September 18, 2006

GREENSHEET HEADLINES • Novelist to visit Lyon Tuesday • Naturalist who re-discovered the ‘extinct’ ivory billed woodpecker speaks at Lyon College • Taiko Performance and Workshop to be held Oct. 7 • Lyon professor travels to Italy to study groundbreaking approach to early childhood education • Lyon College Pipe Band offers ringtones from its CD • Career Services to host pair of events • Lyon Night at Speedway is Saturday • Sports • Volleyball • Soccer

Famed teacher Jaime Escalante to speak at Lyon Thursday night The subject of an acclaimed motion picture is coming to Lyon College to speak about his unique – and highly successful – style of education. Jaime Escalante will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 21, in Brown Chapel Auditorium in conjunction with the fall meeting of the President’s Council the following day. Escalante is a high school teacher whose students – mostly underprivileged and Hispanic – have set standards in mathematics that are all but unequaled in American education. In 1988, the popular movie about his life, “Stand and Deliver,” became one of the year’s most acclaimed films. Edward James Olmos of “Miami Vice” TV series fame played him in the film. His fascinating and inspirational story gives a vivid picture of a man some have called a “genius in the teaching profession.” The subject of the book “Escalante: The Best Teacher in America,” Escalante is an immigrant from Bolivia, He was officially inducted into the Teachers Hall of Fame in 1999. “I’m just a math teacher,” Escalante says. “I’m just helping my students achieve their highest degree of personal development.” But his persistent, challenging and inspiring teaching methods have made his school the seventh-ranked high school in this country in calculus despite being plagued by poor funding, constant violence, and atrocious working conditions. “I don’t believe in the gifted,” he said. “If they have ganas (Spanish for desire), I can make them do it.” He taught math and physics in Bolivia for 11 years until 1964, when he immigrated to the U.S. After receiving an associate of arts degree in electronics, he worked with Burroughs Corp. in the U.S. He later took a considerable cut in pay to become a math teacher at Garfield High in East Los Angeles in 1974. Escalante’s appearance is being held in conjunction with the fall meeting of the Lyon College President’s Council, which will be held Friday, Sept. 22. The President’s Council is composed of distinguished business and civic leaders from across the state and nation who provide support and counsel to Lyon President Walter B. Roettger, the college’s Board of Trustees, administration and faculty.

Acclaimed novelist to speak at Lyon College

The Washington Post calls Kevin Brockmeier a “thrilling” storyteller, The Chicago Tribune gave him its Nelson Algren Award, and The Oxford American named him one of the Best Writers of the South.

He’ll visit Lyon College Tuesday as part of the Contemporary Writers Series. At 11 a.m. in Bevens Music Room, he’ll give a lecture, and at 7:30 p.m., he’ll give a reading, also in the Bevens Music Room. Both events are free and open to the public.

Brockmeier is the author of the novels, “The Brief History of the Dead” and “The Truth About Celia,” the story collection “Things That Fall From the Sky,” and the children's novels “City of Names” and “Grooves: A Kind of Mystery.”

Some of Brockmeirer’s other awards include three O. Henry Prizes, the Italo Calvino Short Fiction Award, and the James Michener/Paul Engle Fellowship. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he also taught, Brockmeier is a native Arkansan and lives in Little Rock.

The Lyon College Visiting Writers Series, the Visiting Fellowship in Creative Writing, and the Heasley Prize Reading Series all provide outstanding opportunities to anyone interested in reading – or writing – fiction, poetry, drama and creative non-fiction.

Andrea Hollander Budy, Lyon’s Writer-in-Residence, initiated the Visiting Writers Series in 1991 when she joined the faculty, and the series immediately began drawing both Lyon students and members of the community to hear authors read from, and speak about, their work.

For more information on the Contemporary Writers Series, contact Budy at ahbudy@lyon.edu.
 

Naturalist who re-discovered the ‘extinct’ ivory billed woodpecker speaks at Lyon College

By Wil Shane
Lyon College News Bureau
(Photo by Eric Stewart)

When it comes to re-discovering an animal species thought lost to extinction, sometimes “it’s amazing where dumb luck will lead you.”

Entrepreneur and naturalist Gene Sparling, who was the first to see an ivory-billed woodpecker alive since 1944, visited the Lyon College campus Tuesday, Sept. 12, to present a lecture on the bird as part of scheduled Convocation events.

An avid bird watcher during his youth, Sparling (pictured at right with Dr. Tom Carpenter, chairman of the Convocations Committee) told the audience he’d been fascinated by accounts of the extinct woodpecker since his boyhood and had often dreamed of finding it alive.

The first time authorities classified the ivory bill as extinct was in 1900, but naturalist Arthur Allen found a small group living in Florida in the 1920s. About a decade later, the only known surviving ivory bills lived in northeast Louisiana on a tract of land owned by the Singer Company.

However, Singer officials cared nothing about preserving the bird or its habitat and logged the area until only a single snag still stood in a clear-cut area. A snag is a standing dead tree often inhabited by woodpeckers of many types. This snag housed the last remaining ivory bills known to science, but in April 1944, a storm blew it down and no more sightings were confirmed until Sparling made his landmark discovery in 2004.

“It’s amazing where dumb luck can lead you,” he told the audience.

Sparling first spotted the ivory-billed woodpecker in the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge, a find that led to an extensive search in Arkansas. Since his initial observation in February 2004, Sparling has been actively involved in the search, serving as the project’s co-manager and working in the conservation and land acquisition efforts as well as public and community relations efforts.

Sparling, who began exploring the Big Woods in his kayak in 2003, has sought out wild and natural places throughout his life, exploring Arkansas’ Ozark and Ouachita mountains, as well the Rocky Mountains, and Mexico’s Baja Peninsula. A native of Springfield, Mo., Sparling lives in Hot Springs, Ark.

“I heard there were 300-year-old trees in the Big Woods, so I wanted to see them and explore the area for my own enjoyment,” Sparling said. “I found out that, in fact, some of those trees are 1,000 to 1,200 years old. You can go see them and touch them.”

On a “cold winter morning,” Sparling set out in his kayak to explore the Big Woods and its swamp. On the second day of his excursion, he entered the old growth section of the swamp.

“You didn’t have to be an expert to know I’d entered an ancient, primeval forest,” he said.

While resting and observing the forest, he spotted a large woodpecker dropping through the treetops. It landed 60 feet away and he noticed the bird’s crest was red and laid down flat, coming to point. It had a light colored bill and a white saddle on its wing tips. The white extending to the trailing edge of the wings is a sure sign it’s an ivory bill and not the similar looking pileated woodpecker, he said.

When it flew away, he noticed it had a different flight pattern that a pileated, but he wasn’t ready to admit to himself – or to anyone else – that he’d seen the fabled ivory bill.

“Saying you saw an ivory bill is like saying you saw Sasquatch or been abducted by aliens,” he said. “…The entire experience lasted mere seconds. And it changed my life.”

The ivory-billed woodpecker once inhabited swampy forests in the southeastern and lower Mississippi valley states. Sightings were recorded from North Carolina to Florida and west to eastern Texas and Arkansas, with some reports in Kentucky, Missouri and Oklahoma in the 1800s. John James Audubon reported ivory bills as far north as the junction of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers around 1825.

Averaging about 20 inches in length, the ivory-bill is frequently mistaken for the smaller but similarly marked pileated woodpecker. Ornithologists distinguish the two by the location of the white wing feathers. When seen from above, the full-width white patch in the ivory bill’s trailing wing feathers folds to form a white “saddle” on its back when the bird is perched. Males have a prominent scarlet crest; the female’s crest is black.

Sparling said he posted a “veiled reference” to the sighting on the Arkansas Canoe Club website, and heard from people encouraging him to take the sighting more seriously. That led to him doing more research on the bird. He found that Arkansas is in the historical range of the ivory bill.

He then corresponded with Tim Gallagher at Cornell University, which has one of the top ornithology departments in the world. The two men, along with ivory-bill enthusiast and authority Bobby Harrison of Alabama, met at Bayou De View to look for the bird.

Again, on the second day of the trip, Harrison and Gallagher spotted the bird for themselves.

“It was a powerful moment for all of us,” Sparling said.

Cornell University, working in conjunction with the Arkansas Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, organized the largest search for an endangered species in U.S. history, utilizing 30 full-time and 70 part-time searchers.

“I wanted someone from Arkansas to lead conservation efforts, so I took it to Scott Simon at The Nature Conservancy,” Sparling said. “That’s the best thing I did in this whole thing.”

The search led to 15 confirmed sightings but no photographs other than a brief glimpse of an ivory bill on videotape. The team enhanced the video at Cornell and it clearly shows an ivory bill flying away from the searchers shooting video from a canoe.

The team submitted their evidence to the Journal of Science and they published it as a cover story.

“The resulting reaction took everyone by surprise,” Sparling said. “We heard from people from all over the world who wanted to know more. Calls came in from Hanoi, Paris, Calcutta. It was amazing.”

Of the 550,000 acres of swamp and forest in the Big Woods, 320,000 acres are now in conservation. But to ensure the survival of the magnificent bird, the remaining acreage must be conserved as well, according to Sparling.

“This has been a dream from my childhood,” Sparling said. “A marvelous dream has been laid before me, and before us all.”

“Ordinary people” with extraordinary dedication is what it will take to ensure the survival of the ivory-billed woodpecker, he added.

“Ordinary people can have a powerful effect in this world,” Sparling said. “You can have an effect of which you’ve only dreamed.”

 

Taiko Performance and Workshop to be held Oct. 7

As part of this year's Japan Lecture Series, the St. Louis Osuwa Taiko, a Japanese drum ensemble, will perform and present a workshop Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006, from 3 – 4:30 p.m. in Brown Chapel Auditorium at Lyon College.

The original Osuwa Taiko was formed by Grandmaster Daihachi Oguchi in Suwa, Japan. In 1986, Oguchi visited St. Louis (sister city of Suwa) and helped form the first Osuwa Taiko in St. Louis. The group was disbanded several years later when members went away to pursue their tertiary education elsewhere.

St. Louis Osuwa Taiko was restarted at Washington University in September of 1996 with the return of Joe Kimura, one of the founding members of the original St. Louis Osuwa Taiko. Since then, the group has grown and they have been performing at numerous events and occasions mostly in the mid-western region of the United States.
 

Lyon professor travels to Italy to study groundbreaking approach to early childhood education

One of Lyon College’s most experienced educators went back to school this past spring to learn more about a revolutionary approach to early childhood education developed in Italy in the wake of World War II.

Dr. Patricia Whitfield, Lyon’s Rountree Caldwell Bryan Professor of Education, traveled to Reggio Emilia, Italy this past May to join 150 other teaching professionals from across the world to study the “Reggio Emilia Approach” to educating infants and toddlers.

“Italy was devastated after the Second World War,” Dr. Whitfield said. “They knew children were their future and they wanted to build a new kind of school for young children.”

While most pre-schools were run by the Catholic Church at the time, this new approach was to be a community-based effort. The Reggio Emilia town council approved the request to develop the school and organizers raised funds by stripping a Nazi tank and truck and selling the scrap in 1946, Dr. Whitfield said.

By the 1960s, there were 17 Reggio Emilia schools operating in Italy. Since then, Reggio Emilia schools have been established in several countries, including the U.S. Dr. Whitfield said one such school is located as close as St. Louis, Mo.

The St. Louis Reggio Collaborative is a network of three schools and one university.

The Reggio Emilia Approach respects children as competent, actively engages parents in the learning process and creates healthy environments.

In fact, the physical environment is crucial to the Reggio Emilia program. The planning of new spaces and the remodeling of old ones include the integration of each classroom with the rest of the school, and the school with its surrounding community.

The preschools are often filled with indoor plants and vines, and doors to the outside are found in each classroom. Building entries grab the attention of both children and adults through the use of mirrors on the walls, floors and ceilings. Photographs and children’s work accompanied by transcriptions of their discussions are often displayed as well.

The Hundred Languages of Children is a traveling art exhibit that illustrates the Reggio Emilia Approach’s idea that “art is making thought visible,” and that “children and artists are discoverers of new ways to see the world.”

Children are encouraged to depict their understanding through one of many symbolic languages including drawing, sculpture, dramatic play and writing. Teachers facilitate and then observe debates regarding the extent to which a child’s drawing or other form of representation lives up to the child’s intent.

“Learning goes beyond words and must support children’s hands as well as their minds,” Dr. Whitfield said. “It’s a very exciting concept.”

Before joining the Lyon College faculty in 1999, Dr. Whitfield served as dean and educator in Heritage College’s education and psychology division in Toppenish, Wash., and Dean of the School of Education at Dakota State University in Madison, S.D.

She’s published numerous articles and professional papers, as well as the book, “Widening the Circle: Assuring Quality Education for American Indian Children,” published by Routledge Press in 2002.

After earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, she went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Nevada and a doctorate from the Brigham Young University.

Even a teaching professional with a diversified background can learn news ways of opening the doors to young minds.

“It was a significant and inspiring dimension to my Sabbatical,” Dr. Whitfield said.

Lyon College Pipe Band ‘cells’ out

The sound of the Lyon College Pipe Band will soon be only a phone call away.

Scottish Heritage Director Jimmy Bell said ringtones from the Pipe Band’s CD can soon be downloaded for free by logging onto the Lyon College Web site and clicking on “What’s Hot.”

Kenton Adler, Lyon’s academic services coordinator, will make a page with links to three different ringtones, including the “Lyon College March,” “Mairi’s Wedding” and “Amazing Grace.”

“The files I'm supplying will be one minute or so in length, and the person downloading them then tailors them to their personal preference,” Adler said.

Adler also has all the MP3s from the CD and “could essentially make them available any time.”

The entire Lyon College Pipe Band CD is also available in the Lyon College Bookstore.
  
Career Services to host pair of events

Lyon College Career Services is sponsoring two important upcoming events for Lyon students, including freshmen and sophomores, who are considering even the possibility of attending graduate school.

On Tuesday, September 26, the Grad School Expo 2006 will take place from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Lower Union in Ed’s. Approximately 20 graduate schools and organizations will be represented including medical schools, law schools, business programs, and many others. Greg Maloney, Career Services Director, hopes that a large number of students will attend. “It provides juniors and seniors the opportunity to meet representatives of schools in which they have interest, and provides all students, including freshmen and sophomores, the opportunity to learn more about graduate schools. Good attendance also makes it much easier to attract more graduate schools to visit Lyon.” The event is free and no registration is required. For more information and a current list of schools, go to www.career.lyon.edu or contact Career Services at 698-4264, e-mail ddickey@lyon.edu.

On Saturday, September 30, beginning at 9 a.m. in the Lyon Building, FREE Practice Graduate School Admissions Tests will be offered. Through the courtesy of Kaplan Inc., students will have the opportunity to take practice versions of the GRE; MCAT; LSAT; GMAT; DAT; OAT; & PCAT. According to Maloney, “This event gives students the opportunity to experience real test conditions, including time limitations, get a feel for the test content, and identify weaknesses to address before they take the actual test.” Although the tests are offered free of charge, students MUST pre-register with Career Services before September 25 to ensure that space and tests are available. To register, stop by the Career Center in the Lyon Building, call 698-4264, or e-mail ddickey@lyon.edu. Again, there is no charge but students must pre-register for the tests.

Lyon Night at the Speedway is Saturday

The date of this year's Lyon Night at the Speedway has been changed to Saturday, Sept. 23, because of a schedule change at the Batesville Speedway. The Batesville Area Chapter of Alumni, Parents, and Friends invites you and your guests to the event at the Speedway, located on Highway 25 at Locust Grove. Races start at 7:30 p.m. This will be the final night of racing for the 2006 season. Admission is free. To get your tickets, call Kay Rush at (870) 698-4240 or e-mail krush@lyon.edu.

Sports

Volleyball

Pipers victorious in finale

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Coach Justin Dee notched his 100th victory as a college head coach Sunday in the Lyon College Pipers’ 3-0 match victory over the Mississippi College Lady Choctaws on the final day of the Rhodes College Tournament.

Dee’s overall head-coaching record now stands at 100-78.

The Pipers won the first game 30-25, took the second 31-29 and rallied from a 19-11 deficit to take the third game and the match, 30-24.

Daria Paunovic led the team in kills with 11 while teammate Alison Sablick notched six. Ann Sullivan recorded 34 digs, Jessica Sylvester had 18 assists and Leah Eifling added seven assists and four aces.

Lyon’s victory broke a two-game slide at the tournament and improved the Pipers’ record to 8-3 on the season.

The Pipers victory was dampened by an injury to setter Julie Arnold, who suffered a concussion on a collision with a teammate. The concussion was reported to be mild, but Arnold was taken to the hospital for further examination.

“We enjoyed getting the win,” said Dee, “but I think I speak for everyone on our team when I say, our thoughts and prayers are with Julie.”


Soccer

Scots roll past Lambuth

JACKSON, Tenn. – Another TranSouth Conference game, another shutout for the Lyon College Scots.

The latest league shutout took place on Saturday when the Scots held the Lambuth Eagles to only two shots on goal in a 1-0 win.

Lyon College’s shutout was its third of the season and its second straight over a conference foe. Previous shutout wins included 2-0 blankings of Central Baptist College and TranSouth opponent Crichton College.

Freshman Greg Buford scored the only goal of the game and his third of the season when Peter Smith found him with a pass in the 79th minute.

Freshman Matt Callaway and junior Dustin Horton shared duties in goal again for the Scots and split the shutout. Horton (3-0-0) earned the win and had two saves.

Scots head coach Jeremy Bishop credited his defense and his midfield for playing a major role in the small amount of chances the Eagles got on goal.

"We started the year with just three players in the back," he said, "and lately we've been going with four. I think that's helped us cover more ground and keep the ball out of the net.

"Our midfielders have also done a tremendous job of picking up players," continued Bishop. "That's helped quite a bit with keeping the ball out of our side of the field."

Lyon College improves to 4-2-1 overall and stands at 2-0 in the league. The Scots host Freed-Hardeman for a TranSouth Conference game at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Pipers blast Lambuth, 6-1

JACKSON, Tenn. – Led by sophomore forward Sarah Poncher’s second two-goal performance of the year, the Lyon College Pipers erupted for a season-high six goals in a 6-1 victory over the Lambuth Lady Eagles in TranSouth Conference play.

In addition to Poncher’s two-goal outburst, the Pipers received a goal and an assist each from Aurora Alba, Kristen Grant, Katy Smith and Angelique Armenta.

Alba scored the first goal of the game to give the Pipers a 1-0 lead in the first half, but Lambuth rallied to tie the score at 1-all on a goal from Raena Bryant.

The Bryant goal was the Lady Eagles’ last as Lyon fired two more unanswered goals into the net in the first half and three more in the second to win going away.

Stephanie Henderson moved to 5-1-0 in goal for the Pipers, who move to 5-1-0 overall and 2-0 in the TranSouth Conference play. Lambuth drops to 1-4-1 and 1-1 in the league.

Lyon’s next scheduled game is Tuesday at 4 p.m. when the Pipers host Freed-Hardeman for a TranSouth Conference tilt.

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