College in a student’s life plays a vital role in paving the path of their future in different directions. Hence, to pursue the path of success one must get the best environment for growth and guidance to stay focused, and the Rhodes College of Liberal Arts provides the required support and exposure to the student guiding them on every step of their journey. Here we will see about Where is Rhodes College?
Located in the Midtown neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee, a place well-known for its cultural history, art and influence on blues, soul and hip-hop music, Rhodes College is situated alongside many cultural attractions the Midtown is famous for. The landmarks like, ‘Playhouse on the Square’, ‘the Hattiloo Theater’, ‘the Brooks Museum of Art’ and more makes Midtown district of Memphis a perfect neighborhood for a liberal arts college.
The annual ‘Cooper-Young Art Festival’ is another major attraction of Midtown drawing more than 120,000 visitors from around the world, amongst which majority are students, giving opportunity to local students for interacting and sharing cultures with the world. Also Midtown has multiple colleges and universities like ‘Memphis College of Art’ and ‘Christian Brothers University’ making the neighborhood student-centric and giving an appropriate environment to students.
Although the Midtown district where the Rhodes Colleges is situated is indeed perfect in every aspect, it’s also impossible to not notice the enormous and beautiful campus of the Rhodes College. So let’s explore the campus in a bit more detail.
More About the College Campus
- The campus of the Rhodes College is a lush-green wooded site, classified by ‘Tennessee Urban Forestry Council’ as a ‘Class IV Arboretum. The entire campus comprises more than 1500 individual trees, with 120 different species.
- The original 3 buildings of the college, established in 1925, were ‘Southwestern Hall’, ‘Kennedy Hall’ and ‘Robb and White Dormitories.’
- College has two separate libraries namely, ‘Burrow Library’, established in the presidency of ‘Dr. Peyton N. Rhodes’, and ‘The Paul Barret Jr. Library’ created in 2005, which is one of the most beautiful libraries in the United States.
- In order to avoid monotonous dining experience and also to serve more than 2000 students together, Rhodes College has Campus Dining in three different locations which are, ‘Catherine Burrow Refectory’, ‘The Lynx Lair’ and ‘The Middle Ground.’
- Since its establishment in 1925, the campus of Rhodes College has undergone a lot of expansion, during which the college has managed to sustain its ‘Collegiate Gothic Style’ architecture, which the college is famous for.
- There are thirteen buildings amongst many other stone Collegiate Gothic buildings in the campus, that are registered in ‘National Register of Historic Places’ making it a significant historic location according to USA’s federal government.
Brief History of Rhodes College
- Rhodes College has a very dense history of 174 years. The college was totally different from what it is right now.
- It began in 1848, Clarksville, Tennessee where the college started with the name, ‘Masonic University of Tennessee’, Authorised by ‘Tennessee General Assembly.’
- In 1855, the college was taken over and afflicted by ‘Presbyterian Church’, who renamed the college ‘Stewart College’, to honor ‘William M, Stewart’, the president and benefactor of college.
- During the course of the American Civil War, the college building was turned into headquarters for the Union Army in Clarksville. This cost the college building serious structural damage which was difficult to recover.
- The Presbyterian Church in 1879, provided the college with some additional support to cope up with the damage which led to renaming of Stewart College to ‘Southwestern Presbyterian University.’
- In the early 20th century, the board of directors hired Charles E. Diehl as the new president of the college. He is known to be the most iconic president in the history of Rhodes College. He brought many changes to the college, the most significant being relocating the college to its current location in Memphis, Tennessee in 1925.
- After the retirement of Charles Diehl, college’s physics professor Dr. Peyton N. Rhodes was appointed as new president. He retired after serving sixteen years of presidency and gave fifty years to the college. In 1984, the board of trustees renamed the college to Rhodes College in honor of Dr. Peyton N. Rhodes.
- Since then the college has grown most to the national rankings in the leadership of ‘Dr. James Daughdrill’ and ‘Dr. William E. Troutt.’
- The college is currently led by its 21st president ‘Jennifer M. Collins.’
Is Rhodes College a Reputed College?
- The Campus of Rhodes College is recognised amongst the most beautiful college campuses in the entire United States. It was ranked #1 in Princeton Review edition of 2017 of best 381 colleges.
- In the same edition of Princeton Review, the college was also ranked #2 in students most engaged in community service, #6 in best college library, #10 in best quality of life, #16 in best career service and #18 in happiest students.
- Princeton Reviews also ranked the college #10 in the most accessible professors category with the college having 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio.
- The Rhodes College also frequently appears on the US News and Forbes list of top 55 Liberal Arts Universities.
- In 2020 edition of US News Rhodes College was ranked #53 on the National Liberal Arts College list.
Conclusion
With a perfect neighborhood, the most beautiful and enormous college campus, with a diverse history and with significant cultural influence, the reputation that Rhodes College has acquired in time is no less than a legacy, one that should be passed on to generations to come. The results that are produced by the hard work of college faculty and students has created a value for its name and earned a well deserving spot amongst the best colleges of the country. As their motto says, Rhodes College is a name of ‘Trust, Loyalty and Service.’
Frequently Asked Questions
1.)What are the academic programs offered at Rhodes College?
Answers: Rhodes College is a four-year college, providing more than 50 majors, minors, interdisciplinary and academic programs.
2.)What is the faculty like at Rhodes College?
Answer: With 224 faculty members the student-to faculty ratio is 10:1 and 95% of the faculty members hold the highest degree in their fields.
