22 minute read
Selig Hall Named
Helen Selig, third from left, was one of ASMSA’s earliest advocates. She helped lead a community effort to persuade the state to choose Hot Springs as the site for the school in 1992. Selig and her family’s support of the school never wavered, and two of her grandchildren are alumni, including Lacy Selig (‘08), center. Selig’s husband John is also pictured with students in 2017 after the announcement of the Helen Selig Promise Kept Endowment.
Honoring a Promise Kept
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Renovated convent/chapel complex named Selig Hall
A part of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts’ campus that represents an important aspect of both its past and its future will soon bear the name of one of the school’s earliest supporters.
The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees approved a resolution in May to formally name the renovated St. Joseph Hospital convent and chapel complex on the ASMSA campus Helen Selig Hall. Selig died on February 18, 2022, after a long-term illness.
Selig was among the earliest and most vocal proponents to bring the then Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences to Hot Springs and was a prominent leader of a community group that lobbied the state to choose Hot Springs as the school’s home in 1992. She and her family have continued to support the school throughout its existence.
Her feelings for the school were matched by her long-term dedication to Hot Springs as a whole. Selig served as mayor of Hot Springs from 1994-2000, and she never stopped promoting the success of the city she grew to call home after her family settled here in 1985.
The complex is currently undergoing a $5.5 million renovation that will transform the convent into additional residential housing for students, offices for the school’s professional mental health staff, as well as a new student union. Renovation of the convent will be completed this summer in time for students to move into for the start of the fall semester. The chapel will become an auditorium used for various campus events.
Selig’s family members were pleased to find out that the buildings would be named for her.
“The family is honored that the school would name such an important piece of Hot Springs’ history and the renovation of the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts for our grandmother, mother and wife,” said Lacy Selig, who is Helen’s granddaughter and a 2008 ASMSA alumna. “She was a matriarch in the truest sense for us as a family, but she also was in many ways a matriarch of Hot Springs and was so motivated to make Hot Springs a beacon within the state of Arkansas.”
ASMSA Director Corey Alderdice noted that the tribute is fitting as the school enters its fourth decade of educational excellence.
“Several members of our staff took time last summer to explore the earliest days of the school’s history as we began preparations for ASMSA’s thirtieth anniversary
Lacy Selig (‘08) holds a copy of a photo of one of her first visits to ASMSA. She is being held by a family member during a ceremony her grandparents, Helen and John Selig, attended at the school when Lacy Selig was a young child. in 2023,” Alderdice said. “No matter the discussion or document, Helen Selig’s name and her advocacy were always in the mix for bringing this school to fruition. When Helen died earlier this year, we knew there was no better way not only to honor her legacy but also inspire a new generation of emerging female leaders than by naming the building in her memory.”
Lacy Selig said that the chapel being included in both the renovation and the naming is special to her. As a student, she recalls performing in plays there as well as presenting Fundamentals in Research Methods (FIRM) projects.
“It is a meaningful space for me personally because I spent time there. To see it brought back to life is wonderful. I can’t wait to see the finished space,” she said.
Selig said her grandmother would also be pleased that the new residential space will serve as home on campus for female students.
“I know that would be something that would really touch my grandmother because she was such a proponent of education for everyone, but particularly for girls from rural communities like she was,” she said. Enrollment trends in recent years have seen growth in the number of female students applying to ASMSA. In order to meet that demand, Selig Hall will allow the school to enroll an additional 26 female students. “A brighter economic future for Arkansas requires elevating young women to leadership roles in the innovation economy,” Alderdice said. “ASMSA has always been at the forefront of ensuring access to advanced programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As ASMSA continues to grow and evolve, closing gender gaps in STEM must continue to be a priority.” Helen Selig was the granddaughter of a teacher, learning the lessons of education early. Many other family members also served as teachers and administrators. When she and her husband, John, moved to De Queen, Ark., in 1969, she helped establish the town’s Head Start program. She also served on the board of the libraries of each town in which she and John lived. Once Selig and her family settled in Hot Springs in 1985, she focused her attention on improving the community. That included helping community leaders organize the campaign to bring a new statewide public residential high school to Hot Springs in the early 1990s.
The Arkansas General Assembly established what was known then as the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences in 1991 without a host site picked for the program. A site selection committee received more than 50 applications from cities and towns across Arkansas hoping to serve as the host for the new school. Hot Springs was eventually one of seven finalists considered for the site.
Hot Springs’ supporters adopted the slogan “Clear As A Bell,” signifying that the city was the obvious choice to host ASMSA. In cooperation with the City of Hot Springs and the Garland County community, a plan to house the school in the recently vacated St. Joseph Hospital was proposed. Among those leading the charge was Selig.
Helen Selig and other volunteers convinced the city to make a big commitment to the project to win the selection committee over. The city agreed to buy the building from the hospital and committed to perform maintenance on it. She also began pursuing civic support for the project.
In September 1994, a year after the school opened and during Selig’s first term as mayor, a dedication ceremony was held on campus to recognize the efforts of the city and citizens to ensure promises made during the site selection search were kept. Selig presented a bronze school bell to ASMSA as a symbol of the community’s efforts to keep the promises made to get the school placed in Hot Springs. The bell now stands in front of the Student Center.
“Hot Springs is proud to have been selected for the honor of being the home of this fine school,” Helen Selig said that day. “Hot Springs is proud that we have kept our promise to you and the people of Arkansas that we would give you
the best possible facility for the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences.
“Hot Springs is proud of what this school will do for the students who attend and for the communities from which they come. We are proud, on this day, to present to you and the people of Arkansas this outstanding facility to be used for our children, for our state, for the future.”
Lacy Selig remembers a photo of her when she was 3 years old on campus for a special event, quite possibly the day of the bell dedication. It was a precursor of the time she and her brother Jack, a 2019 alumnus, would spend on the campus.
“From the youngest ages, our Nana was a proponent of us reaching for the greatest education possible,” Lacy Selig said. “Absolutely as I was growing up, there was a lot of encouragement that I would attend the school, not because my grandmother was involved in the founding but because it was an excellent place to get an education.
“That’s what she cared the most about. It was not a vanity project for her. Instead she was incredibly proud that the state of Arkansas had this school and was achieving such great things within its walls. She wanted us as her grandchildren to take advantage of that opportunity.”
To see the school still growing and adapting in order to continue offering those kind of educational opportunities to students across the state after 30 years would be pleasing to her grandmother, Lacy Selig said. Her support for ASMSA and the city of Hot Springs never dwindled.
“My grandmother was not someone who was interested in a quick win. She was interested in things that were meaningful and lasting. I know she would have been advocating continually for the success of [ASMSA],” Selig said.
“She was mayor for many years. She didn’t finish her mayoral duties and then stop promoting the city of Hot Springs. She was interested in the city’s success for years and years after her time as mayor because her passion for the city’s growth, the city’s economic success, the city’s educational success continued beyond her job.
“It’s the same for the school. She will be so proud to look down and see that it is continuing to grow and thrive and provide new, exciting opportunities for young people. Even today the opportunities in education these students are
getting are far beyond what I got 15 years ago, and that’s fantastic. It’s exactly as it should be. It should continue to grow and serve these students so they can serve the state of Arkansas and the country.” Helen Selig was not someone who looked for recognition as long as projects were successful, and she didn’t mind who received the credit, Lacy Selig said. But her grandmother would be very touched and honored by the naming of the renovated buildings after her. ‘I hope that as “I hope that as future students pass through future students the halls they take a pass through the moment to look up or Google who was Helen halls they take a Selig and read an obituary, read an article moment to look up from ’90s when she was or Google who was mayor, and see that this was someone who Helen Selig ... and was a proud Arkansan, see that this was a proud resident of Hot Springs, and who someone who was worked very hard at her a proud Arkansan, a own education and in lifting up the education proud resident of Hot Springs, and who and economic worked very hard at her own education opportunities of others,” she said. and in lifting up the education and economic opportunities of others.’ At the time of her death, Helen Selig had spent a decade and a half dealing with the Lacy Selig (‘08), granddaughter of Helen Selig, effects of dementia, Lacy Selig said. For the school to honor her is one of ASMSA’s earliest advocates especially meaningful for whom the renovated convent to her grandfather and Helen’s husband, John. and chapel complex is being named “He is touched and heartened that the woman that he loved and championed is being remembered at her greatest,” Lacy Selig said. “Dementia robs a person of who they are. For ASMSA to create this space in her name, a testament to all that she was, is deeply moving to my grandfather. He is thankful to the school and the greater Hot Springs community for carrying forward my grandmother’s legacy through Helen Selig Hall.”
Associate Deans ready to advance dual missions
Dr. Brian Monson and Dr. Thomas Dempster have been named associate deans in the Office of Academic Affairs.
Monson, who most recently served as a physics instructor, is the new associate dean for STEM. Monson is in his 22nd year at ASMSA, joining the faculty in August 2000 after previously teaching at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics and the University of Tulsa. He has served as chair of the Science Department since February 2003.
Dempster, a music instructor and conductor of ASMSA’s bands, is the new associate dean for Arts and Humanities. He joined the ASMSA faculty in August 2018 as the school’s first full-time music instructor. He previously taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, South Carolina State University and Claflin University, both in Orangeburg, S.C.
Stuart Flynn, dean of academic affairs, announced the addition of the educators to the academic affairs team earlier this spring. He said they will play an important role in ASMSA’s continued academic development.
“AS ASMSA enters its fourth decade serving Arkansas students, the landscape of education seems to shift every semester,” Flynn said. “Everything is in flux, partly as a result of COVID-19. In such uncertain times, we need experienced educators who are content experts to guide curricular development and ensure instructional effectiveness in ways that reflect the particular needs of STEM as well as Arts and Humanities.”
The associate deans’ primary roles will be to guide curricular development in their respective areas, work closely with teachers to support their classroom and professional needs, and contribute to strategic decisions that will shape ASMSA’s future, Flynn said. The associate deans will continue to teach two courses, which will provide them opportunities to stay engaged in their individual fields as well as in the classroom with students. That will be crucial for their effectiveness, as they must be responsive to the changing needs of students and teachers as well as their continued growth as an educator, he said.
“I think it’s important that they maintain a balance for their own personal fulfillment,” Flynn said in regard to one of the goals of having the associate deans continue to serve as classroom instructors in addition to their new duties. “Both associate deans are accomplished instructors with many years of experience, and teaching is a part of what defines them as individuals. I believe that keeping them in the classroom will result in benefits to them, our students and ASMSA in general.”
Monson said the dual role was one of the reasons he decided to apply for the associate dean for STEM when the new positions were advertised. He also saw it as an opportunity to have a larger role in curriculum development.
“I thought it would be a way to have a bigger say in the administration of the school without completely giving up teaching,” he said. “Curriculum development is primarily done by the Teaching and Learning Committee. This new position will make me a part of that process but not the sole developer of new curriculum. I will be more concerned with ensuring the implementation of the curriculum is consistent across departments.”
See Deans, Page 13
Dr. Thomas Dempster, left, has been named Associate Dean for Arts and Humanities while Dr. Brian Monson was selected to serve as Associate Dean for STEM.
Heeding Her Calling
One day late in the spring semester, Dr. Allyn Dodd led a small group of students down the street to a nearby park to look for some different living species she could speak to them about.
After gathering around a tree to look at something that was growing from it, Dodd, a first-year biology teacher at ASMSA, decided to see if she could find an example of another species she had been describing to students in a nearby creek. Although she wasn’t dressed for a creek visit, she climbed down the embankment. After a short moment, she made a sound of excitement and pointed to what she was speaking about.
After climbing back up to even ground, Dodd continued to excitedly speak to the students about the different living species they could find in that area. That moment likely resembled Dodd’s childhood growing up in central Arkansas in White County.
Dr. Allyn Dodd leads a discussion in her classroom earlier this year. Dodd joined ASMSA’s faculty as a biology instructor in August. She knew after reading the job description that she had to apply for the position. ‘It was as if I had basically been preparing to come here with the training I had,’ Dodd said.
Instead she went to Lyon College in Batesville where she earned a bachelor’s degree in biology with a minor in chemistry. The degree was tailored more toward cell and molecular biology since she originally planned to go to medical school.
During her free time, she read a lot about the history of the environmental movement and deep ecology. It was completely separate from her initial studies and career interest., but her undergraduate mentor, Dr. Tim Lindblom, encouraged her to follow her interests wherever they led.
“I did research in his C. elegans lab for two summers, and I would look longingly out the lab window while I made microinjection mixes and ran the thermal cycler,” Dodd said. “My junior year in college, I took a biodiversity seminar with [Lindblom] and fell in love with E.O. Wilson’s writing. That piqued my interest in environmental biology, and then I took ecology second semester for my senior year. That was it for me.”
E.O. Wilson was an American biologist, naturalist and writer. He translated his lifetime study of ants into a larger picture of human and the planet’s biodiversity, earning him recognition from the Royal Swedish Academy as well as two Pulitzer Prizes over his long, distinguished career.
Dodd went on to earn a master’s in biology from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway and a doctorate in biology from the University of Arkansas. Her interest moved toward ecology and environmental biology.
She had an inkling that teaching might be for her while still in college at Lyon. She helped Lindblom teach children how to extract DNA during a summer day camp.
“I loved it. It felt like magic, sharing my excitement with the kids and answering their questions,” Dodd said. “Still, I wasn’t planning to teach. I put it out of my mind until I finished college and found work with the Upward Bound program at Lyon. I taught summer session courses, one of which was Environmental Science, and realized that teaching was a great fit.”
She worked two years in Lyon’s APPLE Project Upward Bound program before leaving to go work on her master’s degree. While at UCA as a graduate student, she taught organismal biology labs. After earning her master’s, she worked as an environmental scientist for two-and-a-half years at GBMc and Associates, a regional environmental consulting firm in Bryant. She then left to work on her doctorate, during which she conducted research on carbon dynamics in streams and riparian
soils in northern Arkansas.
After completing her doctorate in aquatic ecosystem ecology in 2018, she was back at Lyon College. She was excited to have the opportunity to teach at her alma mater. “I always felt that taking the place of my own ecology professor was a dream come true,” she said.
She soon found that as a professor she didn’t get to teach as much as she desired. She also didn’t have time to innovate in her teaching since much of her time outside of class was focused on the research side of academia — finding and writing grants, writing and revising manuscripts, writing grant reports, coordinating and working with her research interns, and reviewing manuscripts for journals, among other tasks.
Dodd received a grant to conduct a two-year field research campaign in her lab. The second year of the grant was when COVID-19 hit, resulting in her losing all of her research interns. She had to collect the data on her own.
“That was tough. I love research, but I lost a lot of sleep over whether I was publishing enough or whether I was going to be funded in two years. I felt like I was doing a fine job as an academic, but it was breaking me,” Dodd said.
She also found that many students had already made up their mind about what they wanted to do before they reached her as a freshman. She wanted to introduce environmental science to younger people, being able to focus on teaching and mentoring a greater breadth of research.
That opportunity came when she saw an advertisement for an open biology instructor position at ASMSA.
“When I read the job description, I knew I had to apply. It was as if I had basically been preparing to come here with the training I had. I was especially excited about the Research in the Park Capstone course. Plus, Hot Springs is a great place to be if you enjoy outdoor activities! I got a little teary on the phone when (Director of Human Resources) Nia Rieves called to offer me the position. I’m grateful every day that the hiring committee let me come work here,” Dodd said. Part of that gratefulness is spurred by her current students. Dodd said she anticipated ASMSA’s students would be high-achieving, but they have surprised her in additional ways.
“They are some of the most driven scholars and deep thinkers I have ever taught,” she said. “I’ve been blown away by them, and they have taught me a lot this first year. My ASMSA students care deeply about local and global issues, and I’ve found them to be more aware of what’s going on in the world around them than I was as a young adult.”
Dr. Allyn Dodd talks about a certain plant species that can be found in a local creek. She often leads field experiences to various sites near ASMSA.
Dodd experienced this firsthand during a Global Learning Program trip during spring break in March. Along with Spanish instructor Fernanda Espinosa, Dodd led a group of students on a research trip to La Paz in Baja California Sur, Mexico. She said the Gulf of California is a hotspot for biodiversity that allowed students to see marine life in person while also allowing them to experience staying in a desert ecosystem.
The group spent four nights on Isla Espiritu Santu, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Park. While there, students took part in marine invertebrate surveys as well as designing and conducting their own research projects. They camped on the beach and swam with sea lions and a whale shark.
Dodd had never taken a trip with students like that. She said the trip gave the students some muchneeded context for their ASMSA classes and how to integrate what they learned into being a good global citizen.
“It was incredibly rewarding to see them using concepts and skills they learned in classes here at ASMSA while we were in Mexico. The course instructors were impressed with the level of our students’ research and knowledge of marine systems and organisms. We have an outstanding group of scholars here, and I was so proud of how well they worked together and with the other students from outside ASMSA,” Dodd said.
She said the skills and concepts they learned in zoology, oceanography, Research in the Park and Spanish language courses were all put to good use. The trip also reflected how she prefers to teach — using hands-on exercises and field sampling that put her lecture concepts into practice.
“I’d have to say my favorite part of teaching is taking students out in the field so they can learn sampling techniques and become more cognizant of the various forms of life all around them. I think we all care more about things with which we are familiar, so taking students out to meet the organisms we discuss and see trends in data we collect in Hot Springs that correspond to ecological models deepens their understanding. I do like to lecture, but I prefer for it to be more of a conversation. Whatever we are doing, I try to make it fun and use examples that are pertinent to their lives or tell a joke or use a meme that will help them remember key concepts,” she said.
Perhaps that’s why Morty is so popular among her students. Morty is a stuffed groundhog who Dodd found while cleaning out a lab at Lyon College. There was a box full of stuffed, dead animals. While going through the box, she found a mostly flat stuffed groundhog that had lost its fake eyes.
“It was love at first sight,” Dodd said. “I started making jokes with him and before I knew it, he was playing pranks on my colleagues and students at Lyon. He’d come to class and be sitting at a microscope in the lab. During COVID, I gave Morty googly eyes. For the past few years, students have really taken to him. I’ve had students offer to take him on dates.”
As accepting as she has found the students, she said fellow faculty members have been just as welcoming and helpful. She looked to Dr. Lindsey Waddell (’99) for advice and guidance throughout the year, especially as they cotaught the Research in the Park and Environmental Science courses.
“I knew northern Arkansas very well in terms of places to sample, vegetation, soils and natural history. I have learned a lot about this new region from her. When I had a question about pretty much anything, she had an answer. She helped me prepare for Baja since she’d been on many trips with students before. I feel very lucky to work with her. She is just an allaround delightful person,” she said.
Other members of the Science Department and other departments have been very helpful throughout the year. Dr. Brian Monson, formerly chair of the Science Department and current associate dean for STEM, helped her feel at home as a member of the department. Dr. Whitney Holden and Dr. Patrycja Krakowiak, both life sciences instructors, were helpful throughout the year as well.
Dr. Allyn Dodd and ASMSA Spanish instructor Fernanda Espinosa led a Global Learning Program trip to La Paz in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
