SFASU Foundation announces 2023 Faculty Achievement Award recipients

The Stephen F. Austin State University Foundation announced its Faculty Achievement Award recipients for 2023. Dr. Deb Scott, professor in the School of Music, was presented the Faculty Achievement Award for research and creativity, and Dr. Jeremy Stovall, professor in the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, was presented the Faculty Achievement Award for teaching.

As an expression of its support for excellence in teaching, the SFASU Foundation board of trustees established these two awards in 1994 to honor outstanding faculty members each year in recognition of innovation and/or excellence in teaching, research and creative activity.

“I’m deeply honored to be chosen for this award,” Scott said. “So many of my colleagues across the university are doing incredible work, so it is particularly meaningful. This is one of the biggest highlights of my career, and I’m grateful to the SFASU Foundation.”

Scott is professor of trombone and bass trombone at SFA. She teaches and performs internationally and is a performing artist for Rath Trombones, which are custom trombones created in England by Michael Rath. She is also the director of the International Trombone Festival’s composers workshop.

Scott is a performing member of Monarch Brass, a group touted as the best female brass players in the world. She has also been a featured artist at Trombonanza in Argentina as well as other international venues. Scott has performed many times as a soloist and within groups at the International Trombone Festival, and under her direction, the SFA Trombone Octet has been featured at the festival twice. She also performs regularly throughout North America with her trio, TexiCali.

Stovall is the Bone Hill Foundation Distinguished Professor of Silviculture at SFA. He teaches dendrology and a variety of courses focused on silviculture and is actively involved in research focused on invasive species management, mineland reclamation and bottomland hardwood regeneration dynamics. Stovall also advises the Sylvans, SFA’s timbersports team that has won eight of the past nine annual Southern Forestry Conclaves.

“I am fortunate to get to work with our SFA forestry students in the classroom and in the forest every week,” Stovall said. “They’ve provided many great ideas over the years that have made me a better teacher. I am grateful for my students and the SFASU Foundation for this fantastic recognition.”

Since 2010, Stovall’s research has resulted in more than 20 peer-reviewed publications, $1.5 million in extramural research funding, 70 conference presentations, and the mentorship of more than a dozen graduate students. He has chaired the SFA Faculty Senate and the Lufkin-Nacogdoches Chapter of the Society of American Foresters and has served on the board of the Texas Forestry Association. He currently manages the Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture’s greenhouses.