Hendrix College

According to the school, as a leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences education, Hendrix provides a demanding yet supportive environment where tomorrow’s leaders learn to combine critical thought with action. A private, undergraduate institution of the liberal arts founded in 1876 and related to the United Methodist Church, Hendrix offers distinguished academic programs in a residential setting. A 13-to-1 student-faculty ratio encourages student engagement and interaction with faculty. Students and faculty come together in a learning community, with the shared goal of helping each student develop ‘Unto the Whole Person,’ which is the College’s motto. Hendrix College students are actively engaged in their education, involved in learning in a hands-on way that takes them outside the book and into the world. A new component of the curriculum ﾿ Your Hendrix Odyssey: Engaging in Active Learning ﾿ is the reason for an increase in engagement and an explosion of energy and enthusiasm on the Hendrix campus. The Odyssey Program, launched in fall 2005, requires that students complete at least three experiential learning projects during their college careers. Students chose from six categories: artistic creativity, service to the world, global awareness, professional and leadership development, undergraduate research, and special projects. Students receive transcript recognition for completing Odyssey projects. Competitive grants are available to help fund the cost of Odyssey projects, ensuring that all students can participate regardless of their financial situation. Since the program began, Hendrix students and faculty members have shared more than $1.3 million in grants to fund projects ranging from teaching English in rural China and delivering medical supplies to poor Mexican villages to planting and learning from a vegetable garden on campus. Incoming students are eligible for Odyssey Distinction Awards, scholarships of $1,000 to $6,000, based on their experiential activities in high school. The Odyssey program has developed from Hendrix’s long-standing commitment to experiential learning, which includes an emphasis on undergraduates conducting research in various fields and presenting their results in national forums such as at annual meetings of the American Chemical Society and the National Council for Undergraduate Research. Innovations in the curriculum are matched by a renewal in campus facilities. The College has recently replaced all its science facilities, constructed new residence halls and student apartments, and built a new home for a special program in language and literature. In January 2010, the College opened a new Student Life and Technology Center, a building blending traditional campus center spaces with cutting-edge technology in an Educational Technology Center. In addition to the resources available in the ETC, technology clusters located throughout the building allow students to work or play in small groups and a video conferencing center lets Hendrix students collaborate with students and faculty at other institutions across the country or around the world. A new Wellness and Athletics Center opened in 2007, featuring space for intercollegiate sports, wellness and fitness activities, intramurals, and kinesiology classrooms and labs. Hendrix, a NCAA Division III (non-scholarship) school that competes in the Southern Collegiate Athletics Conference, fields 19 intercollegiate sports teams. The College is developing The Village at Hendrix, an area east of the campus, into a retail and residential neighborhood expected to include businesses that will provide varied amenities for students within an easy walk of the campus. Hendrix students became the first residents of The Village in Fall 2009 when 130 upperclassmen moved into College-owned apartments over the first commercial spaces in the neighborhood. More information about the College is available at www.hendrix.edu.