Everything Nac

Maria Landeros, a senior Stephen F. Austin State University student studying early childhood through sixth grade education, received the 2017-18 McCathey Dressman Education Foundation Scholarship.

“Receiving this scholarship has granted me the wonderful opportunity of achieving one of my dearest goals in life, which is becoming a certified teacher,” Landeros said.

Landeros is enrolled in SFA’s online completer program, and this semester she is completing her clinical practice (student teaching) through the Nacogdoches Independent School District. Dr. Judy Abbott, dean of SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education, is serving as Landeros’ mentor.

“Maria is a dedicated non-traditional student who is focused on finishing her degree and meeting all necessary requirements to be eligible to apply for teacher certification from the Texas Education Agency,” Abbott said. “She has maintained a high GPA while pursuing her goal of becoming a teacher and has served as a strong role model for her children. I am impressed with her enthusiasm, energy and content knowledge.”

Landeros is no stranger to the classroom. She has worked for Nacogdoches ISD as an instructional and bilingual aide for more than 10 years.

In 2003, she began working for Nacogdoches ISD as a paraprofessional permanent substitute assisting in a bilingual first grade classroom at Nettie Marshall Elementary School. She also served as a bilingual paraprofessional at Thomas J. Rusk Elementary School for six years. During that time, Landeros served as the test administrator for the Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey and as a bilingual interpreter.

“My passion to teach and to help children motivated me to study and become a certified teacher,” Landeros said.

The Heterodyne Duo at Stephen F. Austin State University will open the all-new Calliope Concert Series for the SFA School of Music at the start of the fall semester.

The faculty duo, featuring Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at SFA, and Dr. Nathan Nabb, professor of saxophone, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, in Cole Concert Hall in the Wright Music Building on the SFA campus.

The program will feature compositions by Nathan Daughtrey, Alex Mincek, Marc Mellits and Iannis Xenakis.

Daughtrey’s “Burn” was commissioned for a performance at the 2016 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference at Texas Tech University where it received its premiere. The title “conjures images of overlapping, quick figures rising and falling, weaving into and out of one another, just as flames do,” Daughtrey wrote about the piece.

Mellits explains his “Escape” as the definition of the word: to break free from confinement or control.

“The music to my ‘Escape’ does much the same thing,” he wrote. “The alto saxophone and marimba in this work are often treated as two halves of the same musical machine. Their rhythmic and melodic patterns intertwine and play off of each other in order to create a musical entity that relies on each other and that, in effect, controls one another.”

Xenakis is considered to be a pioneer in the area of computer music and algorithmic composition. He also developed an approach to digital synthesis based on random generation and variation of the waveform itself. In addition, he designed a computer system utilizing a graphic interface, according to a description written by composer, writer and digital music specialist James Harley, who authored a book on Xenakis. “Dmaathen” was originally scored for oboe and percussion; the oboe part has since been adapted, with the composer’s endorsement, for flute and for soprano saxophone.

The Calliope Concert Series is made possible by the Wedgeworth-Wright Endowment for the Arts, the James E. and Beth Kingham Performance Fund and the Kennedy Recital Fund.

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.