The special event is being sponsored by the SAU Foundation and proceeds will benefit the foundation and the Kathleen Mallory Lectureship Endowment.

A private reception with Babineaux will be held from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. in the Magnolia Room of the Donald W. Reynolds Campus and Community Center. The private reception will be followed by a 7 p.m. dinner and remarks by Babineaux in the Grand Hall of the Reynolds Center.

Ticket prices are $25 for dinner and remarks and $50 for entry into the private reception, to receive a photograph with Babineaux and to attend the dinner with remarks by the athlete.

The mission of the Kathleen Mallory Lecture Series is to honor the contributions of Dr. Mallory, an English professor who has made extraordinary contributions to SAU and to issues of English Curriculum improvement in Arkansas and the United States. Mallory is credited with brining scholars working in the fields of African Diasporic and African American Studies to Southern Arkansas University to share their scholarship with students, faculty, staff and members of the community.

For more information about the event or to purchase tickets, call the SAU Foundation Office at 877-235-7409 or 870-235-4078.

That is the shared outlook of the Southern Arkansas University co-ed cheerleading squad and the new all girl squad added this fall. The additional squad doubles the cheering power of the group to 30 strong.

Mykolas Sakevicius, a junior from Little Rock, said the new squad gives the cheerleaders the potential to move past their current ranking of fourth nationally in Division II.

“This is going to make us a more popular school and give us a new edge where we can have more titles and championships and bring more students to SAU,” Sakevicius said.

The additional squad also provides opportunities for students who participated in the Strutters, a pom dance group, which dissolved due to a lack of student interest.

Brittany Carr, a member of the Strutters last year, said she was happy about the new opportunity to cheer. Carr, a sophomore from Lewisville, Ark., was a cheerleader when she attended Lafayette County High School.

“This was an easy transition for me,” Carr said. “I love cheerleading, that’s my heart. I’m very very happy about this.”

Ceil Bridges, the cheerleading sponsor who took over the squad in 2002 with six girls, said the growth in the team has been phenomenal and commands the attention of people across the state.

“I’ve already received a call from Monticello from a girl who wants to join,” Bridges said, explaining that the girl noticed the cheerleading squads during SAU’s first football game September 1 against the University of Arkansas at Monticello. “Visually we make a big impact when we go places and have such a great cheerleading squad.”

Bridges said she was impressed with the success of the cheerleaders last year during competition and hopes that both squads will be ready to excel in their individual categories this year.

“Very rarely does a team go to the competition for the first time and make it to the finals so we were extremely excited,” Bridges said. “To make it to the finals is just unheard of really.”

As for what football fans can expect to see from the cheerleaders this fall, the co-ed squad and all girl squad will cater to fans at both ends of the sidelines. And the all girls squad won’t be the only ones doing a little dancing, she said.

“We’ve found that our guys like to dance too,” Bridges said

After five years of preparation, the SAU program was recently notified it had received full accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs and the Joint Review Committee on Athletic Training Education Programs.

“I would like to recognize and thank Jan Kiilsgaard, ATEP director, for her hard work and long hours spent reworking our self-study, coordinating the on-site visit, and making sure that we surpass this process,” said Ken Cole, head athletic trainer at SAU.

By receiving full accreditation, the program can now graduate students who can pursue a career in the athletic training field.

“We have a solid program, and it showed during our site visit last fall,” said Kiilsgaard.

Prior to the on-site visit, Kiilsgard had to develop new classes that met national standards and prepare a self study that was approximately 800 pages long.

“We are excited for our students,” she said. “They now have a lot of career alternatives available to them.”

In May, the program will graduate its first nine students.

“We want to congratulate these athletic training students for their hard work and patience throughout the accreditation process,” said Cole.

If you would like to learn more about ATEP at SAU, call 870-235-4161.

“The convention was very informative,” said Katy O’Pry, a senior health, kinesiology, and recreation major from El Dorado. “By attending the convention we were allowed to network and meet other future professionals.”

O’Pry serves on the 2005-06 ArkAHERD with Dr. Sheri Baggett-McMinn, an associate professor of health, kinesiology, and recreation. As a board member, O’Pry served as a program presider and delivered the invocation for the awards luncheon. Baggett-McMinn serves as the current president of the organization.

Using the convention theme “Whatever it Takes,” O’Pry and Baggett-McMinn presented a program with Peggy Sue Bryant and Dr. Lynn Glover-Leggett from Henderson State University titled “Faculty and Student Perceived Values on the Importance of being an Active Member of a Major/Minor Club.”

At the awards luncheon, O’Pry received the Newman McGee student scholarship, the most prestigious student award given by the association.

“The scholarship is based on a student’s participation and involvement with health, kinesiology, and recreation,” said O’Pry.

Four students, calling themselves the Riders, participated in and won the Student Super Stars state competition. The team bested six other teams from Arkansas Universities. The winners received a gift card from Wal-Mart.

Students attending the state convention include O’Pry; Christy Thompson, a senior HKR major from Bearden; Elizabeth Tankersley, a senior HKR major from Ashdown; Mark Legge, a junior exercise science major from New South Wales, Australia; Richard Bell, a senior HKR major from De Queen; and Melody Manning, a senior exercise science major from Magnolia.