Dr. John Peek, vice president for academic services and dean of the faculty, said in his letter nominating Dr. Bordeau that she is a "highly regarded and effective classroom instructor," an assessment affirmed by high marks she has received on student evaluations.

"Catherine is also a caring and effective academic adviser," Dr. Peek said. "Her work with students … is exemplary. Notable in this regard are her tireless efforts on behalf of students interested in studying in France for a semester or more."

Dr. Bordeau has led several Nichols International Studies trips to France. The Nichols program courses include two weeks of study abroad as part of the curriculum. She also is administrator of the Lyon-Poitiers Exchange Program.

In the community, she has been an advocate for recycling and is coordinator of the Lyon College Recycling Program and a member of the Independence County Recycling Education Committee.

Dr. Bordeau’s students, in their letters of support, spoke of her thoroughness, her ability to make learning a foreign language fun, and her willingness to help them outside the classroom.

Krystle Perkins, a 2003 Lyon graduate and now a doctoral candidate at the University of Kansas, said, "Students learn not only the French language, but also the history, customs, art and architecture of all French-speaking countries. Her multidisciplinary and global approach to the study of French is successful in opening students’ eyes to many things an educated person should know."

Skye M. Hart, class of ’06 and currently pursuing as master’s degree at Arizona State University, said he initially took introductory-level French to satisfy the college’s foreign language requirement. "Before long," he wrote, "the required two semesters passed, but I still wanted to continue studying French with Dr. Bordeau and so I continued to enroll in French classes, and finally decided to declare my second major in French."

The 2006 Professors of the Year were selected from nearly 300 top faculty members nominated by colleges and universities across the country, according to the Carnegie Foundation.

Nominees are evaluated in four areas: impact on and involvement with undergraduate students; scholarly approach to teaching; service to undergraduate students, institution, community and profession; and support from colleagues and students.

***

CASE, the world’s largest educational association with headquarters in Washington, D.C., began the U.S. Professors of the Year program in 1981 and the Carnegie Foundation, a policy and research center in Menlo Park, Calif., became a co-sponsor a year later. The first state competitions were organized in 1985. (Arkansas joined the state competitions in 1989). It is the only national award program that recognizes college professors for their teaching.

This year there are winners in 43 states, Guam, and the District of Columbia. CASE assembled two preliminary panels of judges to select finalists. The Carnegie Foundation then convened the third and final panel, which selected four national winners. CASE and Carnegie select state winners from top entries resulting from the judging process.

Lyon College, the oldest independent college in Arkansas, is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report in its "American’s Best Colleges" publication. This fall, U.S. News ranked Lyon among the top 40 liberal arts colleges in the country that "offer the best value" in terms of quality and net cost of attendance.

Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable Educational Trust named year’s Outstanding Foundation

Arkansas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals hands out honors as part of National Philanthropy Day

By Lyon College News Bureau

Arkansas was good to Roy and Christine Sturgis, and they returned that favor many times over through the foundation they created to further education in the state.

And on Nov. 15, the Arkansas Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals honored the Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable Educational Trust as the year’s Outstanding Foundation.

At a luncheon banquet held in the Grand Ballroom at the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock, state chapter AFP President Fred Scarborough said is the leading professional association in the world dedicated to harnessing the sprit of philanthropy, and represents more than 27,000 members in 180 chapters in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and China.

Keynote speaker James "Skip" Rutherford, dean of the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center and visiting professor at Lyon College, has held numerous positions of public service.

Some of those roles include the chairmanship of the Board of the William J. Clinton Foundation, administrative assistant to former U.S. Senator David Pryor and president of the Little Rock School Board.

Rutherford said his years of service were shaped in part by an incident he recalled from his boyhood in Batesville. An older neighbor lady named Jenny McKern didn’t have running water in her home and the young Rutherford would help her fill small barrels to take home with her.

One day the boy asked his father why their house had running water and Jenny’s didn’t.

"I’ve been nagged, challenged and haunted by that question ever since," Rutherford said. "It shaped my public service."

The boy’s father told him to talk to the mayor about it, and that’s what he did. Jenny’s eventually did get water run to her home, though Rutherford it had little to do with his conversation with the mayor about it. But the notion of extending a helping hand to a neighbor in need stayed with the boy as he grew into a man.

Sturgis Trust grants make the Clinton School able to offer the high level of education that it does, and will also help enable the school to create a planned Center for Community Philanthropy, Rutherford said.

"The Clinton School wouldn’t be able to offer the excellent educational opportunities that it does without the Sturgis Trust," he said.

Lyon College nominated the Sturgis Trust for the honor in recognition of the benefits it has given to many state institutions including Lyon, Arkansas Tech University, Henderson State University, Ouachita Baptist University, Philander Smith College, Pulaski Technical College, and Clinton School of Public Service, among many.

In 2002, the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences acquired the first state-of-the-art bone imaging equipment in Arkansas or Texas using funds provided by the Sturgis Trust.

Though the Sturgis Trust is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, in 2000 it made it onto the list of the Top 50 Arkansas Foundations by Assets. It came in at No. 15 with assets of more than $15 million as of Dec. 31, 2000.

Neither Roy nor Christine Sturgis ever attended college themselves, but they were very successful in the timber, lumber and sawmill business in Arkansas, and they used the wealth they built to help ensure that college educations are available to others.

Fox 16 news anchor Donna Terrell, serving as mistress of ceremonies, announced the other award winners for the year. Others honored at the banquet include:

• Outstanding Philanthropist, Linda and Rush Harding III.

Nominated by the University of Central Arkansas and Pulaski Academy, both are graduates of UCA, and in 1997 they gave the university over $1.2 million, the largest individual gift UCA had ever received. They’ve also been generous to Pulaski Academy, are active in First United Methodist Church, provide "unparalleled" support to AAU basketball and the North Little Rock Independent School Services organization. The list of their philanthropic endeavors is extensive and ongoing.

• Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser, Judith G. Snowden.

Nominated by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, she began working to help the institution after her daughter was severely injured in an auto crash. The excellent care she received at UAMS Medical Center inspired Snowden to become a "vivid ambassador" for the institution. In Oct. 2005, she took on the role as chairman for the UAMS Hospital Expansion Initiative and its goal of raising $60 million to expand the facility.

• Outstanding Youth Volunteer Fundraiser, Abby Grant.

The 10-year-old and her family raised $30,000 for Arkansas Children’s Hospital to benefit the patients and their families pay for necessities such as lodging, meals transportation, utilities and medications during their treatment. And she did it all while battling Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Abby and her family sold blue bracelets bearing the inscription "Grant Me Strength," a play on her last name. Dubbed "Abby’s Angel Assignments," the fundraising project helped ease the strain of treatment of on many patients and family members. The Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation nominated her for the honor.

• Outstanding Philanthropic Organization, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Auxiliary

Also nominated by the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Foundation, the auxiliary has raised over 43.7 million to help "bridge the gap" between the cost of care and families’ ability to pay.

• Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation, ARVEST

The Arkansas Council on Economic Education nominated them for the honor in recognition of its providing over 4,000 hours of volunteer hours and more than $800,000 in non-profit contributions in 2005 alone. On behalf of the ACEE, ARVEST provides monetary gifts, fundraising events, leads direct mail campaigns, serves on the ACEE board, sponsors a national meeting, conducts awards luncheons for teachers and allows ACEE meetings space in their facilities.

• President’s Award, 2005 Fourth Grade Class at Forest Park Elementary in Little Rock

Under the guidance of teacher Kristen Laughlin, the class began studying a new unit she co-authored called "It Makes Perfect Cents: HOPE – Helping Other People through Enterprise." She created the unit to introduce children to entrepreneurship and philanthropy, all the while demonstrating how important it is to share successes with others. They studied people such as Bill Gates and Sam Walton and learned how to evaluate risk develop the drive to succeed. Using a $20 loan, the students created business plans and made, marketed and sold products during a school sale, donating all proceeds to local charity of their choice. They raised $821 and gave it to organizations such as the Red Cross, the Pulaski County Humane Society and BAPTIST HEALTH.

• Outstanding Professional fundraiser, Fran Carter, CFRE

Mount St. Mary Academy and Youth Home Inc., nominated the Certified Fund Raising Executive for her "exceptional leadership, dedication and communication skills." Since 1996, she has worked in staff leadership positions in various non-profit organizations, including as executive director of Positive Atmosphere Reaches Kids Inc. (P.A.R.K.) Under her leadership, P.A.R.K. grew from an operating budget of $312,000 to more than $500,000 in just two years. She’s also served as Development Director at Youth Home Inc., and has held many leadership roles in the Arkansas Chapter of AFP including two terms as president.

Rutherford said the spirit behind the efforts put forth by all these groups and individuals illustrates the giving nature of the people of the rural South.

"We rank near the bottom in average earnings and near the top in giving," he said. "Nowhere in America is more giving… We need to harness those characteristics…The Jenny McKerns out there are counting on us."

Many of the gentlemen narrators in Southwest humor seemed to distance themselves from their frontier characters, displaying antagonism and scorn toward what one critic calls their "vernacular clowns." Noland's apparent ease with his Pete Whetstone character has been noted, and his use of the first-person viewpoint instead of the standard framework imposed by most gentlemen narrators is artistically groundbreaking as well as personally significant. Pete is given the authority to speak for himself with very little intrusion from Noland as author.

Many scholars suggest that the letters are semiautobiographical and that Pete Whetstone is the comic alter ego of Noland, who was both a cultured, educated gentleman from a prominent Virginian family and an outdoorsman passionately interested in hunting, fishing, horse racing and politics. Unlike other Southwestern humorists, Noland was amused whenever he was publicly identified as his character, probably considering Pete as himself "without refinement, social or political images to uphold, or hesitancy to indulge in the wild and raucous life on the Arkansas frontier."

The Arkansas Classics series seeks to preserve Arkansas' heritage and culture by bringing out-of-print works of timeless Arkansiana to a new readership in brand-new paperback editions.

By Jessica Brents

Some Lyon College students and faculty members recently used their grasp of the Spanish language to reach across cultural lines at the local elementary schools’ parent-teacher conferences.

On Oct. 24, bilingual students, Glenn Ritter and Kristen Scaggs, and faculty members, Monica Rodriguez, Nathan Ponder and David Wood used their knowledge of the Spanish language to help Hispanic parents communicate with their children’s teachers by serving as translators.

The Lyon College chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the national collegiate Hispanic honor society, organized the translation project. Over the past few years, Spanish majors and minors, as well as faculty members, have shared their linguistic abilities and skills with the local schools.

This kind of work allows Lyon to serve the community in a vital way. An increasing number of Hispanic students enroll in classes each year in Batesville, and while their English speaking skills are very good, their parents are still struggling to learn English. This need creates the opportunity for Lyon students and faculty to help and improve their own translation abilities while serving the education community.

Since 2002, Dr. Monica Rodriguez, assistant professor of Spanish, has been going to Central School, along with Sigma Delta Pi and the Spanish club.

"For me, it is sad to see that many parents do not know any English," she said. "It is frustrating that the teachers recommend that the children practice their lessons and write in English in their homes and that their parents cannot help them because they don’t know the language."

She believes that after-school programs are important so Hispanic students can catch up in their classes and learn English. These children, despite their age, can also translate for their parents.

The music of the Beatles to take the stage at Lyon College

Tonight at 9 p.m. in Brown Chapel, Dr. Russell Stinson, Lyon College’s Josephine Emily Brown Professor of Music and College Organist, Kenton Adler, academic services coordinator, and other musicians will plug in and crank out some of rock and roll’s greatest songs when they honor the music of the Beatles.

Dr. Stinson is teaching his Beatles class this semester, and the live show has become a part of the end of the semester wrap-up. The show will be held on the stage at Brown Chapel in order to accommodate audience members from the community as well as the campus, Dr. Stinson said.

For more information on the show, contact Dr. Stinson at (870) 698-4261.

Lyon College’s moot court team recently won three positive verdicts before the gavel came down on them at the Southeastern Regional Moot Court Tournament.

Hosted by Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga., on Nov. 10 and 11, the tournament had students from across the region arguing appellate cases.

Lyon’s team members Amber Hood and Ben Thielemier survived three grueling preliminary rounds on Nov. 10, to advance to the quarterfinals of tournament.

On Nov. 11, when they lost in the quarterfinal round to a team from Patrick Henry College, last year’s national champions.

Moot court is modeled after appellate advocacy. Technically, it’s not the same thing as mock trial, though the two are often confused and as such the terms are often used interchangeably.

The term moot court refers to mock appellate arguments, while the term "mock trial" refers to a mock trial of fact, which is usually a jury trial, Dr. Scott Roulier, associate professor of political science, said.

"Moot court is an appellate exercise; students make arguments, alternating between petitioner and respondent, about legal issues, constitutional issues, raised by the rulings of lower courts," Roulier said.

In the hypothetical case this year, three men were caught entering a federal bank with explosives and detonative devices. They were apprehended because they had been surveilled by the government. The district court was inclined to throw the evidence out because the government used warrantless surveillance. The federal circuit court, however, reversed.

The case presented students with the issues of whether the President of the United States, under Article II or the Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), has power to engage in warrantless surveillance of American citizens; and whether the Fourth Amendment or FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) were violated when warrantless surveillance was conducted on American citizens.

Roulier said that for the first several years that Lyon College participated in moot court, there was an Arkansas meet held each year.

"We tended to dominate (those meets)," Roulier said. "Now there are regional qualifying tournaments for a big national finals."

Several of Roulier’s current seniors who are "moot court types" plan to attend law school, including Keith Harmon, Leila Awwad, Amber Colvin and Alison Sablick.

"They’re all excellent mooters and students," he said. "All of them did well on the LSAT and will be accepted to law school."

Thielemier is interested in the allied health professions and environmental policy, and hasn’t decided whether or not he’ll go to law school. Hood intends to study English literature at the graduate level

As Thielemier and Hood demonstrate, many kinds of students benefit from the rigors of moot court, Roulier said.

"The most successful team we had a few years back was composed of Mike Horan and Melanie Morrison," he said. "Mike is heading for culinary school in Italy and Melanie is a teacher in Little Rock. One of our very best mooters, George Jared, is now a journalist."

Several of Lyon College’s past mooters are currently in law school, including Caroline Bednar, who is participating in moot court at the law school level, Emily Andersen who is attending the University of Arkansas law school, and Tony Davis and Jonathan Bunch, both attending UALR.

LEBANON, Tenn. -- Lyon College's first trip to the Region XI Tournament was an educational one, as the Campbellsville Lady Tigers schooled the tournament rookies in three hard fought games, 30-27, 30-20 and 30-26 Friday evening in the region's first round.

Junior Daria Paunovic and freshman Katie Beineke earned seven kills apiece for the Pipers while senior teammate Alyson Boone pitched in five.

Piper libero Ann Sullivan picked up a team-high 18 digs and Lauren Castleberry had 10. Julie Arnold accounted for 11 assists and four aces and Jessica Sylvester had 13 assists and three aces.

Lyon ends the program's most successful season to date at 19-14 overall.

JONESBORO, Ark. -- Jonathan Donaldson scored a game-high 17 points, but the Lyon Scots had very little else going for them on the wrong end of an 87-51 rout courtesy of the Arkansas State Indians Saturday at the Convocation Center.

The Scots shot only 33 percent from the field (20 of 60) and 46 percent from the charity stripe (6 of 13), while Donaldson shot 7 of 13 from the field and 2 of 4 from the 3-point line.

The Indians were led by the trio of Adrian Banks, Isaac Wells and Ryan Wedel, who carved the Scots for a combined 44 points on 13-of-30 shooting, including a 6-of-14 clip from the 3-point arc. Banks led the Indians (2-3) with 16 points and Wells and Wedel added 14 apiece.

As a team, ASU hit on 48 percent of its field-goal attempts (28 of 58) and gunned down 41 percent (7 of 17) of its 3-point tries. The Indians hit on 50 percent of their triples in the first half to jump to a 49-26 advantage at the half.

Preston Butts added seven points for the Scots and teammates Brandon Thomas, Trey Salley and Alex Kelly earned five each.

The game was an exhibition for the Scots, who remain at 3-3 on the year.

SILOAM SPRINGS -- College of the Ozarks had five players score in double figures and turned an eight-point game at the half into a full-scale blowout by the end of the contest in an 82-58 victory over the Lyon College Pipers Saturday in the John Brown University Classic.

CofO remained undefeated this season in seven games via a game-high 21 points from Janessa Demuth and double-digit outings from teammates Lindsy Murray, Kayli Combs, Josie Sparkman and Allison Rader. Murray picked up 15 points, Sparkman added 13, Combs had 11 and Rader 10.

Lyon (2-4) was within striking distance at the half, trailing 38-30, but after the break the contest belonged to CofO alone. College of the Ozarks shot 77 perecent from the field in the second half and outscored the Pipers 44-28 to break the game open.

Maribeth Waters paced the Pipers with 16 points and teammate April Carter added nine.