Everything Nac

The Texas Tribune will host a free event featuring a conversation with Sen. Robert Nichols and Rep. Travis Clardy from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. May 7 at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Evan Smith, Texas Tribune CEO and editor-in-chief, will moderate the discussion, which will be followed by an audience question-and-answer session.

Nichols, R-Jacksonville, represents District 3 in the Senate and serves as the chair of the Transportation Committee and as a member of the finance, administration, and business and commerce committees. He is a member of the Legislative Audit Committee and is serving a third term on the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission.

Nichols has a degree in industrial engineering from Lamar University and served for eight years as Texas transportation commissioner.

Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, represents District 11 in the Texas House where he serves as vice chair of the Local and Consent Calendars Committee and as a member of the higher education and energy resources committees. Clardy graduated from Abilene Christian University with a business administration degree in 1984 and received his law degree from Pepperdine University in 1998. He leads the East Texas office of the Kelly Hart & Hallman law firm.

Guests are asked register for the event in advance at www.sfasu.edu/texastribune. Held in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom, doors will open at 11:30 a.m., and the conversation will begin at noon. A light lunch will be provided.

The Texas Tribune is a nonpartisan, nonprofit media organization that promotes civic engagement and discourse on public policy, politics, government and other matters of statewide concern. To learn more, visit texastribune.org.

For more information, call (936) 468-2605.

Stephen F. Austin State University senior Bailey Freeman of Lufkin received the Olds Family Outstanding Student Teacher Award, which honors an exemplary student teacher each semester from SFA’s Department of Elementary Education.

University field supervisor MaryAnn Bentley nominated Freeman for this honor, and a committee of five SFA elementary education faculty members, who reviewed teaching videos and additional materials, selected her to receive the award.

Freeman will graduate SFA this month with a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies. Her specialization is teaching fourth through eighth grade. She completed her student teaching at Central Heights Middle School in the Central Heights Independent School District with eighth-grade teacher Brenda Trantham serving as her mentor.

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