, in 1984, the college's name was changed to Rhodes College to honor former college president Peyton Nalle Rhodes.

Since 1984, Rhodes has grown from a regionally recognized institution to a nationally ranked liberal arts college.[citation needed] Since at least 1997, the college has been mentioned in the top tiers of various lists and rankings of American liberal arts colleges.[citation needed] The composition of the student body is an indicator of Rhodes' widening recognition.[citation needed] Even as overall enrollment has increased over the past twenty years, the student body has been comprised of increasing proportions of students from outside Tennessee and the Southeast region.[citation needed]

The current president of Rhodes is Dr. William Troutt, who joined the college as the 19th president in 1999. His predecessor, Dr. James Daughdrill, served as president for over a quarter century.

The campus covers a 100 acre tract in midtown Memphis across from Overton Park and the Memphis Zoo. Often cited for its beauty,[1] the campus design is notable for its stone Gothic architecture buildings, thirteen of which are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[1] The original buildings, including Palmer Hall (1925), Kennedy Hall (1925), and Robb and White dormitories (1925), were designed by Henry Hibbs in consultation with Charles Klauder, who designed many buildings at Princeton University, alma mater of college president Charles Diehl. Later buildings were designed by H. Clinton Parrent, a young associate of Hibbs who was present from the beginning. Parrent's buildings include the Catherine Burrow Refectory (1957), which was an expansion of Hibbs' original dining hall. Parrent also added Halliburton Tower (1962) to Palmer Hall. The 140-foot bell tower was named in honor of explorer Richard Halliburton. Rhodes maintains its Collegiate Gothic architecture, including the new Barret Library (2005) designed by the firm of Hanbury Evans Wright and Vlattas.

Rhodes enrolls 1687 undergraduate students; 84% are Caucasian, 6% are African American, 4% are Asian and 1.6% are Hispanic. Fifty-nine percent of students are female. The student-to-faculty ratio is 11:1.[2] Popular majors include economics and business administration, biology, political science, English, and international studies.

Rhodes is one of 62 colleges recently classified for both "Curricular Engagement" and "Outreach & Partnerships" in the "Community Engagement" category by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The college's new curriculum includes a requirement that students participate in activities that broaden the connection between classroom experiences and the outside world. The mission statement of the college also reinforces community engagement, aspiring to "graduate students with...a compassion for others and the ability to translate academic study and personal concern into effective leadership and action in their communities and the world."

Central to the life of the college is its Honor Code, administered by students through the Honor Council. Every student is required to sign the Code, which reads, "As a member of the Rhodes College community, I pledge my full and steadfast support to the Honor System and agree neither to lie, cheat, nor steal and to report any such violation that I may witness." Because of this, students enjoy a relationship of trust with their professors and benefits such as taking closed book final exams in the privacy of their own rooms.

The college mascot is the lynx and the school colors are red and black. The athletic teams compete in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference in the NCAA's Division III.

Rites of Spring, a three day music festival in early April, is a major social event of the school year, and typically attracts several major bands from around the country. In recent years, an adjunct celebration called Rites to Play has brought to campus elementary aged children from all of the various community agencies and schools that partner with Rhodes. The Rhodes students plan, organize, and execute a carnival for the kids.

There are a number of social fraternities and sororities at Rhodes. Approximately 50% of the students are members of Greek organizations. The fraternity and sorority lodges are not, however, residential, and most Greek-sponsored parties and activities are open to the entire campus.

(in order of establishment at Rhodes)

(in order of establishment at Rhodes)

  • Dave Wottle, Olympic gold-medal winner, Dean of Admissions

  • Michael Nelson, professor of political science, focuses on the American presidency, founder and editor of the Johns Hopkins University Press Interpreting American Politics book series and the editor of the University Press of Kansas Presidential Elections Series
  • Timothy Huebner, professor of history, named 2004 Tennessee Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Endowment for the Advancement of Teaching [3], Director of the Rhodes Institute for Regional Studies, editor of the University of Georgia's Studies in the Legal History of the South series, one of the editors of the Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States
  • David McCarthy, professor of art, Smithsonian Fellow[4]
  • Mark Pohlmann, professor of political science, coach of the Rhodes College mock trial program, President of the American Mock Trial Association. He has coached Rhodes to more national championships (4), finals appearances (7), top-ten finishes (16), and consecutive top-ten finishes (16) than any other college in the country (AMTA)[5]
  • Timothy Sharp, professor of music, choral conductor and writer, director of the Rhodes Singers, director of Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts, author
  • Steve Ceccoli, professor of international studies, Congressional Fellow
  • Daniel Arce, professor of economics, focuses on game theory economics
  • Michael Leslie, professor of English, Dean of the British Studies at Oxford Program (the first American exchange program at Oxford University)[6]

  1. ^ as in Turner South's Blue Ribbon, Princeton Review, Collegiate Gothic: The Architecture of Rhodes College by William Stroud, and other sources
  2. ^ These figures are published in the Rhodes College Common Data Set and have been reported to the federal government via IPEDS and the state government via TICUA.

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