Campbell,
Raney, Stewart honored for excellence in healthcare leadership, scientific
research, and literature
CONWAY, Ark. (October 27, 2023) — Hendrix College yesterday awarded
Odyssey Medals to alumni whose life achievements exemplify the ideals of
the Hendrix
Odyssey Program.
Odyssey Medalists are selected by the Hendrix Board of
Trustees for their accomplishments in one of the six Odyssey categories:
Artistic Creativity, Global Awareness, Professional and Leadership Development,
Service to the World, Research, or Special Projects.
The 2023 Odyssey Medal Recipients and their Odyssey Medal
categories are:
- Trenton Lee
Stewart ’92 – Artistic Creativity
- Cabrina
Campbell, M.D. ’85 – Professional and Leadership Development
- Kevin
Raney, Ph.D. ’86 – Research
Stewart and Raney were presented their medals Thursday at a
special luncheon on campus and recognized at an evening reception for Hendrix
alumni, donors, and friends. Campbell was unable to attend this year’s
presentation and will receive her medal next year.
View photos from the luncheon and reception
Trenton Lee
Stewart ’92 – Artistic Creativity
Novelist and
short story writer Trenton Lee Stewart is a Hot Springs, Arkansas, native and
Hendrix graduate living in Little Rock. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’
Workshop M.F.A. program, Stewart has taught creative writing at Hendrix, the
University of Iowa, Miami University (Ohio), and at the University of
Cincinnati.
Among his
publishing credits are the literary novel Flood Summer, The Secret
Keepers, and the New York Times best-selling series The Mysterious
Benedict Society, which has been adapted as a Disney+ television series.
Stewart has
served on the Porter Literary Fund Board, the Arkansas Literary Festival Talent
Committee, and the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre Board. Using his novels as a
springboard, Stewart promotes literacy through school visits and conversations
with young readers and readers-to-be. In 2014 and 2019, Stewart served as
Hendrix-Murphy Visiting Faculty, teaching the popular English-Creative Writing
course Writing and Publishing Fiction.
As a student at
Hendrix, Stewart graduated magna cum laude, and he won the McCuistion
English Prize and the Robert L. Campbell-Walter A. Moffatt Award. Stewart cites
encouragement from Hendrix creative writing professor Jack Butler to think of
himself as a writer, and he applied to the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop.
Soon after
finishing his M.F.A., Stewart began to dedicate his professional life to
writing fiction for middle-grade readers, thus introducing young people to a
lifetime of reading. Stewart has published eight novels: Flood Summer
(2005), The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007), The Mysterious
Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey (2008), The Mysterious
Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma (2009), The Mysterious
Benedict Society: Mr. Benedict’s Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas,
and Curious Conundrums (2010), The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas
Benedict (2012), The Secret Keepers (2016), and The Mysterious
Benedict Society and the Riddle of the Ages (2019).
Cabrina Campbell, M.D. ’85 – Professional and Leadership
Development
Cabrina Campbell, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry, Vice-Chair of
Education, and Director of the Residency Program at the nation’s first medical
school, the prestigious Perelman School of Medicine at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Campbell graduated from Hendrix with distinction and received her
medical degree from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. After a
residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, she joined the
faculty at Perelman; she is an attending physician at the Veterans Affairs
Hospital, where she also has served as Director of Acute Psychiatry.
An author and researcher, Campbell has earned a reputation for her
compassion with students and patients alike. She has won many awards, honoring
her excellence as a teacher and as a physician—among them, two Humanism and
Medicine awards, one given by the Association of American Medical Colleges and
another by Penn Medicine; the American Psychiatric Association Roeske Award;
the coveted University-wide Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Teaching Award;
Blockley-Osler for Excellence in Teaching Clinical Medicine at the Bedside; and
the Robert Dunning Memorial Award, also an award for excellence in
teaching.
Campbell is an inductee to Alpha Omega Alpha, Penn Med Minority
Hall of Fame, and the Arnold P. Gold Foundation. She has been awarded four Penn
Pearl Awards for Excellence in Clinical Teaching.
Kevin Raney, Ph.D. ’86 – Research
Kevin Raney serves as Professor and Chair in the Department of
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and as Director of the Arkansas Cancer
Research Center Proteomics Facility at UAMS, Little
Rock, Arkansas. A chemistry major at Hendrix, he earned his Ph.D. in organic
chemistry from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. His dissertation
title was “Chemical and Biochemical Studies of Aflatoxin B1 Epoxide.” He did
his postdoctoral fellowship at Pennsylvania State University.
Returning to Arkansas in 1995, Raney began as an assistant
professor and has held the previously mentioned post at UAMS since 2001. His
research interests lie in the field of enzyme kinetics. He studies the
mechanisms of a class of enzymes known as helicases, which have a vital role in
DNA replication and repair. Specifically, he has been studying a key enzyme in
the replication of hepatitis C virus.
Between 1986 and 2004, Raney earned awards from the following
entities: American Institute of Chemists, National Cancer Institute, National
Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and
UAMS. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, American Society for
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, American Association for the Advancement of
Science, and Biophysical Society.
With more than 150 publications, Raney’s writings have been
published in 30 journals, such as Environmental Health Perspective, Journal
of the American Chemical Society, Nucleic Acids Research, Bioorganic
& Medicinal Chemistry Letters, Chemical Research in Toxicology,
and Biochemistry, in addition to submitted manuscripts and manuscripts
in revision, more than 35 posters and published abstracts, multiple book
chapters, and review articles. He also holds two patents for his work. An
active participant in seminars, Raney has made presentations at University of
Miami, Case Western University, University of Arkansas, Vanderbilt University,
and University of Buffalo, as well as international presentations at the
University of Cambridge (UK) and in Spain, Japan, Switzerland, and Scotland.
In Raney’s service to UAMS, he has served or continues to serve on
15 UAMS committees since 1997, advises graduate students, supervises
postdoctoral fellowships, and has participated in departmental recruiting
seminars for Louisiana Tech, Arkansas State University, Austin College, Tulsa
University, SW Texas State University, NE Oklahoma State University, John Brown
University, and Southwestern University, as well as Hendrix College. One of his
key accomplishments at UAMS has been the establishment of the Proteomics Core
Facility, a campus-wide resource that provides protein sequence analysis for
researchers at UAMS and other academic institutions in the state. He was
responsible for writing the grant that made this facility possible. He advises
faculty members of ways they can use the tools of proteomics to solve various
research problems. He served on the 2013-2014 Board of Directors for the
Association of Medical and Graduate Departments of Biochemistry. In 2022, he was elected as a fellow of the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
About the Hendrix Odyssey Program
Established in 2004, the Odyssey Program requires
all Hendrix College students to complete three Odyssey experiences or projects
during their undergraduate careers, in three of the six Odyssey categories. The
program ensures that students look beyond the classroom to experience
educational opportunities in the liberal arts and sciences.
About Hendrix College
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is featured in Colleges That
Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges and
celebrated among the country’s leading liberal arts colleges for academic
quality, engaged learning opportunities and career preparation, vibrant campus life,
and value. The Hendrix College Warriors compete in 21 NCAA Division III sports.
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. Learn
more at www.hendrix.edu.
“… Through engagement that links the classroom with the world, and
a commitment to diversity, inclusion, justice, and sustainable living, the
Hendrix community inspires students to lead lives of accomplishment, integrity,
service, and joy.” —Hendrix
College Statement of Purpose