Lindblom awarded Williamson Prize

Dr. Tim Lindblom, associate professor of biology, has been awarded the 2008-09 Lamar Williamson Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

The Williamson Prize is given annually by Lyon College to the faculty member deemed to be the most outstanding in four categories: professional competence, scholarly ability, exemplary humane and Christian values, and contributions to the community.

Dr. Lindblom joined the Lyon faculty in 2002. This summer, he will take 12 students on a two-week tour of Vancouver Island's ecology and biodiversity. He also is beginning a three-year term as the Resident Faculty Mentor at Lyon.

Dr. Lindblom recently was selected by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology as a volunteer member of the ivory-billed woodpecker search team in Arkansas. He is leveraging this activity into a new collaboration with scientists studying the dispersal of pileated woodpeckers.

Dr. Lindblom's current research is helping to understand how animal cells cope with the constant barrage of toxic chemical compounds ingested or produced by the body's normal cellular metabolism. His work at Lyon has been supported by grants totaling nearly $250,000, primarily from the National Institutes of Health.

Undergraduate collaborators in Dr. Lindblom's lab have been authors on three papers including a recent paper published in Science. While at Lyon, undergraduates in Lindblom's lab have presented 26 research presentations at regional and international meetings.

Throughout his career, Dr. Lindblom's teaching has been honored. As a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Georgia, Dr. Lindblom won every teaching award available including the Excellence in Teaching Award, the highest teaching honor awarded to graduate students. His most significant teaching honor was awarded by the students of Lyon College when he was selected as Alpha Chi Professor of the Year following his second year at Lyon.

Dr. Lindblom is the 29th Lyon professor to receive the Williamson Prize, which was established in 1979 by the Lyon Board of Trustees in memory of Lamar Williamson (1887-1974) of Monticello, Arkansas. A distinguished lawyer, businessman and civic and Presbyterian Church leader, Williamson attended Lyon College from 1901-1903 and remained a friend of the College throughout his life.

The Prize confers upon the recipient a silver cup and a stipend from a memorial fund, both of which were given by J. Gaston Williamson of Little Rock in honor of his father. The award is announced at commencement each May. The winner of the prize presents a public lecture at a convocation the following academic year.