The Promise

Campaign Cabinet
Frank Lyon Jr.
Honorary Chair
James D. Simpson III
Co-Chair
Robert A. Young III
Co-Chair
Barbara Hoover
Doyle Rogers Jr.
Charles B. Whiteside III

The Promise: Fifteen years ago, a group of business and civic leaders concerned with the future of our state and nation embraced a vision of educational excellence that launched the transformation of a small regional commuter school into a liberal arts college of national consequence. Anchored by a farsighted strategic plan and driven by the “Campaign for Lyon: Fulfilling the Promise,” Lyon College elevated itself into the ranks of the nation’s best colleges. The “Promise of Lyon” has always been a promise to Arkansas. With its award-winning faculty, first-class academic facilities and its pristine highlands campus, Lyon College now attracts many of the best students in Arkansas and the region, providing them a liberal arts education of superior quality in a personalized setting. At Lyon, their lives are changed: intellect is honed; character is formed. Lyon graduates are eagerly sought by graduate and professional schools in Arkansas and beyond and by employers in the state and elsewhere. Today, Lyon alumni are increasingly visible in leadership roles in their professions and communities, fulfilling the promise of a brighter future for Arkansas and the region.

The Vision: Lyon College has become a very good institution with a growing impact on Arkansas and the region. We have become one of the best liberal arts colleges in the south-central United States. Our ultimate goal remains true greatness, providing for the sons and daughters of Arkansas and the nation educational opportunities that are second to none. Inspired by this vision and with the successes and lessons of the past strategic plan in mind, the campus community has developed a successor Strategic Plan for Lyon College: 2005-2010. Our mission remains unchanged. But, emboldened by our success, the vision of this new Plan has become more ambitious: we intend to grow and to further develop so that we are, and are recognized as, one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the South.

In doing so, we will be better able to provide an education second to none for coming generations of students. We will be better able to keep bright young men and women in their home state; we will be better able to attract talented youngsters from surrounding states where Arkansas has not been regarded as a destination for higher education. We will be better able to change lives, adding to the talent pool that all Arkansas businesses, not-for-profit organizations and communities depend upon for future leaders. More than ever before, an investment in Lyon promises enduring dividends to sons and daughters of Arkansas, the region and its business and civic communities.

This vision of a greater Lyon – of a Lyon that is, and is recognized as, one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the South – will require perseverance, courage, integrity, ingenuity and responsibility. These are qualities that are abundantly evident in the men and women of the Lyon teaching and learning community. This vision will also require investment in scholarships, facilities and programs. While student-based revenues provide an increasing income stream for the College, they alone are insufficient to underwrite The Strategic Plan for 2005-2010. To accomplish the ambitious objectives of the strategic plan, Lyon must enlist broad-based support from others who share the dream of a brighter future for Arkansas – those alumni, parents and friends who understand that distinction comes
first to those willing to invest and work hard to achieve it. Together, through The Campaign for Distinction, we will raise $30 million over the next five years.

Goals of the Campaign for Distinction: The Campaign for Distinction will raise $30 million for annual scholarships, endowment, capital projects and restricted programs in accordance with our Strategic Plan for Lyon College: 2005-2010.

Annual Scholarships: $12 million. At present, more than 90 percent of Lyon students receive some form of need-based or merit-based financial assistance. Presently, about 80 percent of Lyon students come from Arkansas, a state with one of the nation’s lowest per capita incomes. Need-based awards are vitally important so that the Lyon educational experience is accessible to students whose choices might otherwise be limited to institutions where their chances of receiving a bachelor’s degree in four years are significantly less than at Lyon. Merit-based awards are equally important to draw the best and brightest students to Lyon. Presently, the College invests about $3.5 million annually from institutional sources for need- and merit-based aid. The Campaign for Distinction targets $3 million in each of the first three years of the campaign for annual scholarships and $1.5 million per year for the last two. These annual scholarships will underwrite the current College financial aid budget, but most important, these dollars will assist talented students in receiving the unique, top quality education that only Lyon can provide.

Endowment: $10 million. Endowment is a symbol of institutional strength and a source of financial resources. The Campaign for Distinction seeks $10 million in unrestricted gifts to the endowment. Along with appreciation from conservative spending practices and projected market growth, this will increase the College’s endowment to $55 million and ensure the longevity and vitality of Lyon’s one-of-a-kind programs such as the student-run Honor System, Nichols International Studies Program, and residential House System.

Capital Projects: $6 million. In most respects, Lyon’s academic facilities are among the region’s finest. The time is ripe to turn attention to other key areas of the campus that nurture the body and spirit as well as the mind. These areas originally were intended to serve a commuter population and now are inadequate for a sophisticated residential campus. The Strategic Plan for Lyon College: 2005-2010 identifies the following priorities:

Improved health, fitness, and recreation and special events space: $5 million to renovate, air-condition and expand Becknell Gymnasium to create a contemporary health, fitness and recreation center that will also provide space for special events such as convocations and concerts. Features will include a high quality student fitness center, welcoming lobby with concession area and restrooms, adequate offices for faculty and staff, ADA-compliant access to the city’s only indoor swimming pool, renovated tennis courts; and, renovated workout and playing spaces for intramural and varsity sports.

Improvements to Edwards Commons: $1 million to renovate Edwards Commons. Like Becknell, Edwards Commons is increasingly challenged to serve our growing residential population. As enrollment grows toward and beyond 600 full-time students as envisioned in the Strategic Plan, the Commons will need improved student programming space, office space for student life staff and dining facilities/serving areas.

Other facilities priorities: Residence halls, Brown Chapel and Fine Arts Building (last renovated in 1980), Alphin’s Kresge Gallery and art studio space will all present opportunities during the next five years, and additional capital needs may emerge.

Restricted Programs: $2 million. The Campaign includes $2 million for restricted programs in anticipation of gifts that donors wish to direct to special projects and programs outside the annual scholarship, endowment and capital needs outlined above. In particular, the College will seek funds for professional development of faculty and staff.

Goals of the Campaign for Distinction
Annual Scholarships Endowment Capital Projects Restricted Programs Total	Amount $12 million $10 million $6 million $ 2 million $30 million

Courage. Vision. Loyalty. The people of Lyon College share these qualities, and they are qualities inherent in our past, present and future success. Together, we can surmount obstacles; together, we can raise $30 million over the next five years to enable Lyon students in their pursuit of lives of distinction. Fifteen years ago, we shared a dream. Together, we believed in and achieved that vision. Now we embrace the next step, a vision grounded in Lyon’s Presbyterian heritage and energized by its recent achievements. Together, we envision a more brilliant future for Lyon and her people, a future that ensures affordable, accessible education of highest quality for eager minds in a stimulating environment with spaces designed to encourage free intellectual inquiry while promoting physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Our vision is an ambitious one that remains loyal to Lyon’s heritage and mission. Together, with brave hearts and loyal spirits, we can assure more brilliant futures for Lyon students. We can become a college of distinction.