Students in the Wall of Gratitude

Lee University announced the dedication of the new Science and Math Complex on Friday, September 24th during Celebration 2010. The attendants included a representative from every graduating class of Lee University from 1948 through 2014. Following a Celebration service hosted in the Conn Center, about 2000 Lee students formed a human wall from the steps of the Conn Center to the steps of the new Science and Math Complex. Alumni, faculty, staff and honored guests marched along the student “wall” on the way to the dedication ceremony. The building was then dedicated in honor of Don and Carolyn Medlin and Lois Underwood Beach, with special laboratory dedications to Dr. Penny Mauldin and Earl M. Tapley.

President Conn cuts the ribbon, along with Lois Beach, Carolyn Medlin and Darlia Conn

Celebration 2010 also marked the end of Lee University’s “Press Toward the Mark Campaign” that began during Celebration 2006. The plan exceeded its expectations by raising over $34 million  for numerous campus projects including the completion of the School of Religion and Science and Math buildings and acquiring two million dollars in new endowed scholarships. Altogether, the events and dedication ceremonies that marked Celebration 2010 involved over 3,000 Lee students, faculty and staff, alumni and other church and community guests.

Heidi Monroe, President of Pi Sigma Alpha; Tim Passmore, Lecturer in Political Science; and Tom Pope, Assistant Professor of Political Science, with the winning team from Baylor School

Political Science faculty member Tom Pope, who headed up this year’s event said, “As a department, we decided that hosting a Quiz Bowl regarding the Constitution would be an excellent way to teach both our students and the greater community about our nation’s heritage.” Lee’s Political Science students organized the activities, inviting teams from local high schools to compete in the quiz bowl. The event had a great turnout, with Baylor School, from Chattanooga, taking home the championship title.  The department looks forward to hosting the event again next year.

Dr. Simmons instructs senior Mathematics major Liz Coulter in ceramics class.

For all of Lee University’s most artistic students, the long awaited Art major is now here! A new BA in Art with a Studio Emphasis degree recently received approval from the Lee University faculty and should go into the catalog for next fall. Other emphases may include Art History and possibly Computer Graphics, with the hoped-for addition of a 2-D Studio faculty person in Fall 2011.  The department of History and Political Science, where the Art program currently resides, anticipates as many as fifteen declared Art majors by next Fall, drawing from students now enrolled in Art Studio classes.

John Simmons, who has overseen the Art program for many years at Lee U and who spearheaded the major proposal, says, “We hope to add sculpture classes but we will also be offering advanced levels in classes such as painting and drawing as part of the new major.” A few new classes will be added and offered on a rotating basis as some upper level non-studio courses will be required for the Art major.

Lee University professors Richard Jones and Murl Dirksen spent time this summer excavating various prehistoric sites in southern Colorado under a Faculty Enrichment Grant through Lee’s President’s Office.

Jones (left) and Dirksen excavate at an Apishapa Native American site near the Purgatoire River in eastern Colorado. The site dates to about 900 A.D.

Their excavation in the Gunnison Gorge rock art shelter near Delta, Colo., uncovered spear points, cedar matting, charcoal, wooden tools, and corn kernels. Carbon 14 dating on charcoal fragments estimates that the site has been occupied since 7,000 B.P. (about 5,000 B.C.).

Excavation of the shelter is a long term project directed by Dr. Dudley Gardner from Western Wyoming College. Gardner is a Lee alumnus and was named by USA Today as one of five top Western historical archaeologists several years ago. The excavation team included Dr. Neville Ritchie, an archaeologist from New Zealand who is also excavating a trading post in Antarctica, and Glade Hadden from the Bureau of Land Management in Colorado.

In addition to working on the rock shelter site, Jones and Dirksen spent several days excavating two Apishipha sites 50 miles south of La Junta, Colo., on the Wooten Ranch.

The ranchers in this area are in court attempting to keep the U.S. Government from taking their land. These large tracks of ranch homesteads have been worked by the same families for more than five generations, but now the Army wants to expand their training area and is seeking to acquire this land, which would deprive the ranchers of their livelihood.

These excavations are providing them with the evidence they need to show how rich this area is in prehistoric and historic material. Numerous house structures, some cemeteries, and a few village complexes, are conspicuously evident on these ranches in Las Animas County along the Purgatoire River, but few have been excavated or recorded.

Richard Jones with the Lee student site team

Along with excavating at the two sites, Jones and Dirksen spent time with Glade Hadden, the Bureau of Land Management archaeologist, surveying rock art sites in the Gateway area of southwestern Colorado. To date, a comprehensive survey of the prehistoric petroglyphs (symbols inscribed in rock) has not been made. The Lee professors hope to take a small group of students there next summer to help in the survey project.

The anthropology program at Lee University is expanding its involvement in archaeology and is providing students with increased opportunities for participation in significant archaeological research. Already students have the benefit of a recently established archaeology lab, and an archaeology field school is conducted each summer at ongoing excavations of Ft. Armistead, a Cherokee removal fort near Coker Creek, Tenn.

Yarhouse addresses aspects of sexual identity

Lee University’s Alternative Chapel, Thursday September 9^th, featured a controversial topic. Dr. Mark Yarhouse, Regent University Psychology professor and author of Homosexuality: The Use of Scientific Research in the Church’s Moral Debate, spoke on homosexuality and sexual identity. Dr. Yarhouse also directs the Institute for the Study of Sexual Identity which, in addition to training students, offers group therapy for people who experience same-sex attraction (www.sexualidentityinstitute.org).

Dr. Yarhouse addressed several aspects of the homosexuality debate. According to Yarhouse, argument has focused more on the assumed causes of homosexuality than on the dynamics of real people searching for sexual identity. “As a culture we have lifted sexual identity high but we have yet to plum its depths,” Yarhouse said. The intention of the discussion was to highlight those who struggle with homosexuality as people with an identity separate from but not necessarily defined by sexual attraction. “An identity speaks to what we treasure and whose kingdom we are a part of.”

Yarhouse also made mention of the attitudes many people (including Christians) have toward these issues. “Those who struggle with same-sex attraction can feel very isolated in a Christian context,” he commented. His hope is that those struggling with homosexuality and other sexual identity uncertainties would feel comfortable enough to seek help and support in dealing with these issues from Christians leaders and peers.

Dr. Yarhouse’s day and half visit included a class session, an evening lecture and the chapel service, all of which were attended by capacity audiences.

New Flat Screens for Stock Updates

Two huge flat screens televisions and the elevation of the ceiling to raise the projection screen have changed the look and feel of the room dramatically. Four clocks on the wall display the current times in New York, Tokyo, London, and Takam, Cambodia. The first three cities are displayed because they are major powerhouses in the stock market world and the last because of the close connections that our own School of Business has with the economic studies and development in Takam.

The Four Clocks: New York, London, Tokyo, Takam

The Trading Room is expected to be ready for use within the next few days and is anxiously awaited by the entire Business Department as the newest expansion of our technological connection and communication with the economic world.

Odessa market place

“The goal of this trip is to acquaint students with the differences and similarities between our culture, our society and theirs,” Sturgeon said. Those who went stayed with host families, some of whose members were studying English. Students were encouraged to blog at the end of every day to keep track of their experiences and impressions.
As in many countries across the globe, students witnessed both extreme wealth and poverty depending on their location. However other elements of this culture reflected the entirely foreign concepts that shape the Ukrainian people. “The people are all very religious (Eastern or Russian Orthodox), but they are still seeking,” Sturgeon noted. The Lee University team took advantage of many open doors and held Bible studies in the homes of their host families and at universities where they were granted permission.
One of the most exciting experiences was the opportunity for the sponsors and four students to be interviewed on a Ukrainian talk show. The interview is available for viewing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SJu83lpLnw.

Dr. Sturgeon and Paul Michael Howard making plans

Director of Global Perspectives Beth Thompson said. “ These trips are about exposing students to things outside of their comfort zone. It’s an experience that prepares holistically. It’s not just textbook learning, and it’s what many students say has been their most significant experience at Lee.”

At Walker Valley High School, Drs. Kasper and West taught the students in Ms. Norman’s genetics class how to “transform” bacterial cells by inserting the gene for Green Fluorescent protein into the cells, causing the cells to grown green under a UV light.

“Dr. Kasper and I have also gained a lot from this experience,” Dr. West said.  Both being from East Tennessee high schools, she said that they are interested in helping out the local high schools.

This is also highly beneficial to the students.  They are able to see the exciting experiments that can be done in genetics and biotechnology, and with the limited resources available to local high schools, it is very unlikely they would have been given the opportunity to perform this type of experiment until college.

Referencing the limited budgets, West said, “We would like to come up with ways that we can help local schools show students how interesting science experiments can be while keeping costs low.”  It looks like they are on the road to doing that.  Lee has offered to fund research this summer to develop an experiment to look at protein folding with green fluorescent protein using a low tech UV light pen.

Both professors are excited to see the possibilities for the future.