Hendrix College

Hendrix College is a private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas. Approximately 1,000 students are enrolled, mostly undergraduates. While affiliated with the United Methodist Church, the college offers a secular curriculum and has a student body composed of people from many different religious backgrounds. Hendrix is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South.
Hendrix College was founded as a primary school called Central Institute in 1876 at Altus, Arkansas, by Rev. Isham L. Burrow. In 1881 it was renamed Central Collegiate Institute when secondary and collegiate departments were added. The next year the first graduating collegiate class, composed of three women, were awarded Mistress of English Literature degrees. In 1884, three conferences of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South purchased the school. This began the school's relationship with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and later The Methodist Church and the United Methodist Church. The Central Collegiate Institute was renamed Hendrix College in 1889 in honor of Rev. Eugene Russell Hendrix, a presiding bishop over three Arkansas Methodist conferences. This same year, the primary school was discontinued.
Hendrix College was initially designated a male college, but by the time of the name change in 1889, the college allowed for the enrollment of women who were interested in the college's course of study. In 1890, after receiving bids from seven other Arkansas towns, the Hendrix Board of Trustees chose Conway as the new location for the college. College literary societies thrived at Hendrix from the 1890s through the 1930s, and they included the Harlan Literary Society, its rival—the Franklin Literary Society, and for women—the Hypatian Literary Society. Secondary education was discontinued in 1925. In 1929 the college merged with Henderson-Brown College, a private school in Arkadelphia, Arkansas now known as Henderson State University, which briefly created Hendrix-Henderson College. Two years later the name reverted to Hendrix College. The merger resulted in Hendrix Bull Dogs becoming the Hendrix Warriors, and the college newspaper, the Bull Dog, being renamed the College Profile.
The newly expanded college planned to move to Little Rock, Arkansas, but the city of Conway was able to raise $150,000 to keep the school. In 1930 the name was briefly changed to Trinity College but reverted to Hendrix College after opposition by students, alumni and townspeople. The financially troubled Galloway Woman's College in Searcy, Arkansas was absorbed by Hendrix in 1933 during the Great Depression.
W. Ellis Arnold III became the college’s twelfth president on December 31, 2019.
Hendrix is a primarily undergraduate institution with 34 majors and 38 minors, including a master's of accounting degree. The student body is about 1400, with students coming from most U.S. states and from over a dozen foreign countries. Notable are the Rwandan Presidential Scholars. Hendrix is the lead institution in a consortium of 19 private and public higher education institutions that together host over 220 students from Rwanda.
The Student Senate is the governing body of the student association. It has officers that are elected campus-wide along with representatives from each class, residence hall and apartment building.
Hendrix has no social fraternities or sororities. There are 65 student organizations that offer a wide range of activities, funded by a student activity fee. The largest student organization is Social Committee, or SoCo, which plans the major events on campus. The Office of Student Activities organizes weekend and Wednesday evening events. Major social events are usually held in "The Brick Pit," an outdoor area in the center of the campus. The most famous event is "Shirttails," a freshman dance-off that includes a serenade by the men's dorms.
Hendrix College has its own radio station. Founded in 1971 and first broadcasting in 1973, KHDX-FM 93.1 is Hendrix College's student-run radio station, with a 10-watt broadcast that reaches Hendrix Campus and the surrounding Conway area. Additionally, as of 2017, KHDX Radio is a founding member of the Arkansas College Radio Association.
Hendrix College teams participate as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division III. The Warriors are a charter member of the new Southern Athletic Association (SAA), founded in 2011, after formerly being a member of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, football (added back in 2013 after being discontinued in 1960), golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming & diving, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, field hockey, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
In fall 2013, Hendrix was recognized as one of the country's top "Up and Coming" liberal arts colleges for the sixth consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report. The 2014 US News Best Colleges guide lists Hendrix as No. 11 in a group of liberal arts colleges that demonstrate "A Strong Commitment to Teaching." Hendrix is the only Arkansas institution to appear in the 2014 US News Best Colleges ranking of the top 100 private national liberal arts colleges. Hendrix was listed among the top liberal arts colleges "based on their contribution to the public good" by Washington Monthly. Hendrix is among the country's top 100 most financially fit private colleges, according to a list published by Forbes magazine and is ranked No. 158 on the magazine's list of America's Top Colleges and No. 115 in a list of private colleges in the nation." Hendrix is among the top colleges profiled in The Princeton Review's The Best 378 Colleges (2014). Hendrix was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2014 based on academic ratings, price category, and quality of student life on campus.
Hendrix was named in 2010 as one of "The Top 50 Schools That Produce Science PhDs" by CBS MoneyWatch.com which compiled its rankings using data from The National Science Foundation. The Institute of International Education awarded Hendrix with a 2012 Andrew Heiskell Award for International Exchange Partnerships as project coordinators of the Rwanda Presidential Scholars Program. Hendrix has ties with Rwanda going back to 2007, and in 2019 announced annual assistance to two graduates of Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology to attend Hendrix.
There are 36 buildings on campus, three of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Since the mid-1990s, the college has pursued a master plan for campus construction, developed in consultation with the architectural design firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co.
35°06′00″N 92°26′24″W﻿ / ﻿35.10000°N 92.44000°W﻿ / 35.10000; -92.44000