Justin,
We are so delighted to welcome everyone back to campus this week – it is always too quiet on these beautiful grounds when our students are away for break! We hope that every member of the Rhodes community had a joyful and restorative winter break, and that the new year is full of health and happiness for you and your families.
As we begin the new semester, I want to take a moment to thank our Facilities and our Student Life staff who worked throughout the winter break to make sure that our pipes did not freeze during record-breaking low temperatures and that our students who remained on campus had access to the resources they needed while Memphis grappled with the impacts of the winter storm. Brian Foshee, Alicia Golston, and Aretha Milligan and their teams are to be commended for their hard work and thoughtful attention to our students and our campus. While other colleges in Memphis had significant damage due to the winter storm, I am very happy to report Rhodes did not.
Last week, we announced the hiring of our new Vice President for Student Life. Nicole Johnson will join us at Rhodes on February 27. We had an extremely strong applicant pool, and Nicole’s deep commitment to her students and staff and her visionary and innovative leadership helped her rise to the very top. You can learn more about Nicole here. She is very excited to get to work at Rhodes on February 27, and I look forward to having her join our leadership team. I also want to extend my deepest thanks to our wonderful search committee, who represented Rhodes beautifully throughout our months-long search process.
I want to remind our students that I have set aside office hours to meet with students. These are open to meet with you as an individual or in small groups of three or less. You can sign up for times here. I would love to hear from you, whether it is to discuss your career goals or to share your thoughts about something that is happening on campus.
A number of activities are planned next week to celebrate and honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I hope you will take time to attend some of these events or to perform an act of service in his honor. You can find a full calendar of events here.
Rhodes has received a $2 million gift from the estate of Dr. F. Elaine Donelson ’59 to establish an endowed chair in the Department of Psychology. Additional funds from Donelson’s estate will endow a fellowship program in psychology. You can read more about this exciting and impactful gift here.
Lastly, we are thrilled that 68 students have been able to move into East Village C for this semester. The new dorm is absolutely beautiful, and we look forward to completing the remainder of the construction in the next few weeks. This facility is a wonderful addition to our campus, and I hope you will have the opportunity to visit it.
Thank you all so much for being part of the Rhodes community. We are all looking forward to an engaging and exciting semester.
Sincerely,
Jennifer Collins