Lyon College GreenSheet Online

• Lyon chaplain attends higher education ministry summit

• Lyon College Bookstore turns the page on upgrades

.Literary ‘stars’ shine at Lyon College

By Wil Shane
Lyon College News Bureau

Lyon College’s writer-in-residence teaches her students that great literature is essential because the writers who create it express what everyone feels, but so few are able to articulate.

And three programs she coordinates bring those gifted writers to the College where members of the Lyon community, as well as the public, can listen to, and learn from, authors whose words on the page have touched them.

The Lyon College Visiting Writers Series, the Visiting Fellowship in Creative Writing, and the Heasley Prize Reading Series all provide outstanding opportunities to anyone interested in reading – or writing – fiction, poetry, drama and creative non-fiction.

Andrea Hollander Budy, Lyon’s writer-in-residence, initiated the Visiting Writers Series in 1991 when she joined the faculty, and the series immediately began drawing both Lyon students and members of the community to hear authors read from, and speak about, their work.

In addition to those programs, Budy also organized the White River Writers’ Workshop four years after coming to Lyon. The week-long program held on the Lyon campus in the summers of 1995 and 1996 focused on the creation, translation, and presentation of poetry, making it one of the only workshops of its kind in the nation.

Over the past 15 years, Budy, a keen observer of contemporary literature and its creators, has brought to Batesville more than two dozen writers whom she calls “rising stars.” After their visits to Lyon, many of these authors have gone on to national, sometimes international, prominence.

A partial list of these “stars” includes:

• Dana Gioia, who was on the White River Writers’ Workshop faculty in 1995, and is now the Director of the National Endowment for the Arts;

• Ted Kooser, also at Lyon in 1995, became U.S. Poet Laureate (2004 – 2006) and won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 2005;

• Larry Brown, a visiting writer to Lyon in 1994, subsequently won numerous national awards, including the Thomas Wolfe Prize.

• Stephen Dunn, Visiting Writers Series 1994 and White River Writers’ Workshop 1996, went on to win the 2001 Pulitzer Prize;

• C.D. Wright, also on the 1996 White River Writers’ Workshop faculty, later won a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant;

• Kathleen Lynch, Visiting Writer in 1997, won the 2005 Black Zinnias Prize; and

• Robert Dana, at Lyon in 1994, is now the Poet Laureate of Iowa.

One of the things that makes the Visiting Writers Series so successful is the way Lyon College treats the visiting writers. One past visiting writer, William Trowbridge, wrote an article about the Visiting Writers Series for Poets & Writers magazine and called Lyon’s series the best he’d ever experienced.

“Trowbridge said that of the many colleges where he’s given readings, Lyon’s was the only campus reading series attended by the dean of the faculty and the [then] college president,” Budy said.

Other visiting writers have told Budy that Lyon treated them better than any college or university.

“We’re organized, attentive and cordial to the writers, and they appreciate that,” Budy said. “And audiences appreciate the talent and generosity of the writers who visit. This makes for a very successful experience for everyone involved. And Lyon’s reputation among writers has spread. I often receive letters from prominent writers who’ve heard about our Visiting Writers Series and want to be invited.”

In 2000, Budy and a group of others interested in literature created a creative writing endowment to fund a Visiting Fellowship in Creative Writing. Through a competitive national search, the award brings prominent authors to the College for a six-week residency, during which they teach an advanced creative writing course and a one-day writing workshop open to the community. The fellowship winners also give a public lecture and reading.

In return, the Visiting Fellows receive meals, lodging, and a private office where they work on their own writing, as well as a $5,000 honorarium. The College awards the fellowship every two years, each time rotating among genres.

The first award went to British poet Peter Abbs in 2004. In 2006, novelist and short story writer Ron Tanner received the honor. The 2008 program will feature creative non-fiction, and the next two will focus on playwriting or screenwriting and poetry, respectively.

Budy said members of the general community comprise much of the audiences at the public events.

“A lot of people from outside the college attend these readings and lectures,” she said. “Sometimes they outnumber our students.”

Another important program at Lyon College is the Leila Lenore Heasley Prize. Established in 1995 by alumna Martha Heasley Cox, the endowed prize is awarded annually to a distinguished representative of American or international letters, theater, or cinema. Selected by a committee consisting of members of the faculty, students, and community, and chaired by Budy, the Heasley Prize recipient gives a free public lecture and reading at the Lyon campus during the spring semester.

Recent Heasley Prize winners include:

• 2006, Bret Lott, fictionist and essayist;
• 2005, Tim Gautreaux, fictionist;
• 2004, Lee Smith, novelist;
• 2003, Sena Jeter Naslund, novelist;
• 2002, Jill McCorkle, fictionist;
• 2001, Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, novelist and playwright; and
• 2000, William Least Heat-Moon, non-fiction writer.

This fall, the Visiting Writers Series brings two more rising stars to the Lyon campus. Kevin Brockmeier, who has already won three O. Henry Awards for his fiction, will be at the College on Sept. 19, 2006. And Jason Sommer, winner of a Whiting Writers’ Award for “exceptional talent and promise,” will follow on Oct. 24.

Budy will close the Series on Nov. 28 in celebration of her newest poetry collection, “Woman in the Painting,” just released by Autumn House Press.

For more information about these programs in literature and creative writing at Lyon, please contact Andrea Hollander Budy at (870) 793-1766 or ahbudy@lyon.edu.

Lyon College chaplain attends Higher Education Ministry Summit

At the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s second Higher Education Ministry Summit, held recently in Birmingham, Ala., the Rev. Nancy McSpadden, Lyon College chaplain, found some “Space for Grace.”

The summit, held June 12-14 at the Birmingham Radisson Hotel and nearby South Highland Presbyterian Church just before the beginning of the 217th General Assembly, used “Space for Grace” as it theme, and focused on finding ways to integrate faith into careers and lives.

Tracks for students, chaplains and campus-ministerial staff, congregations and governing bodies gave collegiate ministry staff, college students, presbytery, synod personnel and others with duties related to higher education ministry, a chance to learn from each other.

“The group will focus on how to help make academic communities a ‘Space For Grace’ that appreciates the connections between faith and knowledge, service and learning, vocational discernment and building a resume,” said the Rev. Bob Turner, the PCUSA’s associate for collegiate ministries, in preparation for the event.

Summit 2 workshops provided students and practitioners theoretical and practical models for college-ministry programs. Throughout the event, there were formal and informal opportunities for networking with others in similar ministry settings.

“What we’re hoping to do is to learn to help current students and the people who work with students understand how they can incorporate their faith into their vocational choice and how not to take a vacation from church but to know it’s there,” Turner said.

Among the keynote speakers were participants in the 1961 Freedom Rides, a group of men and women of all ages, black and white, who boarded buses, trains and airplanes in Philadelphia and elsewhere along the East Coast, then headed to the Deep South to test the 1960 Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation in interstate public facilities. After hearing the Freedom Riders speak, the group visited the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute where an exhibit of photographs taken of the Freedom Rides in 1961 recently opened.

“To see the amazing and heart-wrenching photographs of the indignities and the dangers these heroes endured, standing beside the subjects of the pictures 45 years later is something I will never forget,” said the Rev. Nancy McSpadden. “The young men and women were 19 and 20 years old in 1961 – college age – and they jeopardized their very lives for the cause of equality and civil rights. We saw their pictures, heard their stories, and thanked God for the risk they were willing to take. ‘Inspired’ doesn’t even begin to express how they made me feel.”

More than 130 people turned out for the first summit, which was held before the PCUSA’s 216th Assembly in 2004.

That event in Richmond, Va., gave rise to the Presbyterian Association for Collegiate and Higher Education Ministries (PACHEM)which represents people involved in PCUSA higher education ministries. Rev. McSpadden won a term as the Presbyterian College Chaplain’s Association representative to the PACHEM executive board.

The event was conceived in response to reports approved by General Assemblies in 2001 and 2003 calling for stronger relationships between the church and related schools, colleges and universities, and for a new mission strategy for campus ministry.

PACHEM’s board members are among the planning team members for Summit 2, along with the Presbyterian Student Strategy Team (PSST), the staff of the PCUSA collegiate ministries office, and the Association for Presbyterian Colleges and Universities. Lyon College student Ben Thielemier serves on the PSST.

Turner said nearly 700 PCUSA congregations are involved in ministries to college students, and there are more than 600 collegiate ministries on or near the campuses they serve.

Attending the summit from Lyon were students Watson Neal, Mikael Summers and Thielemier. After the conclusion of the summit, the students and Rev. McSpadden attended the opening sessions of the PCUSA General Assembly for the election of the GA Moderator and for worship.

The Lyon College Bookstore has written a new chapter for itself with a series of improvements designed to make the store more comfortable and inviting.

Morgan Presley (below), who graduated Lyon College in May with a degree in biology and is working at the bookstore throughout the summer, said the biggest and most visible change is in how the store is organized.

“We’re making it look more like a real bookstore instead of just a place to buy some textbooks,” she said. “It’s roomier and more comfortable. It’s cozier and feels more like home.”

Sandy Michel, the store’s manager, has been planning the project for a long time, Presley said. Jennifer Pitts serves as the store’s assistant manager.

“Sandy’s been wanting to do this for five years,” she said. “It was her vision and my work. She told me where to put stuff and I did it.”

Along with a more spacious layout, the store now features a new soft drink refrigerator, end tables, and soon a new sofa will be added to create a comfortable reading area, Presley said.

In addition to books, the store also sells clothing items such as sweaters, sweatshirts, T-shirts, hoodies and pullovers, hats, caps and even kilts.

The also cerates custom personalized gift bags for Lyon students or faculty/staff members. Just tell the staff what to include in the gift bag, or give them a price range, and they’ll pick out the perfect treats and accessories.

A wide range of insignia items from mouse pads to coffee mugs, license plates to lapel pins is also available at the store.

The Lyon College Bookstore is open 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday (until noon on Fridays during the summer) and on Saturdays during special events.