Lyon College Piper Spring 2014

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Spring 2014 Volume XLI, Number 1 Editor Josh Tate LAYOUT Nell Tebbetts, ’07 Josh Tate Lead Writer Hannah Keller CONTRIBUTOR Samantha Jones, ’14 PhotograpHY Hannah Keller Josh Tate Alumni Relations Taryn Hill Duncan, ’91 Lyon College 2300 Highland Road P.O. Box 2317 Batesville, AR 72503 www.lyon.edu A selective, independent, undergraduate, residential teaching and learning community affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Lyon College offers a challenging curriculum centered on the liberal arts, guided by an Honor System and coordinated with co-curricular programs, all fostering the critical, creative thought and ethical, spiritual growth that will prepare students for fulfilling personal and professional lives committed to lifelong learning and service.

President Donald Weatherman Vice President for Institutional Advancement Jon Vestal

SPECIAL FEATURE Twenty years of Lyon On the road to discovery

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On Campus Class of 2014 Commencement Year One helps students transition into college life Faculty profiles Jewish fraternity cemented in brotherhood, excellence New wrestling coach brings years of experience to the mat Trapshooting hall of famer on board to coach new team The 35th Arkansas Scottish Festival Retirements and promotions

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Liberal Arts in Action Lyon students building hope in Joplin Learning through serving: hands-on health program Lyon student teaming with alum for summer internship

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Alumni Letter from the Alumni Council President Lyon alum helps connect rural Arkansas with first-class healthcare Beyond Boundaries: Involvement in JET program leads to career Alumni News and Notes

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Giving Passing the torch of generosity to future generations Turning small steps into a big difference

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A LETTER FROM

THE PRESIDENT

As this issue of The Piper clearly attests, 2013-14 was a very busy year for Lyon College. The development and implementation of a strategic plan should be a challenge, and Lyon has risen to that challenge. Translating hopes and dreams into a working reality takes people out of their comfort zones, but the obstacles and the opportunities higher education faces today simply do not allow us the luxury of comfort zones.

Lyon’s newly approved mission statement is not radically different from previous ones, but our plans for pursuing the mission introduce a fresh approach. As we work to improve Lyon’s financial sustainability by increasing the student population to 800, our academic, athletic, and social programs will be enhanced also. The faculty has developed a new core curriculum, key to continuing the delivery of the first rate liberal arts education that Lyon guarantees. The primary focus of the new core is EPIC: Educating Productive Involved Citizens. Our first year experience course, Year One, reinforces this theme, engaging freshmen with the wider community in a variety of ways. In concert with EPIC, students at all levels will participate in internships. An innovative health coaching program will provide not ony a unique hands-on learning experience, but also a valuable service to the community.

As we seek to expand the life of the mind we also must expand campus facilities. This summer, we will break ground for two residence halls to accommodate 200 more students. We are renovating Brown and Barton Apartments to be ready for students returning this fall. Our new football and wrestling programs require adding two new field houses.

As you read more about all of this in the following pages, I am sure you will agree with me that the College’s prospects are bright, thanks to the hard work and dedication of Lyon’s many supporters, both on campus and in the larger world.

Donald V. Weatherman President

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On the Road to discovery It’s an exciting time to be at Lyon. As the College continues to celebrate a strong tradition of unparalleled excellence in education, actions are being put into play to usher Lyon into the next phase of serving students at their home-away-from-home. Students will have new, contemporary dorms to call home in the fall 2015. The family will cheer the Scots on to victory in new athletic competitions. A revitalized core curriculum will emphasize Lyon’s dedication to educating not only brilliant scholars, but thoughtful, productive citizens. The next series of articles highlight the events unfolding in this exciting time of growth and prosperity for the College.

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Strategic plan A new common core curriculum and new on-campus housing highlight a strategic plan that aims to produce a 25 percent growth in the student population at Lyon.

Apartments are also being renovated, as well as the bathrooms in Brown and Barton Apartments.

By 2017, the College intends to see the student body grow to 800 students from the approximately 600 currently enrolled. To realize this goal, the Office of the President and Institutional Advancement are fundraising for the objectives laid out in the strategic plan.

In October 2013, the College’s Board of Trustees voted in favor of a five-year plan that reaffirms Lyon’s mission to serve as an independent, undergraduate, residential teaching and learning community. In an effort to support this mission, the College has redefined the focus and scope of its core “Lyon will increase student encurriculum. The revised rollment while continuing to recurriculum will begin in cruit a student body committed the fall 2014 semester.

to a challenging education in a community based on honor and personal integrity.”

New to the program is a common six-hour sequence required of all freshmen.

The first class is a politics course called “The American Experience” in which students will study key American documents. The second course is a world literature course with a theme of citizenship.

A plan was also approved for new on-campus housing that will accommodate an approximate 200 additional students. Fall 2015 is the projected completion date of the new housing construction.

President Donald Weatherman, who co-chaired the first Strategic Planning Committee in 1990, said the plan would result in an increased student body without sacrificing Lyon’s commitment to excellent education.

“Lyon will increase student enrollment while continuing to recruit a student body committed to a challenging education in a community based on honor and personal integrity,” Weatherman said. “We will continue to offer the top-quality, personalized education experience that has become the hallmark of a Lyon College education.”

Lyon goes epic This fall, Lyon College will implement a new core curriculum designed to educate productive citizens on campus and well beyond graduation. The curriculum’s acronym EPIC stands for “Educating Productive Involved Citizens.” “The core is the

heart and soul of an institution. Lyon is obviously a campus that values community and participatory democracy. We want to make the curriculum reflect that,” said Dr. Virginia Wray, Vice President of Academic Services and Dean of the Faculty.

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// Special Feature Co-curricular programs already on the campus invite and support this curricular change. Lyon has the only student-run honor council in the state, students serve as resident directors of residence halls and sit on faculty/staff committees as voting members, and the College has had its Service Day for more than 25 years.

The new core curriculum will continue to insure that students have the basic writing and computational skills essential to responsible citizenship. Students will still have to demonstrate proficiency in two semesters of freshman composition and a semester of college algebra. Additionally, they will have to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language.

New to the program is a common six-hour sequence required of all freshmen. The first class is a politics course called “The American Experience” in which students will study key American documents from the “Declaration of Independence” to “Letter from the Birmingham jail.” The second class is a world literature course with a theme of citizenship. It will feature such classic western texts as The Odyssey, a Shakespearian play, Candide, and The Metamorphosis, as well as some non-western texts. Together these two courses will teach students the political and cultural basis for American society, and invite them to discuss some of the perennial questions that have occupied human beings since the time of the Greeks.

“Ultimately, both of these new freshman common core courses, as well as other changes made to the core, are geared towards empowering students to be productive citizens both at Lyon and in the larger world after graduation. Our hope is that the skills that each of these courses provides—each reinforcing the others—will prepare students as thoroughly as possible for life after Lyon, whatever that may entail,” said Dr. Amy Schmidt, Supervisor of Supplemental Instruction.

Dr. Jeremy Chapman, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, agrees. “I think the common core concept in general will develop a strong bond 6

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between the students. They will all share a common experience through these classes and can lean on one another and help each other succeed,” he said.

A six-hour Western Civilization sequence serves as the common curriculum in the second year. This sequence will help students understand the historical and cultural heritage out of which America grew.

“Productive and involved citizens will also need to know something about the arts, religion and philosophy, human and institutional behavior, mathematics, and science,” Wray said. Distributional requirements address these needs.

A new course called Mathematics for the Liberal Arts will give students practical mathematic skills that can be used in daily life. “The new course will focus on financial mathematics, such as calculating interest on different types of loans, studying annuities and investments, and basic probability and statistics,” Chapman said.

This summer, Dr. Tim Lindblom and Dr. Kurt Grafton will be exploring the possibility of creating a science course to complement the new Math for the Liberal Arts class. The earliest the new science course could begin would be in the spring semester of 2015, Lindblom said. “Our students can take biology, chemistry, or physics to meet their science course requirement. But by taking just one of these courses, they don’t get to experience the other disciplines.

We would like to create a course that explores the main elements of each discipline and how they are interrelated,” Lindblom said.

Freshmen begin the Core with the new freshman seminar revised and piloted last year and now called Year One. New students are still placed with faculty and student mentors and are still taught skills essential to their transition to college. Now, however, instruction in those skills is integrated into a service project that each group chooses, researches, and carries out, and then shares with the entire freshmen class. The result has been a much greater sense of

community within and among mentor groups.

“We want to integrate them not only with other freshman, but also with faculty and upper classmen in a structured setting,” said Dr. Jennifer Daniels, Assistant Professor of Psychology.

Students complete the new common core courses in the fall of their fourth year with a course that serves as a bookend to Year One: Year Four. Seniors will identify an international need and design and carry out a service project to address it. Their projects may be related to work that current faculty and staff do abroad, may grow out of their Nichols International trips, or may be entirely the result of their own

interests and research. As with the freshmen in Year One, the seniors will share their work in Year Four with the Lyon community.

“A liberal arts curriculum, as many of us understand it, should provide students with both a breadth and a depth of knowledge; this entails structuring a core curriculum that requires students to take courses in multiple disciplines and that encourages them to make connections among those diverse courses.

“While the older curriculum did this, we wanted the newer one to more explicitly reflect this intention and to also provide more coherence in the core curriculum,” Schmidt said.

New Athletic Logo The athletics department at Lyon opened a new chapter as it unveiled a new logo for the Scots Jan. 20 during a press conference.

“We’ve developed a stronger athletic brand that will allow us to better market ourselves to prospective students,” said Athletics Director Kevin Jenkins.

With new additions to the athletic program such as football and men’s and women’s wrestling, Jenkins said the time was ripe for creating a strong athletic identity for the Scots.

The new logo features the rampant lion from the College’s seal, a symbol that embraces Lyon’s Scottish Spring 2014

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heritage. Josh Tate, Director of Marketing and Communications, created the new logo along with a custom word mark and style guide for usage of the new athletic brand.

“It was clear that the Lyon Scots needed a new visual identity that not only would represent who we are, but also create a traditional yet current brand that fell more in line with the history of the College.

Using the rampant lion that is part of the College seal seemed a great opportunity to play to our Scottish heritage, while creating a strong symbol that is uniquely Lyon,” Tate said.

Lyon President Donald Weatherman said the changes in the athletic department were part of a grander process designed to promote growth at Lyon. The College recently approved the construction of two new residence halls to accommodate Lyon’s rapidly growing student body. “This [logo] will be something unique to us. It will give us an identity that we lacked,

and is part of the process of clarifying who we are,” Weatherman said.

The design received positive feedback from those in attendance. Bruce Johnston, Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students, said he loved the new logo: “I’m trying to not just say, ‘Wow!’ I think it’s great. I love the look. I love the lettering,” he said.

Women’s Head Basketball Coach Tracy StewartLange said she was resistant to change but thought the new look would give the Scots a strong, unified look. “I’m not a real change person. I struggled to let go of the Pipers, because I was a Piper. But I really do like the new logo. It’s very clean and very strong. My favorite part is the font. I think it’ll be great that we have one cohesive look,” she said.

The new logo replaces the image of Scottish warrior brandishing a claymore sword and carrying bagpipes on his back that was adopted in 2009.

expanding on-campus housing In an effort to accommodate the 33 percent increase in student population by 2017, Lyon College approved the construction of two new residence halls during a board of directors meeting in October. Fall 2015 is the projected completion date of the housing construction.

constructed in the 1970s, will be transformed into contemporary living spaces for the students.

The project will include two three-story units able to accommodate at least 100 students each and will be constructed on the current parking lots on the east side of campus.

“The WER team is extremely excited to be working with such a great institution,” said WER Chief Operating Officer Eldon Bock. “Lyon College has created a campus environment that is deeply rooted in community, which helped inspire the housing model that is being developed. The new residence halls follow the latest trends in student housing. Truly based on a ‘house’ model that promotes interaction and friendships, the residence halls will also support individual and group learning within the facility.

In addition to the new facilities, Brown and Barton Apartments will be completely renovated. After an architectural assessment, the College decided that the layout of the buildings was desirable, but a facelift was needed. The buildings, which were originally 8

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After extensive interviews and reviewing proposals, Witsell Evans Rasco Architects in Little Rock was chosen to construct the new residence halls.

“An important development for the campus master plan, these two halls will complete the eastern housing quad creating a vibrant and vital living environment for that portion of the campus and the students that reside there. Based on sustainable design practices, these facilities will be top performers in energy efficiency and low-impact construction techniques.

WER is looking forward to quickly completing the design requirements and seeing the projects under construction.”

By 2017, the College intends to see the student body grow to 800 students from the approximately 600 currently enrolled.

“Fundraising is already underway, and we will need the full support of our alumni and friends to make this goal a reality,” said Jon Vestal, Vice President for Institutional Advancement.

“We are pleased to have WER as our architects because of their experience of building residence halls in Arkansas. We have already found that to be helpful in the design of our buildings, and we’re excited that together we’ll be able to create a homeaway-from-home for our students,” said President Donald Weatherman.

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Title III grant funds new positions, programs focused on retention Lyon’s dedication to serving its students is at the heart of its mission. To help expand services to students and help them succeed throughout their college career, Lyon applied for a Title III grant in October 2013 and was approved. Lyon was one of six institutions approved for the grant and was the only private college among those approved.

Once secured, Lyon College immediately began putting funds from the United States Department of Education “Title III, Part F” grant to work. The College will receive more than $3 million over the grant’s five-year lifespan, which will be used to initiate and expand services geared toward helping Lyon’s student population succeed. Half of all the College’s students are eligible for federal aid, and about a third are the first in their families to pursue a college degree.

With a strong focus on student retention, Lyon has already redesigned the Core 100 freshman seminar course, now called Year One. This course not only acclimates new students to the Lyon campus and existing student body, it encourages academic and social skills through a service-learning project that requires students to do research and complete a public presentation. “Year One covers the academic skills that are the foundation of First-Year Seminars (FYS), and it hones those skills by applying them to a significant service project that the students design.

So our students get the FYS material, while our course also fits the new common core’s focus on citizenship,” said Dr. Wesley Beal, Assistant Professor of English.

Title III Project Director Elaine Severs said expansions are also being made to Lyon’s Supplemental Instruction program. This program 10

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places students who have already been successful in a class with historically high failure rates into the class again with new students. The SI leaders then hold sessions to help new students develop academic skills such as good note-taking skills and test-taking skills.

Students who are chosen to be SI leaders must have completed the class with a B or better. “SI has been very effective in helping students raise their class grades, whether from an F to a C or a B to an A,” said Dr. Virginia Wray, Vice President for Academic Services and Dean of the Faculty.

Severs said expansions were planned for the current SI lab in the Morrow Building. “We also hope to install a larger collaborative student workstation in the library,” Severs said. “Two additional SI rooms are also being developed in the Morrow Building, and we hope to have those set up by the start of the next semester.”

Dr. Amy Schmidt, Supervisor of Supplemental Instruction, said there will be a staff of more than 30 SI leaders this fall, the largest number of leaders to date. She added that data from fall 2012 confirmed that SI is helping students improve their grades when they attend sessions regularly.

“Students who regularly attended SI benefitted from an average of a third of a letter increase in their grades for those courses. Even more impressively, for one section of Elementary Functions, students attending SI scored an average of more than a letter grade better than those who did not attend; in Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Biology in Context, Introduction to Chemistry, and Introduction to Psychology, students attending sessions improved almost an entire letter grade, and participants in

Beginning French and Beginning Spanish sessions also clearly benefitted, improving their grades from a third to half of a letter grade,” Schmidt said.

New staff positions that focus solely on data collection and analysis and student retention have been created with Title III funds.

Andrew English and Carole Douglas joined the Lyon staff in May as the new Student Data Specialist and Student Retention Specialist, respectively. Severs said the College is in the process of hiring a Student Engagement Specialist as well. Severs also hired Lynn Pearson as an administrative assistant to be part of the Title III Project team.

These new staff positions coupled with the expanded SI services are designed to help students make a smooth transition from the workload expected in high school to the rigorous demands at a prestigious college, thereby increasing retention rates.

Lyon also has joined John Gardner Institute’s “Foundations of Excellence” program. Through this program, the College is building an action plan to increase student success, retention and, ultimately, completion rates.

Twenty percent of funds from the Title III grant will help fund a scholarship endowment for low-income, first generation students. “The grant will match every dollar the College raises for scholarship endowment — up to $125,000 a year,” said Jon Vestal, Vice President for Institutional Advancement. “At the end of the five-year grant period, Lyon will have an additional $1.3 million endowment to help support our students who need it most. I am confident that Lyon alumni and supporters will rise to the challenge.”

The grant also will provide programs to help Lyon faculty who predominantly come from a middle-class background better communicate with their students who traditionally come from low-income families.

Faculty and staff members recently completed the last of three discussions on Bridges Out of Poverty

by Ruby Payne, a nationally-recognized book that analyzes the characteristics and culture of lowincome families and enumerates the most successful teaching methods with these and first-generation college students.

“It can be an uphill battle for some students who feel they have to choose between pursuing their dreams and helping their families who may need them to work or help take care of younger siblings,” Severs said.

Dr. Diane Tebbetts, a senior associate at Ramona Munsell & Associates Consulting Inc., wrote the grant proposal for Lyon. Ramona Munsell & Associates Consulting Inc. specializes in development and undergraduate education for public and private two-year and four-year colleges and universities by securing funds through U.S. Department of Education and U.S. Department of Labor grant programs.

“Based on my work with RMA, I believed Lyon should submit for Title III. I felt certain the College would qualify,” Tebbetts said.

Tebbetts originally submitted a proposal in the spring of 2012, but the proposal was not funded at that time.

She and Wray reworked it, and in 2013 the proposal was successful.

Tebbetts said during the five years the grant is active, the College is not allowed to spend the principal or any of the earnings from the endowment portion of the grant. After the five years, 50 percent of the income from that endowment can be spent each year for the next 20 years. After that, Tebbetts said the College is free to use the funds as it deems necessary.

“All of the services provided to Lyon by Title III monies will help us raise our retention rate comparable to that of other refined liberal arts colleges,” Wray said.

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Class of 2014

C ommencement Lyon conferred 106 degrees to graduates of the Class of 2014 on May 10. Those receiving awards at commencement included McKenzie Macy, The Lester Award; Crystal Thomas, The Seibert Fellowship; Brian Laster, The Dr. Samuel W. Williams Fellowship; Caitlin Brackett, The Mosley Fellowship; John Pope, The Dr. and Mrs. John D. Spragins Award; Alex Davidson, The Dahlquist Scholar Athlete Award; Stephanie Shaw, The Alma Cole Metcalf Endowed Scholarship; and Jonathan Dannatt, The Charles H. Coffin Scholarship Medal.

Seniors were honored with a banquet hosted by President and Mrs. Donald Weatherman on May 5 at Bradley Manor. Dr. Terrell Tebbetts spoke at the banquet and asked the students to remain in contact with their Lyon family as they move on because they are more than just students to their friends and faculty here at the College.

PHOTO: Seniors participate in the annual torchlight ceremony following Baccalaureate.

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Above: Dr. Wesley Beal and Dr. Jennifer Daniels with student service project displays

When Dr. Jennifer Daniels, assistant professor of psychology, and Dr. Wesley Beal, assistant professor of English, began the Year One program for entering freshman at Lyon College last fall, their goal was to give students more than an extended orientation session.

“We want to integrate them with not just the campus, but also the community.

We want to integrate them not only with other freshman, but faculty and upper classmen in a structured setting,” Daniels said.

Year One is a First Year Experience course that all freshmen are entered in for their first year at Lyon. The First Year Experience Program is implemented

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at colleges and universities across the nation because institutions have begun to pay attention to how students struggle in the transition from high school to college, Beal said.

“Especially here at Lyon where there are such rigorous expectations. The Year One program helps us ensure the students’ social as well as academic needs are met,” he added.

Students in the program study a service area and decide on a project to meet the needs of that service area. Beal said students have worked with the local public library, the Newport Women’s Correctional Facility and the Arkansas Sheriff’s Youth Ranch among others.

“The project provides a bonding experience for the students while meeting the needs of the service area,” Beal said.

Even when the project is complete, Beal said they work to establish sustained contact between the students and the service population.

Emily Riley was part of the pilot Year One class. Riley said her group conducted a two-part service project focused on improving the standard of life for children in Batesville. The group held a food drive to gather donations for a local learning center and helped with local playground improvements.

gram read New Orleans after the Deluge

by Josh Neufeld, which tells the stories of New Orleans residents’ experiences during and after Hurricane Katrina.

“It serves not only as an icebreaker, but it also introduces to them the kind of thinking we’re going to ask of them,” Daniels said.

Lyon seniors participated in the program as student mentors providing information about student life on campus.

“They were sort of our eyes and ears on the ground. They helped bridge that gap.

We didn’t feel like we should be telling students what it’s like to live on campus.

That should come from students that live here,” “I was happy to be a part Daniels said. “They of something bigger than helped facilitate the exmyself and to work for ecution of the students’ such a great cause.” own projects and provided good examples all the Emily Riley, ’17 way around.”

“I was happy to be a part of something bigger than myself and to work for such a great cause. A bunch of us went around to stores asking for donations, and I loved how willing most of them were to help us out. My favorite activity was definitely when we dropped off the food we had collected at the learning center. I felt like we had done something worthwhile.

“Year One helped me to transition into college a bit in that it forced me to interact with a group of complete strangers, and I had to learn how to adapt pretty quickly. It prepared me for the rest of my classes and for college life in general,” Riley said.

The students begin weaving a common thread among them before they ever set foot on campus. All freshmen were given a required reading assignment before classes began. The pilot class of the pro-

Where Lyon freshmen made a difference: Arkansas Sheriff’s Youth Ranch Batesville Area Arts Council Batesville Youth Sports Eagle Mountain Assisted Living and other assisted living and nursing homes Family Violence Prevention Habitat for Humanity Head Start

Beal said Dr. Virginia Wray, vice president for academic services and dean of the faculty, approached he and Daniels in the fall 2012 and requested they have a First Year Experience course in place by the following fall. Daniels and Beal visited Martin Methodist College in Tennessee to visit the First Year program there and also attended the First Year Experience conference in Orlando, Fla.

Independence County Library McPherson and Grimes Correctional Units

“Our biggest goal is to empower freshmen,” Daniels said. “They are starting to be in charge of their own lives. Service is a way to show them what they have to offer the world.”

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Jewish fraternity cemented in brotherhood, excellence

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eta Beta Tau (ZBT) is returning to its Jewish roots. Founded at Lyon by local fraternity Phi Theta Gamma, ZBT immediately stood apart from the other two fraternities on campus due to its non-pledging policy.

This policy developed from the national fraternity, an organization founded in 1898 to fight the discrimination against Jewish college students in Greek organizations. Due to sectarian practices at the time, Jewish students were excluded from joining existing fraternities.

ZBT began as a Zionist youth society, accepting members without a pledge period and urging strongly against hazing. It became a Greekletter fraternity in 1903, its members acknowledging the need for a fraternity accepting Jewish students. There are four Jewish fraternities and two Jewish sororities in the U.S. It became the third fraternity at Lyon in 1996, the members of local fraternity Phi Theta Gamma looking for an organization emphasizing acceptance. With its non-pledging and non-hazing policy, ZBT seemed to fit this criteria perfectly. ZBT’s long-time adviser Kenton Adler recalled how he first became involved in the fraternity in 2004, having worked with ZBT’s brothers on LyonPalooza for a couple years.

“They asked me and I liked them,” he said. “They were a nice bunch of guys.” He explained how the fraternity has “flowered” in the past couple years, winning the Organization of the Year at last spring’s Honor’s Convocation. Adler credits this flowering to “hard work” and a “great attitude,” praising the “inclusiveness” of the fraternity.

Cameron Bowden, current president of ZBT, concurred with Adler’s assessment of the fraternity. He recalled being asked by ZBT’s national representative last year to expand the fraternity into its outside community, hearkening back to the fraternity’s humble beginnings. Bowden explained how it’s difficult for ZBT to become involved with the outside Jewish community, being located in such a rural era. Still, he believes the fraternity can exemplify the idea of community service set forth by the national fraternity by becoming involved with the Batesville community.

So far, ZBT’s brothers have volunteered at the White River Water Carnival in Batesville. Bowden said that he and his brothers contributed to the event in various ways, including picking up trash and manning booths. Similarly, ZBT has been helping with the Keep Independence County Growing project and is currently working on a new fundraising idea for the annual Scottish Festival in April.

In the past, the fraternity has sold bratwursts and hosted “Hit the Heckler,” an event giving attendees of the festival the chance to hit brothers of ZBT with water balloons. Adler recalled when ZBT first introduced “Hit the Heckler,” calling it “one of the many cool things” the fraternity has done in his time as its adviser.

Having received its largest rush class ever last fall, ZBT has definitely had more manpower to expand into the community. Schwarzkopf called the new brothers “motivated” and noted how they are all now in leadership positions in ZBT’s community development.

According to Bowden, ZBT’s inclusive nature extends even to its hierarchy, allowing new members to serve in office upon joining.

“There is no hierarchy,” he said, calling this his favorite aspect of ZBT. Schwarzkopf, though, pointed to the fraternity’s inclusiveness as the best part of ZBT. “We’re able to look at a member and say, ‘We like you as you are,’” he explained. “No one is inferior to us.”

Through his involvement with ZBT, Bowden has found “confidence” he never had before. “ZBT has made a huge positive impact on my life. It gave me confidence to go out there and put my best foot forward every day,” he explained, crediting the fraternity with career opportunities he has already received.

Overall, Bowden believes ZBT has exemplified its creed in the past couple years. Schwarzkopt concurred, saying, “I think we’re reflecting the ideals the fraternity had in the beginning. We’re motivated to move forward and really make something out of ZBT.” ABOVE FROM LEFT: Homer Brooks, Cameron Bowden, Andrew Schwarzkopf Spring 2014

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NEW WRESTLING COACH BRINGS YEARS OF EXPERIENCE TO THE MAT

Above: Coach Kevin Carter in the weight room at Becknell Gymnasium

With 20 years as a wrestling coach under his belt, Kevin Carter is ready to tackle the challenge of getting Lyon’s new wrestling program for men and women up and running.

Carter came to Lyon in January but didn’t get to start recruiting until March. “We’re playing catch-up because of the ice storms,” he said.

“We’re looking to build a culture of hard workers, good students, and competitive athletes,” Carter said. “We’re going to wrestle a competitive schedule featuring Division I and II teams.”

Before Lyon, Carter coached men’s and women’s wrestling at Wakeland High School in Wakeland, Texas. His experience spans coaching both high school and collegiate wrestling in Nevada, Texas, and California.

He was the former head wrestling coach at the University of Nevada Reno where his team brought home the 2002 National Collegiate Wrestling Association Title and he was named College Coach of the Year.

Teams will begin training in August and will be ready to compete this fall. Carter said they are looking to build teams of 20 men and 10 women. At the time of this interview, Carter said Lyon has already signed eight men and eight women, mostly from California, Texas, Kansas, and Missouri.

“Most of the kids have never heard of Lyon, and they are pleasantly surprised when they get here,” Carter said.

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Carter holds a master’s in Education Administration from the University of Nevada Reno and says he is a product of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics having been an All-American wrestler at Southern Oregon University.

LYON BRINGS TRAPSHOOTING HALL OF FAMER ON BOARD TO COACH NEW TEAM James Neal Ballard is a sportsman. His childhood hero was Mickey Mantle, he played fast-pitch softball and community league basketball, and frequently attends Lyon’s sporting events to support the Scots.

His passion, however, is easily trapshooting.

“I like all sports, but what I like about shooting is that anybody can participate.

Not every kid can play basketball or football, but it’s amazing how good a trapshooter can become in just a year or two if they love the sport,” Ballard said.

Born in Beedeville, Ark., Ballard moved to Michigan when he was 16 years old. Over the years, he racked up numerous shooting championships, including the Arkansas State Shoot AA Champion in 1999. In 2000, Ballard was inducted into the Michigan Trapshooting Association Hall of Fame.

Ballard said he is often asked to coach young shooters. “I like coaching kids, but I don’t charge. If I can help them become a better shooter, that makes me feel good,” he said.

Ballard can be found at the Independence County Shooting Sports Complex almost every day it is open, whether he’s there

to shoot or just to observe young shooters developing their skills.

Lyon currently has six students committed to the trapshooting team, including two female shooters. Recruitment efforts are still underway according to David Heringer. “I think it was a natural fit for Lyon to have a trapshooting team,” Heringer said. “We already had a shooting club on campus to provide recreation and gun safety education to students.”

Below: Ballard takes aim at the Independence County Shooting Sports Complex

There are about 7,000 high school shooters in Arkansas, and the sport is growing in popularity at a rapid pace. Lyon’s team will compete in local shooting tournaments and hopefully host a couple of tournaments here in Batesville. Lyon’s team will also compete at the Association of College Unions International Collegiate Clay Target Championships in San Antonio, Texas.

Lyon purchased a DryFire training simulator, which will allow shooters to practice without wasting live ammunition, two guns, and a gun safe with funds from a National Shooting Sports Foundation grant.

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// on campus Piping competitions, delicious food, unique handmade crafts, and a 10-foot-tall asparagus stalk were all part of the 35th annual Arkansas Scottish Festival held April 11-13.

The festival, which draws patrons from across the country, had around 8,000 in attendance.

The highlight of this year’s festival was the Community Quintathlon in which community members got to try their hand competing in “traditional” Highland games including the Asparagus Toss, a twist on the caber toss. The festival is a celebration of Lyon’s proud Scottish heritage and an avenue to showcase Lyon’s picturesque campus where “the bagpipes never stop…ever.”

Sheepherding demonstration

Pipe band competition

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Colin Grant-Adams

Highland dancing demonstration

Asparagus caber toss

Opening ceremony

Parade of clans

Bonniest knees contest

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Retirements and Promotions RUETER RETIRING AFTER 14 YEARS OF SERVICE Ken Rueter joined the Lyon College staff in 2001 as the Vice President for Business and Finance. After 14 years of service, he is bidding the Lyon family farewell and will retire effective June 30.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I will truly miss the staff. I have made some very good friends that I’ve become accustomed to seeing every day,” Rueter said.

Rueter’s career in higher education spans more than 35 years. He has been a Lyon College Cabinet member since he joined the staff and a member of the President’s Council since 2005. As Vice President for Business and Finance, Rueter oversees Lyon College’s Business Office, Human Resources, Facilities, Information Services, the Scot Shop, and Campus Safety departments. He also was responsible for Campus Dining Services for a number of years. Prior to beginning his career at Lyon, Rueter was Vice President for Business and Finance at Westminster College in Missouri where he was responsible for all business operations.

Rueter said he was initially drawn to Lyon because he knew Dr. Walter Roettger, who was president at the time.

“He was the dean of the faculty at my former institution,” he said. “When we visited the school, we fell in love with it and the area.”

Rueter noted all the change that has occurred in his time at Lyon College. When he began, the Derby Center was still in the planning phases. He saw the start of the softball program, the building of the baseball facilities, the rebuilding of Edwards Commons, and now he has been part of the beginning phases of building new residence halls and remodeling existing housing on campus.

Rueter said after retirement he plans to travel, golf, and visit his children and grandchildren more. He is planning a driving tour of the West with his brother, a trip to visit his youngest son in Australia, and a trip to Italy next year.

Rueter has three children and three grandchildren and is expecting the arrival of another grandchild in the fall.

LINDBLOM AND GRAFTON PROMOTED BY BOARD The Lyon College Board of Trustees approved the promotion of two faculty members to full professorship during the spring meeting April 24-25. Dr. Tim Lindblom was promoted to an endowed position as the Willie Dillard Bryan Professor of Biology. Dr. Anthony Kurt Grafton was promoted from Associate Professor of Chemistry to a full professorship.

Dr. Tim Lindblom began his career at Lyon College in 2002 as Assistant Professor of Biology. In 2008, he was promoted to Associate Professor of Biology. He served as Resident Faculty Mentor for Spragins House from 2008 to 2011. He was named Arkansas Professor of the Year in 2008 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. He won the Lamar Williamson Prize for Faculty Excellence for 2008-09 and was the Alpha Chi Professor of the Year for 2003-04.

Dr. Anthony Kurt Grafton joined Lyon in 2003 as Associate Professor of Chemistry. In 2011, he became chair of the Mathematics and Science Division. He has served in numerous roles at Lyon, including chair of the Pedagogy and Technology Subcommittee of the Strategic Planning Education Committee, Curriculum Coordinator for the Upward Bound Mathematics Science Program, and chair of the Institutional Assessment Committee. He was president of the Lyon Faculty Assembly in 2009-10.

Dr. Grafton has taught at the university level for 15 years.

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Photo: College Chaplain Bill Branch works on Amy McBee’s roof

Lyon students building hope in Joplin

Driving into Joplin, Missouri, all appears to be life as usual. People go about their business in shops and restaurants. A jogger can be seen making her way down the sidewalk.

But after a closer look, signs of the destruction the town experienced when an EF-5 tornado struck May 22, 2011, can still be seen three years later. The barren look of the land that was directly in the tornado’s path, the new buildings and those still being constructed, parking lots that appear out of place in empty fields, a piece of aluminum siding twisted around the top branch of a lone tree that survived the storm — all of these are part of the signature the record-breaking twister left behind.

Beyond that, however, the strength and perseverance of the people in the community comes shining through. Memorials to those who were lost and symbols of the hope for a new future can be found around every corner. Four Lyon College students and two staff members became part of that hope during a service trip over spring break.

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The Trip William “Bill” Branch, Lyon’s chaplain, consulted Presbyterian Disaster Assistance about areas that were in need of volunteers to help with rebuilding.

“I narrowed it down to three that were in driving distance,” Branch said. “One was Moore, Oklahoma. Tzhey already had groups lined up for that week so that was out. Another possibility was Nashville, Tennessee. I had been to Joplin on several previous occasions. I began to work with South Joplin Christian Church and found out they had a wonderful facility to house volunteers that had bunk beds, showers, and a kitchen facility. They were very hospitable.”

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The Lyon group consisted of students Caitlin Bumpous, Tamara Edgin, Amanda Klipp, and John Pope, along with Branch. The facility at South Joplin Christian Church, dubbed “The Station,” became their home over spring break.

The church opened The Station on March 18, 2012, to be a self-contained living space for volunteer groups that were coming to help with Joplin’s tornado recovery efforts.

As the group rode into Joplin, Branch told the students they were there not only to provide help with the physical rebuild, but also to provide emotional and spiritual support.

“Be prepared to listen if people want to share their stories or

vent their frustrations,” Branch told the group. “That is as big a part of what we are here for as the physical rebuild.”

and there was not anything on the radar,” McBee said. “We thought everything was fine.”

Reflecting on that week, Branch said he had never worked with such a dedicated group of young people. He added that after the students returned to campus, they kept in touch with Amy McBee, the homeowner they had helped.

The women went back to the house, and McBee told Elizabeth she was going to lie down for a nap and then they could fix dinner. McBee hadn’t been resting long when she woke up with the sense that something wasn’t right.

“One of the students said that she [Amy] said she missed the students from Lyon. I think that speaks volumes about the job this group did. I think the students did a really terrific job. These young people were not only good, hard workers, but they really related to this woman and gave her a lot of emotional support as well,” Branch said.

“I’ve worked with students both in high school and college for a number of years, and I don’t remember a group as good as this one,” Branch added. “There wasn’t a single evening we quit when we were supposed to. They were very hard working and got along well. They just did a wonderful job.”

Steve Huston, long-term volunteer with the Leadership Team for Disciples Volunteering, greeted the group when they arrived at The Station, helped the group settle in, and relayed some background about the tornado and the recovery efforts.

He said that despite the catastrophic loss, the people of Joplin carried on with an unparalleled strength.

“There is a spirit here that I’ve never encountered at any other disaster that I’ve worked. The people here are really amazing,” Huston said.

“I thought, ‘This is getting pretty bad. I better get my purse so I’ll have my ID when they find my body.’”

“I woke up about 5:30, and I just had this feeling. I looked out my window, and the sky was a dark green-grey — the kind of sky that you don’t want to see. And it had a yellow cast to it off on the horizon,” McBee said.

She told Elizabeth to come look at the ominous sky. Elizabeth checked the weather report on her phone again and told McBee they needed to get into the bathroom immediately.

McBee got her miniature Pomeranian, Colbee, and took shelter in the bathroom with Liz and her two dogs, a Chihuahua and miniature Pinscher.

Then it began.

Amy’s Story Amy McBee, 36, moved to her birthplace of Joplin from Anderson, Missouri, when her family asked if she would be interested in renting her grandmother’s home when she went to live at an assisted living facility.

McBee was working with customer service at the Freeman Neosho Hospital, which is part of the Freeman Health System.

The system is composed of Freeman Hospital West, Freeman Hospital East, Freeman Neosho Hospital, and a behavioral health division, Ozark Center. McBee was transferred to a position at the Sports Medical Center at Freeman West in Joplin. Her younger sister, Jamie, later got a job at the pharmacy at Freeman West and moved in with McBee in their grandmother’s house.

The day of the storm, McBee and her best friend, Elizabeth, had been shopping at Wal-Mart and then had gone for a late lunch at Bob Evans.

“Everyone in the restaurant was talking about the weather and about storm chasers being in town. Liz checked her phone

“Rain just started pelting the house,” McBee said. “I thought, ‘This is getting pretty bad. I better get my purse so I’ll have my ID when they find my body.’”

She ran to her car outside, retrieved her purse and dashed back into the house. That’s when the lights went out. The house began to shake, and a backdraft of air slammed the bathroom door shut. McBee struggled with the door and finally made it back into the small sanctuary.

“I just remember holding Colbee in a choke hold and crying. I thought, ‘This is it. We’re going with it. It’s just going to pick the house up, and we’ll be gone. This is how I’m going to die.’

“It was this feeling of numbness but also so many overwhelming emotions and memories of people you want to see again so you can tell them you love them and will miss them, but you don’t know if you are ever going to see them again,” she said.

McBee said she heard a loud snap, which she thinks was when the tornado ripped the front porch off of her home.

Eventually, calm settled in. McBee said she could stand only by gripping her bathroom sink, shaking and crying. Liz told her they needed to go see what was left of the house.

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// Liberal arts in action “My legs gave out from the exhaustion of terror, so I began to crawl, feeling my way with my hands. It was pitch black,” she said.

They made it to the front door crawling on their hands and knees. When they opened the door, they were greeted with the sight of a huge tree where McBee’s front porch had been.

The scene that met her eyes was something out of a postapocalyptic movie, McBee said.

“Patients that had been told to evacuate from St. John were walking in the streets in their hospital gowns rolling their stands with I.V. fluids. There was smoke in the distance where a building had caught fire. Dogs and cats were running everywhere. There were lights and sirens. It was chaos,” McBee said.

Rebuilding Amanda Klipp, a junior biology major, said she was glad to be part of the process of helping McBee get her life back on track.

“I thought it was sad that she had been through so much after the tornado. The tornado really wasn’t the worst thing that happened to her, it just caused this whole cascade of events.

I was glad to be able to help her start to turn it back around,” Klipp said.

McBee was hesitant at first to contact Rebuild Joplin for help with her home.

“Everything I had tried so far had fallen through, and I was really discouraged. Plus there were stories about people pretending to be volunteers that were scamming and stealing from tornado victims,” she said.

After representatives left a flyer about Rebuild Joplin on her door one day, she finally decided to set up the initial appointment. She met the income and need guidelines, so she decided to move forward with the application process.

“I had to show that I loved this home and didn’t have any intentions of leaving here. I provided papers from the court battle, money I had already spent trying to do some repairs, receipts, anything I could provide to show that I was vested in this home,” she said.

McBee moved in with her father for about a month and a half. She moved back to her home after the electricity was turned back on and began to “just make it work” living there.

A downward spiral began in her life after the tornado hit. She left her job at the hospital to help in the family business, Tiff City Pump, which was struggling. A family feud began over what to do with the house she called home, and she had to battle in court to win the right to remain living there. During this time, she also lost her mother to an unknown illness.

Today, as the pieces of her home are put back together, she’s piecing her life back together as well. She helps care for her nieces and said she is certain she’ll always work as a caregiver in some capacity.

“I’ve always been a caregiver. I honestly believe that’s my life’s calling. I worked at the hospital, I volunteered and tutored students in college, and I believe I’ll find a job in some sort of role as a caregiver again. That’s just what I do,” she said.

A commercial art graduate from Central Missouri State University, McBee would like to be able to devote more time to her art and creative ability.

Above: Amy McBee and her dog, Colbee

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Her hard work paid off, and she was selected to receive assistance. Among the repairs needed, McBee’s home would receive a new roof, new doors and windows, and a new front porch, and would have the living room remodeled as well.

The Lyon students spent the bulk of their time working on the roof. They removed what was left of the damaged roof, laid new roof decking, and began putting on new shingles during their time there. They also helped with cleaning McBee’s yard and repairing chain link fence around her property.

John Pope, a senior mathematics and computer science major, said he couldn’t believe the condition of McBee’s home when the group first arrived.

“I thought, ‘Have you really been living in this house for three years?’” Pope said. “I didn’t expect that damage would still be evident in the town. It wasn’t a total wreck, but it was in worse shape than I thought it would be in.”

Caitlin Bumpous, a junior biology major, shared similar thoughts.

“Three years is a long time to go without feeling like you have it together. You could tell she had done what she could with what she had. I thought she just needed someone to step in and help her,” Bumpous said.

McBee’s home is one of 70 that Rebuild Joplin hopes to complete repairs on this year, according to Courtney Powell, volunteer coordinator for Rebuild Joplin.

“There is still work to be done,” Powell said. “We can’t do our work without volunteers. Your hands are what ultimately help us get the job done.”

At the time of the students’ visit, 10 of the 70 homes had been completed. Since Rebuild Joplin’s ground breaking in March 2012, the organization had helped rebuild and repair 124 homes.

Powell said many of Rebuild Joplin’s volunteers, including site coordinators, members of the construction department, and the client service department, were AmeriCorps members, which allows the organization to keep a low operating overhead. AmeriCorps members agree to a 10-month commitment during which they will work 1,700 hours in a disaster stricken area. At the end of the 10 months, members are given an education award that can go toward past or future education costs.

Kathryn Wilson, Minister of Mission and Outreach at South Joplin Christian Church, spoke to the group during a dinner hosted by the church to thank the group for giving their time to volunteer. She said that while Joplin would never be the same as it was before, it was beginning to find its place in the world again.

Get Involved There is still work to be done. For those interested in volunteering or holding a fundraiser to help recovery efforts in Joplin, visit www.rebuildjoplin.org.

For more information on becoming an AmeriCorps member, visit www.nationalservice.gov/ programs/americorps.

“There is hope here for the future. You are now part of that hope,” Wilson told the students. “By giving your time to volunteer, you let people see the light of Christ in you, and we are so thankful to you.”

Left: A U.S. map holds pins representing volunteer groups that have traveled to Joplin in relief efforts.

Student John Pope, ’14, is shown placing one for Lyon in Batesville, Arkansas.

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Hands-on health program gives Lyon students experience, provides valuable service

White River Medical Center had 30,739 patients visit the emergency room in 2013 according to U.S. News and World Report.

The hospital hopes to see that number reduced with the implementation of a new Community Care Network that involves a health coach training program at Lyon.

In April 2013, WRMC CEO Gary Bebow and two local physicians attended a seminar on innovative ways to improve community healthcare. At the seminar, Dr. Barry Bittman, Chief Innovation Officer at Meadville Medical Center in Meadville, Penn., spoke on how he partnered with Allegheny College to form a program designed to train pre-health career students to become “health coaches” to work with the hospital’s most vulnerable patients — those at the highest risk of being readmitted.

WRMC representatives presented the idea to Lyon College in June 2013, and the first training class was held in the fall last year.

Dr. Mark Schram, Associate Professor of Biology and the principle pre-med adviser, said the program is beneficial to more than just students on a health profession track.

“For the spring class, we have five psychology students. We could even insert students in the business field into this program if they 28

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have an interest in hospital administration.

There’s a great diversity among the students taking the program,” Schram said.

Virginia Wray, Vice President for Academic Services and Dean of the Faculty, was part of the group at Lyon that heard the initial presentation for the program. “The healthcoaching program is a wonderful addition to Lyon’s curriculum. The lecture component gives students an excellent overview of all aspects of medicine from clinical practice to healthcare costs, legal issues to preventative practices. In the practicum component, students actually help real people become healthier and, as a result, hospital costs to lower,” Wray said.

Students will be paired with patients discharged from the hospital to help assure they are following physicians’ instructions.

As a result, the hospital hopes to see fewer emergency room visits and fewer readmittances to the hospital, thus preventing the unnecessary use of expensive healthcare resources, Bebow said.

Hospital representatives, including managers, clinicians, and administrators who are considered experts in their fields (and many of whom are Lyon alumni), are teaching

several of the courses, which cover a variety of healthcare topics such as diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and medical insurance. The lecture portion of the program is held at Lyon, the practicum portion at the hospital.

Michelle Brewer, Director of the WRMC Community Care Network and Patient Care Coordinator, and Dr. Chris Steel, Medical Director for the WRMC Community Care Network, will supervise and mentor students. “[Students] will reinforce what is taught to them by teaching their patients. The best way to learn is to teach someone. So one week they might focus on a pharmaceutical plan for their patient and meet with a pharmacist to go over the patient’s medications, and the next week they might meet with a dietician to go over a diet plan for the patient. In the end, they’ll know all the steps of community healthcare,” Steel said. He added that students in the Pennsylvania program were found to receive preference when applying to medical school.

Students were nominated by Lyon faculty to participate in the first health coach training class last fall. Among those was Ryan Waddell, a junior biology major with an emphasis on medicine. Waddell said the choice to participate was a simple one: “You

can’t say no to this. It’s great experience, and we’re learning how to interact with patients and making great connections at the hospital. This is experience we’re not going to get in a classroom. We’re learning from healthcare professionals.”

Left: Ryan Waddell, ’15; Jody Smotherman, ’93; Taylor Sanders, ’14

Taylor Sanders, a senior biology major who plans to study to be a physician’s assistant, said she was uncertain what to expect from the course at first, but now believes it will be a great asset. “I think we’ll learn a lot in this program that we would not have known otherwise starting our careers. We’re learning how to help patients change their lifestyles,” Sanders said.

Right: Ryan Waddell, ’15; Taylor Sanders, ’14; Pamela Street

Steel said one of the main goals of the program is to develop a community network by identifying civic, federal, state, and religious organizations that patients may not be aware provide healthcare services to the community. Students will be supplied information about these services that they can then pass on to their patients.

Sanders and Waddell, both from small towns, agreed that the greatest benefit of taking the health coach program is that they are learning skills that they can apply in their own communities to make them better.

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// Liberal arts in action Sophomore Anne Darley will team up with Dr. Scott Merrell for a summer research internship at his lab in Bethesda, Maryland. Merrell, an associate professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, graduated from Lyon in 1992 with a B.S. in biology.

Merrell said he was originally a pre-med student and attended the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “I realized within a week that I had made a mistake and was not as interested in medicine as I thought I was. I stayed through the first round of exams to prove to myself that I could do it if I wanted to. I passed all my exams and withdrew from the program.” Merrell then went to the University of Arkansas, where he earned his M.S. in microbiology.

From there, he went on to get his Ph.D. in molecular biology and microbiology from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston.

Merrell said he had plenty of hands-on research opportunities while he was at Lyon. He worked with a lab that took water samples from around Independence County, did cell biology research with Dr. Scott Peterson, and was even able to conduct research in Rome.

“Even though I was on a career path to be a physician, I did research every summer at Lyon. The unique thing about Lyon is that you have all of those types of opportunities available to you,” he said.

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Merrell has been at his current post since 2004. His lab studies host pathogen interactions and focuses on four main areas of research: regulation of gene expression; Helicobacter pylori therapeutics; virulence factor polymorphisms and epidemiology; and metagenomics of infectious disease. He said Darley will most likely work on some aspect of research with H. pylori, a bacterium that is responsible for causing ulcers and stomach cancer.

Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Tim Lindblom chose Darley for the internship after Merrell offered to give a Lyon student a research experience similar to his own as an undergrad. “I selected Anne because she is particularly interested in a research career. She is also a very smart and curious young woman who will represent the college very well while in the Merrell lab this summer,” Lindblom said.

Darley, a biology major, said she was walking the line between being a doctor or a scientist. “I went into his [Dr. Lindblom’s] office at the end of finals to say thanks for a great semester, and he said, ‘Do you want to go to Maryland?’ He said I had the mind of a scientist.”

Darley will begin her internship in the second week of May and spend eight to 12 weeks working in Merrell’s lab. “I’m so interested in all the research Dr. Merrell is doing, but my favorite study is probably on H. pylori.” Darley said. “I’m counting down the days.”

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// Alumni

Lyon alum helps connect rural Arkansas with first-class healthcare “Meet Jennifer. Jennifer is 5 months pregnant and lives in a rural area in the American South. At one of her first doctors' visits, Jennifer was told that her pregnancy could be high risk. She would be monitored more closely than most pregnant women. This means more doctors' visits, more tests, more traveling from her small town and more time away from work and family. All this adds up to more money…”

— Excerpt from Jennifer's Story, an educational video on telehealth

Editor’s Note: At press time of the spring edition of The Piper, Adam Rule passed away June 4. The Lyon family sends its heartfelt sympathies to Adam’s family and friends.

J

ennifer's Story, a video produced by Lyon alumnus Adam Rule, ’94, has been used to educate people worldwide about the benefits of telemedicine and telehealth services. Rule, project director of the South Central Telehealth Resource Center, has been an innovator in expanding education about telehealth according to his colleagues. The resource center is part of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Center for Distance Health and received funding in 2010 from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Rural Health Policy. It is one of 12 regional telehealth centers and serves Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

The American Telemedicine Association adopted Jennifer's Story as the video to educate health professionals and the general public alike about telehealth. Rule also developed LearnTelehealth.org, which provides training modules, videos, blogs, and other visual formats to engage people in learning more about telehealth.

“Adam has a great vision for thinking outside the box and developing different ways to educate people about telehealth,” said Sarah Rhoads Kinder, Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at UAMS and the primary investigator for the telehealth resource center. “His creative flare has given a fresh outlook to telehealth and telemedicine.”

She added that Rule's success using social media as another educational platform has drawn the attention of other health professionals who come to the center to learn about Rule's methods for using social media to advance their educational efforts in telehealth.

Telemedicine essentially puts residents in rural areas or urban areas that are underserved in healthcare in touch with specialists with the knowledge to provide advanced medical care via video conferencing units. The units coupled with high-speed Internet lines allow doctors to see patients face-to-face and send medical images such as sonograms and CT scans in real time over a secure network that is hardwired between the center and hospitals across the state.

The only board-certified maternal-fetal medicine specialists and genetic counselors in Arkansas work at UAMS. Dr. Curtis Lowery, director of the UAMS Center for Distance Health, specializes in high-risk pregnancy care. He said the video conferencing technology provided much more than a phone call alone.

“The technology allows communication in a much more robust way than just talking on the phone. I can be places I otherwise

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couldn't be and provide access to the specialized knowledge I have in maternal-fetal medicine,” Lowery said. “This allows us to support primary care in a new way. We can go beyond the previous barriers we faced. It's really changed the approach we take to treatment, and Adam has been an innovator in the program. He's pushed the limits with what we were trying to do with education about telemedicine.”

The Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System (ANGELS) provides a wide variety of programs to expecting families to provide the most comprehensive prenatal and postnatal care available including informative text messages, the Angel Eye system, which allows parents of children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to see and talk to their baby, and follow up care for NICU infants once they are discharged from the hospital.

Lowery said the more acute the need for immediate care, the more valuable telemedicine becomes.

“A person having a stroke for example needs to be treated quickly. By looking at the patient with the video conferencing system and looking at the CT scan, a specialist can determine if the local doctor needs to administer life-saving drugs or not,” Lowery said.

Stroke Assistance through Virtual Emergency Support, or AR SAVES, provides 24-hour-a-day access to neurologists. Many rural hospitals across the state do not have the support of a neurologist on call and often forgo administration of a clot-busting drug because they lack the staff resources to accurately identify and manage candidates for the drug. There's also a narrow window in which the drug needs to be administered, which is often lost transporting the patient to a better-equipped hospital. AR SAVES results in fast, specialized treatment that could mean the difference between life and death.

Rule also created the first South Central Telehealth Forum, a conference where telehealth experts from the three-state region gave presentations, led discussions and networked with healthcare professionals about telehealth.

In recognition and honor of his efforts, the staff at the Center for Distance Health named the CDH's Telehealth Training Center after Rule. He was also awarded the Dean's Educational Excellence Award.

In the midst of his efforts to expand education about telehealth, Rule was diagnosed with glioblastoma, or Grade 4 brain cancer. In spite of this, Rule's colleagues said he maintained an optimistic attitude and worked even harder to reach his goals. The nomination application for the Dean's Educational Excellence Award reads that “while undergoing medical treatment, Adam has still connected and performed work responsibilities using interactive video and other technologies. He has not let personal trials get in the way of getting the job done.”

Rule is married to Dr. Beth Storm Rule, and they have four sons: Charles, James, and Samuel and Thomas who are twins.

Above: Dr. Curtis Lowery (left), and Adam Rule, ’94 Spring 2014

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Beyond Boundaries: Involvement in JET program leads to career Left: Halloween party at Next Door English Center: Fujimoto, Dean, and students celebrate Christmas Right: Dean and students

When Tristen Dean began working with the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) Program, he didn’t know that it would lead him to a career in teaching English to Japanese students.

right now is actually quite low,” he said. He predicts that in about three years, all levels of elementary students will have to study English once a week, and a few years later kindergarten students will do the same.

Dean, a 2007 graduate with a degree in history, joined the program and taught in Japan for six years before opening his own school with his wife, Kaori Fujimoto. “We opened Next Door English two years ago in Odate City in the Akita prefecture. We actually took over the school from a friend who moved to Australia,” Dean said. The school has about 150 students ranging from ages 1 to 80 or 90 years old.

In addition to language, Dean and Fujimoto expose their students to American culture.

The hold barbecues, decorate Easter eggs, make valentines, and have Christmas celebrations. They also provide translation and interpretation services. Dean has even played the bagpipes for his students. “They were really surprised by it at first,” he said, laughing. “Some of them enjoyed it, but others didn’t like the sound of the pipes.”

“We try to reach as many in the local community as possible. We try to keep our prices low. Our main focus is to get people to practice English. We don’t study from a textbook, and we don’t speak Japanese in the classes. We try to make it a total immersion.

We want them to learn the living English language,” Dean said.

Dean, originally from Idaho, has played the bagpipes since he was 8 years old. It was part of what brought him to Lyon. He also said he came to Lyon because of his interest in Civil War history of the region and southern culture. He said he joined the JET Program initially for the international experience.

According to Dean, the ability to speak English is becoming more desired in Japan.

“Compared to other Asian countries, the number of people in Japan that speak English 34

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“I found I was really enjoying what I was doing,” he said. “Being a history major, I’m able to know the history of a word and its origin. That gives me a deeper perspective which is important in learning a language.”

Class Notes To submit a class note for the Piper, please e-mail alumni@lyon.edu. We love to hear what our alumni are up to, and so do your classmates!

Mary Charlotte (Thompson) Cobb, ’65, writes, “ I am retired from teaching and am now a Certified Ruling Elder serving the Tates Bluff Presbyterian Church in Chidester, Arkansas. I was in the music ministry for over 50 years and I love preaching and serving the Lord in this capacity now. At 70 years old I am looking forward to many more years of service to our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

James Milburn, ’67, writes, “I am moving to Presidio, Texas. I look forward to the dry air and the open spaces, the dark skies, and the far horizons.”

Cary Worthington, ’67, writes, “Began working as full time chaplain for Community Hospice, INC. in November 2013.”

Martha (McGinnis) Healey, ’71, will begin her seventh year as an adjunct instructor in Lyon’s music department in fall 2014. She writes: “I’ve found that it’s both a joy and a challenge to teach college students. I’m especially proud to teach at my alma mater. Lyon has come a long way since 1971. I’m so excited when I think about Lyon’s future and its ongoing plans for excellence in all areas. On the other hand, I’m not so very excited about moving closer to the age requirement of Club 50!”

Pat (Felton) Franks, ’72, writes, “I have retired from FutureFuel Chemical Company (where I worked for over 28 years) and will be moving to Branson, Missouri.”

Charles Morris, ’76, was recently named executive director of the Northcentral Arkansas Development Council, Inc. Morris will oversee the staff and operations of programs aimed at low income clients in the Fulton, Independence, Izard, Sharp, and Stone county areas.

Patricia (Binder) Sneed, ’78, writes, “I finally moved back to Arkansas after 34 years, retiring in Hot Spring

Village. Summers are for waterskiing, my passion, and winters for golf, my pastime.”

Kathleen “Roberta” (Thompson) Hignight, ’81, writes, “Hello Lyon Friends. I was installed as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Hope, Arkansas, on March 23, 2014. My husband, Dan Hignight, ’78, has retired after 30+ years in ministry and has opened a photography business out of our home. We are proud grandparents of two, and our son will be getting married in May as well as receiving his Ph.D. in physics in New York. Our daughter is married and lives and teaches 5th grade in Shreveport, Louisiana.”

Jack Sanders, ’82, writes, “In August 2013, I retired from public school education with 31 years service.

I now work as a consultant for the White River Agency on Aging Foundation. My family is serving as Community Friends for Lyon international students for the 8th year. We have served seven former international students and now enjoy spending time with our friends Jean, from Rwanda, and Arne, from Germany. You can learn more about Lyon’s Community Friend program by emailing the advisor at diane.ellis@lyon.edu.”

Cheryl (Armstrong) Goetz, ’85, writes, “ Roy was awarded the Fr. Hugh Assenmacher, OSB, Endowed Chair for Excellence in Teaching on November 1 at Subiaco Academy. He received this in recognition of his passion for teaching in both the Fine Arts and Religious Studies Department, his carrying out the mission of the school in both word and example on and off campus, and his support of other departments and programs on campus. This is Roy’s second time to receive this award.”

Angela (Reeves) Horn, ‘86, writes, “I just earned my Masters in Teaching - Early Childhood from UCA Conway May 2014.”

Did you know that you can donate online to the Annual Scholarship Fund? Just visit www.lyon.edu/give!

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// Alumni Kristi (Thompson) Harris, ’97, writes, “On December 11, 2013, my husband Rodney and I became parents.

Trae Michael, age 7, and William Rodney, age 4, officially joined our family. The boys moved into our home on May 3 of last year, so we have had an exciting year of learning to be a family and caring for two very busy boys. We are loving every minute of it!”

Stephanie (Rowton) Riedmueller, ’98, writes, “I added to my family by adopting my two stepsons in March 2014. I have two boys of my own and now have four boys ages 12, 11, 7, and 7. I still reside in Bryant with my husband, Kevin, and am an occupational therapist for the Central Arkansas VA hospital in North Little Rock, working with veterans with PTSD. Recently my program was featured on 60 Minutes.”

Katie (Hecox) Biron, ’99, and Jonathan Biron, ’99, write, “We welcomed a new baby to our family on April 11, 2013. Andrew Kendall Biron joined big sisters Emma and Charlotte. He was 7 lbs., 4 oz. and is an absolute delight!”

Jerra (Quinton) Baker, ’00, and husband John announce the birth of a son, Roy Quinton Baker, born July 31, 2013, at 9:43 p.m. He weighed 4 lbs., 13 oz. and was 17 inches long.

Elizabeth (Mazar) Phillips, ’00, and her husband, Matthew, celebrated the birth of a daughter, Bronwyn Claire, on March 25, 2013. The happy family lives in the Boston suburbs.

Joseph Rugger, ’03, has completed AICPA Leadership Academy training.

Stephen Briner, ’03, writes, “I’ve accepted a tenuretrack position as Assistant Professor of Psychology at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, which is about 50 miles outside of NYC and even closer to New Haven.”

Noah Williams, ’04, and Susan (Willis) Williams, ’08, are pleased to announce the birth of a son, Miles Thomas Williams, on December 10, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs., 11 oz. and was 20 inches long. Miles and his proud 36

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parents live in Bloomington, Indiana, where his dad is a public defender for Monroe County and his mom teaches at The Prep School.

Ariel (Maddox) Ward, ’05, and husband Chris announce the birth of Maria Ward on December 20, 2013. She joins big brother Alec, age 2, to make a family of four.

Adam Long, ’06, has published an essay titled “‘We all dar’: The Formation of Collective Identity in Morrison’s Beloved and Faulkner’s Go Down, Moses.” It’s in a scholarly collection titled Faulkner and Morrison, edited

by Robert W. Hamblin and Christopher Rieger.

Michael Lejman, ’06, writes, “In the spring semester of 2014, I successfully completed a doctorate in history at the University of Memphis, specializing in modern Europe and empire, with minor fields in AfricanAmerican history and American history since 1877. I am currently living in Memphis while working as fulltime faculty at Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, a dynamic institution serving students from throughout the region and recently named one of the best places to work in the greater Memphis area.”

Peggy (Pinson) Ford, ’06, and Josh Ford, ’07, write, “Josh and I welcomed out daughter, Marley Mae, on September 6, 2013, at 12:10 p.m. Marley was born at home weighing 7 lbs., 5 oz., and stretching out 19 inches.

We are all doing great!”

Drew Dunham, ’08, and wife Juli announce the birth of Jonah Michael Dunham on August 20, 2013.

Alex Huffman,’08, and Bridget Nutt, ’10, were married on October 5, 2013, in Nassau, Bahamas. The couple spent a week in paradise with friends and family, catching up and celebrating their love. The newlyweds currently reside in Virginia, where Alex works for the NRA and Bridget works for a software company, Fireside21, that builds websites and databases for Congress.

Doug Rinehart, ’08, and Kathryn Morrison Rinehart were married August 5, 2013.

Chris Middaugh, ’09, and wife Summer announce the birth of their daughter, Ruth Mae, on August 13, 2013.

Kyle Castelo, ’10, and his wife welcomed their son, Roman G. Castelo, on July 20, 2013. He weighed 7 lbs., 9 oz.

Judd Deere, ’10, and Meagan (Bullock) Deere, ’10, were married on December 8, 2013, in Orlando, Florida.

After two years as Senator Mike Crapo’s press secretary, Judd has returned to Arkansas as deputy campaign manager and communications director for Congressman Tim Griffin’s bid for lieutenant governor. Meagan will graduate from pharmacy school with her Pharm.D. in mid-May and will start work as a sterile compounding pharmacist at US Compounding in Conway right after.

Joshua Palmer, ’13, and Brandi (Kroll) Palmer, ’12, were married October 12, 2013, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Batesville.

Lilly Hastings, ’13, has landed a job as a digital production associate at the Dillard’s HQ in Little Rock.

Her position involves putting products online, as well as some website copywriting.

In Memoriam Charles A. Taylor, ’38 Mr. Duffie E. Bryant, ’42 James Luin “GG” Rutherford Jr., ’42 John T. Barr III, ’46 Bettye Jean (Crow) Jones, ’47 Joseph Calvin James, ’49 Erwin D. Barger, ’50 Mr. Stanley W. Fast, ’50 Mrs. Frankie Hudson Crow, ’56 Robert “Bobby” Allen Smith, ’56 Jimmy Graton Shirrell, ’58, Lora Mae Housley, ’61 Hubert Clifton Sellers Jr., ’62 John Osburn Walker, ’68 Winfred Raydean Wheeler, ’68 John Gregory Watson, ’76 Robertson Fallis Barnett, ’78 Shirley K. Eldridge, ’81 Mrs. Carol Small Smith, ’87

Days gone by—Brown Chapel undergoes construction in the early 1950s

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// Giving instructor Dorothy Landis arrange tours for the choir.

“We were all involved in everything in those days. It was a time of making do in many ways,” Faught said. “Mostly women attended the College then because most of the men were in service.”

She graduated with her English degree in 1947. Faught said she and her brother both received scholarships to the College without which they never would have been able to attend.

Passing the torch of generosity to future generations Ruby (Barr) Faught, ’47, was barely 16 years old when she began her education at then Arkansas College.

Faught’s family had strong ties with the College. Her father was an Arkansas College graduate, her brother was already enrolled when she entered, she had cousins that attended, and her second cousin, John Spragins, was president of the College while she was attending.

Faught grew up in Norman, a small, poor Arkansas town in Montgomery County.

During her college years, Faught was very active in campus organizations. She was a vice president of Sigma Alpha Sigma and president of the Westminister Fellowship her senior year, a member of Alpha Psi Omega, the International Relations Club, the Highlander staff, Dormitory Council, INDEX Staff, Vigilance Committee, Life Service Alliance, Nominating Committee, and was among Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities. She was also active with the Harlequin Little Theatre and chorus. As a member of the chorus, Faught helped music 38

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“This was at the end of the Depression,” Faught said. “My brother and I both worked on campus also, but without those scholarships, we would not have been able to attend college. I always hoped that since I had been helped, I would be able to help someone else.”

To return the generosity she received, Faught created the Ruby and Almon R. Faught Scholarship, which she donates $2,000 a year to fund. She added that she has plans to make future gifts to the College.

Faught now lives in Jonesboro. She is a retired teacher, having taught in Jonesboro public schools for 34 years. She worked at the First Presbyterian Church in Jonesboro as the Educational Director and has served in several volunteer capacities, including working with the public library, the ecumenical food pantry and teaching Sunday school.

Donate online to the Annual Scholarship Fund:

www.lyon.edu/give

Turning small steps into a big difference Sometimes a little can go a long way. Joseph Rugger applies this philosophy whenever he donates to charitable causes.

“Small monthly amounts can add up to big dollars over the course of a year,” Rugger said. “Something as simple as $50 a month may not seem like much, but over a year that’s a $600 donation.”

Rugger, a 2003 triple major at Lyon, said a baseball scholarship was the main thing that drew him to Lyon.

He also benefitted from the Annual Scholarship Fund.

Rugger, 32, is a CPA and the Director of Finance and Administration at Jonesboro Prosthetic & Orthotic Lab in Jonesboro.

“I played baseball all four years I was at Lyon,” Rugger said. “It was going to cost me less out of pocket to attend Lyon than it would have my other top choices for college. I was able to afford the first three years at Lyon without any students loans.”

Rugger wanted to see future students receive the same benefits he did during his years at Lyon. He gives to Lyon programs that were part of his own experience at Lyon.

“I had a great experience with the baseball program. My senior year at Lyon, a 34-year-old freshman named Tony Roepcke came on the team and worked harder than any freshman I had ever seen in my college career. So we created the Tony Roepcke Scholarship, a one-time $1,000 scholarship to be awarded to the hardest working freshman baseball player,” Rugger said.

Rugger has also served on the President’s Council since 2006. He donates to the Tau Kappa Epsilon chapter on campus and serves as a chapter advisor. In 2010, Rugger taught Principles of Accounting I as an adjunct professor.

He has served on the Institutional Advancement Committee and won the Patterson Decade Award. He also plays at the alumni baseball game held in the fall.

“Small monthly amounts can add up to big dollars over the course of a year.”

JOSEPH RUGGER, ’03

Rugger and his wife make a monthly budget together to determine where their finances will be spent each month, and they try to ensure a portion always goes to charitable giving, whether it’s a donation to a specific organization or simply taking friends or family out for dinner.

“Charitable giving doesn’t have to be something that’s tax-deductible,” he said. “As a young alum, there are several ways to help out Lyon in addition to financial support. Lyon has great campus organizations that can all benefit from donations of your time, talent, or other resources. I think too many alums are sitting around waiting to be asked to do something. I would challenge them to take the first step and make contact and ask, ‘How can I help?’ They might be pleasantly surprised at what opportunities exist to make a difference in the lives of Lyon students.”

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Refer a Student to Lyon College

Know a high school student who would benefit from a Lyon College education? Let us know!

Return to: Mr. Josh Manning, ’06 Director of Enrollment Services Lyon College P.O. Box 2317 Batesville, AR 72503

Prospective Student Information: Name:

Address: City:

State:

Phone: E-mail:

870-307-7416 josh.manning@lyon.edu 40 

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Expected High School Graduation Year:

Zip:

rade

1950 Homecoming Pa

Leave a

legacy Lyon at

Planned giving involves providing for a future gift to charities through your financial and estate plans. Planned giving arrangements can: »» Provide for you or your loved ones »» Entitle you to charitable income and/or gift or estate tax deductions »» Enable you to leave a legacy for Lyon College

To learn how you can support Lyon College and its students while ensuring your family’s financial future, contact Jon Vestal at 870-307-7208 or jon.vestal@lyon.edu or Gina Garrett at 870-307-7557 or gina.garrett@lyon.edu. More information is also available online at tinyurl. com/GiveToLyon.

Office of Marketing & Communications P.O. Box 2317 Batesville, AR 72503-2317 www.lyon.edu

You can go home again.

Lyon College Homecoming October 17-19, 2014 JOIN US FOR THE FIRST BLUE & RED FOOTBALL SCRIMMAGE GAME SATURDAY OCTOBER 18, 2 P.M. (Location TBA)