Since the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) began the U.S. Professor of the Year program in 1981, 13 Lyon College professors have won the honor for Arkansas—one of them twice. 

The U.S. Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country—those who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. It is one of the most prestigious awards honoring professors.

Lyon's record of 14 Professor of the Year Awards is unmatched by any other liberal arts college in the country.

Lyon College past and present Arkansas Professors of the Year include the following: 

• 2008 - Dr. Tim Lindblom, Associate Professor of Biology
• 2006 - Dr. Catherine Bordeau, Associate Professor of French
• 2005 - Dr. Scott M. Roulier, Associate Professor of Political Science
• 2004 - Dr. Mark D. Schram, Associate Professor of Biology
• 2003 - Dr. Robert G. Gregerson, the Bryan Associate Professor of Biology* 
• 2001 - Dr. Helen W. Robbins, Associate Professor of English
• 2000 - Dr. Robert G. Gregerson, the Bryan Associate Professor of Biology
• 1999 - Dr. David Stricklin, Associate Professor of History
• 1998 - Dr. James Rulla, Associate Professor of Mathematics
• 1997 - Dr. Bart Lewis, the Fulbright Professor of Modern Languages
• 1994 - Dr. Scott Peterson, the Bryan Professor of Biology
• 1992 - Dr. Terrell L. Tebbetts, the Martha Heasley Cox Chair of American Literature
• 1991 - Dr. George E. Lankford, Professor Emeritus of Folklore
• 1989 - Dr. Roberta Bustin, Professor Emerita of Chemistry

*Arkansas's only professor to receive the Professor the Year Award twice.