The annual Feast and Ceilidh will be at 7 o’clock Saturday night, April 24, in Becknell Gymnasium and will include an authentic Scottish feast and entertainment. Tickets to the Feast and Ceilidh are $25. Tickets to a cocktail reception before the feast are $10.

Advance two-day tickets to the festival are $16 for adults and $8 for ages 12-17. One-day tickets are also available in advance. Advance tickets for Saturday only are $10 ($12 at the gate) for adults and $5 ($6 at the gate) for ages 12-17. Sunday advance tickets are $5 ($6 at the gate) for adults and $2 ($4 at the gate) for ages 12-17. Children under 12 will be admitted free if accompanied by an adult.

Lyon faculty and staff and their immediate families will be admitted free to the festival (except the Feast and Ceilidh) with a Lyon ID.

To reserve tickets, send a check for the correct amount to Arkansas Scottish Festival, Lyon College, P.O. Box 2317, Batesville, AR 72503. Checks should be made payable to Lyon College. Ticket orders received after April 16 will be held at the main gate. For ticket information, call (870) 698-4382, e-mail festival@lyon.edu or visit www.lyon.edu/scotfest/.

 

Lyon group marches in Tartan Day Parade
The Lyon College Pipe Band and a contingent from the College marched in the 6th Annual Tartan Day Parade in New York City on Saturday. Thirty-nine people associated with Lyon traveled to New York for the event. Thousands of New Yorkers and tourists lined the mile-long route along Sixth Avenue in Manhattan to watch Saturday's spectacle, involving around 1,400 people including 45 pipe bands. The Pipe Band also performed a concert and a church service at West Park Presbyterian Church. A Sunday afternoon brunch was held at Tavern on the Green to honor the Pipe Band and its director, Jimmy Bell. The parade, attended by members of the Scottish Parliament and the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glasgow, is one of many events celebrating the historical, cultural and economic links between the United States and Scotland. National Tartan Day was established by the U.S. Senate in 1991 to recognize the contributions of Scottish Americans to U.S. pre-eminence in a number of fields including science, medicine, economics, literature, and the visual and performing arts.

Kilted Golf Tournament to benefit Scottish Festival

The “1st annual” Arkansas Scottish Festival Kilted Golf Tournament will be held Friday, April 23, at the Batesville Country Club Golf Course. A 1 p.m. shotgun start is scheduled for the four-person scramble. Kilts are optional.

Lakeside Buick, Cadillac, GMC Truck of Batesville is sponsoring a hole-in-one contest that includes a 2004 Buick Rendezvous for a hole in one on hole No. 8. Other prizes for other holes include a four-day/three-night golf vacation in Puerto Rico, GMAC Smartcare package and a Nike Ignite driver, and 36 dozen Nike golf balls.

Entry fees are $250 for a team, $65 for individuals. Sponsorships (includes one team) are available for $400.

Prizes will be awarded and there will be refreshments and a cash bar.

To register, contact Deanna Devall at (870) 698-4382, e-mail ddevall@lyon.edu or register online at www.lyon.edu/scotfest.

All proceeds from the tournament will benefit the Arkansas Scottish Festival and Lyon College Pipe Band.

Grantham to present senior recital

Lyon College senior Heather Grantham will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 16, in the Bevens Music Room on the Lyon campus.

Grantham, a mezzo-soprano from Hominy, Oklahoma, will sing a variety of works by composers including Henry Purcell, Franz Shubert, Robert Schumann, G.F. Handel, and Cole Porter.

Grantham’s piano accompanist will be Dr. Russell Stinson of Lyon College. Her vocal music instructor is Kimberly Sheets.

Grantham will receive a bachelor of arts degree in music and religion/philosophy at Lyon’s commencement exercises May 8. After graduation, she will travel overseas to work as a missionary for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Young Adult Volunteer Program to which she was recently accepted. Upon her return, Grantham plans to pursue a graduate degree in Biblical studies.

Hutton receives award from Chi Beta Phi

Dr. Stuart Hutton, Lyon’s assistant professor of physics, has received the 2004 Outstanding Advisor Award from Chi Beta Phi, a national honor society in natural science.

Hutton had great praise for the organization’s participants here at Lyon, saying, “The real honor for this award goes to Shawn Zimmerman and the officers of this year’s Chi Beta Phi ... the award really says something about the quality of students in the natural sciences at Lyon College. They really are the best that you’ll find.”

Also taking the opportunity to laud Lyon’s science programs and newly constructed Derby Center, Hutton said, “This award also says something about the program in sciences that we have at Lyon College, and ...  I should emphasize that this award is also timely in that I think we’re already beginning to see some of the payoff for the tremendous faith and contributions that so many people have made to make the Derby Center a reality. There can be little doubt that having a facility such as the Derby Center has promoted renewed student interest in science at Lyon.”

The selection of the 2004 Outstanding Advisor was made by an awards committee on the national level, consisting of one faculty advisor as chair and five student members from various chapters. Hutton was one of a number of nominees from across the country.

Landry conducts sports psychology research at OSU

By Josh Manning

Lyon College senior Eli Landry recently helped open a door of academic exchange between Lyon and Ohio State University.

Landry, a psychology major from Omaha, Ark. (Boone County), traveled to OSU to conduct research into his area of interest: sports psychology, in particular the field of imagery techniques. Because Lyon and OSU students had not worked together on study opportunities in the past, Landry had to pioneer a relationship between the two schools. Of great assistance to Landry was Peggy Roettger, wife of Dr. Walter Roettger, Lyon College’s president. Ms. Roettger, previously employed by the New England Patriots football team, put Landry in touch with a former New England lineman, who sent him to the Ohio State Buckeye’s sports psychologist, who got him in contact with Dr. Jennifer Carter—Ohio State’s sports psychologist. Without Roettger’s help, Landry said he would have been hard pressed to find a contact at OSU.

Landry’s project was an overwhelming success. He wanted to get 10 interviews with members of various OSU athletic organizations. Within the first day of his excursion, he had already received six interviews, and the other four would follow in the next two days. Of the 10 athletes Landry interviewed, the eight that were familiar with sports psychology said that they believed it helped to improve their ability to compete.

Imagery is a psychological technique during which participants picture themselves doing the task in question with great proficiency. For some athletes the task might be scoring goals or running faster; other students might use imagery to picture themselves calmly taking a test they would normally be nervous about, thus improving their ability to handle nervousness during the actual test. Sports psychologists also use imagery to help injured players make a speedier recovery than would normally be possible

“This was a great experience for learning,” Landry said, “I came to college for learning and couldn’t ask for a better opportunity than this ... Through this research opportunity, I’ve decided to further my education by going to grad school and specializing in sports psychology.”

Dr. Sally Browder, Landry’s advisor, said, “He (Eli) has sought out opportunities to throw himself into psychology ... and he leapt right on this.”

Landry is pleased with the opportunities that future Lyon students will have to work with OSU. He said, “This is a good opportunity for Lyon because it shows that Lyon will send dedicated students out for research opportunities that may not be found on Lyon’s campus.”

Bashari awarded Alpha Chi fellowship

Lyon College senior Edlira Bashari has won the Joseph E. Pryor Fellowship from Alpha Chi National College Scholarship Honor Society.

The award was announced at Alpha Chi’s regional convention held at the University of Texas at Arlington April 2-3.

The fellowship is awarded annually to one senior in a four-state region including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas. It is intended for use in graduate study during the 2004-05 academic year.

Bashari, who is from Albania but whose parents now live in Mountain Home, is a senior chemistry and biology major at Lyon. She won the fellowship primarily on the basis of a paper she submitted following her summer of laboratory research at the University of Kansas during the summer of 2004.

Titled “Inside a Molecule,” the paper describes characteristics of the Pregnane Xenobiotic Receptor molecule (PXR) and its tendency to bind with drugs within the body, sometimes making the drugs ineffective and expelling them from the system.

Bashari, who is currently finalizing post-graduate plans, will use the fellowship either for medical study or for graduate study in biomedical sciences.

Lyon alumnus wins math award

Fred Denison Jr., a Lyon College alumnus, won the Outstanding High School Mathematics Teacher in Arkansas award for 2003-2004. The Oklahoma-Arkansas Section of the Mathematical Association of America conferred the award on Denison during its annual meeting, held this year at the University of Central Arkansas on March 26.

Denison, who graduated from Lyon summa cum laude in 1991 and received Lyon College’s Mosley Fellowship that same year, now teaches at Southside High School in Independence County. Denison says, “I believe that education is a lifelong learning process in which students are expected to take personal responsibility.” He also takes his charge as an educator seriously, saying, “As a teacher and a professional, I take responsibility to see that my students do learn. I continually seek to learn in order to provide my students with the best educational opportunity possible.”

It is apparent that Denison’s students and colleagues think very highly of him. Koren Schram, a student at Southside High School said, “Mr. Denison is always willing to give his students help when it is needed. His door is always open, and he will tutor anyone from any other teacher’s math class ... Mr. Denison is not just a teacher to me, but he is also a good friend that I know will always be there for me.”

Southside Principal Danny Thomas also speaks highly of Denison, saying, “Mr. Denison is to be commended for going above and beyond for the students at Southside. During his prep periods he makes himself available to help students in math; he actively recruits students to visit him if they need any help in math.” Thomas added, “During past school years when the school did not pay for students to be tutored before or after school, Mr. Denison would tutor students two nights a week without pay ... Mr. Denison is a caring, innovative, and proactive teacher that we greatly appreciate at Southside High School.”

This is the second consecutive year that a Lyon graduate has won this award. Danny Davis won Outstanding High School Mathematics Teacher in Arkansas for 2002-2003, and Mark Sparks won Outstanding Middle School Mathematics Teacher in Arkansas for 2002-2003. Both Davis and Sparks are Lyon alumni.

Sonnier to present paper during international conference

The Referred Research Journal of the ooi Academy Congress will publish a paper co-authored by David Sonnier, assistant professor of computer science at Lyon College, later this year.

Sonnier’s paper, titled “Ecclesiastical Aggiorniamento and Exponential Decay Functions: A Statistical Analysis,” created a stir among Catholics in the United States earlier this year because it ties the decline in the number of priests in the Catholic Church in America directly to the Second Vatican Council in a way that Professor Sonnier says is difficult to refute. The stir was so great that ecclesiastical officials recently requested his presence to consult on the matter.

Sonnier will present the paper to the ooi Academy Congress during the Spring 2004 Faculty Student International Multiconference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Blevins selected to attend NEH institute

Brooks Blevins, Director of Regional Studies, has been selected to attend a four-week summer institute funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. The institute, titled “Regional Study and the Liberal Arts: Appalachia Up Close,” will take place during the month of June on the campus of Ferrum College in southwestern Virginia.

The institute will bring together scholars and educators from around the country who work primarily with undergraduate students and who can contribute their own regional perspectives to the study of the history, culture, politics and fiction of Appalachia. The institute concludes with a six-day field component in West Virginia, during which institute scholars will work with Big Creek People in Action, an organization of people working to record their coal mining heritage and to address problems with flooding, illiteracy, declining moonshining skills and unemployment.

Featured visitors to the seminar include award-winning writers Lee Smith and Robert Morgan and historians Crandall Shifflett of Virginia Tech and Altina Waller of the University of Connecticut.

Lyonpalooza event held to benefit St. Jude’s Hospital

Hutton, Sonnier present paper at computing conference

Dr. Stuart Hutton, assistant professor of physics, and David Sonnier, assistant professor of computer science, presented their paper, “Enhancing Visual Aids Through the Use of Animation,” and held a tutorial titled, “Constructing Animated Images for Classroom Instruction,” at this year’s Mid-South College Computing Conference.

Ray Byler, assistant professor of computer science, also presented a paper, “What Is Money?” (about electronic currency) at the conference.

The Mid-South College Computing Conference, a non-profit, public benefit corporation based in Arkansas, annually sponsors the gathering, for computing educators and students. This year’s conference was held April 2-3 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Sports

Golf

The Piper golf team shot a two-day total of 686 (356, 330) to win the Freed-Hardeman Women’s Spring Invitational at the Bear Trace at Ross Creek Landing in Clifton, Tennessee. Cumberland University finished second with a two-day total of 808. Mindy Seigenthaler (Trevecca Nazarene) won medalist honors with a two-day total of 160 (83, 77). Lyon’s Adriane Barnett and Julie Church tied for second place with a 166, while Chelsea Gilliam from Lyon finished fourth with a 173. The Pipers are currently ranked 24^th in the NAIA Women’s Golf National Poll.

Baseball

The Scots beat Ouachita Baptist 15-8 Tuesday in Arkadelphia. Jose Rivas set a single-season Scot record for the most runs batted in with a two-run home run that surpassed the previous record held by Patrick Kircher, who had 56 RBI in 1997. Rivas finished the game with 59 for the year.

The Scots won two of three conference games with Union University last weekend. Lyon won the opening game 12-9 on Friday and took the Saturday closer 4-1. They lost to Union in the first game Saturday, 15-13.

The Scots are 35-12 overall and 6-6 in the TranSouth Conference. They are tied for third place with Union and Cumberland University. The Scots are scheduled to host league-leading Trevecca Nazarene (36-8, 8-2) for a three-game series Friday and Saturday. In a scheduling change, there will be a doubleheader Friday game beginning at noon and a single 9-inning game Saturday at noon.