Raymond A. LaCroix Jr., who joined the board in 1995, will take over the chair position from current chair holder Frank Lyon Jr. The College is named in honor of Lyon’s father, Frank Lyon Sr., who also served on the board and whose leadership helped the institution develop into one of the top liberal arts colleges in the nation.
LaCroix is the owner of LaCroix Optical Co., in Batesville where he lives with his wife, Diane. The couple has two daughters, Julie and Michelle. Since joining the board, he’s served as chair of the Building and Grounds Committee and vice chair of the Personnel Subcommittee. He’s been a member of the Business and Finance and Student Life committees as well.
The last board chair from Batesville was John P. Morrow Sr., who served from 1956 to 1966.
In addition to installing LaCroix as chair, the board also elected the following members to one-year terms as officers of the board for 2006-2007: Ronald C. Spillers of Batesville, vice chair, replacing Mary Sue Jacobs of Little Rock; Diane Lamberth of Batesville, who will continue in her current role as secretary; and Charles Whiteside III of Little Rock, treasurer, replacing L. Dickson Flake, also of Little Rock..
The board also approved a series of resolutions
expressing appreciation to five departing board members and a pair of
longtime supporters at its meeting on the Lyon campus Thursday and
Friday, April 20 and 21.
Set to leave the board at the end of June are Josh Manning, Dr. Robert
Gregerson, Dr. Peggy Stock, Mary Sue Jacobs and Robert A. Young III.
The trustees also expressed formal appreciation to Sam Fiser and Robin
Orsi for their work on behalf of the board and of Lyon College.
Specially built Lyon College chairs were presented to two trustees who are leaving the board, Mary Sue Jacobs and Robert Young III. Sitting in one of the chairs is Mrs. Jacobs. Standing are (from left) Frank Lyon Jr., chair of the board; Young; and President Walter Roettger. Both Mrs. Jacobs and Mr. Young were named advisory trustees.
Photo by Jason Marzewski
Orsi, of Little Rock, won election to the board in 1997 and has served as vice chair of the Institutional Advancement Committee and as a member of the Education Committee. She left the board in February. She’s the general manager of Bear Farms, LLC, and second vice president of the National Society of Colonial Homes in Arkansas.
Manning, who is president of the Student Government Association and the student body, has served as the SGA representative to the board of trustees during the 2005-2006 academic year. He is from Crawfordsville.
He’s been accepted into Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government for September 2006. While there, he’ll pursue a master’s degree in public policy, slated for graduation in 2008. He’s set to graduate in May with a bachelor’s degree in political science with a concentration in journalism.
Dr. Gregerson, Lyon’s Willie Dillard Bryan Associate Professor of Biology, has served the board as the faculty representative since the 2003-2004 academic year. Twice, he’s been named the CASE/Carnegie Arkansas Professor of the Year. In 2004, he won the Lyon College Williamson Prize for Faculty Excellence. The new faculty representative replacing Gregerson in July will be Dr. Terrell Tebbetts, the Cox Professor of American Literature.
Stock, of Royalton, Vt., became a board member in 2002 and has served on the Education and Institutional Advancement committees. Positions she’s held during her career in higher education include president and president emeritus of Westminster College, president of Colby-Sawyer College and president of the Mid-West Institute for Training and Education.
Jacobs joined the board in 1994, and during her tenure as a trustee, she’s served as vice chair of the board, the Business and Finance Committee and the Trusteeship Committee. She’s also been a member of the Student Life and Executive committees and the Investment Subcommittee.
A consultant for Asset Consulting Services Inc., she holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas and is the founder of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. She’s also held board positions with SCAN (Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect) and the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas.
Robert A. Young III joined the Lyon College Board of Trustees in 1974, and during his tenure has twice served as chairman of the board. Additionally, he’s chaired the Executive, and Trusteeship committees and the Aberdeen Board. He co-chaired the Fulfilling the Promise Campaign for Lyon College and currently co-chairs the Campaign for Distinction.
Young is chairman and CEO for Arkansas Best Corp. in Fort Smith and is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Smith. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington and Lee University.
Mrs. Jacobs and Mr. Young are rotating from the board upon completion of
a 12-year (or more, in the case of Mr. Young) tenure
In other business, the board:
• Nominated three members of the board to be elected by the Synod of the
Sun, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). They include Bill H. Walmsley of
Batesville, a 1963 alumnus of the College, who has been serving as an
alumni trustee. When the current term ends in June, he will become a
Synod trustee. Charles B. Whiteside III will be returning to the board
after rotating off for a year. Mark Nichols will be a new trustee. He is
the grandson of former trustee Shuford Nichols and the son of former
trustee Henry Nichols. He received his bachelor's degree from Bard and
his master's from Columbia. He presently works for General Wesley Clark
in Little Rock.
• Nominated several current members for re-election by the Synod of the
Sun to four-year terms beginning July 1. They are: L. Dickson Flake of
Little Rock, Frank Lyon Jr. of Little Rock, Herbert C. Rule of Little
Rock, John D. Trimble V of El Dorado and Michael E. Wilson of Wilson,
Ark.
• Proposed a series of revisions to the Lyon College Honor Code.
• Elected outgoing board members Jacobs and Young to advisory trustee
status.