Everything Nac

The combined choirs at Stephen F. Austin State University along with the Orchestra of the Pines will perform Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem KV 626 (completed by Franz Xaver Süssmayr) at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 4, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

Conducted by Dr. Michael Murphy, this masterwork concert will feature SFA’s A Cappella Choir, Murphy, director; Choral Union and Women’s Choir, Dr. Tod Fish, director; and the Orchestra of the Pines, Dr. Gene H. Moon, director.

The performance will also feature faculty soloists Debbie Berry, Nita Hudson, Dr. Richard Berry and Dr. Chris Turner from the School of Music.

“This concert features two popular choral-orchestral works from the Classical era,” said Murphy, director of choral activities in the School of Music. “Perhaps no other work garners more mystery and intrigue than Mozart’s unfinished Requiem in D minor, K. 626. Many strange events and coincidences surrounding the commission and creation of the Requiem and Mozart’s untimely death at age 35 has provided overly dramatic license for rumors and conspiracy theories for staged productions and movies alike,” he added.

Franz Joseph Haydn’s Te Deum was composed in the same decade as the unfinished Requiem and Mozart’s death. The Te Deum was composed for the music lover and amateur singer, Empress Marie Therese.

The combined choirs and orchestra will perform Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, and the A Cappella Choir and chamber orchestra will perform Haydn’s Te Deum.

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.

A team of mass communication, art and marketing students from Stephen F. Austin State University recently won Best Media Plan at the American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition in Corpus Christi.

This award recognizes students for their creative use of a $10 million budget in building an advertising campaign for Ocean Spray Cranberries. Since the fall semester, students have built the campaign to increase brand relevance among millennials between the ages of 24 and 34 by conducting brand and target-market research, developing “Own the Ocean” as their central theme and strategy, budgeting and creating a media plan.

During the course of the project, Tyler Fisher, graduate student from Spring, Texas, served in an advisory role to offer students advice, feedback and support.

“As a second-year participant, winning an award means a lot. I know these students have worked hard to come up with something the judges will enjoy. It is a great accomplishment to be recognized for our hard work,” Fisher said.

Their award-winning media plan focused on social media and digital efforts and included test markets to evaluate which messages, tactics, strategies and locations would most effectively reach millennials.

This project was part of an advertising course, and Dr. Seth Bradshaw, assistant professor in the Department of Mass Communication; Dr. Marlene Kahla, professor in the Department of Management and Marketing; and Peter Andrew, professor in the School of Art, worked alongside students on this endeavor.

“I have learned great communication skills from participating in this class and contest,” Fisher said. “I have made friends and connections from this experience, and I urge students who wish to have a career in advertising to take this class. The American Advertising Federation is a prestigious organization, and this class is essential to advancing your education and knowledge of the advertising field.”

SFA competed against schools such as the University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, Texas Tech University and more. At the competition, teams of four students presented their class’ campaign in a 20-minute presentation.

According to the organization’s website, this premier competition “provides more than 2,000 college students the real-world experience of creating a strategic advertising/marketing/media campaign for a corporate client.”

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

Fifteen Stephen F. Austin State University seniors from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry will participate in a research symposium beginning at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in the Math Building.

“In our undergraduate research experience, all students pick a research topic and faculty mentor according to their personal interest and career goals,” said Dr. Michele Harris, professor and assistant chair of the department.

Students are required to engage in research for a minimum of two semesters, presenting their findings at the symposium to a group of alumni evaluators. The top three presenters will receive a scholarship of $100.

A panel of alumni will answer career questions from current students after the presentations, followed by student award recognition and a dinner.

Topics to be presented include the development of new therapy for cancer treatment, synthesis of sensors for detecting toxins in water and the development of active-learning, inquiry-based laboratories.

“Mentored undergraduate research provides students a transformative learning experience and assists students in developing professional skills needed for their future careers,” Harris said.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Harris at mharris@sfasu.edu.

By Joanna Armstrong, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

A concert by the Contemporary Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University, originally scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 26, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus, has been canceled.

For more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407.

Stephen F. Austin State University students interested in making a difference in lives across the globe now have that opportunity with the student chapter of the medical outreach program Volunteers Around the World.

Students involved in the program can work with patients and doctors, distribute medications, and teach classes on health hygiene and nutrition in clinics located in Central and South America and Asia.

The student chapter was started by Mary Dang, junior biology major from Sugar Land, after a medical mission trip to Costa Rica.

“It opened my eyes to a world outside of the one I had always known and inspired me to share the same passion I have for health care with as many students as possible,” Dang said. “Not only do I want to travel abroad on these medical outreach trips to help provide the essential health care that is lacking within these developing nations, but I also want to spread awareness throughout my own local community.”

The chapter is planning a trip to Vietnam for the end of 2018 and is involved in local outreach, volunteering at The Brown Family Health Center and Lexington Place Nursing and Rehabilitation, and in other community-service projects around Nacogdoches.

“The VAW is a great chance for students to travel and learn hands-on medical experience,” said Dr. Brian Barngrover, faculty advisor for the chapter and assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “This is a unique opportunity for students regardless of major.”

The program is open to all majors. For more information, email vawsfasu@gmail.org, or visit @vawsfasu on Twitter or Instagram.

By Joanna Armstrong, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Office of Research and Graduate Studies has announced the recipients of its annual Research and Creative Activity and Research Pilot Study grants.

ORGS and Academic Affairs conduct a university-wide call for proposals, and the deadline for submissions is typically the end of October. The University Research Council conducts a blind peer review of all applications. Grant awardees are notified early in the spring semester and funded through the remainder of the fiscal year.

Dr. Steve Bullard, provost and vice president for academic affairs, approved the award of six RCA grants totaling approximately $130,000 based on the recommendations of the URC. Additionally, the URC approved two spring RPS grants. Both of these programs are awarded through an annual competition and are funded from the university’s Research Enhancement Fund, which encourages and enhances research, offers scholarly and creative opportunities for faculty members, serves as support for innovative research, and provides seed monies to attract external financial support.

The RCA grants provide substantive summer salary support to faculty members in addition to funds for collecting data, producing the creative activity, hiring students to assist, materials, supplies and other similar items. The pilot study program provides seed money to generate pilot data so faculty members may initiate new lines of research and scholarly endeavors.

2018 Research and Creative Activity Grants

Dr. John Brannon Gary – Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Sciences and Mathematics

Bioinspired D Catalysis: Using Nature as an Inspiration for Developing New Chemistry

Gary’s research seeks to develop new chemical models based on natural enzymes rather than the more expensive metals used in current practices to produce many commodity chemicals. These new systems could potentially impact areas such as alternative energy and the development of new drugs. Gary hopes to use this preliminary data to garner external funding in the future to continue to research using other types of experiments, such as water oxidation.

Dr. Xiaozhen (Jenny) Han – Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Sciences and Mathematics

The Preparation of Multi-Target Anticancer Prodrugs: Ru(II) (Arene) Complexes with Selenium-Containing Flavonols

Han seeks to develop water-soluble, multi-target anticancer drug agents by combining certain flavonols with metal fragments. The multi-target anticancer drugs are important with diseases as complex as cancer. The use of certain metal ions that possess a lower toxicity could help reduce side effects of cancer treatments.

Candace Hicks – School of Art, College of Fine Arts

Many Mini Murder Scenes

Hicks’ project will expand on the standard theatrical diorama display to incorporate audience participation elements in her crime scene dioramas based on fictional stories. The result will be a public exhibition, including a guidebook that allows the viewer to unravel the clues in the crime scene — not to solve the crime, but to delve into the cultural significance of the mystery.

Dr. Sheryll Jerez – Division of Environmental Science, Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture

Comparison of Benzene and Other Volatile Compounds in Ambient Air near the Eagle Ford Shale Area

Jerez will develop standard operating procedures for certain analyses performed with the new gas chromatography/flame ionization detector system. In addition, she will research the air quality impacts on people in rural East Texas from fracking sites. The standard operating procedures will be invaluable as Jerez and other faculty members seek to expand their research capacities.

Dr. Christopher Schalk – Department of Forestry and Spatial Science, Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture

Examining terrestrial food-web structure in managed and unmanaged forests in East Texas

Schalk will concentrate on forest management practices and how they impact food webs (consumer-resource relationships). Such research data will help land managers make more informed decisions concerning forestry practices in addition to providing seed data for Schalk to be competitive in external funding.

Dr. Jacob Turner – Department of Mathematics and Statistics, College of Sciences and Mathematics

Robustness to model selection in longitudinal gene expression studies

Turner will research high throughput gene expression data to develop new theoretical and methodological approaches to improve current standards of practice, which will be useful to the bioinformatics and biostatistics research communities.

Research Pilot Study

Dr. Luis Aguerrevere – Department of Human Services, James I. Perkins College of Education

Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Facial and Emotional Regulation in Individuals with Autism: A Pilot Study

Dr. Hector Ochoa – Department of Physics, Engineering and Astronomy, College of Sciences and Mathematics

Establishing a Methodology to Fabricate and Test Super Coiled Polymer Actuators using Traditional and Conductive Polymers