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In 2023, internationally renowned Blues artist, Blues Hall of Fame inductee, and Grammy-Award winner Bobby Rush was awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Humanities from the college. Rush has been a Rhodes Visiting Scholar in the Arts and, in 2021, partnered with the Curb Institute on a recording of an original blues version of “America the Beautiful” at the historic Royal Studios that recasts the song in Memphis and the Mississippi Delta and features Rush, Eddie Cotton, A-list Memphis musicians, and Rhodes College students