Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University campus was without power for approximately six hours after a main circuit breaker failed Tuesday. The failure occurred around 6 p.m., and Oncor Electric crews and university personnel restored power to campus just before midnight.

The failure initially caused an outage in areas surrounding campus, including North Street, University Drive and Appleby Sand Road. Power was restored to the off-campus areas within the hour.

“Crews were able to restore power to campus by temporarily bypassing the failed part,” said Lee Brittain, director of SFA’s physical plant. “The new equipment needed to make permanent repairs will be delivered to campus and installed soon. When that repair occurs, it will be necessary to once again shut down power for a short period of time while the permanent repair is being made.”

Brittain said the work would be planned at a time to be least disruptive to the campus community.

“We will provide advance notifications to ensure that no one should be caught off guard,” Brittain said.

To help accommodate SFA students, the university opened the new Residence Life Operations facility on University Drive, which was powered by a generator, providing a place for students to gather. SFA’s Jack Track shuttle service added the facility as a stop on its route to provide safe transportation to students.

Outdoor portable lights also were set up in areas across campus.

Generations of Lumberjack Marching Band musicians and twirlers will take the field Saturday at Homer Bryce Stadium on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus when they perform at 5:30 p.m. prior to the football game between the SFA Lumberjacks and Incarnate Word.

The Lumberjack Marching Band and Twirl-O-Jacks Reunion will feature a fun day of “friendship and fellowship” among alumni band members, according to Paige Pattillo-Brown, former SFA feature twirler and an organizer of the reunion and the newly established Lumberjack Band Alumni Association.

Last year, a reunion was held to celebrate the band’s 90th anniversary and the Twirl-O-Jacks’ 60th anniversary, but an official alumni organization did not exist at that time. Brown, along with Kristen Badders Conklin, assist each year in judging SFA twirling tryouts, and following last year’s tryouts, the two volunteered to help plan another reunion for 2017. They soon found themselves creating a new organization, Brown said.

There had been an SFA alumni band created years earlier by legendary East Texas band director Jim Hagood. Its purpose was to promote the band and provide scholarships, but the organization had become defunct, Brown said.

“I was a member of that organization, joining it in 2000 when I graduated from SFA,” Brown said. “But over the years, it ceased to exist. So we have had to create a new one from scratch. We created bylaws and contracts, so hopefully, we will now have a sustaining Lumberjack Band Alumni Association that will raise funds for the current band.”

Among the goals is to raise money to help feed band members who arrive on campus for three-a-day band practices weeks before SFA cafeterias open. Brown said the band alumni association hopes work with Dr. David Campo, director of The Lumberjack Marching Band, to identify other needs the alumni group can support.

“Dr. Campo has grown the band to 370 members, and that’s a lot of people to feed before the cafeterias open,” Brown said. “Hopefully, over time, we will be able to raise and save money to give out scholarships, perhaps eventually full scholarships. Our numbers are such, that if people come back and participate, this is a true possibility.”

Approximately 115 band alumni have registered as participants in Saturday’s reunion. Of those, 70 will perform in pre-game activities. Among them will be 87-year-old former SFA twirler Mary Jo Morris of New Braunfels, who was on the SFA twirling line in 1948 and 1949.

“So far, the alumni band members who have registered represent a combined 280 years of service to the Lumberjack Band,” Brown said.

Kappa Kappa Psi, SFA’s band service fraternity, will provide a hamburger-hotdog cookout lunch, alumni band association members will have a business meeting, and band alumni will participate in the SFA Alumni Association’s tailgating activities at the alumni tent. The alumni band will also attend The Lumberjack Marching Band’s performance at the Ag Pond prior to the pre-game show.

Reunion registration is open through Friday, Sept. 15. Annual membership is $45; lifetime membership is $250. Online registration is at http://www.sfaalumni.com/event/LMBTOJ17, or call the SFA Alumni Association at (936) 468-3407 for additional information.

People wanting to earn a master’s degree in cybersecurity will soon have the opportunity to do so at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The College of Sciences and Mathematics recently received approval to offer the new degree program, and professors in the Department of Computer Science are busy planning to launch the program’s core courses in spring 2018.

According to Forbes, the cybersecurity market is expected to reach $170 billion by 2020. Additionally, data gathered from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that more than 209,000 U.S. cybersecurity jobs are unfilled.

“There is a widely recognized, very strong need for cybersecurity professionals in government, industry and education,” said Dr. Debbie Dunn, interim chair of the Department of Computer Science at SFA. “This program will provide a fundamental background in cybersecurity.”

Students will be required to complete 30 hours of coursework as well as a thesis. Courses will include general computer security, web security, defensive coding and security, reverse engineering, forensics, attack testing, and attack, defense and penetration testing.

Dr. Christopher Ivancic, graduate program coordinator in SFA’s Department of Computer Science, will teach many of the courses. His background is in software engineering, and he has experience in creating digital and forensics training for law enforcement and military personnel.

“In today’s world, cybersecurity is more than a tech problem. Employers from private businesses to government agencies are looking for people with security knowledge and skills,” Ivancic said.

Courses will be offered face-to-face, and plans are underway to include a cybersecurity lab in SFA’s new Ed and Gwen Cole STEM Building.

“We are excited about the possibility of the lab,” Ivancic said. “This program will offer students hands-on learning opportunities as well as an in-depth look at the specialized field of cybersecurity. For example, professors will be able to create ‘sandboxes’ (test or staging servers) where students can work on cyber issues virtually.”

Possible career paths for those interested in pursuing a master’s degree in cybersecurity include security analyst, security software developer, cryptanalyst, security consultant, cyber forensics consultant, malware analyst and more.

For more information, contact Dunn at ddunn@sfasu.edu or Ivancic at ivanciccp@sfasu.edu.

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