Arkansas Symphony concert scheduled Oct. 19

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will perform in concert Thursday, Oct. 19, at 7:30 p.m. in Brown Chapel Auditorium.  First Community Bank, Lyon College and the Batesville Symphony League will host the concert. Directed by David Itkin, the orchestra will perform the Mozart Flute Concerto No. 2, featuring flute soloist Carolyn Brown, and the Beethoven Symphony No. 8, the event will be first in the activities associated with Homecoming Weekend. ASO tickets are free to Lyon students, faculty, and staff.  Tickets may be reserved in advance by e-mailing Keith Melson at First Community Bank, kmelson@firstcommunity.net, and picked up at the box office on the day of the concert. 

Science’s current understanding of the origin of life on Earth suggests that given a suitable environment and sufficient time, life will develop on other planets, and Jaime Warrington spent her summer studying to see if that’s really true.

The Lyon College student recently spent 10 weeks in California doing research at an institute operated with the mission of seeking life in the far reaches of the universe.

"I was working with SETI in Mountain View, Calif., but most of my work was done through the lab at NASA Ames," Warrington said. "This was partially because the lab at the new SETI institute wasn’t ready and partially because my mentor worked more at Ames than SETI."

SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is an exploratory science that seeks evidence of life in the universe by looking for some signature of its technology.

Whether evolution will give rise to intelligent, technological civilizations is open to speculation. However, such a civilization could be detected across interstellar distances, and may actually offer our best opportunity for discovering extraterrestrial life in the near future.

Finding evidence of other technological civilizations however, requires significant effort. Currently the Center for SETI Research develops signal-processing technology and uses it to search for signals from advanced technological civilizations in our galaxy.

The mission of the SETI Institute is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe so there are numerous ongoing projects in all different areas of astrobiology, Warrington said.

"My project was directed to microbes present on earth, which could possibly withstand outer space conditions," she explained. "I tested the UV resistance and desiccation resistance of a number of halophiles from Laguna Colorada, a lake in Chile. I exposed them to direct, high amounts of UV light for varying periods of time as well as dry conditions and then observed the number of microbes surviving using a fluorescent stain."

However, Warrington had "a little problem" with her experiment.

"I still had all cells living after extreme amounts of UV in which many, if not all, should have been dead," she said. "I knew this was a problem and had to take a lot of time finding where the mistake had been made. Luckily it was not my mistake. The fluorescent stain I had been using was contaminated from a previous user and was not allowing the stain to react with the cells properly."

Warrington said Dr. Dave Thomas, associate professor of microbiology, introduced her to the program.

"Research Experience for Undergrads, are offered at many places during the summer, and I had the link for the SETI REU program sent to me by my astrobiology teacher Dr. Thomas," she said. "I had been planning on looking for a research project and was just finishing astrobiology, and this one fit perfectly. I applied online providing an essay and I got accepted to the program."

No one he knows had ever participated in SETI before, Warrington said.

"I actually didn’t know much about the SETI program at all until my astrobiology class," she admitted. "I had to do a little research before I got to the SETI institute to make sure I understood what they were all about."

Warrington said she "learned so much I couldn’t even begin to name it all."

"I learned a lot about microbiology, many techniques, like how the microbes act," she said. "Through the other members of the program, I learned things about radio telescopes, astrophysics, sky observing, and much more."

She worked with Rocco Mancinelli this summer, who served as Warrington’s mentor.

"He was super busy but still had time to teach me microbiology and helped me think of things I could do for the future," she said. "He really opened up a lot of areas of biology that I hadn't thought of before. The other members of the REU program were amazing and taught me a lot as well. It was cool to meet so many people in various fields."

The SETI Institute is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to scientific research, education and public outreach.

Founded in 1984, the Institute today employs over 100 scientists, educators and support staff.
 

Poster promotes joy of reading President Walter Roettger presents a framed poster promoting literacy and the benefits of reading to White River Regional Librarian Debra Sutterfield. The poster, designed by Jason Marzewski, associate director of public relations at Lyon, will be displayed at the library on Main Street in Batesville. Featured in the poster are Christy Massey, administrative coordinator for Academic Services, and her daughter, Keeley.                                                                                           Photo by Gene McCoy

Five Lyon College faculty members have been recognized for their achievements as influential educators in the 2006 edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

The annual directory’s editors have selected these teachers based on recommendations from those students selected in the Who’s Who Among College Students.

This particular edition of Who’s Who began in 1990 and started being published annually in 2004. The September 2006 issue marks the tenth publication since 1990.

Teachers named this year from Lyon College are:

Dr. Martha Beck, associate professor of philosophy

Dr. Paul Bube, W. Lewis McColgan Professor of Religion

Dr. Terrell Tebbetts, Martha Heasley Cox Chair in American Literature

Dr. Garry Wann, assistant professor of business administration

Dr. Virginia Wray, W.C. Brown Jr. Professor of English.

Alphi Chi chapter inducts 18 new members

Eighteen new members entered Lyon College's chapter of the Alpha Chi National Collegiate Scholarship Honor Society in an induction ceremony held Sept. 23. Alpha Chi is a national college scholarship honor society with more than 300 chapters in 45 states and Puerto Rico and some 300,000 members. The society admits juniors and seniors of good character who are in the top 10 percent of their classes.

Area residents joining the honor society include Julie Sandy of Batesville, wife of Tommy Sandy and a senior History major; and Jerry White of Bethesda, a senior Political Science major and father of Alicia White.

Others include Kristen Scaggs, wife Randy Scaggs of Violet Hill, a senior Spanish major; Jessica Throesch, daughter of Rose Throesch from Pocahontas, a junior Mathematics major; Blake Perkins, son of Royetta Perkins of Smithville, a junior Business Administration major; Nathan Reinhardt, son of Garry and Melanie Reinhardt of Little Rock, a junior double major in English and Music; Rob Frank, son of Tom and Anita Frank of Jonesboro, a junior Biology major; Glenn Ritter, son of Cliften and Rebecca Ritter of Jonesboro, a junior Business Administration major; Chris Schmidt, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Schmitt of Jonesboro, a junior Biology major; Doug Rinehart, son of Dennis and Karen Rinehart of Jonesboro, a junior Biology major; Ashley Dorsey, daughter of Donna Dorsey of Search, a junior English major; Drew Dunham, son of Kevin and Ann Marie Dunham of Jonesboro, a junior Biology major; junior Tori White, daughter of Lin and Lizzie White of Imboden; and Matt Bradley, husband of Mandy Bradley of Pocahontas, a senior Computer Science major.

The induction ceremony was followed by a banquet in the Bevens Music Room with almost 50 attending, including inductees and their families, current members, and faculty advisers. Highlights of the evening included a keynote address by the 2005-2006 Lyon College Professor of the Year, Dr. Terrell Tebbetts, who spoke about the role of a liberal arts education in his address titled, Thinking Outside the Box.

The chapter meets every Monday for programs by both students and faculty. Members also travel to regional and national conventions to present research and creative work and to compete for scholarships and fellowships. Lyon's award-winning chapter has won $13,000 in the last 10 years and has seen five members publish their award-winning work in Alpha Chi's nationally circulated journal, The Recorder. Officers for 2006-2007 are Haley Skinner as president, Allyn Dodd as secretary, and newly inducted Rob Frank of Jonesboro serving as vice president.

Lyon College’s annual Service Day reaches out into community

Over 300 members of Lyon College’s faculty, staff, student body and administration hit the streets Sept. 27 for the annual Service Day activities, allowing them to work with members of the local community on the College’s yearly day of giving back.

Following a morning gathering in Brown Chapel, participating members of the Lyon campus traveled to more than 40 sites in the community.

Last year, 341 students, faculty and staff participated in service day, for a combined total of 1,187 volunteer hours. This year, like last year, members of the campus dispersed to sites throughout Independence County and neighboring counties.

Lyon College has long sponsored the event as part of the College’s mission to develop responsible citizens and leaders committed to continued personal growth and service. Since 1992, the Lyon campus has given more than 13,500 volunteer hours in Batesville and the surrounding area.

Dr. Bruce Johnston, vice president for student life and dean of students, said participants perform a wide array of jobs during the event.

Joel Plaag, assistant professor of music, said many locations around Batesville receive the benefit of Service Day labor support for that day.

"That gives them either a break from those responsibilities, making their environment a little better, or helping to serve those in need in our community," he said. "And the students get a sense of accomplishment, of having done something positive to benefit not only their school but the community. And we gain a better idea of what kinds of services and organizations are in Batesville."

For more information on Service Day, or to inquire about hosting a future Service Day worksite, contact campus chaplain Rev. Nancy McSpadden at 698-4281.

Director of Career Services Greg Maloney, Michael Robey, ZBT President Jakeb Howard and Greg Robertson at the Old Independence Museum.	Amber Colvin and Jonathan Garner look over archive items at museum
Garrard Conley, Brittany Fiscus, Josh Maderas talk to a patient at Woodlawn Nursing Home.	Students Allison Wilkes and Laurie Dement and faculty member Catherine Bordeau work on Main Street in Batesville. Photos by Wil Shane

Call 870-698-4240 or e-mail krush@lyon.edu to RSVP for the event.

World War II took thousands of people away from their homes and jobs, but those openings gave a "hometown girl from Batesville" the chance to live her dream of being a reporter for one of the world’s top news wire services.

Virginia Burns attended Arkansas College for two years during the 1940s before leaving town to help with the war effort. But before she left to begin a new life that eventually included a husband, three children and three grandchildren, she fulfilled her dream of being a professional journalist.

"Born and raised" in Batesville, Virginia had ties to Arkansas College through her father, Bragg Bea Conine. She said he won the first foot race the College ever sanctioned as an organized event.

While still a student at Batesville High School, a teacher asked Virginia to help report and write local news for a now-defunct newspaper called the Batesville News Review.

"She had me gathering news and writing it up, and I loved it," Virginia said. "I did that for a couple years, while I was still in high school, and later in Arkansas College."

Jared E. Trevathan established the Batesville News Review in 1933, and published it for 25 years before selling the paper and entering the law brief printing business.

The son of the late Mr. and Mrs. George H. Trevathan, he was a graduate of Batesville High School and attended Arkansas College and the Cumberland Law School in Cumberland, Tenn.

Although he was licensed to practice law, he entered the newspaper business in 1916 with his father, who was editor and publisher of the Batesville Guard. Jared died at the age of 71 on May 3, 1967.

When Virginia left the News Review and moved to Little Rock to pitch in with the war effort, she found herself without a job.

"My sister worked in a war plant there, but they didn’t need me," she recalled.

That’s when a friend who knew she’d worked as a reporter in Batesville recommended Virginia to United Press to fill a job opening created by the war.

In that position, Virginia sent stories from Little Rock to small papers all across the state. Predictably, the bulk of her copy concerned the war effort and how it affected those living on the home front.

"A lot of my stories were about things like gas and tire shortages, and how they affected the bus lines and railroads," she said. "It’s kind of like what we’re hearing today."

The government rationed supplies of all kinds during the war, including shoes.

"That was especially hard on us ladies," Virginia said.

Another hot news topic at the time had to do with the extensive records the government required business owners to keep on how much they sold and who was buying. Some storeowners had so much paperwork to wade through that they literally closed shop one day a week to take care of it.

"The government was really bearing down on them," Virginia said. "Again, it’s a lot like today. I had forgotten about those things until recently."

After two years of writing about the war effort, the young reporter longed to actually participate, so she left her dream job and moved to Newport to work at the Army Airfield there.

"After a while, me and seven friends took off for Arlington, Texas to work at a military airfield there," Virginia said.

That’s where she met a dashing young flight instructor named Frank R. Burns Jr., the man who would become her husband. When the war ended, the young couple moved to Frank’s hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, where he started a moving company with his father.

Though she never regretted her decision to leave journalism and to start a family, Virginia said she’ll always remember her days during the great war when she fulfilled her dream of being a professional reporter.

"It was a long time ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday," she said. "It was a grand adventure for a hometown girl from Batesville."

Founded in 1907 by E.W. Scripps, UP provided the first news reports of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and in 1945, UP launched the first all-sports wire. In 1950, UP was first to report the outbreak of the Korean War.

UP became known as UPI in 1958, when the agency merged with the International News Service, which was founded in 1909 by William Randolph Hearst.

Today, UPI is a global operation headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in Beirut, Hong Kong, London, Santiago, Seoul and Tokyo. 


Andrea Bruner, assistant managing editor of the Batesville Daily Guard, provided the information about the Batesville News Review for this article.

When Fred T. Griffin, 95, of Batesville, died September 22 at his home, the community lost one of its most celebrated and respected citizens, but Lyon College lost an old friend. 

Mr. Griffin was a native of Batesville and a 1933 alumnus of Lyon College, where he majored in chemistry. 

Born November 11, 1910 in Independence County, he was the son of Finis V. Griffin and Kittie (Davis) Griffin.

At the University of Oklahoma he taught physics as a student teacher, and taught in public schools for a time. He had doctorate degrees in Physics, Ornithology, and Anthropology.

He received an honorary doctorate at Lyon College in 1995 for his accomplishments in radar suppressant devices. He was also associated with the physics department at Harvard University. 

Mr. Griffin was a talented scientist and engineer and parlayed a lifelong fascination with electronics technology into a career of service to the U.S. Navy and to his country.

Inducted into the armed forces in 1942, he was transferred to the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C., in 1944, where he spent the next 31 years engaged in research on radar technology and its military applications. His specialty was radar-jamming devices that would interfere with communication signals sent by enemy vessels.

Over the course of his career, he patented several jamming devices which are still in use on U.S. naval vessels, and several others which are used as testing equipment to ensure that radar jamming equipment on Navy ships performs to the highest possible standard. 

One of the patents he had received was for the Wide Band Noise Generator on October 17, 1967, which is still in use today.

He was also fluent in several languages and frequently served as an interpreter for visiting technical dignitaries from France. He also spoke German and understood some Russian. Fred was an avid birdwatcher, hiker and cyclist.  He was also an artist who won several awards for his paintings. 

In 1995, when Lyon College gave him the honorary doctorate degree, President Walter Roettger called Griffin a "talented scientist and engineer…who parlayed a lifelong fascination with electronics into a career of service to the U.S. Navy and to his country."

"For his creativity and skill as an engineer, his service to his country and his devotion to his alma mater, Lyon College is pleased to confer upon Frederick T. Griffin the degree of Doctor of Humane letters," Dr. Roettger said.

Griffin’s cousins, Dr. Fred Davis, Kitty Cowling, Anne Griffin Moore, Robert T. Griffin, Lois Gordon, and Jack Davis, as well as other distant relatives, survive him. His parents and a sister, Grace Griffin, preceded him in death.

He is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery.

Pipers sweep Lady Cougars

MAYFIELD, Ky. - The Lyon College Pipers had little trouble notching their fifth TranSouth Conference victory, steamrolling winless Mid-Continent 3-0 Saturday afternoon at Mayfield, Ky. Lyon runs its record to 13-5 overall and 5-2 in the TranSouth. Mid-Continent is still searching for its first victory of the season at 0-8 and 0-7.
Head coach Justin Dee's Pipers won the first game 30-15, took the second match 30-19 and finished off the Lady Cougars 30-19 in the final set.
Ann Sullivan of Jonesboro paced the Pipers with 10 kills. Former Jonesboro standout and current Lyon freshman Katie Beineke and Alyson Boone each had seven kills. Leah Eifling led the team in digs with 19 and Sullivan added 18. Lauren Castleberry scored five aces and Julie Arnold added three aces.

Lyon rebounds against Bethel

McKENZIE, Tenn. – The Lyon College Pipers bounced back from a Thursday loss to TranSouth power Martin Methodist to take a 3-1 victory over Bethel College in a conference matchup on Friday. The Pipers took the first game 30-19, lost the second 32-30 and the fought off a third game rally to win 33-31. Lyon then closed out the match with a 30-19 win in the fourth game. Alyson Boone and Katie Beineke of Jonesboro led the Pipers in kills with 12 apiece. Beineke also had 2.5 blocks. Boone had two blocks and two aces. Piper outside hitter Lauren Castleberry of Bono picked up 11 kills.

Soccer

RedHawks sneak past Scots

PULASKI, Tenn. – Tim Akin of Jonesboro and freshman standout Greg Buford each scored a goal for the Lyon College Scots, but Martin Methodistís freshman midfielder Moses Semakula and teammate Fernando Barbeiro had them covered.
Semakula scored two goals and Barbeiro added another in a 3-2 victory for Martin Methodist Sunday in a TranSouth Conference soccer match at Pulaski, Tenn.
Martin Methodist scored first when Semakula's first goal found the net in the 24th minute.
After the half, Akin and the Scots returned fire with a goal in the 50th minute to tie the score off a Buford assist, but Martin Methodist scored the next two goals to push its lead to 3-1 with about 10 minutes left to play
Buford's goal in the 84th minute was his sixth of the season and his third in two games, following a two-goal performance against Cumberland University on Friday.
Lyon keeper Dustin Horton played the full 90 minutes and saved 10 shots, but suffered the loss.
The RedHawks improve to 3-5-1 overall and 2-3 in the league. Lyon drops its second straight conference affair to settle at 5-5-1 and 3-3.

Martin Methodist hands Lyon first TranSouth loss

PULASKI, Tenn. – The No. 1-ranked and defending NAIA National Champion Martin Methodist Lady RedHawks handed the Lyon College Pipers their first TranSouth Conference loss of the season Saturday with a 9-1 rout. Martin's Mizuki Yoshida scored a hat trick and picked up two assists in the victory, helping Martin Methodist to move to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the TranSouth Conference. Lyon's lone goal came from Angelique Armenta in the 53rd minute when she put back a rebound off of a Katy Smith pass.
The Pipers fall to 9-2 overall and 5-1 in the TranSouth Conference.