Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Rusche College of Business will host the SFA Leadership Summit from 2 – 3:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 3, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Theater on the university’s campus.

Dr. Trey Turner, executive director of development at SFA, said the summit will feature a panel discussion with seven successful alumni about leadership principles and business and corporate issues.

“The aim of the SFA Leadership Summit is to give students the opportunity to ask questions and visit with individuals who work in corporate America and have attained senior-level leadership positions within their respective companies,” Turner said. “The interactions between our featured panelists and students will help educate and inspire the next generation of SFA leaders.”

This free event is scheduled in conjunction with the Nelson Rusche Distinguished Lecture Series, which premieres at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3 in the BPSC Grand Ballroom.

Dr. Tim Bisping, dean of the Rusche College of Business, said providing students opportunities to become leaders in their fields is central to the college’s mission.

“Having such successful business alumni on campus sharing their expertise in order to help our students develop as leaders is a special opportunity that we truly appreciate,” Bisping said.

Summit panelists include Greg Arnold, chairman and CEO of the Truman Arnold Companies; Chris Bagley, president and chief operating officer for BancorpSouth; Terry Bonno, senior vice president of marketing and contracts for Transocean; Michael Calbert, chairman of the board for Dollar General Corporation; Stacie Shirley, executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Tuesday Morning Corporation; Steve Stagner, executive chairman and chairman of the board for Mattress Firm; and Michael Taff, executive vice president and CFO for Chicago Bridge & Iron Company.

Greg Arnold

Greg Arnold serves as chairman and CEO of the Truman Arnold Companies, a privately owned national petroleum marketing and aviation services company, which Arnold’s father began in 1964. During his 28 years with the company, Arnold has been responsible for expanding the TAC Air network and Keystone Aviation brands, growing the TAC energy network to 48 states and building the TAC terminal network.

Arnold graduated from SFA with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1987. He serves on the board of JP Energy Partners and is a member of the National Petroleum Council, and he has been involved in numerous real estate, banking and private investment activities.

Chris Bagley

Chris Bagley, president and COO of BancorpSouth, has more than 30 years experience in commercial banking, which includes serving as the chief credit officer of Texas-based Prosperity Bank and as chief loan officer and a director of the Bank of Almeda.

He has a diverse banking background working in the areas of credit, internal audit, operations, loan review, and commercial lending in both community bank and larger public bank environments. Bagley received his Bachelor of Business Administration from SFA in 1983 and his Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston.

Terry Bonno

Terry Bonno serves as senior vice president of marketing and contracts for Transocean, a deep-water drilling company. Bonno has worked at Transocean for several years and served in various management positions. She has lived and traveled to numerous countries and led marketing and contract efforts globally. Since her first executive marketing role in 2008, she and her teams have executed more than $63 billion in sales and added 19 new-build drillship/semi-submersible ships to the worldwide fleet.

Prior to working at Transocean, Bonno was employed at International Paper Company and Global Marine.

Bonno is director of NOW Inc., a spinoff of the distribution business of National Oilwell Varco Inc. and is a member of the board of trustees for the Offshore Energy Center and Spindletop Charity. The Diversity Counsel has named Bonno one of the 50 most influential women in the oil and gas industry for the past two years.

A certified public accountant, Bonno graduated from SFA with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1980 and played basketball for the Ladyjacks for four years. In 2012, SFA inducted Bonno into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Michael Calbert

After a 15-year career with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Michael Calbert retired as a senior partner. During his tenure with KKR, Calbert was responsible for global retail private equity practice and approximately $30 billion in transactions in the retail sector. He served on the firm’s global investment committees, the board of directors of Shoppers Drug Mart and Toys ‘R Us, and as chairman of Academy Sports & Outdoors, Pets at Home and U.S. Foods. Prior to KKR, Calbert was the CFO of Randall’s Food Markets, a $2.5 billion revenue retailer based in Texas.

Calbert currently serves as chairman of the board for Dollar General Corporation and recently joined the Brookshire Grocery Company board in Tyler.

A certified public accountant, Calbert received a bachelor’s degree with an emphasis in accounting from SFA in 1984 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Houston.

Stacie Shirley

In January 2016, Stacie Shirley was named executive vice president, CFO and treasurer of Tuesday Morning Corporation, a retailer with more than 750 stores nationwide specializing in selling discounted, upscale home décor, housewares, seasonal goods and more.

Shirley, a 1990 SFA graduate, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and has more than 20 years experience in finance, accounting and capital markets.

Prior to joining Tuesday Morning, Shirley served as senior vice president of finance and treasurer for Neiman Marcus Group. She also served as vice president of finance at CompUSA for eight years.

Steve Stagner

A Texas native, Steve Stagner is the executive chairman and chairman of the board for Mattress Firm, operating more than 3,600 company and franchised stores across the U.S.

In 1996, Stagner opened his first franchise location in Atlanta, and, after eight years, he and his business partner had grown their independent franchise to more than 50 stores. Stagner merged his franchise organization into the Mattress Firm corporate entity and became the COO in 2005. Now with a combined annual sales of more than $3.5 billion nationally, Mattress Firm is among the largest bedding retailers in the country.

Stagner graduated from SFA in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing.

Michael Taff

In April 2015, Michael Taff was named executive vice president and CFO for Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, a leading provider of technology and infrastructure for the energy industry.

Taff has more than 30 years of financial and global industry experience. Prior to joining CB&I, he served as senior vice president and CFO of Flowserve Corporation; senior vice president and CFO at McDermott International, Inc. and The Babcock & Wilcox Co.

He has held various financial leadership roles at HMT Inc., Philip Services Corp. and British Petroleum Oil Co. For nine years, he worked in public accounting at Price Waterhouse.

Taff received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from SFA in 1984 and is a certified public accountant.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present Ann Shoemaker and Kae Hosoda-Ayer in a guest bassoon and piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 4, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The program will feature all modern repertoire for bassoon and piano, written in the 20th and 21st centuries by French and American composers. Shoemaker and Ayer recorded the music for a CD that will be released in 2017. Among the highlights is Joseph Schwantner’s “Black Anemones,” which was originally written for soprano and piano and adapted for flute and piano at the request of flute artist Ransom Wilson, Shoemaker explained.

“I fell in love with the piece and decided to play it on the bassoon,” she said. “I think it works beautifully!”

The most technically challenging piece on the program, and relatively unknown in the bassoon community, “Variations Concertantes” by Ida Gotkovsky, explores different characters in each variation and is not a typical “theme and variations,” Shoemaker said.

“It asks the bassoon to play in the extremes – high and low, soft and loud, lyrical and aggressive,” she said. “It is very difficult but very satisfying to perform.”

The program also includes Etude No. 5: Variations on “Streets of Laredo” by John Steinmetz. The short piece for unaccompanied bassoon is based on the popular tune “Streets of Laredo,” but the variations are neo-Baroque in style, Shoemaker said.

Shoemaker is known for her varied career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and educator. She currently serves as assistant professor of bassoon at Baylor University and is principal bassoonist with the Shreveport and Waco symphony orchestras. She’s performed with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and other orchestras across the South. She is a founding member of the Relevents Wind Quintet and has toured with the ensemble throughout the U.S. and Germany.

Hosoda-Ayer is assistant professor of piano at Baylor University. She has concertized throughout the United States, Canada, Japan and Korea, where she is in demand both as a soloist and collaborative pianist. With her husband, SFA clarinetist Christopher Ayer, she performs as the Duo Karudan throughout the U.S., Canada and Japan and has performed at the International Clarinet Association World Conferences in Tokyo, Austin and Atlanta.

The performance is a feature of the Cole Performing Arts Series. 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.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “La Camioneta” at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Every day dozens of decommissioned school buses leave the United States on a southward migration that carries them to Guatemala, where they are repaired, repainted, and resurrected as the brightly colored camionetas that transport the vast majority of Guatemalans to work each day. Since 2006, nearly 1,000 camioneta drivers and fare-collectors have been murdered for either refusing or being unable to pay the extortion money demanded by local Guatemalan gangs. “La Camioneta” follows one such bus on its transformative journey: a journey between North and South, between life and death, and through an unfolding collection of moments, people and places that serve to quietly remind viewers of the interconnected worlds in which we live, according to information at lacamionetafilm.com.

Mark Kendall directs this 2012 film, which runs 71 minutes.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by the Nacogdoches Film Festival, William Arscott, Nacogdoches Junior Forum, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, Main Street Nacogdoches, David Kulhavy, John and Kristen Heath, Brad Maule, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens and Jim and Mary Neal.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

As part of its 2016-17 University Series, the College of Fine Arts at Stephen F. Austin State University will present an exciting performance of the Big Head Blues Club at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

The Big Head Blues Club featuring Big Head Todd and the Monsters with Mud Morganfield, Billy Branch, Ronnie Baker Brooks and Erica Brown will present “Way Down Inside: Songs of Willie Dixon,” a performance that pays tribute to “one of the pillars of modern blues,” said Scott Shattuck, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and director of the series.

“Dixon was a Chicago blues artist, perhaps best known for his songwriting,” Shattuck said. “He has been called ‘the poet laureate of the blues’ and ‘the father of modern Chicago blues.’

“We anticipate this will be a very popular concert, with tickets going fast,” he said. “As soon as we announced this performance last summer, we began getting phone calls from members of Big Head Todd and the Monsters’ fan club. We expect it be a sell-out.”

Fans of Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy, or even Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones, have heard the songs of Willie Dixon. A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Dixon was a key architect of the Chicago blues sound that many people say gave birth to rock and roll. By the time of his passing in 1992, Dixon had written more than 500 songs, including such immortal hits as “Bring It On Home,” “Spoonful,” “You Need Love,” “You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover,” and “I Just Wanna Make Love to You,” many of which were covered by some of the world’s best-known arena rock bands.

As the Big Head Blues Club, platinum recording artist Big Head Todd and the Monsters along with Morganfield, Branch, Brooks and Brown, joined forces on the newly recorded album “Way Down Inside.” The Big Head Blues Club kicked off its U.S. tour Sept. 22, with back-to-back performance dates in major cities prior to and after the Nacogdoches show. The album will be available on the tour and online and is scheduled for national release in early 2017.

“Willie Dixon was a great writer, an incredible bass player, a great thinker and a beautiful guy,” notes Todd Mohr, lead singer and guitarist for Big Head Todd and the Monsters. “He tends to get overlooked because so much of what he did was behind the scenes, but he was definitely one of the most important songwriters in American music. He always professed that the blues is an accurate mirror of human life, and his subject matter ranged from politics to love songs and everything in between. So I’m excited to be able to tell more people about Willie Dixon with this project.”

Big Head Todd and the Monsters – featuring modern guitar hero Mohr; Brian Nevin, drums; Rob Squires, bass; and Jeremy Lawton, keys – are best known for their chart-smashing album “Sister Sweetly” and their hit song “Bittersweet.” They’ve also been fans of blues music since their first days playing music together in high school.

Morganfield is the eldest son of Muddy Waters and recently released a Blues Music Award-winning album; Branch is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee who played harmonica in Willie Dixon’s Chicago Blues All-Stars band; and Brooks, son of Chicago blues master Lonnie Brooks, is an accomplished blues guitarist and bandleader in his own right. Denver-based blues artist Brown has worked with the band over the years.

This performance is sponsored in part by Lehmann Eye Center.

Prior to the performance, Dr. J.D. Salas, associate professor in the SFA School of Music, will present an informative talk about blues music at 7 p.m. in Griffith Gallery. The gallery is located across the hall from Turner Auditorium, which is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive. The audience is invited back to the gallery for a post-performance reception to meet the performers and to honor the event’s corporate sponsor.

Single event ticket prices are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for non-SFA students/youth. Tickets for SFA students are $3.

Other upcoming University Series performances include Danú Celtic Christmas concert on Dec. 16; Seraph Brass Quintet on Jan. 24; and Olga Vocal Ensemble on Feb. 2.

For tickets or more information on the 2016-2017 University Series, visit finearts.sfasu.edu, stop by the Box Office in Room 211 of the Griffith Fine Arts Building, or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS. All performances are at 7:30 p.m. in Turner Auditorium.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s dance program and Repertory Dance Company will showcase senior choreographic works and company pieces during its production of Danceworks: Reflections, which premieres at 7 p.m. Oct. 21 in Turner Auditorium on the university’s campus.

A second showing is scheduled for 2 and 7 p.m. Oct. 22. Tickets cost $8 for students, $10 for faculty and staff members and seniors and $12 for general admission and can be purchased at the door.

The production will feature six senior choreographic works and choreography from each dance faculty member. The show consists of nine dances total, each with a different theme.

“Danceworks is something we produce every semester. We are constantly thinking about when we are going to do our pieces, what it’s going to be about and what it will mean to us,” said Katie McAninch, Cypress senior dance education major.

In May, the seniors began researching concepts for their works and held auditions to select dancers. Since the first day of school, seniors have been choreographing and fine tuning their pieces. SFA seniors must present a choreographed piece in the show as partial fulfillment of the Bachelor of Science in dance.

Modern dance is the main style that will be featured in the production. However, dance faculty members have created a variety of choreography ranging from intricate footwork to lifts.

Sarah Sanchez, SFA adjunct faculty member, will present a ballet folklorico piece that will light up the stage with a colorful display of costumes and rhythms. Haley Jameson, associate professor of dance, will present choreography depicting social paradigms, and Heather Samuelson, assistant professor of dance, will debut an energetic piece coupling meticulous partner work.

Approximately 50 people are involved in the show, including SFA senior choreographers, the Repertory Dance Company, crew and faculty members, as well as theatre faculty members and students.

“As a choreographer, it’s exciting to see our choreography come alive through our dancers,” Cara Shear, Katy senior dance performance major, said.

Stephen F. Austin State University students in the School of Human Sciences met with Angie Shoffner, nutrition education specialist for the East Texas Food Bank, Monday to kick off a six-week program and class project, Cooking Matters.

Since 1993, Share Our Strength’s Cooking Matters staff members and volunteers have helped more than 265,000 low-income families in communities around the country learn how to eat on a budget, according to cookingmatters.org. Through the Cooking Matters program, participants learn how to cook healthy meals, read nutrition labels, shop on a budget and more.

“This program is essentially teaching people how to eat healthy on a budget,” Shoffner said. “It’s our mission to empower low-income families and individuals with the necessary tools to maintain a healthy diet on a limited budget.”

Justin Pelham, food, nutrition and dietetics clinical instructor at SFA, is using the Cooking Matters program as a class project for students enrolled in HMS 409: Community Nutrition.

“The Cooking Matters program provides students real-world application beyond the textbook,” Pelham said. “They learn management logistics, market a program, partner with community agencies for outreach, collaborate for a professional event and perform educator roles that correlate with their major.”

During the program, students will take on a different role each week, including marketer, chef instructor, grocery shopper, nutrition instructor and class manager.

Cooking Matters classes will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. each Monday beginning Oct. 10 through Nov. 14 in the Human Sciences North Building, Room 211. The class is free and open to the public, but space is limited to 20 individuals who are 18 and older.

The class is divided into different lessons. The first four lessons consist of one-hour lectures and an hour of cooking. SFA students will purchase the needed groceries, and participants will be able to take the food home after the demonstration. The fifth lesson will be at a local grocery story and include games, food comparisons, a budgeting exercise and more. The final lesson is a celebration and potluck.

To sign up for the class or for more information, contact Pelham at (936) 468-5892 or email sfacookingmatters@gmail.com.