College
celebrates Class of 2024 and end of academic year
CONWAY, Arkansas (May 11, 2024) — The
Hendrix College Class of 2024 celebrated the end of four years of life-changing
experiences and the start of new adventures this morning with family, friends,
faculty, and staff at the 2024 Commencement ceremony in Young-Wise Memorial Stadium.
Hendrix awarded
228 Bachelor of Arts degrees and eight Master of Arts degrees in accounting.
Read the full list of 2024 Hendrix College graduates
Watch the
archived video ceremony
“To our graduates, congratulations on
all that you have achieved during your time at Hendrix,” said Hendrix President
Karen Petersen. “The history of higher education may refer to you as the COVID
generation but as your example has shown, your legacy will not be defined by
adversity and challenge but by the character and resolve you have demonstrated.
“Thank you for the many ways that you
have helped make Hendrix a stronger institution,” said Petersen. “For that, you
have our deepest gratitude.”
According to preliminary results from
the senior class survey, Hendrix graduates will leave campus headed to nearly
10 different states and four foreign countries for jobs in research labs,
school districts, environmental startups, and television news stations, as
teachers and coaches, data and financial analysts, veterinary and legal
assistants, and police officers. This year’s senior class also includes two
Watson Fellowship recipients and a recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Student
Program English Teaching Assistantship to France.
Other Class of 2024 graduates will head
to graduate and professional school programs at New York University, Cornell
University, Washington University in St. Louis, the London Film School, and the
Universities of Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, New Orleans,
Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Southern California, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia to
study the arts, economics, film making, law, medicine, psychology, public
policy, and the sciences.
In addition to the Class of 2024,
Hendrix awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Ronnie D.
Williams, Hendrix College Class of 1976, in recognition of his distinguished
career in higher education leadership and commitment to community service.
A native of Menifee, Williams retired
after four decades of service to the University of Central Arkansas campus
community. His commitment to civic life and community leadership is equally
remarkable. In 2018, Ronnie received the Guy W. Murphy Distinguished Service
Award, the highest recognition from the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, presented
yearly to a person who has demonstrated special service to the community. In
2022, after his retirement, Williams published Markham Street, an
amazing and sobering account of his family’s quest for justice after the death
of his brother, Marvin Williams, who died in police custody in 1960.
Following the conferral of the honorary
degree, Williams addressed the Hendrix Class of 2024.
“I first set foot on this campus as an
18-year-old freshman straight out of East Side High School, an all-black school
district in Menifee, Arkansas, eight miles west of here,” said Williams, who
was one of several student-athlete recruits in longtime Hendrix basketball
coach Cliff Garrison’s charter class. “As you might suspect, I had never sat in
a classroom with anyone who did not look like me. It was a significant
adjustment for me ... And though it was an adjustment for me, Hendrix College
transformed my life, as it laid the foundation for a future of lifelong
learning ... learning that challenged me, pushed me, and helped me become my
better self.”
Williams
encouraged Hendrix graduates to choose a path that challenges their comfort
zone, recognize the need for peacemakers in this world, be willing to stand
against hate, and be truth tellers who embrace the good, the bad, and the ugly
of our history.
“As
you leave this assembly, do not shy away but embrace the willingness to have
difficult conversations,” he said. “It is through these conversations that we
can achieve true reconciliation.”
Read the
full text of Williams’ Commencement Address to the Class of 2024
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