Award-winning author Lee Smith will present the Leila Lenore Heasley Prize Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, at Lyon College. The lecture will be in the Bevens Music Room of Brown Chapel. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture, which is free and open to the public.

Ms. Smith will present a fiction-writing workshop at 8 a.m. on March 30 in the Union Conference Room in Edwards Commons. She also will participate in a “Writer’s Life” interview and luncheon in Bevens Music Room at 11:45 a.m. the same day. A buffet luncheon will be available for purchase.

Ms. Smith has written more than a dozen novels and short-story collections. Her works portray the richness and diversity of the modern South while exploring and illuminating the importance of personal and family history.

A native of Grundy, Virginia, Smith draws on her Appalachian roots in such novels as “Oral History” (1983), “Family Linen” (1985), and “Fair and Tender Ladies” (1988). Her other works include “Black Mountain Breakdown” (1981), “The Devil’s Dream” (1992), and “Saving Grace” (1995). Her most recent novel is “The Last Girls” (2002).

Smith attended Hollins College where she was part of the “Hollins Group” that included Annie Dillard. While still in college in 1967, she won her first major writing award, the Book-of-the-Month College English Writing Contest Prize. Since then she has won the Robert Penn Warren Prize for Fiction, the John Dos Passos Award for Literature, the Weatherford Award for Appalachian Fiction, and two O. Henry awards.

When she won a three-year sabbatical as part of a Lila Wallace-Readers’ Digest grant, she worked with the Hindman Settlement School, teaching writing students in eastern Kentucky. More information about Lee Smith and her works can be found on her official Web site, www.leesmith.com.

The Leila Lenore Heasley Prize is awarded annually to a distinguished representative of American or international letters, theatre, or cinema, with the recipient of the prize giving a public lecture, performance, or reading at Lyon.

The Prize was established through the generosity of Dr. Martha Heasley Cox ’38, Professor Emerita of English at San Jose State University in San Jose, California, and other members of the Heasley family. It is named in memory of Dr. Cox’s sister, Leila Lenore Heasley ’35, and also honors Jesse Richard Heasley, Lillian Seay Heasley ’28, Therrell Heasley ’32, Paul Heasley ’47 and his family, and Dr. Cox. The Heasley Prize was established to recognize and perpetuate the strong ties between the Heasley family, the Batesville community, and Lyon College.

Past Winners of the Heasley Prize are Sena Jeter Naslund, 2003; Jill McCorkle, 2002; Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, 2001; William Least Heat-Moon, 2000; Fred Chappell, 1999; Donald Harington, 1998; and Rosellen Brown, 1997.

Dr. Alan H. McNamee, the Frank and Marion Bradley Lyon Professor of Accounting at Lyon College, will deliver the 2003-04 Williamson Prize Lecture at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 30, in Nucor Auditorium.

Dr. McNamee will present a lecture titled “Corporate Governance, Accounting and the Capital Markets: Connecting the Dots.” The public is invited and admission will be free.

The Lamar Williamson Prize for Excellence in Teaching is awarded 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.

McNamee is the 24th Lyon professor to receive the 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 for the rest of his life.

The Williamson 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.

In 2000-01, McNamee received a teaching fellowship from the Fulbright Scholar Program and he served as a visiting senior lecturer in accounting at the Leon Kozminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management in Warsaw, Poland.

McNamee joined the Lyon faculty in 1994. Before coming to Lyon, he was an assistant professor of accounting at the University of New Mexico, an instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an adjunct instructor at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas. McNamee is a certified public accountant.

He received his Ph.D. degree from UNC-Chapel Hill Graduate School of Business Administration, and his Bachelor of Science degree in economics and business administration (accounting emphasis) from Manchester College in Indiana.

History Day is Thursday

History Day will be held in Becknell Gymnasium on Thursday, March 18. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. with judging from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m. Visitors are then welcome to come and view the entries. The awards ceremony will be at 1 p.m. in Nucor Auditorium.

Bach Birthday Bash is March 21

Lyon College’s annual Bach Birthday Bash will be at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 21, at the Christian Science Society at 18^th and College streets in Batesville.

Lyon faculty and students will perform works by Johann Sebastian Bach in honor of the composer’s 319^th birthday. The event is free and the public is invited.

Dr. Russell Stinson, the Brown Professor of Music and college organist, will perform on the world-famous Flentrop organ.

Robert Bailey, Cecilia Bogowith and Skye Hart will perform other Bach selections on organ. John O’Connor, tenor saxophone, and Kevin Peek, cello, also will perform.

The Lyon College Community Strings, directed by Barbara Reeve, will perform an orchestral suite. Peek and Mrs. Reeve also will accompany vocalists Hart (tenor) and Joel Plaag (bass and alto) on three arias.

Lyon SAFARI to celebrate fourth year

Lyon College’s S.A.F.A.R.I. summer program for youngsters who have completed grades K-7 will celebrate its fourth year with two sessions in June.

The first session will be June 7-18; the second will be June 18-July 2. Each session will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Students who have completed grades K-2 may elect to attend half-day sessions, either morning or afternoon. Students who have completed grades 3-7 attend for a full day.

Lyon S.A.F.A.R.I (Summer Academics – Fun and Recreation Included) is designed to provide students with enriching, challenging and enjoyable learning experiences in a variety of content areas.

A variety of recreational activities will also be offered, including swimming, archery, golf, street hockey and others. Students can create a daily schedule that matches their own interests and talents.

Students will sign up for three academic and one recreational course per session. Students may attend their choice of one or both sessions. Lunch will be provided as well as morning and afternoon snacks. Students attending the half-day sessions for K-2 may take one academic course and one recreational course or two academic classes.

Students in grades 3-7 may elect half-day sessions if they wish to attend a Lyon College sports camp that may be offered on the same dates.

For more information or an application, e-mail mcooper@lyon.edu or call (870) 612-6490. The application deadline is May 14. More information also can be found on the Lyon SAFARI Web page at www.lyon.edu/webdata/groups/safari/.

	Regional science fair held at Lyon Friday, March 5, Lyon hosted the North Central Arkansas Regional Science Fair on campus. Junior and senior high school students from more than five school districts participated in the event.

Environmental forum to be held at Lyon

On Tuesday, March 16, the Lyon College Regional Studies Center will host its first Ozark Spring Environmental Forum. The forum, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Derby Center Lecture Hall (#16) on the Lyon campus. The forum will focus on issues of stream quality and access in the region. Representatives of the Nature Conservancy, the Ozark Society, and the Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers will explain the background, purposes, and current area projects of their respective organizations. A question and answer session will follow the presentations.

Scheduled presenters include John Stark of the Nature Conservancy’s Strawberry River Preserve and Ranch in Sharp County, Dana Steward of the Ozark Society, and Gene Dunaway of Mountain View, who will represent the region’s newest environmental action group, the Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers. For more information, contact Dr. Brooks Blevins, Director of Regional Studies, at 870-698-4330, or bblevins@lyon.edu.

The Lyon College Regional Studies Center is sponsoring a public lecture by Dwight T. Pitcaithley, Chief Historian of the National Park Service, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 16. Dr. Pitcaithley, who began his career with the NPS three decades ago at the Buffalo National River, will give a talk titled, “Confessions of a Public Historian: A Personal Journey Through the National Park Service.”

In addition to numerous essays and articles in scholarly publications, Pitcaithley is the author of “Let the River Be: A History of the Ozarks’ Buffalo River” (1987).

The talk, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the Derby Center Lecture Hall (Derby #16) on the Lyon campus. For more information, contact Dr. Brooks Blevins, Lyon’s Director of Regional Studies, at (870) 698-4330, or bblevins@lyon.edu

Art of poetry to be celebrated at Lyon College

Lyon College will celebrate the art of poetry, March 16-20, with Poetry Matters: A Celebration. The event will feature a public lecture by British poet Peter Abbs, who will be Lyon College’s first Visiting Fellow in Creative Writing.

Abbs will deliver the lecture, titled “The Work of a Poet,” in Nucor Auditorium at 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 16.

A poetry slam competition, hosted by the Erosophic Society, will be in the Starlight Lounge of Edwards Commons at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 17.

At 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 19, Abbs and Lisa Dart, British short story writer and poet, will give a poetry reading in Bevens Music Room in Brown Chapel, followed by a book signing and reception. These events are all free of charge and open to the public.

The week will conclude Saturday, March 20, with a Poetry Writing Workshop conducted by Abbs and Dart in the Alphin Room of the Alphin Building. The workshop, which is intended for adults of any age and young adults (high school and college students), will begin at 9 a.m. and last until 5 p.m. and features two workshop sessions—“The Autobiographical Poem” and “The Poem that Retells a Story”—plus introductory information, craft discussions, and readings.

Registration costs for the workshop include lunch and are $40 for adults, $20 for high school and college students, and $15 for Lyon students.

For more information, contact Andrea Hollander Budy, Lyon’s Writer-in-Residence, at (870) 793-1766 (e-mail: ahbudy@lyon.edu) or Adele Grilli at (870) 698-4246 (e-mail: agrilli@lyon.edu). The complete schedule and a registration form may be obtained on campus from the Lyon College Bookstore or from Adele Grilli, second floor of the Alphin Building, and on the Lyon Web site at www.lyon.edu/poetry/index.htm.

Dr. Mark Ravina will deliver the final installment in the first year of Lyon College’s Japan Lecture Series. His lecture, “The End of the Samurai Class,” will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 18, in Nucor Auditorium.

Dr. Ravina is an associate professor of history and director of East Asian Studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. His specialty is Japan, especially 18th- and 19th-century politics.

Business ethicist Nicholas Capaldi to speak at Lyon

The Lyon College Convocations Committee will sponsor a lecture by business ethicist Dr. Nicholas Capaldi titled “Corporate Social Responsibility and the Bottom Line.” The lecture will be March 25 at 7:30 p.m. in Nucor Auditorium.

Capaldi is currently the Legendre-Soulé Distinguished Chair in Business Ethics at Loyola University and will soon become director of the Loyola Institute for Ethics and Spirituality in Business. He was until recently the McFarlin Endowed Professor of Philosophy and Research Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa. He was the founder and former Director of Legal Studies. His principal research and teaching interest is in public policy and its intersection with political science, philosophy, law, religion and economics.

He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is the author of seven books, more than 60 articles, and editor of six anthologies. He is a member of the editorial board of six journals and has served most recently as editor of Public Affairs Quarterly. He is an internationally recognized Hume scholar and a domestic public policy specialist on such issues as higher education, bio-ethics, business ethics, affirmative action and immigration. Students who have served as his research assistants have gone on to do graduate work at Vanderbilt University, The London School of Economics, Harvard University, Fordham University, Princeton University, Rice University, and Georgetown University.

Professor Capaldi has just finished writing an intellectual biography of John Stuart Mill for Cambridge University Press. An interview in which Capalidi discusses that work with Booknotes’ Brian Lamb will air on C-SPAN on April 4.

Capaldi is also creator and editor of MasterWorks in the Western Tradition, a series of books on major thinkers being published by Peter Lang.

Sports

Baseball

The Scots were 6-1 on their spring break trip to Florida and are 24-5 overall this season. The Scots beat the University of Charleston 13-2 on Tuesday and 14-10 Wednesday. It was the fourth time in five days that Lyon had defeated Charleston. The Scots also defeated Heidelberg (Ohio) 1-0 Wednesday.

The Scots will play Berry on the way back home with conference doubleheaders Friday and Saturday. The next home stand will be March 19 and 20 when they host Lee University with a pair of doubleheaders.

Basketball

The Scots' season ended Thursday night at Becknell Gym with an 81-76 loss to Martin Methodist in the first round of the TranSouth Conference Tournament.

The Scots finished in a three-way tie for third place in the TranSouth Conference with a regular season record of 17-13 overall and 7-7 in the conference.

Despite losing to Trevecca Nazarene 85-78 last Saturday, the Scots were awarded the third seed and home-court advantage for the first round tournament game Thursday night against Martin Methodist.

The Scots got the third seed because they were the only team to defeat regular-season champion Cumberland. Tied with Lyon at 7-7 were Trevecca and Freed-Hardeman.