Everything Nac

Sitting on the sidelines has never been an option for Dr. Jason Reese, sports business program coordinator and assistant professor at Stephen F. Austin State University.

After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Reese worked with baseball marketing and sales for the Round Rock Express, the Triple-A Affiliate of the Houston Astros. While working toward his master’s degree, Reese taught a few game-changing classes.

“It hit me, teaching a younger generation is what I am called to do,” Reese said. “I decided I wanted to pursue my doctoral degree and become a sports marketing instructor to prepare future industry marketers.”

Since joining the faculty in SFA’s Rusche College of Business in 2014, Reese has been committed to changing lives, one Lumberjack at a time, through his interactive classes and the creation of the sports business program.

In his sports promotion course, Reese has provided students with the opportunity to work with the Houston Texans to sell individual and group tickets to the Battle of Piney Woods game each fall, which pits SFA against Sam Houston State University and is held at NRG Stadium, home of the Texans. In addition, students work with SFA Athletics to sell season, group and individual tickets to SFA football, basketball and baseball/softball games.

“This experiential learning opportunity allows students to gain marketable sales skills, such as client prospecting, cold calling, sales presentation development and closing strategies,” Reese said.

Likewise, students also work with an online sports industry leader in sales and workforce training, 1Huddle, where students compete with other universities and professional sports teams in trivia-style games related to sales knowledge and skills development.

“Our students are using the same training software as more than 60 professional teams and college athletic programs,” Reese said. “This competition has led to numerous top 10 monthly finishes during the past couple of years. In fact, one month our students earned second place, just behind the Golden State Warriors.”

Reese has been an active member of the SFA community, serving as the 2018-19 chair of the Faculty Senate. Committees on which he has been a member include the presidential screening, athletic director search, chief of police search, Mr. and Miss SFA selection, and Texas common course numbering system. He also is the faculty advisor of the Sports Business Society and co-advisor of the American Marketing Association.

An award-winning faculty member, Reese has been recognized with the Distinguished Faculty Member Award, Distinguished Service Award, Rusche Faculty Scholar Award and the Junior Faculty Research Grant Award from the Global Sports Business Association. Most recently, he was recognized with an SFA Teaching Excellence Award for being an outstanding faculty member for the Rusche College of Business.

“I feel blessed because of the support I’ve received throughout my career from my colleagues and mentors,” Reese said. “That is what is really being recognized.”

The Teaching Excellence Award is based on knowledge of subject matter, quality of lectures and assignments, enthusiasm for teaching, interest in and availability to students, commitment to continuous improvement, and contribution to the quality of teaching at SFA by assisting and encouraging other faculty members.

“It means a lot to me because there are so many other faculty members in my college who are great teachers,” Reese said. “They are passionate about what they do and create great learning environments for their students. To be recognized by my college is humbling.”

By Kasi Dickerson, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present the comic operetta “The Pirates of Penzance” by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 4 through 6, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus. The most popular and beloved of all Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, “The Pirates of Penzance” promises fun for the entire family. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407.

Michelle White, senior curator at the Menil Collection in Houston, will serve as juror for the 25th Texas National, Stephen F. Austin State University’s acclaimed art competition and exhibition, which opens April 13 and runs through June 9 in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Texas National features an assortment of art, including photography, painting, sculpture and mixed media, according to John Handley, director of SFA galleries. This year’s exhibition includes 50 pieces of art from across the nation. Among the pieces are works by four current or former students in the SFA School of Art, including works by Sarah Jentsch, Santiago Escobido, Mason Cullen and Sara Gray.

The School of Art’s annual juried competition and exhibition attracts entrants from across the United States, providing artists an opportunity to have their work juried by highly acclaimed curators and critics, such as White, Handley said.

“Each year for our Texas National Competition and Exhibition, we seek to engage a well-respected individual from the arts to act as the juror for this national exhibition,” Handley said. “Michelle White is a curator at one of the nation’s most respected institutions.”

White will give a gallery talk at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the art center, followed by the announcement of this year’s Texas National winners during the exhibitions’ opening reception, which begins at 6 p.m.

The exhibition and reception are sponsored in part by the SFA Friends of the Visual Arts, The Flower Shop, William Arscott and corporate sponsor R&K Distributors, Inc. Also assisting with the reception are SFA hospitality students led by Dr. Gina Causin.

As senior curator at the Menil Collection, White has organized the exhibitions “Mona Hatoum: Terra Infirma,” “Barnett Newman: the Late Work,” “Lessons from Below: Otabenga Jones and Associates,” “Imaginary Spaces,” “Leaps into the Void: Documents of Nouveau Realist Performance,” “Between Land and Sea: Artists of the Coenties Slip” and “Vija Celmins: Television and Disaster, 1964-1966.”

She was the co-curator of the first retrospective of the drawings of Richard Serra at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She organized the retrospective drawing exhibition of works on paper by Lee Bontecou for the Menil and the Princeton University Art Museum and “Cy Twombly: Treatise on the Veil” at the Morgan Library & Museum. She has worked with Claes Oldenburg on a publication and exhibition of the “Strange Eggs,” organized commissions with Dario Robleto, Leslie Hewitt and Bradford Young, and she is currently working on a drawing exhibition with Roni Horn.

Formally regional editor of the quarterly journal Art Lies, White has contributed her writing to various art journals, including Art Papers, Flash Art, Modern Painters, Master Drawing and Gulf Coast Literary Journal, and she has written essays for exhibition catalogues published by the Fondation Beyeler, The Des Moines Art Center, The Print Center and the University of Texas Press.

She received her B.A. at the University of California, San Diego, and her M.A. in art history from Tufts University. She has held positions at the Fogg Museum at Harvard University and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

Dr. Abby Yeakle Held, adjunct professor of oboe at Stephen F. Austin State University, will present the recital program “Celebrating the Music of American Composers” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

With a goal of presenting a program of only American repertoire, Held selected a “made-in-the-USA” theme featuring the music of William Grant Still, Samuel Barber, George Gershwin, Gian Carlo Menotti, Douglas Moore and Alyssa Morris. Performing with Held will be SFA collaborative pianist Hyun Ji Oh.

“This recital is a diverse melting pot, like our country, and celebrates music written by Americans,” Held said. “There is oboe-piano repertoire, as well as transcriptions of opera arias. The selection of composers is also more diverse than the average program, as it includes both a female composer and an African American composer.”

The program includes Still’s “Incantation and Dance,” Barber’s “Canzonetta,” Gershwin’s “Summertime” from “Porgy and Bess,” Menotti’s “Steal me Sweet Thief” from “The Old Maid and the Thief” and Moore’s “Willow Song” from “The Ballad of Baby Doe.”

It also features Morris’ new music, “27-72,” which will have had its world premier five days prior to Held’s recital.

“I am a part of the consortium which commissioned Alyssa Morris’ ’27-72,'” Held said. “The piece was inspired by and dedicated to my undergraduate oboe professor at Baylor University, Dr. Doris DeLoach.”

The concert is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University will hold a dedication ceremony for the 1st Lt. Kile G. West Memorial Obstacle Course at 2:30 p.m. April 29 at the Student Recreation Center on the SFA campus. The public is invited to attend.

West, who graduated from SFA in 2005, attended the field artillery officer basic course and was assigned to the 1st Calvary Division at Fort Hood. West and four of his men were killed in action May 28, 2007, in Abu Sayda, Iraq, while en route to rescue the crew of a downed U.S. aircraft. West was the first officer commissioned at SFA to be killed in action. He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with Valor and the Purple Heart.

“West absolutely embodied the Lumberjack Battalion’s motto, ‘Be the Best,’” said Maj. James Attaway, SFA chair and professor of military science. “We wanted to do something to honor his sacrifice to our nation and thought it would be appropriate to name the obstacle course after him because it will be regularly used by our cadets.”

Completed in April 2018, the obstacle course was designed by Sgt. 1st Class Jose Rendon, SFA instructor of military science, to help cadets develop the strength, stamina and confidence they need to apply to Air Assault School.

Attaway said the obstacle course requires cadets to literally take a leap of faith to make it over obstacles they may face in life.

“The obstacle course helps cadets conquer their fears by putting them into challenging physical and mental situations. These experiences will help prepare them for challenges they will face as a United States Army officer,” Attaway said.

To learn more about the SFA Army ROTC program, visit sfasu.edu/rotc.

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.