If These Bricks Could Talk: Tales of Hendrix Past

Every Hendrix College chaplain since 1995 – the Revs. Rock Jones ’80, Wayne Clark ’84, J.J. Whitney ’96, and Ellen Alston ’82 – gathered for a conversation on relationships formed, initiatives launched, trips taken, legacies built, acts of service shared, callings recognized, and memories made.

For this episode, we welcome Dr. Richard Rolleigh, Hendrix Class of 1967, who taught in the Hendrix Department of Physics from 1974 until his retirement in 2008… and a little more than that, actually, teaching one class per year until 2015. He taught every course in the department, including “General Relativity” and “Space, Time, and Reality.” All the while, he emphasized the importance of research, so much so that the Physics Department’s undergraduate research award is now named for him. Outside of Reynolds Hall, his activities at Hendrix included starting the women’s soccer team in the mid-1980s and coaching it until 1989. Dr. Rolleigh is joined today by Dr. Todd Tinsley, Hendrix Class of 1998, who currently serves as a professor of physics here at Hendrix and will add the role of Associate Provost to his duties beginning this summer.

For this episode, we welcome Dr. Joe Lombardi, who moved to Conway in 1980 and spent the next 34 years teaching in the Hendrix Biology Department. His courses included comparative animal behavior, animal physiology, biology of the human body, environmental biology, and ecology and evolution. Since his retirement in 2014, Joe has stayed connected with Hendrix and active in the community of central Arkansas folk musicians, and can be found playing his guitar or banjo and singing at various venues in the Conway area. Joe’s conversation partners today are his former students Nick Jones and Lauren Fletcher Jones, Hendrix Class of 2011. Both majored in biology and chose humanities minors: Lauren in dance and Nick in studio art. They and their two dogs currently live in Little Rock, where Nick teaches Exploratory Design at Episcopal Collegiate School, helping to foster a love for engineering, programming, and 3-D modeling in his students. Lauren spent a decade performing and teaching dance, and has now turned to creating in fiber arts. During the pandemic, they began streaming on Twitch to share their love of arts and videogames with others in that community.

For this episode, we welcome Dr. Jay Barth, Hendrix Class of 1987 and M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Politics. His graduation from Hendrix led him to the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, where he earned his master’s and Ph.D. in political science before returning to Hendrix to teach in Department of Politics and its predecessors. Dr. Barth taught here from 1994 until his early retirement in 2019, when his second departure from Hendrix led to more adventures. After serving for a time as the inaugural Chief Education Officer for the City of Little Rock, Jay accepted his current role: Director of the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. Jay is joined today by Phineas Chapman, Hendrix Class of 2022, who now lives in Fayetteville, where he is taking a gap year to work, travel, and apply to law schools.

This episode is a roundtable discussion to reflect upon a campus institution: The Hendrix-Murphy Foundation Programs in Literature and Language– Hendrix-Murphy or Murphy, for short. Joining us are a few of the folks who have worked for Murphy over the years: Nell Meadows Doyle, Hendrix Class of 1971 and former associate director of the Hendrix-Murphy Foundation; Dr. Rosemary Henenberg, professor emerita of theatre arts and former director of Hendrix-Murphy; and Sarah Engeler-Young, Hendrix Class of 1991 and current Hendrix-Murphy assistant director.