Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University psychology graduate student Neusha Khaleghi received a $1,500 grant from Psi Chi, the international honors society in psychology, to help fund her graduate research project, “Weight-based Stigma, Self-efficacy of Dietary Control and Cortisol Levels in College Women.”

Khaleghi is studying whether or not there is a correlation between levels of cortisol, which is a steroid hormone that regulates processes throughout the body such as metabolism, and self-efficacy of dietary control in college women who are judged for their weight.

“Basically, we want to see if women who perceive themselves as overweight have higher levels of cortisol when they are stigmatized due to their weight.”

The Psi Chi grant will allow Khaleghi to purchase equipment that will help collect and analyze saliva samples in order to measure cortisol levels in participants.

In addition to her primary research, Khaleghi also is interested in determining whether stigmatized women will consume more high-calorie foods than participants who are not stigmatized.

For more information on SFA graduate research, visit http://www2.sfasu.edu/orsp/index.html.

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

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture and the SFA Division of Environmental Science will host a public lecture beginning at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 5, in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St., in Nacogdoches.

Heidi Grether, director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, will present “Perspectives on Environmental Protection and Regulation, Day-to-Day and in Crisis.”

Grether brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from her time dealing with environmental disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. During this time she served as the general manager for external affairs for BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization, which was responsible for managing all aspects of external affairs post-spill across states located along the Gulf Coast.

Prior to leading Michigan’s environmental regulatory agency, which has federal delegated authority for a broad array of environmental programs, as well as state-specific authorities, Grether served as the deputy director of the Michigan Agency for Energy.

Grether also served as legislative director for the Michigan speaker of the house, as well as policy advisor to the Michigan Senate and vice president of environmental affairs for the Michigan Manufacturers Association.

She has received recognition awards for strategic communications and outreach, issues advocacy and crisis communications.

This lecture is free and open to the public. Parking is available at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center and nearby Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.

For more information, call (936) 468-1185 or email fullersa@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s dance program will showcase the SFA Repertory Dance Company in Concert, which premieres at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 25, in Turner Auditorium on the university’s campus.

An additional showing is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 26. Tickets cost $8 for students, $12 for faculty and staff members and senior citizens, and $15 for general admission and can be purchased at the door. All proceeds benefit the SFA dance program.

The SFA Repertory Dance Company is a select group of 20 dancers that performs and represents SFA locally, regionally and nationally at conferences, recruitment events and a variety of other venues. Dancers are selected through an audition process and have the opportunity to work with guest artists and other professionals in the field of dance.

The production will feature nine choreographic works created by SFA dance faculty members and guest artists, including Jennifer Salter, an artist from Houston who choreographed an intense, athletic modern dance, and Brixey Blankenship-Cozad, an artist from Beaumont who created a high energy, acrobatic hip-hop dance.

The Dimensions Contemporary Ballet Company, which comprises SFA students, alumni, faculty members and non-SFA dancers, also will perform under the direction of Heather Samuelson, co-coordinator of SFA’s dance program and assistant professor.

Samuelson worked on two pieces in the production — one with a trio of dancers performing a contemporary ballet dance to Vivaldi and the second an intense modern dance based on dementia research.

Haley Hoss Jameson, co-coordinator of SFA’s dance program and associate professor, also is presenting two works in the concert. One dance is a quirky modern piece that utilizes the strength of dancers and spoken text. Her second piece is a fun, energetic jazz dance performed in the classic 1980s style with the whole company.

“This dance will definitely amuse the audience and take them back to a time of high-cut leotards, sweatbands and big hair,” Samuelson said.

Adjunct faculty member Sarah Sanchez choreographed an athletic piece for the company.

“Her piece is a structured, contact improvisational dance that displays the dancers’ strength, control, connection to each other, and how movement can evolve organically through touch and manipulation,” Samuelson said. “There are moments of stillness that will draw the audience in deeper to the evolution of the dancers’ movement.”

Sanchez’s piece and Samuelson’s piece on dementia will both be presented at the South Central American College Dance Association Conference in March.

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