Lyon College will soon be rolling out the "red carpet" again as it begins its 2007-08 academic year. The "Red Carpet Days," slated for Aug. 17-19, will welcome new students. Upperclassmen are scheduled to move into residence halls Sunday, Aug. 19. The first day of classes will be Aug. 21.

Lyon College faculty and staff will gather Wednesday, Aug. 15, for the annual all-campus luncheon in Edwards Dining Hall. At the luncheon, President Walter Roettger will deliver his welcoming remarks, new faculty and staff members will be introduced, service awards will be presented and the Staff Member of the Year will be announced.

Friday is also the annual "move-in" day when new students and their parents move the students into the residence halls. Lyon faculty, staff and upperclassmen pitch in to help with the moving in.

A reception will be held for students and parents at Bradley Manor, hosted by President and Mrs. Roettger, at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17.

A number of special activities will greet the students and parents when they arrive.

Representatives of area businesses, churches and service organizations will be set up in Edwards Dining Hall from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. to welcome and provide information to the students. Bank representatives will be available to set up accounts for students.

"Goodie" bags filled with coupons and other promotional items from businesses and churches, along with maps and useful information, will be given to the students and parents. Door prizes will be given away to students who register at the event.

An orientation program for first-year students will begin after lunch. The new students are divided into mentor groups facilitated by upperclassmen and faculty and staff members. The mentor groups not only assist during orientation but will continue to support the new students as part of the college’s first-year advising program.

The matriculation convocation will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in Brown Chapel. At the matriculation convocation, the new students and new faculty members sign the Roll of Honor, signifying they will abide by the college's Honor Code.

Parents will depart campus immediately after a farewell luncheon at noon Saturday in Edwards Commons. The new students will continue with orientation activities in the afternoon.

On Sunday, a worship service will be held at Bryan Lake at 10:30 a.m., followed by more orientation activities through Monday.

A full schedule of activities for new students and parents and other orientation information is available on the Lyon website at www.lyon.edu. Click on the Red Carpet Days button to go to the information.

Heather Bouton and Jeffrey Roper have joined the Lyon College family as its newest enrollment services representatives. Bouton’s first official day was August 1, and Roper’s is Aug. 13.

As an enrollment services representative, Bouton will serve the Mississippi, Tennessee and Northeast Arkansas region.

Bouton grew up in Fort Smith, and attended the University of Central Arkansas where she earned Bachelor of Arts degree in public relations and a minor in business management. She was a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority and Arkansas Young Professional Network.

Her professional experience includes work as a sales manager for Holiday Inn Select/Crowne Plaza in Little Rock, as well as Hampton Inn and Suites.

Bouton said she chose to come to work at Lyon College because of the community feeling she found on campus.

"I wanted to be part of an organization and community that had a good sense of purpose," she said. "I felt that here."

She wanted to extend thanks to the Communications Department at Winrock International in Little Rock for teaching her so much as an intern and for always being available to help her in anyway possible. Winrock International is a nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment.

"I would also like to acknowledge my dad, Dr. Mike Bouton, for teaching me to believe that if I take a big risk and fail, I’ll still be okay," she said.

Roper will serve as the representative for Independence County, all of north central Arkansas and all of Missouri. He graduated from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 2000 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Religion.

His most recent job was as the Activities and Recreation Director at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. He has worked in several other capacities with Presbyterian Church (USA). His wife is the new associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Batesville.

The addition of four new faculty members with expertise in disciplines ranging from biology to psychology, art to computer science, has washed a diverse new pool of talent onto the Lyon College campus.

Margaret Elizabeth Lejeune has joined the faculty as assistant professor of art. She comes to Lyon from Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., where she was adjunct instructor of art history and digital design. Prior to that she held teaching positions at the State University of New York and the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester.

In addition to collegiate teaching positions, she’s also held positions as teaching assistant at Syracuse, art instructor at the Memorial Art Gallery Creative Workshops, photography instructor at Belvoir Terrace Fine and Performing Arts Camp in Lenox, Mass., and photography instructor at the Charter School of Science and Technology in Rochester.

She holds an master’s degree in art history from Syracuse University, and an M.F.A. in visual studies from the Visual Studies Workshop. She earned her undergraduate degree in studio art from Nazareth College.

Hira B. Herrington has come aboard as visiting instructor in computer science. He’s well acquainted with the Lyon campus, as he was not only an adjunct lecturer of computer science for the College in fall 2006, he’s also married to Dr. Catherine Bordeau, associate professor of French, and Lyon’s 13^th Arkansas Professor of the Year.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and has attended Hollins College in Paris, France. In September 2008, he’ll earn a master’s degree from Nova Southeastern University of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Currently serving as senior analyst and consultant for White River Computer Services, Herrington’s experience includes roles such as development manager for Seattle Systems Inc. and ByDesign Ltd., senior programmer for Electrocon International, programmer and analyst for Tillinghast, and systems research programmer for the Center for Ergonomics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

He also has a long list of past clients that have utilized his consulting and programming skills dating back to 1987.

Dr. Patrick S. Mulick is Lyon’s new assistant professor of psychology. He comes to Lyon from Gonzaga University’s psychology department where he served as assistant professor since August 2002. Since January 2006, he’s also served as a psychologist for the Northwest Neurobehavioral Institute at Spokane, Wash.

He earned his doctorate in clinical psychology at Western Michigan University at Kalamazoo, Mich. Additionally, he holds a pair of master’s degrees, one from Western Michigan and one from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. He earned his undergraduate degree at Gonzaga.

Before joining the faculty at Gonzaga, he held instructor and teaching assistant positions at Kalamazoo Community College, Western Michigan University, the Kalamazoo Center for Medicine and Science, and Ball State University.

Dr. Han Chuan Ong comes to Lyon from the University of Washington where he was an instructor who lectured and designed modules of phylogenetic theory for graduate students.

Prior to that, he held positions as biology instructor and research mentor at Indiana University. He’s an experienced researcher with many honors and fellowships to his credit.

A poet whose work has been called "heart-stopping and heartbreaking," and a novelist who’s been labeled a "masterful observer of the modern world…," will be featured in the 2007 Contemporary Writers Series at Lyon College.

On Tuesday, October 23, the series will present Jo McDougall. The author of five books of poetry, most recently, Dirt and Satisfied with Havoc, she is also completing a prose memoir, Daddy’s Money.

Among her awards are an Academy of American Poets prize, a DeWitt Wallace/Reader’s Digest Writing award, and the Porter Prize for Literary Excellence.

One critic called McDougall’s poetry "heart-stopping and heartbreaking – the embodiment of what Stanley Kunitz calls ‘an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world.’" Another said, "Jo McDougall writes a lean stoic line; each poem makes its mark, like spit."

Towns Facing Railroads, a dramatic presentation of her work, was produced by the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Some of her poems were adapted for the film Emerson County Shaping Dream. Individual poems appear in Garrison Keillor’s Good Poems for Hard Times, Ted Kooser’s  American Life in Poetry, and such journals as the  Hudson Review, Georgia Review, Kenyon Review, Midwest Quarterly, and New Letters.

McDougall is an Arkansas native who presently resides in Kansas. Before she retired, she directed the creative writing program at Pittsburg State University.

At 11 a.m., on Oct. 23, she’ll give remarks on the art of writing in the Bevens Music Room, and at 7:30 p.m., she’ll present a poetry and prose reading, also in Bevens.

The following month, on Tuesday, November 13, the series welcomes novelist and short story writer John J. Clayton.

One critic called John J. Clayton "a masterful observer of the modern world, with all its fears and neuroses—the threats that plague us from afar and from within, and the corruptions that contaminate not only our institutions, but also our spirits."

Clayton is the author of three novels and three short fiction collections, most recently the novel, Kuperman’s Fire, and the story collection, Wrestling with Angels. His prize-winning fiction is included in O. Henry Prize Stories, Best American Short Stories, the Pushcart Prize anthology, and has been read at Symphony Space in New York City and aired on National Public Radio as part of the series Selected Shorts.

Clayton is the editor of the Heath Introduction to Fiction, a college textbook, and author of Gestures of Healing, a psychological study of modern British and American fiction, and Saul Bellow: In Defense of Man, winner of several awards in literary criticism.

He has taught modern literature and fiction writing at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, since 1969 and was recently a Visiting Professor of creative writing at Mount Holyoke College.

At 11 a.m. on November 13, he’ll speak on the art of writing in the Bevens Music Room, and will give a fiction reading at 7:30 p.m., also in Bevens.

Andrea Hollander Budy, Lyon’s Writer-in-Residence, initiated what was then called 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. The series’ name was changed to Contemporary Writers Series last year.

All events are free and open to the public.

Lyon College graduate recalls time in Scotland as Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar

Katherine Elizabeth McLean dreamed of studying in Aberdeen, Scotland, and the Ambassadorial Scholarship she won from the Rotary Foundation in 2005 made that dream come true.

Now, as she wraps up her studies at the University of Edinburgh, she’s taken time to reflect upon her time abroad and on what she’s learned, both in and out of the classroom.

A biology major with a 3.64 GPA while at Lyon, McLean – Katie to those who know her – said in her final report on her experiences that during her nine months the University of Edinburgh, she earned a postgraduate certificate by research in reproductive biology.

"Many reply with a raised eyebrow and a snicker after hearing ‘reproductive biology’ as my course title," she said. "But I’ve realized the importance of studying the intricate reproductive system regulation through hormones and the environment, and scientific research of reproductive cancers and sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and AIDS."

McLean said what she learned in these courses will serve her well as when she starts her studies at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences in the College of Medicine.

"Not only has the course work been beneficial, but the lab techniques learned in a large university scientific research setting has given me a better appreciation for careers in research," she said, "which has possibly convinced me to pursue a position in the MD/PhD dual degree program at UAMS, after completing my first year of medical school."

It was her experiences abroad that have helped prepare her for a career as a doctor, and possibly as a research scientists as well, she said.

"My Ambassadorial Scholarship experiences have given me a broader outlook, more respect and a better understanding of Scotland, the U.K. and other countries around the world," McLean said.

In addition to her experiences in the classroom, she also had the opportunity to see the countryside of Scotland, visit various Rotary Club chapters, eat "more than my fair share of haggis and ‘tatties’ at Burns Suppers" and interact with the local population outside a university setting, she said.

"Through my year of being immersed in the culture, I feel I developed a better understanding of the people and their communities," Mclean said.

And along with her deeper understanding of Scotland came a renewed sense of appreciation for her own country as well, she added.

"I have a deeper appreciation for my culture and way of life in Arkansas, and for the values and ideals with which I was raised," McLean said. "And as an ambassador of goodwill promoting international understanding, I feel I educated others about my culture as well."

While at the University of Edinburgh, McLean and others scholars there organized and hosted a sponsored walk and international picnic. All monies raised at the event went directly to several organization including Contact a Family Scotland, Children’s Hospice Association Scotland, and Waverley Care, which supports people living with HIV and AIDS. On May 19, McLean and the other Edinburgh scholars, along with participants from various Rotary Clubs, took part in the fundraising walk at Loch Katrine in the Trossachs of Scotland.

"Even though we had typical the Scottish weather of wind, rain and cold, we all enjoyed the walk and international cuisine prepared by the scholars," McLean said.

Her experiences as an Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar has instilled in her the desire to become a member of the organization and help it accomplish its worthy goals, Mclean said.

"Whether as a Rotarian, a member of Rotaract or a member of the GSE team, I hope to be a part of this philanthropic organization, promoting the motto of ‘Service Above Self’," she said.

A Rotary Foundation press releases states that the purpose of the Ambassadorial Scholarships program is to "further international understanding and friendly relations among people of different countries. While abroad, scholars serve as ambassadors of goodwill to the people of the host country and give presentations about their homelands to Rotary clubs and other groups. Upon returning home, scholars share with Rotarians and others the experiences that led to greater understanding of their host countries."

The Ambassadorial Scholarship is the Rotary Foundation's oldest and best known. Since 1947, nearly 37,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad under its auspices.

Today, it’s the world's largest privately funded international scholarships program, with more than 1,000 scholarships awarded for study in 2003-04. Through grants totaling nearly $430 million, recipients from 70 countries have studied in more than 70 countries throughout the world.

Acclaimed actress and Arkansas native Mary Steenburgen inspired Lyon College graduate Frances Titsworth to pursue a career as a filmmaker, and in August, she’ll return to her home state to take the next step toward that fulfilling dream.

A graduate film student at Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in Orange, Calif., Titsworth intends to shoot her thesis film in the Dardanelle area. Slated to be called "The Mount Nebo Chicken Fry," the movie will be about the actual festival by that name, held each year in September.

In the story, an overly enthusiastic stage mother forces her daughter Josie to compete in the festival’s beauty pageant. But the girl’s desire is to compete in the boys-only chicken catching contest, the winner of which earns the right to meet Josie’s idol, Captain Hawk, a chicken catching superhero.

Though it would have been far less expensive to shoot the film in California, Titsworth chose to film it in Arkansas because the people and places here will give the film an authentic flavor and feel.

A theatre and English major while at Lyon, Titsworth began her graduate studies in the fall of 2002 and upon completion of her thesis film, will receive her Master of Fine Arts degree.

Though she’ll bring a small crew with her from California, she plans to hold auditions for additional crew members, as well as the entire cast, giving area residents a chance to be exposed to, and involved with, the filmmaking process.

In addition to being a writer and director, Titsworth is also a production designer, having worked on over 25 professional and graduate level films, as well as two award-winning Coca-Cola commercials.

Titsworth’s co-writer on "The Mount Nebo Chicken Fry" is fellow Lyon alumna and UCLA screenwriting program graduate Megan Steinbeck, granddaughter of legendary American novelist John Steinbeck.

Auditions will be held in Little Rock and Dardanelle, and principal photography will all happen in Dardanelle. One cast role, that of Ruth, the over-zealous stage mom, will be played by Natalie Canerday, who has appeared in films such as "Sling Blade," "October Sky," and "Walk the Line."

Titsworth wants to cast the role of Josie with a tomboy between the ages of 8–11 years of age, and emphasizes that she wants a "real kid, not a super-cutsey pageant girl."

For information on auditions or to join the crew, contact Rosie Lambert at (619) 517-6141, or e-mail: chickenfrymovie@gmail.com.

Lyon Briefs

Alumni Reunion Choir
As part of homecoming, the Lyon College Concert Chorale invites all former members of Arkansas College/Lyon College Choir to be a part of the Alumni Reunion Choir. Rehearsal will be from 2 - 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, in the choir room. Directed by Dr. Dorothy Landis Gray, the Alumni Reunion Choir will sing during the traditional Sunday morning Kirkin' o' the Tartans worship service the following Sunday morning.

For more information, contact Joel Plaag, director of the Lyon College Concert Chorale, at (870) 698-4259 or e-mail: jplaag@lyon.edu, or Lucy Yeager at dlyeager@suddenlink.net.

More info is online at: www.lyon.edu/webdata/groups/alumni/alumnichoirreg.htm.

New look for GreenSheet
The GreenSheet is undergoing a redesign and will soon have a new look and a new name. Coming soon to a computer near you; watch for it! Faculty, students or staff with ideas for a new name are encouraged submit them to Communications and Public Relations Director Bob Qualls.
 

Sports

Sports | Published on Thursday August 2, 2007