Lyon College will inaugurate its first female president tomorrow.
The inauguration of Dr. Melissa P. Taverner, who will also be the college’s 19th president, will begin at 10:30 a.m. in Couch Garden on the Lyon College campus in Batesville.
The festive ceremony will both welcome Lyon College’s new leader and celebrate the accomplishments she has achieved since she joined the college as provost and dean of the faculty in 2017, the school said in a media release.
The celebration will include a march to Couch Garden by the Lyon College Pipe Band. The Presbytery of Arkansas, the Synod of the Sun, delegates, and guests from other colleges and universities, the class of 2023, faculty, staff, the Board of Visitors, and the Board of Trustees will follow.
The event will feature music by the Lyon College Concert Chorale, Lyon College Gospel Choir, Lyon College Alumni Choir, and Lyon College Symphonic Winds.
Lyon College alumna Dr. Jacqueline Howard, ’89, a public health physician, author, first-generation college graduate, singer-songwriter, mother of two, faculty member, and private practitioner will be the guest speaker.
Perry Wilson, chair of the Lyon College Board of Trustees, and several individuals from the campus and community also will participate in the ceremony, the school said.
Since becoming interim president in August 2021 and being selected as president in February 2022, Dr. Melissa P. Taverner has been integral to several of the most transformational decisions in Lyon College history, the release said.
Taverner has worked with the Board of Trustees, faculty, and staff to expand the College’s mission statement and offer select graduate programs; has overseen the initial transition to NCAA Division III for Scots athletics; and has been instrumental in organizing a partnership with White River Health on a proposed RN-to-BSN nursing program at Lyon.
Since joining Lyon College in October 2017 as provost and dean of faculty, she has worked with stakeholders to establish degree programs in anthropology, communications studies, and exercise science, as well as future graduate professional schools in dental and veterinary medicine through the newly proposed Lyon College Institute of Health Sciences.
Taverner received a Ph.D. in environmental science from the University of Virginia, a Master of Science in virology from the University of Reading (United Kingdom), and a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.
Before joining Lyon College, Taverner was an associate professor of biology at Emory & Henry College, a national liberal arts college located in Emory, Virginia. From 2016 to 2017, she served as interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college. In her 22 years there, she also served as chair of the Division of Natural Sciences, director of assessment, and chair of the Department of Biology.
Taverner is married to David Taverner and has two children, Rachel Titus and Jordan Taverner.
The public is invited to attend the ceremony.
Images: Lyon College
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