Trey Lyons | PHOTO: Courtesy of Lauren Wood, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Courtesy of The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
National moot court champion Trey Lyons (B.A. physics and mathematics ’09, M.A. physics) didn’t intend to study law.
The second year student at the UM School of Law and a classmate teamed up to win the family law Gabrielli National Moot Court Competition at Albany Law School in New York on March 2. The student pair defeated Seton Hall School of Law in the final round. More than 20 law schools participated including LSU, Florida State University, New York, and Wake Forest.
“The family law national championship demonstrates concretely the depth of talent we have at the law school—many students capable of top-flight advocacy,” said Matthew Hall, senior associate dean for academic affairs and faculty adviser to the moot court board.
For the competition, the students argue unresolved issues in family law by submitting a brief and through oral arguments the weekend of the competition.
Two preliminary rounds proceeded eliminations, and the 16 teams with the highest scores (50% brief and 50% oral argument) advanced. Semi-final scores were 90% judges’ score and 10% brief score, and the finals were based solely on judges’ votes.
“We knew we had to beat Seton Hall flat out in oral argument,” said Lyons. “These judges and justices who judged the competition actually wrote the opinions of these cases. They were the absolute best captive audience you could hope for.”
The winning case concerned whether the state could take children from families based on emotional harm, rather than physical harm. In other words, if a parent is regularly abusing his or her spouse but not the children, does that give the state grounds to take custody ex parte, or without representation or notification of the parents. Lyons argued in favor of the state’s right to do so. He felt it was the weaker side but that it also gave the pair a greater opportunity to stretch.
Lyons, a Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science graduate, planned to attend medical school. After his top-choice program allowed him to defer a year, he opted to travel. A scholarship award from UM paid for graduate school plus a stipend, and he earned his masters in physics.
He also began to have second thoughts about his career path. “I liked the idea of being a doctor more so than being a doctor,” he said. Instead Lyons was drawn to fields like intellectual property and patents. “I’m more interested in the technical, logical part of the law,” he said.
One of the greatest benefits of the championship was learning the importance of demeanor in both oral arguments and written ones. “The single most important thing to take away from this is the way I present myself in the courtroom,” said Lyons. “Dean Hall told us the best way you can ever win is by a hair’s worth of difference, not by being a bulldog. I learned he’s absolutely right.”
By LUCY SCHULTZE | Courtesy of The Oxford Eagle
Martial Longla, assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Mississippi | Photo by Bruce Newman, Courtesy of The Oxford Eagle
Raised in a poor village in west Cameroon, Martial Longla could have succumbed to the hardships fate dealt him. Instead, he gave in to the appeal of a daunting challenge.
Cryptic equations scribbled on a chalkboard looked like a mountain begging to be climbed, as Longla sat in his high-school classroom, captivated. Today he’s scaled those heights to secure his first academic appointment, as an assistant professor in the University of Mississippi Department of Mathematics.
Longla officially joined the faculty this semester, coming from the University of Cincinnati, where he earned a doctorate as well as a second master’s degree in statistics. This semester he’s teaching a total of about 70 students, in foundations of mathematics and in calculus.
Previously, Longla spent a decade in Moscow as the result of a scholarship opportunity. He learned the Russian language and also honed his English skills, earning money for necessities by working as a three-way translator with his native French.
His time in Russia was a rich experience of social activism and creative expression, as he employed African dance, singing, percussion, poetry and humor in an endeavor to correct the prejudice that people of color faced in Russian society.
While he misses the stage, he’s focused for now on getting settled in his new environment in small-town Mississippi. He chose UM over job offers in New York, both for the warmer climate and for the connection he felt with colleagues in the math department here.
His wife has remained in Cincinnati thus far, but he hopes she’ll be able to join him soon.
The Oxford EAGLE visited with Longla, 35, in his office in Hume Hall.
So how are you liking Oxford so far?
“I think it’s going to be fine. I’m not yet seeing what people were telling me that I’m going to see here.
“I was at the airport, and there was a lady there—apparently from Ohio, where I came from. And I was in my African dress, so she was interested and she said, ‘Where are you coming from?’ ‘I’m coming from Cincinnati.’ She said, ‘And where are you headed?’ I said, ‘Oxford.’
“‘Oxford, Ohio?’ ‘No, Oxford, Mississippi.’ What did you forget there?!’ ‘What do you mean?’ She said, ‘You are going to see.’
“That was two months ago. So I’ve been asking some of the colleagues around: ‘What is it that I’m not yet seeing?’
“You know, some people are still living in the past. Even when I told my friends that I had some job offers, and then I decided to go to Mississippi: ‘Martial, what is wrong with you?’ They said, ‘You do know the history, right? And you are going there?’ ‘Yes, I’m going to Mississippi.’”
Was mathematics something you connected with early on?
“No. To be honest, when I was in primary school, I was very good at languages. So everybody was sure that I was going to be a journalist, and that is what I was aiming for. All the time you would see me reading. I was not doing the exercises in mathematics. I was not interested at all. I was just an average student in a class—until I got to high school.
“About half way in high school, I met an instructor. If I did not meet that man, I don’t think I would be doing mathematics. The instructor comes into class—just a young boy, like me. He was just as short as I was at that time. And then he doesn’t have any notes. He comes just with a piece of chalk. And then he asks a question: ‘Where did we stop last time?’ You tell him. He goes to the board and continues the lecture.
“‘Example.’ It comes from the brain. ‘Solution.’ He gives you the exercises, and he doesn’t look anywhere. Come on! A human being can do this, and I cannot understand it? This is not normal; it cannot happen this way. And then I told my friends: ‘I’ll become a mathematician.’”
How did your work change from that point?
“I started studying. Every day, I get back home, first thing before I eat, I go to the board, review all the theorems we had in class, try to prove them without opening the notes, make sure I understand what was there, then do the exercises before I eat. Every day, every day. My parents said, ‘What is happening with this kid?’ My mom said, ‘Martial, what do you do? You used to like to eat, now you don’t eat at all.’ I said, ‘It’s OK. I just know what I want.
“From that point on, things started to change. The next test, I get a 16 out of 20. Then a 17.By the end of the year, every test that comes, I have 20 out of 20.Then I become the first-ranked student in the class.”
Why did you pursue your studies in Russia?
“I didn’t have other options. Scholarships are very hard to obtain, and it was a surprise for everybody when I actually got it. My father was like, ‘How did you do that?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. It just happened.’ Because usually, when scholarships come, by the time you hear there are already some applications from other people—from the circle of people who know about that, so they just go ahead and have their relatives apply.
Back in my village, it was very far from the capitol city where you have the Ministry of Higher Education, where all those scholarships are.
“When I moved to the capitol city for the university, a friend said to me one night, ‘Martial, I heard you were interested in traveling abroad. Do you know I was passing by the Ministry of Higher Education, and I saw them putting an advertisement that there were some scholarships for Russia? The deadline is tomorrow.’ We are at 5 p.m. I said, ‘Really?’ She said, ‘Yes, if you’re interested.’”
How did you make that deadline?
“I called all my friends. I said, ‘Guys, this is the thing: I shouldn’t miss this. Here’s what they want. You go for this document, you go for this document, and we all meet at the ministry at this time. One person will go to notarize a birth certificate, the other will go to collect the pictures, the other a certificate that I’m healthy. And everybody just rushed. They all gave me everything they had, and I knocked at the door.
“The people looked at me. I said, ‘I’m coming for the scholarships to Russia.’ Someone said, ‘Oh, really?’ ‘Yes.’ So a lady takes the papers. She ‘How? What? You got a 19 out of 20 in mathematics?’ ‘Yes.’ She’s like, ‘OK.’ She looks at physics, 19.5. Chemistry, 18. Then she looked at me and asked: ‘Do you really want to go to Russia?’ I just asked her as an answer: ‘Do you have other options for me?’ She looked at me again and said, ‘OK. Just come back when the results are out. We will need your HIV test at that point.’”
So where did you end up?
“I ended up in a southern town of Russia called Rostov-on-Don. I had no money and couldn’t get anything from my parents. So, my only hope was success. After several months in a hospital with a broken knee junction, I decided to transfer to Moscow.
“I was in Moscow, at the People’s Friendship University, with a very large family of foreign students. With the student organizations fighting for the students’ rights and things like that—trying to prove that the black guys are not as bad as they think they are. So we had to go to some Russian high schools, talk with the kids about African culture, show them some plays and performances. This was backed by the Peoples’s Friendship University of Russia, that in his mission wanted to work for more integration in this world. ”
It sounds like sort of a cultural-ambassador role.
“That’s mainly what we were doing, yes. It was very exciting, and when people started talking about what it would be like here, I said, ‘Hey, I don’t think there is anything that you can go over that I haven’t seen in my life.’
“I’ve been called names. I’ve been called names by my own students—before realizing that they’re going to be my students. They call me ‘monkey,’ and then the next day, they would come in the classroom and I would be in front of them. In Russia, you’d have some groups of young guys going around beating guys. These guys were supported and paid by some extremists that needed to prove that the government was not protecting foreigners in Russia. I know this because some TV programs I was invited to featured some of the mentors of these young folks. So, one pays another to harm You, while others try to protect You in the same country! So I don’t think there’s anything that might happen to me here that I haven’t seen.”
Do you feel a gap between your experience and that of the students you teach here?
“When I look at the students in this country which were in the same conditions that I was in, I don’t see them behaving the way I was behaving. Because, I think, of politics. And the second thing is because of the system itself.
“Because when you put too much accent on the fact that we don’t have opportunities, we don’t have options, we don’t have this, we don’t have that—you end up having people that don’t try to do their best. Not that they are unable to do so, but because they just know that’s how it is.
“So most of the time, when I talk to the students, I just try to make them understand that being a minority is not a reason to fail. Is not a reason to expect that people will be just giving away grades to you, to make sure you go through. Because doing that doesn’t help you. It keeps you where you were.
“So if you need to succeed, get that out of your brain. It’s true, yes. It’s true that you are from a minority and that there has been some discrimination, and that maybe still exists. But for you to succeed, you need to make sure you put in that brain: It’s all up to you. You’re not living in history. You’re living right now. And right now is the time for you to do the right thing.”
Why choosing the U.S. over Russia?
It was not a choice. It was a necessity. I loved my environment in Russia. I never thought I will ever move away from Moscow. The Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia was like a country inside Moscow, with its own government and rules. The rector of the University was a very good man and was very supportive of my actions. He personally wrote a letter of recommendation for me when I told him that I needed to move to US. I was worried about my future. I needed to secure a place where I could live with my wife and possibly my parents. I understood that for my 22 brothers and sisters, and my own family, I needed to do more. My heart still beats for Moscow. I will not say that I regret coming to U.S. but I am certainly not happy for moving from my main land—RUDN.
Amanda Gamble Wood and her Tupelo High School students.
Though she didn’t know it at the time, before Amanda Gamble Wood graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2010, she was already being prepared to take the seat at the front of the classroom.
Wood, who earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and another bachelors’ in mathematics, set out with a career in the field of acoustics in mind. After meeting the man she would marry, she decided to change course and obtain her alternate route teacher’s license.
“My experiences at Ole Miss prepared me for my career in education, even before I knew I was going to have a career in education,” Wood said. “My physics professors were so helpful and truly passionate about their respective disciplines. I had always hoped that when I began my career, I would have that same passion, and I do.”
In just her second year of teaching robotics and engineering at Tupelo High School, Wood led a team of sophomores and juniors from her engineering class to the win the VEX Robotics State Competition in March.
That win catapulted the budding engineers all the way to the world competition, which was held recently in Anaheim, California. With no background in robotics, the students’ venture into the competition was a first for everyone involved.
“This was our first year to compete in any robotics competition. My students did not have a background in robotics, so we were elated to become state champions and then advance to the World Championship,” Wood said.
The competition was based on a game called “Toss Up,” which required students to build their robots and earn points by moving a variety of different size objects across a court. At both the state and world level, teams had to form alliances with other schools and work together to score the most points.
The World Championships featured 400 teams from across the United States and from China, Japan, New Zealand and France, among other countries. The teams were divided into four divisions of 100 teams, and the Tupelo team finished 80th in their division.
“It was exciting to see students from across the world engaged in robotics and STEM fields,” Wood said. “Most every student I spoke to was planning on entering a STEM-related field upon graduation from college.”
In addition to a lack of robotics experience, Wood’s team also got a late start building their robot. Where most teams spent the past year fine-tuning their machines, the Tupelo students began building their robot in January. Still, the alleged underdogs persevered.
“Through this journey, we learned a lot about each other and teamwork,” Wood said. “There were many ‘heated debates’ about how they should design and program their robot. I believe they also have a deeper understanding of accountability. Each student had their own specific role in the team and each one worked hard to accomplish their goals.
“I hope my students learned that hard work and dedication pay off. I hope this competition taught them that they can do what does not seem possible.”
Though it was not the path she first envisioned as a physics and mathematics major, Wood said her journey as a teacher has been full of rewarding moments.
“The experience of taking students to a world competition was very educational and a lot of fun,” she said. “From a teacher’s standpoint, to see how my students’ hard work (time spent after school and weekends) paid off and then to see them work with other teams from around the world was really amazing.”
Chris Schwanke
Christopher Schwanke, a doctoral student in the University of Mississippi Department of Mathematics, is recipient of the 2014 Graduate Instructor Excellence in Teaching Award.
Mr. Schwanke has demonstrated a commitment to excellence in teaching, having taught eight sections of four different courses from Fall 2010 to the present.
His nomination letter states, “He is able to mix engaging everyday language with intriguing mathematical questions and students feel enthralled by his mathematical aura.”
He is currently teaching Precalculus (Math 125) and has also taught Unified Calculus & Analytic Geometry I (Math 261), Trigonometry I (Math 123), and College Algebra (Math 121).
The Golden Apple trophy and monetary award will be presented at the Doctoral Hooding ceremony on Friday, May 9, 2014. Please join us in congratulating Chris on this award.
The Graduate Instructor Excellence in Teaching Award is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning with support from the Office of the Provost, the Graduate School and Dr. Johnny Lott.
BY LUCY SCHULTZE, Courtesy of The Oxford Eagle
April 3, 2014
Shelia Lewis | Photo by Bruce Newman, Courtesy of The Oxford Eagle
In the wee hours of the morning, the quiet halls and empty classrooms of Hume Hall are filled with the peaceful refrains of “Take Me to the King” and “He Will Make it All Right.”
Gospel melodies make the hours pass more pleasantly for custodian Sheila Lewis, who has been tending this building for more than a decade. While she refrains from singing strongly enough to really make those empty halls resonate, she shares her vocal encouragement with her co-worker and best friend, Sandra Phillips, as she works nearby.
The two women share the 3-11 a.m. shift at Hume Hall, home of the University of Mississippi Department of Mathematics. The building is entirely theirs for the first five hours or so. As students and faculty file in, Lewis enjoys greeting familiar faces and is never shy with a hug.
A native of Etta, Lewis graduated from West Union High School and moved to Abbeville when she married. She spent more than 25 years on the line at Emerson Electric Co., which shut down in 2002. She next worked at Whirlpool Corp. — but got ahead of layoffs before that plant’s closure and took a job on campus.
According to Lewis’ supervisor, Scott Steen, the university was lucky to snatch up good workers like Lewis and Phillips, who had also worked at Emerson.
Off hours, Lewis rests at home and makes the drive to her home church in Etta, Union Hill Missionary Baptist Church, her chief venue for sharing her talents in gospel music.
Lewis has three grown children: Michael Lewis of Oxford, who also works for the Physical Plant Department; Tanisha Lewis of Dallas and Dexter Lewis of Jacksonville, Fla. She has six grandchildren.
The Oxford EAGLE visited with Lewis, 54, and Phillips in the basement stairwell of Hume Hall as students and faculty stepped through on their way to class.
You must know every corner of this building.
“Pretty much. When I first started, I was in Conner, but I didn’t stay over there very long. I been here ever since. I plan to work as long as I can.”
Do y’all have a routine that you follow each day?
“We come in and get our supplies we gonna clean with. We do the same floor; I’m on the right, and she’s on the left. We do the classrooms, then all the offices and the kitchen area.
“She’s on that side of the hall, and I’m on this side of the hall. We meet up, and I’ll have a little more to do on my side, so we work together to get it all done. We don’t let one person do all the work. And singing, that get us through the day.”
In what way?
“Well, I don’t sing out loud, just kind of to myself. Like, we’ll come in and need to get motivated to do the things that we need to do. So I just sing and ask the Lord to let me make it through the day.”
What’s your relationship like with the people who work in this building?
“When they come in, we encourage them, and if they’re sick, we try to help them. I just love people, and I try to treat them well. I say, ‘If you need anything, just let us know.’ “The students, they on their phones. But some of them will speak to you and greet you. The faculty members, they talk to us every day. We try to encourage them — ‘It’s gonna be OK’ — if they’re having a bad day.”
What’s it like to share this job with someone you’ve worked with for so long?
“We’re best friends. She’s great.
“We try to come to work for each other. We try not to miss days. And even if we need to, we’ll come in and work for a little while. We try not to make our job harder for each other.”
It must have been a big change for you to come here after working in an industry setting. Do you miss it?
“Kinda. No, not really. I like this.”
“It was strange at first, I guess — being at a different place and being by yourself. ‘Cause at Emerson, you had people around all the time. Like when we started at 7 o’clock, there’s people all the time. At 3 in the morning, you don’t have anybody else around.”
Do you mind the hours?
“I like the hours. I usually try to take a nap during the day when I get home. I go to sleep about 6 or 7, depending on what I do in the evening.
“And the job, I mean, it’s just maintaining and we do what we need to do. We do the job.
“But I pray when I leave for work, and I pray when I get to work, and I pray when I get home. Just, ‘Help me get through the day.’ And I say, ‘Thank you for this day,’ when I get done with this job.”
I appreciate your visiting with me.
“To tell you the truth, I been trying to get out of this since Scott said y’all wanted to do this. I’m not a big person to talk about what I do.
“I think actions speak louder than words, I guess.”
Whose story would you like to hear? Suggest a subject for “A Conversation With…” by calling 234-4331 or sending an email to lucy.schultze@oxfordeagle.com.
BY BRIDGET QUINN
MARCH 31, 2014
The University of Mississippi Center for Writing and Rhetoric has awarded $26,750 to four faculty members to improve writing campus-wide.
These first-ever grants were awarded on a competitive basis to those who designed writing-intensive modifications to existing courses, and who plan to implement those changes beginning this academic year. The Faculty Seed Grant program is the final phase of the Quality Enhancement Plan that began in 2009.
Gerard Buskes
Recipients of the Faculty Seed Grants are Gerard Buskes, professor of mathematics; Joshua First, Croft assistant professor of history and international studies; Robert Mongue, associate professor of legal studies; and Kristen Alley Swain, assistant professor of journalism. Awardees have begun meeting weekly in a seminar format with Angela Green, the center’s writing-enriched curriculum instructor, to plan their courses and improve writing pedagogy.
“We have offered the Faculty Seed Grants in order to improve student writing across campus and in all disciplines, rather than just in the first- and second-year writing classes we teach in the CWR,” Green said.
Faculty members receive the $5,000 stipend to compensate them for the additional time spent developing and implementing writing-related activities. At the end of the grant period, results will be presented in a public forum.
Buskes will revise Math 261-Unified Calculus & Analytic Geometry I to fully integrate writing into the course. Students will be required to use writing to reflect on the mathematics they use in class and explain their understanding of key course concepts.
Joshua First
First will redevelop History 347-Topics on Film and History to allow students to gradually acquire advanced skills in preparation for their capstone experiences.
Mongue will rewrite one of the paralegal program’s required law courses, LA 308-Wills and Estate Administration, to focus on writing as a means of communicating students’ understanding of the substantive law for that class and to provide a template for the revision of most of the program’s legal courses.
Swain proposed creating an explanatory writing module, consisting of active-learning exercises and assignments, for use in three sequential core journalism courses. The courses are JOUR 102-Introduction to Multimedia Writing, JOUR 271-News Reporting and JOUR 377-Advanced Reporting.
“One of the things I’ve enjoyed about working here is the ability to take advantage of opportunities to work with experts in many different fields in order to improve my own teaching and writing,” Mongue said. “Writing is an essential part of the curriculum for legal professionals. For many legal professionals, their final product is a written document, whether it be a letter to a client, legal memoranda, pleadings, appellate briefs or documents such as deeds, wills or business documents. Each must be written clearly, concisely and with precision.
Angela Green
“The primary benefit we expect students in these classes will receive is a better understanding of how writing and research differs across disciplines,” Green said. “For example, students in history should learn the specific conventions that historians use in their writing, as well as the types of questions historians ask, what evidence they use and how they conduct research.”
The Center for Writing and Rhetoric will offer grants again for the 2014-2015 academic year. These will be selected on a competitive basis and require the endorsement of the faculty member’s department chair. Grants are open to all full-time faculty, both in and out of the tenure stream. Interested faculty members should contact Angela Green at akgreen2@olemiss.edu.
MARCH 1, 2014 BY EDWIN SMITH
Cecille Labuda
The research of sound is the focus of a monthly public science forum organized by the University of Mississippi Department of Physics and Astronomy.
The spring semester’s third meeting of the Oxford Science Café is set for 6 p.m. March 25 at Lusa Pastry Café, 2305 West Jackson Ave. in Oxford. Cecille Labuda, UM assistant professor of physics and astronomy, will discuss “Sound: It’s So Much More Than What We Hear.” Admission is free.
“Much like we can only see a small range of frequencies of light, we can only hear a small range of frequencies of sound,” Labuda said. “The generation and transmission of sound in the audible and inaudible range will be discussed.”
Labuda’s 30-minute presentation will focus on ultrasound transmission and applications of ultrasound in medicine and industry. The talk will be followed by a question-and-answer session.
Labuda earned her master’s degree and doctorate in physics from UM. She also received dual bachelor’s degrees in physics and mathematics from the university.
Her research interests are in the thermal effects of ultrasound using tissue-mimicking phantoms, the design and development of tissue-mimicking phantoms for ultrasound studies and interaction of ultrasound with microsphere structures.
Champions establish fund to help mathematics majors
By Tina Hahn, February 21, 2014
Glenn Hopkins, dean of the UM College of Liberal Arts, from left, visits with Sara and Elvis Champion, donors from Water Valley, Miss., and Denson Hollis, senior development officer for liberal arts. The Champions have funded a scholarship endowment in mathematics to pay tribute to her father, the late Bill Trusty.
William T. “Bill” Trusty of Water Valley, Miss., was a well-known, respected leader who managed three businesses and served the community he loved through the local school board and an array of other business and civic organizations. His vibrant legacy now will be expanded through a new scholarship fund in his name at the University of Mississippi.
Sara and Elvis Champion, also of Water Valley, have established the William T. Trusty Mathematics Scholarship Endowment to pay tribute to her father’s life through a $50,000 gift. Trusty earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1933 from UM, and Sara Trusty Champion earned an undergraduate degree in education and a master’s degree in mathematics.
“Daddy was very business oriented. From the time he was big enough to stand on a crate and see over the counter, he was involved in the family businesses. He really enjoyed business and interacting with customers; he had a very outgoing personality,” Champion said.
“Daddy also loved Ole Miss and wanted to give back through scholarships. He had made inquiries into the process of starting a scholarship. My husband and I are pleased we can provide this gift for something we know was important to him. We chose to direct the support for math majors because we know there is always a need for strong math teachers,” said Champion, who taught math and gifted education on the junior high and high school level for 28 years in Oxford, Water Valley, Oakland and Sardis.
Iwo Labuda, chair of UM’s Department of Mathematics expressed appreciation to the Champions and explained the impact of scholarships.
“In these times when education is so costly, scholarships take on special value. Mathematical education is crucial and yet remains underrated. We are very pleased that the family of Bill Trusty in their generosity made it possible for more students to pursue their dreams,” Labuda said.
Before Trusty evolved into the longtime successful manager of several businesses – the International Harvester Company dealership in Water Valley for more than 45 years, Trusty Hardware for 25 years and Hotel Trusty for 10 years – he was an UM student.
“He had a fine time at Ole Miss,” Sara Champion said, smiling. “Daddy completed his degree in three and a half years, which means he worked hard. However, he also played hard, enjoying school dances and his membership in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. He roomed next to Dr. (T.A.) Bickerstaff, who became an Ole Miss mathematics professor.”
Elvis Champion first met his future father-in-law through the Trusty family businesses. “He was the best friend I ever had,” he said, reflecting on their relationship. “My family would buy equipment from Mr. Trusty so I knew him before I met Sara. A mutual friend introduced Sara and me, and we dated three years before I asked him for her hand in marriage. It was always clear to everyone how much Mr. Trusty loved Ole Miss. He kept up with the Rebel football team and attended games as long as he could.”
College of Liberal Arts Dean Glenn Hopkins praised the Champions for seeing that Trusty’s longtime relationship with the university is recognized in perpetuity through an endowment.
“We deeply appreciate Sara and Elvis Champion completing Mr. Trusty’s dream of supporting scholarships by creating this endowment in his name. We are inspired that Mr. Trusty valued the University of Mississippi to the extent that he wanted to help future generations of students pursue their college degrees here. It’s obvious that the Champions also believe in the power of education, and we thank them for their generosity and for their thoughtful decision to support mathematics majors.”
Trusty lived a long life, passing away in 2011 at the age of 99; his wife, Rachel Burham Trusty, died in 1999. At the time of his death, Trusty was the oldest member of First Baptist Church of Water Valley and had been a Mason for 75 years. The business professional committed his time to serve two terms on the local school board and was a member of the Bank of Water Valley Board of Directors for 40 years and the vice president for 25 of those years. Trusty provided leadership as the president of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club and the Baptist Men’s Bible Class of 110 Members, as well as the treasurer of the Yalobusha Country Club.
Also driving the Champion’s decision to provide private support for scholarships are their own special associations with Ole Miss. In between some of her teaching engagements, Sara worked as a computer programmer with student records and admissions. Elvis, a pilot with the University-Oxford Airport, was involved with the ROTC flight training program and flew UM chancellors and coaches to official duties around the state and region.
The Trusty Scholarship is designated for Mississippi students, and recipients will be chosen by the UM Department of Mathematics Scholarship Selection Committee. Those granted the academic award have to maintain a minimum 3.0 grade-point average to continue receiving the assistance.
Individuals and organizations can make gifts to the William T. Trusty Mathematics Scholarship Endowment by mailing a check with the fund noted in the memo line to the University of Mississippi Foundation, P.O. Box 249, University, Miss. 38677; visiting www.umfoundation.com/makeagift; or contacting Denson Hollis, senior development officer for the College of Liberal Arts, at 662-915-5092 or dhollis@olemiss.edu.
Eleanor Anthony
When Eleanor Anthony visited Vercelli, Italy, last spring, she was smitten with damaged 10th century manuscripts that she and others from the University of Mississippi were there to help recover. Little did she know that six months later, she would be presenting a plan to make those documents legible at an international conference in London.
Anthony, a junior mathematics and philosophy major from Jackson, was the only undergraduate student presenter at the DigiPal Symposium in mid-September at King’s College London. The conference, hosted by the King’s College Department of Digital Humanities, attracted notable paleographers and scholars from around the globe.
“After Stewart Brookes and Peter Stokes, the conference organizers, notified me that I was accepted to speak at the symposium, I was thrilled,” said Anthony, who spoke for 20 minutes about a correlation and probabilistic-based approach to transcription methods of damaged manuscripts. “I knew it would be a fantastic opportunity to meet scholars working in the field of digital humanities and see their research.”
As part of the Lazarus Project, a UM program specializing in the multispectral imaging of cultural heritage pieces, Anthony visited the Museo del Tesoro del Duomo in Italy. It was there she first laid eyes on the Vercelli Book and discovered what has become one of her life’s passions.
“I have always found data and narrative to be fascinating,” Anthony said. “As humans, we participate in a conversation that extends through time and encompasses all human endeavor. It’s amazing to interact with manuscripts that record the contributions of previous generations.”
While studying the Vercelli Book and conducting spectral imaging on the book’s text, the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College student learned the importance of finding ways to successfully transcribe old data and manuscripts. Upon her return home, Anthony submitted a written summary of her own proposal for how transcription methods can be improved to the DigiPal Symposium. Her abstract was accepted.
“This 10th century Anglo-Saxon manuscript suffered physical damage due to the application of a chemical reagent during early transcription efforts, and as a result, large swathes of the text are completely illegible,” Anthony said. “After processing the spectral images, we are left with data that can be used in correlation-based approaches for text identification, and it is these methods, combined with contextual analysis, that should lead to a better understanding of the text.”
Eleanor Anthony and other Lazarus Project participants discuss the Vercelli Book
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Her presentation touched on the history of the Vercelli Book and the Archimedes Palimpsest, as well as the basic mathematics behind the system she hopes to extend and implement while addressing the current problems within the data being researched now by the Lazarus Project. Anthony’s work is being hailed as “groundbreaking” by her mentor and sponsors.
“It is incredibly rare for an undergraduate paper to be selected for an international conference. It speaks to the uniqueness and quality of Eleanor’s research,” said Gregory Heyworth, UM associate professor of English and director of the Lazarus Project. “The character-recognition techniques that she is developing for damaged manuscripts are cutting-edge work, something that is appropriate for Ph.D. candidates or professors.
“Add to that the fact that the manuscript she is working to recover, the Vercelli Book from the 10th century, is the oldest example of Anglo-Saxon literature in existence, and scholars are bound to take notice.”
Douglass Sullivan-González, dean of the Barksdale Honors College, agrees.
“Eleanor’s success represents what can happen when a high-performing student takes advantages of the doors of opportunity here at Ole Miss,” he said. “Eleanor’s intellectual curiosity, her philosophical drive combined with unparalleled support from Professor Heyworth, the SMB Honors College, Liberal Arts and the Provost Office produced an extraordinary moment for an undergraduate: presenting and defending a research topic at a graduate-level conference in the U.K. We are very proud of Eleanor’s stellar accomplishment.”
Vercelli Book
Anthony’s London presentation impressed those in attendance, but she was equally impressed by those she heard there.
“A particular highlight of the trip was speaking with Donald Scragg, a well-known authority on the Vercelli Book,” she said. “He has devoted most of his academic career to studying this manuscript, and I was excited to discuss my research with him. I found him to be enthusiastic about the project, especially in the sense that I will be recovering missing information that is not capable of being visually analyzed.”
She was also delighted to meet Brookes and Stokes and hear about their work on DigiPal, a digital resource and database of paleography and manuscripts.
“They seem to be doing really exciting work at the Digital Humanities Department at King’s College London,” Anthony said.
Listening to and interacting with both traditional paleographers and computer scientists discussing their research methods and text analysis proved very useful in Anthony’s own research.
“I learned much from the speakers on a wide variety of topics,” she said. “I was also happy to receive positive responses from the audience after giving my talk, with several useful recommendations for improvements I might consider. It is my intention to apply to present at conferences in the future as my research progresses.”
Anthony’s presentation will serve as the primary research leading to the design and implementation for her capstone project and honors college thesis entitled, “Archimedes’ Palimpsest to the Vercelli Book: Dual Correlation and Probabilistic Network Approaches to Paleography in Damaged Manuscripts.” Her ultimate goal is to create a computer program that will offer a transcription method for damaged text in manuscripts using word-level correlation approaches and sentence-level contextual analysis.
“On the whole, I think the experience will prove to be invaluable to be as I move forward with the project and in my study of digital humanities,” she said. “I am so appreciative of the opportunity to attend and present.”
The Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, the College of Liberal Arts, the English department and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs sponsored Anthony’s travel to London.