Lyon College announced the student members of its new Public Health Ambassadors program on March 4. 

The program will aid in the College’s efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19 by promoting peer education between students. The ambassadors will act as role models, demonstrating how to follow safety protocols and incentivizing proper behavior through positive reinforcement.

Campus members and organizations that consistently follow the COVID-19 protocols can be rewarded by ambassadors with gift cards, Salty Dog drinks, pizza parties and other prizes.

Ambassadors will report to the Dean of Students and COVID Coordinator. They will conduct rounds during their weekly shifts and may be assigned specific College events to monitor.

The following students were selected by the College to serve as ambassadors this semester:

• Klaudija Bacovic, of Igalo Herceg Novi, Montenegro
• Daisy Connor, of Van Buren, Ark.
• Daria Giles, of Marion, Ark.
• Chase Griffith of Bay City, Texas
• Conner Guntharp, Walnut Ridge, Ark.
• Kasey Meyer, of Chillicothe, Ohio
• Logan Richerson, of Lonoke, Ark.
• Emerson Smith, of Little Rock, Ark.

COVID Coordinator Shawn Tackett believes Lyon College has chosen a great group of students to be ambassadors.

“They are very knowledgeable about the protocols and are involved in many different groups and activities on campus,” Tackett said. “This allows them to feel comfortable approaching people.”

He continued, “I look forward to working with this group of students to help keep our campus as safe as we can.”

Junior Daisy Connor wanted to make sure students’ concerns are being acknowledged in regards to the College’s protocols while helping keep the community safe through the pandemic.

“The goal is to reward those who are following protocols and to report any ideas that will help the campus run more smoothly during these times,” she said.

Sophomore Conner Guntharp saw the ambassador program as an opportunity to get some experience for a career in the medical field.

“I have always been interested in helping people with their health,” Guntharp said. “I hope to keep our spread and case numbers down so that we can keep the campus open and be able to hold events and sports.”

Freshman Kasey Meyer said she was inspired to join the program after going through the quarantine and contact tracing process herself earlier this semester.

“I want to help prevent others from having to go through that as well,” she said. “I hope to encourage my peers to follow the rules because the sooner the spread is stopped, the sooner we can get back on track.”

Junior Chase Griffith said the program’s mission is personal to him. Both of his parents would be at high risk if they caught COVID, he said, so he wanted to expedite the process of campus becoming fully safe.

“Also, a lot of my friends were seniors last year, and they were heartbroken about not having in-person graduation,” Griffith said. “I want to try to avoid that this year.” 

Lyon College's newly installed Pi Omega chapter of the Pi Delta Phi National French Honor Society held their first induction ceremony on Feb. 26 while alumni and representatives from the national organization attended virtually.

French students at Lyon College can join a national honor society for the first time.

The French department held an installation ceremony on Feb. 26 for the College’s new Pi Omega chapter of the Pi Delta Phi National French Honor Society. The Pi Omega chapter then inducted its first official members: Assistant Professor of Romance Languages Dr. James Martell, seniors John Pruden, Tyler Brightwell and Laura Mendez and junior Wilson Borkowski.

The following alumni and friends of the College were inducted as honorary members for their investment in the French program:

• Lauren Kuykendall
• Alexandra Patrono-Smith
• Alexa Overton
• Austin Johnson
• Jacey Flatte-Shrum
• Brian Hunt
• Beatrice Moore

Martell said he was excited to add a chapter of Pi Delta Phi to the College’s French program, crediting students like Pruden for pushing to make it a reality. 

“I am thankful we were able to get this done,” Pruden said. “It’s been in motion for a very long time.”

He continued, “This signifies the growth of the French department. Being part of this organization is a great honor and will help our program thrive.”

Freshman Madison Burrell said she looks forward to the new opportunities the honor society will provide for Lyon students.

Martell said students and alumni in Pi Delta Phi have the opportunity to network in the United States, France and other francophone countries. 

“The honor society has grants for language study in France that will help our students with their French and francophone studies,” he said. “This is a big opportunity for the College.”

Alexa Overton, ’17, said she was glad to hear that a French honor society had been added at Lyon.

“I wasn’t able to join during my time,” she said. “It’s cool that it’s becoming an opportunity like the honor societies that other departments have.”

“I’m thrilled to see the program growing and thriving,” said Austin Johnson, ’17.

Dr. Cassia Oliveira will give the Williamson Prize Lecture on Tuesday, March 9, at 11 a.m. in the Nucor Auditorium of the Lyon Building.

Lyon College awarded the Lamar Williamson Prize for Excellence in Teaching to Oliveira for the 2019-20 academic year. The College awards this prize annually to the faculty member considered the most outstanding in four categories: professional competence, scholarly ability, exemplary humane values and contributions to the community.

Oliveira, Associate Professor of Biology, will present “Metagenomic Analysis of Microbial Diversity in Ozark Caves.”

Her research training emphasizes genetics and evolutionary biology, focusing on understanding the process of speciation by studying traits that are responsible for reproductive isolation in the early stages of species divergence.

Since joining Lyon College in 2012, Oliveira has published a book chapter and co-authored seven scientific papers that have been published in internationally recognized journals.

“For the Williamson Prize talk, I will be presenting the results of a research project that I have been involved with for the past six years in collaboration with Dr. David Thomas and several Lyon students.”

In 2017, the group published some of their results in an article, “16S rRNA Gene-Based Metagenomic Analysis of Ozark Cave Bacteria,” in the journal Diversity. 

“Five Lyon students were co-authors in the paper,” Oliveira said. “Our work was the first culture-independent study of microbial diversity in Arkansas caves.” 

Her research has been funded by the Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), the Arkansas Space Grant Consortium (ASGC), and Lyon College.

Lyon College’s Advancement team received three awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District IV.

The team received a Grand Gold award for its reimagining of The Piper magazine. This was the top award for all institutions in the magazines and publications category.

The team also won a Silver award for Annual Fund Improvement and a Bronze award for Alumni Relations Improvement.

CASE is a membership association serving educational institutions and the advancement professionals who work on their behalf in alumni relations, communications, development, marketing and allied areas. CASE District IV is the chapter of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education representing 2904 members from 261 institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. It was formally incorporated on July 10, 1975.

Vice President for Advancement David Hutchison said this is the first time the College’s Advancement team has been honored by CASE.

“This recognition by our peers is an incredible affirmation of the work that the Advancement and Alumni Relations team has done the last several years,” he said, “improving how we share the Lyon College story with our communities and creating lasting opportunities to connect people’s passion with the mission and vision of the College.” 

Director of Alumni Engagement Cindy Barber was excited to hear that Lyon College’s team received three awards.

“It is gratifying to have our hard work recognized by CASE. We will continue working hard to stay connected with our amazing alumni!”

Assistant Director of Stewardship Mary Lemings said the Advancement team feels honored to be recognized by case for their “high level of professionalism” and as an “example of best practices in [their] fundraising and alumni engagement efforts.”

“I’m proud of the innovative and inspiring ways our team promotes Lyon College and excited for what’s next,” she said.

“I’m deeply honored to serve such a talented and committed group of professionals, and am delighted to see them receive these well-deserved awards,” said Hutchison.

The basketball program made Lyon College history this February when both the men’s and women’s teams won the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Regular-Season Championship.

This is the men’s team’s first Regular-Season Conference Championship since the 1982-83 season. The women’s team won its second-straight AMC Regular-Season Championship this year.

Senior Faris Verlasevic, of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, said winning the championship “felt surreal.” It had been his goal ever since coming to Lyon four years ago.

“It feels great to close out my career at Lyon with a ring on my hand!”

Junior Christopher Craig, of Denton, Texas, said winning the championship was a good reward for all the difficulties the team faced this year.

“It’s been an unpredictable experience,” said sophomore Winston Peace, of Blytheville, Ark. “Coming into the season, we had this as one of our goals, and it’s an incredible feeling to accomplish it.”

Head Women’s Basketball Coach Tracy Stewart-Lange, ’86, said it was gratifying to overcome so many challenges this year to achieve something the program had never done before: winning back-to-back championships.

“I feel a deeper sense of pride and investment because this is my alma mater and my program where I played,” she said. “I want each of our young women to invest and take ownership so that we stay at a high level and hopefully go even higher in the years to come.”

Senior Jade Giron, of Houston, Texas, said she was able to really focus on basketball while classes were online this year.

“It felt really good to be able to come to Lyon my junior year and be a part of two winning seasons!”

Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach Julie Church, ’04, said this year brought more obstacles than any other. Not having the women’s team together this fall to go through a pre-season, not starting practice at the normal time and not playing non-conference games were huge hurdles, she said.

Fortunately, she said, the students have been very resilient, even while playing and practicing with only portions of the team due to injuries and COVID.

“It’s very satisfying to see them reap the benefits of that work by winning a regular season championship and qualifying for a 10th straight NAIA national tournament.”

Head Men’s Basketball Coach Chad Tapp said the men’s team faced the same circumstances, not being able to have face-to-face contact with each other until December and persevering through shutdowns due to COVID and winter weather.

“There is a feeling of pride to have been able to accomplish this as a team during such a challenging year,” Tapp said. “We’re really proud of our guys.” 

“The team just wanted to play the game we’re passionate about, and we banded together through it all,” Peace said.

Stewart-Lange said the women’s team focused on what they could control and talked a lot about being grateful that they had a season together.

“It was a motivating factor that no one really thought we could [win the championship] given our circumstances of not playing in the fall,” she said.

“I hope to see us winning the conference tournament and going far into the national tournament as well,” Giron said.

Despite this season’s challenges, both teams also experienced plenty of highlights. 

The men’s team had its best overall winning percentage (10-4) since the 1979-80 season.

“Our staff has gotten better in regards to teaching,” Tapp said, “and it’s been great to see the improvement of our guys on and off the floor.”

Verlasevic said the highlight of the year was when the men’s team redeemed themselves against Central Baptist during the last regular season game and secured the conference title.

Stewart-Lange said highlights of the women’s season would be stepping up on the road early to beat Missouri Baptist and Columbia.

“That gave us a good opportunity to win the league if we took care of business at home,” she said. “I am so very proud of how the girls have handled so many distractions and overcome many hurdles to achieve their goals and have a successful season in a most difficult year.”

The men’s team now has its sights on winning the conference tournament and making it to the national tournament.

“We’re not done yet,” said junior Cole Anderson of Magnet Cove, Ark., “but it’s still very cool to do something that has never been done before.”

“I expect our team to go all the way to the national championship and win!” said Craig.

Stewart-Lange said the women’s team’s goal is to win the National Championship as well.

“We have young ladies here who believe they can do that,” she said. “That makes me very proud and excited.”

As a coach and an alumna, Church is “super proud” of what the women’s basketball program has accomplished over the last decade. She said it is a testament to the young women who have come through the College’s program.

“They are the ones who have put in the work and made the sacrifices to be successful, on and off the court,” Church said. “Each and every one of them have made a significant contribution, whether they played a little or a lot in their time with us.”

While each year presents different challenges for every team, she said the season of COVID-19 will never be forgotten.