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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 is a four-year, private liberal arts college located in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1848, Rhodes enrolls approximately 1,700 students and is a perennial top tier school in the U.S. News & World Report list [1] of the best American liberal arts colleges. Rhodes' student acceptance rate to medical school is nearly twice the national average. It also enjoys a 95% admissions rate to business, divinity and law schools.

Rhodes College
File:Rhodes seal2.PNG
MottoTruth, Loyalty, Service
TypePrivate
Established1848
EndowmentUS$252,000,000
PresidentWilliam E. Troutt
Academic staff
180 (152 full-time, 28 part-time)
Undergraduates1689
Location
Memphis
,
Tennessee
,
United States
CampusUrban, 100 acres (400,000 m²)
AffiliationsPresbyterian
MascotLynx
Websitehttp://www.rhodes.edu/
Map

History

Southwestern Presbyterian College was founded in 1848 in Clarksville, Tennessee. Originally named the Masonic University of Tennessee, this institution was renamed Stewart College, in honor of its president, William M. Stewart. In 1925, President Charles Diehl moved the campus to Memphis, where the school became known as Southwestern, while the former campus in Clarksville was bought by the state of Tennessee and became Austin Peay State University. In 1945, the college adopted the name Southwestern at Memphis, to distinguish itself from other colleges and universities containing the name "Southwestern." In 1984, the college's name was changed to Rhodes College to honor former college president Peyton Nalle Rhodes.

Campus

The campus covers a large city block in midtown Memphis across from Overton Park and the Memphis Zoo. Often cited for its beauty, the campus design is notable for its stone Gothic architecture buildings, thirteen of which are currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The original buildings, including Palmer Hall (1925), the administration building, and Kennedy Hall (1925), as well as 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.

Students and faculty

Rhodes enrolls 1689 undergraduate students; 87% are Caucasian, 5.5% are African American, 4% are Asian and 1.5% are Hispanic; about 1% are multiracial. Fifty-nine percent of students are female. The student-to-faculty ratio is 10.5:1 (based on 1684 FTE students and 161 FTE faculty). Popular majors include economics and business administration, biology, political science, English, and international studies.

Traditions, sports, and clubs

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. The campus is approximately 50% Greek. One campus tradition known as "riding the lynx" involves mounting the back of a bronze statue of the school mascot, usually in the dead of night, since school rules prohibit this activity. 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.

Greek Life

Sororities

Fraternities

Noted Rhodes alumni

Noted staff

ADMINISTRATION

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

PROFESSORS

  • 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 Center for Outreach in the Development of the Arts, author
  • Steve Cecolli, professor of international studies, National 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]

See also

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