Lyon College GreenSheet Online

Award-winning author and journalist Frank Deford will give Lyon College’s Patterson Lecture on Tuesday, November 15. Deford will speak on “Sports: The Hype and the Hoopla.”

Deford, Senior Contributing Writer to Sports Illustrated, can also be heard every Wednesday commentating live on the “Morning Edition” of National Public Radio. He is a regular correspondent on HBO’s “RealSports with Bryant Gumbel,” and has received both an Emmy and a George Foster Peabody Award for Broadcast.

Deford has authored fourteen books. Two of those books, Everybody’s All-American and Alex: The Life of a Child, a memoir about his daughter who died of cystic fibrosis, have been made into feature-length films. His latest book, The Old Ball Game, the story of Christy Mathewson and John McGraw and baseball at the turn of the century, was released in April. Deford wrote the screenplay for the film, Trading Hearts, as well as The Sister-in-Law, which is being produced by Lion’s Gate, and his latest screenplay, Four Minutes, is being produced by ESPN and is about Roger Bannister and the four-minute mile.

Recently, Deford was presented with the National Magazine Award for his profile on Bill Russell. He has been elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Sportscasters and Sportswriters, and has been voted U.S. Sportswriter of the Year six times. Deford has been voted Magazine Writer of the Year twice by the Washington Journalism Review, and was cited as the finest sportswriter in America by the American Journalism Review.

In addition, Deford has been presented with the Christopher Award and Journalism Honors Award from the University of Missouri and Northeastern University, and has been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees. Both The Sporting News and GQ hail him as the finest sportswriter on the planet.

Deford was national chairman for 16 years of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and he remains the Chairman emeritus. He lives in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife, Carol, and the have two children, Christian and Scarlet. Deford is originally from Baltimore and is a graduate of Princeton, where he has taught American Studies.

The Hugh B. Patterson Sr. Lecture Series was established in August 1977 by Hugh Baskin Patterson Jr., former chairman of The Arkansas Gazette, in memory of his father. The lecture series brings a nationally recognized journalist to the campus each year.

Lyon College will host its second Preview Day for high school seniors and juniors and their families on Saturday, November 12,on campus. Registration will begin at 10 a.m. at the Lyon Business and Economics Building located on the north side of campus.

The schedule of events for the day includes presentations by faculty on the academic programs of the college, lunch on campus and campus tours. Other presentations will focus on state, federal and institutional financial aid. Parents and students will also have the opportunity to participate in separate student and parent discussion panels. In addition, college admission representatives will be present to answer questions. The event will conclude at 3 p.m.

The Preview Day is free to all interested students and their families and lunch is provided.

To register for Preview Day, call the admissions office at 870-698-4250 or 800-423-2542. The next Preview day is scheduled for Saturday, January 28.

One-time tax break encourages big gifts

The federal government is encouraging large end-of-year gifts to charity in 2005 by waiving restrictions on the use of charitable income tax deductions on gifts of cash. On September 23, 2005, President Bush signed the Katrina Emergency Tax Relief Act of 2005, also known as KETRA. The Act allows donors to ignore the rule that limits the use of charitable deductions to 50 percent of a donor’s adjusted gross income. This means that donors can deduct up to 100 percent of adjusted gross income on gifts that meet certain requirements:
• The gift must be cash.
• The gift must be made in the period beginning August 28 and ending December 31 of 2005.
• The gift must be made to a public charity. Lyon College qualifies.

Donors, for example, who are at least 59-and-a-half and transfer retirement plan assets to Lyon College, will be able to deduct the full amount on their federal income tax no matter the size of the gift. Your state is expected to honor the 100 percent deduction.
Similarly, a donor who sells depreciated stock can both recognize the loss and deduct an amount up to 100 percent of adjusted gross income. For more information about this temporary tax break, contact Tim Bruner at (870) 698-4208 or e-mail tbruner@lyon.edu.

(THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. ANY PROSPECTIVE DONOR SHOULD SEEK THE ADVICE OF A QUALIFIED ESTATE AND/OR TAX PROFESSIONAL TO DETERMINE THE CONSEQUENCES OF HIS OR HER GIFT.)

Organists Robert Bailey and Skye Hart perform on the three-manual Holtkamp organ at 7:30 p.m. Friday, November 18, in Brown Chapel. Bailey and Hart will perform classical pieces by Bach, Brahms, Vivaldi and Franck.

Bailey is a junior majoring in Music and French, and minoring in Spanish. He also serves as organist and pianist at the First United Methodist Church in Batesville. Next semester, Robert will be studying French language and culture at the University of Poitiers in France.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Hart is a senior with a double major in music and French, and a minor in religion/philosophy. He is an organist and choir director at several area churches, including St. Mary’s in Batesville, St. Peter’s in Mountain Home, and Redeemer Lutheran in Mountain Home. He also serves an accompanist for various vocalists and musical productions, including the Batesville Community Theatre’s performance this December of “Nunsense!” Following graduation, he hopes to pursue graduate studies in organ and sacred music.

Following the recital, a reception will be held in Bevens Music Room.

The Bevens Music Room was filled to capacity Thursday as Dr. Anne Prescott filled the air with the eerie yet beautiful sound of the koto. The koto is a 13-stringed Japanese instrument, played while sitting down and was originally brought to Japan by the Chinese at around 600 A.D. The Japanese adapted the Chinese court music they had learned, expanded upon it and then passed the tradition, almost wholly unchanged, until present day. Over the last century, koto music has undergone significant changes while still keeping alive its strong traditional history.

Dr. Prescott has been playing the koto for more than 20 years, but this was her first visit to Arkansas. While here, Prescott said that she had embarked on what she called the “Arkansas Tour” in which she visited Cabot High School, Lyon College and Eagle Mountain Elementary.

“I’m always impressed when I go to smaller schools,” Dr. Prescott said. “There is always, for some reason, a lot larger crowd than say if I were to play a concert in a larger city like Bloomington, Illinois.”

After her show in Bevens, Dr. Prescott allowed audience members to learn about the instrument hands on; she even allowed members of the audience to play the delicate instrument. The amount of interest shown by the Lyon community was astounding and Dr. Prescott’s presentation had one of the best turnouts for the Japan Lecture Series.

Dr. Prescott has been playing the koto for more than 20 years, eight of which she spent in Japan studying the koto and shamisen as well as performing regularly in the Tokyo area. Currently, Dr. Prescott is an outreach coordinator at the East Asian Studies Center at Indiana University.

She visited Lyon as the first of the year’s Japan Lecture Series guests. She will be followed by Dr. Scott Schnell, who will speak on Japanese festivals at 7 p.m. February 23 in the Derby Lecture Hall. The Japan Lecture Series is made possible each year by a grant from the Freeman Foundation.

Sarah Dunkerson watches as Dr. Prescott demonstrates how the koto is played after Thursday's lecture.
Photo by Eric Stewart

Photographer Ernst visits campus

Acclaimed nature Photographer Tim Ernst pauses for a photo with the officers of XAS (X-Treme Adventure Squad, the outdoors appreciation club on Lyon Campus) From left are Ernst, Michael Dicken, Alissa Walter, J.R. Paysinger, Chad Engler and Eric Stewart. Ernst presented a slide show of his work at a November 1 program sponsored by the Convocations Committee.

Mars lands at SHOT

-- Chamber reproducing conditions on the red planet ready for researchers --

GREENVILLE, Ind. – A little bit of mars has landed at SHOT, Inc., and it’s open for business. Developed with support from the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC), the SHOT Martian Environment Simulator faithfully recreates the atmosphere, temperature and light spectrum found on the red planet. Researchers from across the nation recently have begun conducting experiments inside the device’s 5,673 cubic centimeter (346.2 cubic inch) pure quartz central chamber, which is a test bed for experimental ecopoiesis. Ecopoiesis is the starting-up of a planetary ecosystem based on Earth life. It also is a component of terraforming -- the creation of an Earth-like planetary environment.

SHOT's scientific advisory committee includes David J. Thomas, Ph.D., associate professor of biology at Lyon College.

“This new test bed opens up a world of planetary conditions for biologists and mineralogists to explore,” said SHOT Chief Scientist Paul Todd, Ph.D. “Scientists can put simple life forms in it to determine their ability to survive on planets such as Mars.” To simulate the environment, the quartz test chamber is filled with the gas composition found on Mars -- more than 95 percent of which is carbon dioxide. The chamber can maintain the gas at as little as 10 millibars of atmospheric pressure. Earth’s atmospheric pressure is 1,000 millibars. The entire chamber is housed in an enclosure that uses liquid nitrogen to lower the temperature to minus 211 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 135 Celsius). Internal heaters raise it to a daytime Martian temperature of 78.8 degrees Fahrenheit (26 Celsius). A 1,000-watt xenon-arc lamp simulates the solar light spectrum that reaches the planet’s surface.

“Replenishment of life support consumables for humans on planetary surfaces may enable long duration occupancy and exploration,” said NIAC Director Robert A. Cassanova, Ph.D. “The SHOT team, led by Dr. Todd, is exploring the concept of ecopoiesis, which may eventually lead to the evolution of plant species that will thrive on planetary surfaces and provide these essential consumables for explorers.”

SHOT has assembled an all-star team of Mars scientists to ensure that the system faithfully recreates the conditions that are the most interesting to researchers studying extremophiles -- organisms that are able to survive in extremely harsh environments. Dr. Thomas, a member of that team, recently concluded his first set of experiments in the chamber’s red simulated Martian soil.

“In a set of short-term experiments ranging from one day to nearly two weeks in duration, quite a few microorganisms survived the harsh environment,” said Thomas. His experiments were conducted with environmental conditions in the chamber set as it may be possible to make them in the future, rather than as they are believed to exist today. “If we can find a way to warm Mars by four degrees Celsius, we can start a runaway greenhouse effect that will melt the ice cap and any other water frozen on the planet’s surface. The condition limiting life on Mars is dryness,” said Thomas, who also serves as editor of Marsbugs, an online astrobiology newsletter (www.lyon.edu/projects/marsbugs).

Founded in 1988 as the result of a successful science fair entry, SHOT is an engineering and product development company. Its 27 full-time engineers, scientists and technicians are professional inventors. The company specializes in providing a multidisciplinary systems approach to design challenges. SHOT mechanical, electrical, software, chemical, thermal, structural and systems engineers work as an integrated team – often together with the company’s in-house chief scientist. It serves several government agencies, universities and a growing list of commercial customers. SHOT (www.SHOT.com) has developed research payloads for seven space shuttle missions and three sub-orbital rocket flights.

The Lyon College Pipers and the Tracy Stewart-Lange era both opened up Saturday night at Becknell Gymnasium with a great basketball game. The Pipers came up short as a three-pointer from the corner by Lyndsey Rieck didn't find the net, and Lyon dropped a hard-fought battle, 66-64, to the No. 20 team in the country, Columbia College.

The ladies found themselves down 15 late in the second half when some timely three-point baskets brought them right back in it. The score was 60-55 at the 3:37 mark when Jessica Wilkerson drove in a lay-up to make the lead seven with just over 3 minutes to go. Nikki Baker drained a three-point basket for the Pipers at the 2:00 mark to cut the lead to four, and gave the Pipers hope for a huge comeback and even bigger upset. Maribeth Waters grabbed a rebound and put it right back up to bring Lyon within two, 62-60, at 1:18. Columbia then added a foul shot and a lay-up by Wilkerson again to bring their lead to 65-60 with only 38.8 remaining. Lyon added a bucket and Columbia added a foul shot to make it 66-62 before senior Prescilla Mathias hit a lay-up and was fouled with 10.8 seconds to go in the game. Mathias missed the free throw, but the Pipers quickly fouled and sent Amanda Koetting to the line for a one-and-one opportunity. Koetting's first attempt rimmed out and was picked up by Waters, who dished to Mathias with 9.8 on the clock. Mathias found freshman Rieck partially open in the right corner for a three-point try that sailed over the rim as the buzzer sounded, leaving the Pipers two points shy of an upset over a nationally ranked team.

"I am extremely proud of our ladies effort tonight," stated first-year Piper head coach Tracy Stewart-Lange. "They really fought hard in the second half to give themselves an opportunity to win. It is very encouraging for us and we will look to build on this game to prepare ourselves for a very tough schedule ahead."

Lyon drops to 0-1 on the season. The road doesn't get any easier as they welcome the No. 19 team in the country, John Brown University, into Becknell tonight. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

The Scots fell to the University of Arkansas-Little Rock 53-42 in a season-opening exhibition game before a crowd of 2,932 in UALR's new Jack Stephens Center. The Scots didn't make it easy for the NCAA Division I Trojans. Lyon led 25-24 with 3:29 left in the first half, but buckets by UALR's Wright and Jones-Jennings sent the Trojans into the break with a 28-25 advantage.

The Scots found themselves within two points, 32-30, with 11:56 to play after a pair of free throws by Norris Weintz. But the Trojans responded by embarking on a 15-2 run to put the game away for good.

The Lyon College volleyball Pipers ended their regular season at 17-17 Saturday by dropping a close 3-0 match to TranSouth regular season champion Martin Methodist, 30-22, 30-26, 30-23. It marked the last match that senior Susie Harper would play in Becknell Gymnasium. She added to her Dakstats.com national best average of digs/game as she amassed 24 in the three-game match. Susie also moved into the NAIA No. 5 spot on all-time digs for a career with 2,610.The ladies played very well, but Martin's front line proved too much for the Pipers. They do take a No. 3 seed going into the conference tournament, the highest seed ever by a Lyon volleyball team. "After a 1-8 start to the season, I really think this has been a very successful ending to the regular season," said Coach Justin Dee. "I hope we can continue to build momentum as we go to the tournament and meet our goal of a regional championship berth. It is sad to see Susie play her last game at home, but she has left a great legacy here at Lyon volleyball."

The Pipers will play Trevecca Nazarene at 11 a.m. Thursday in Pulaski, Tennessee. The TranSouth is a double-elimination tournament on Thursday and Friday.

Levi Taylor leads Lyon at Tannebaum

DRASCO - University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton golfer Kendall Leding dominated a field of 14 with a 6-over-par 78 at Tannebaum Golf Club here November 1. Levi Taylor led the Lyon College trio with an 85. Justin Fuqua shot an 89 and Jonathan Knowles carded a 90. The University of Arkansas-Fort Smith won the event with a team score of 332, 21 strokes better than second-place UACC-Morrilton. Zach Pool led UA-Fort Smith with an 82.

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