Everything Nac

Mary Frances Mays Kane, better known as “The Story Lady,” has donated her collection of more than 10,000 books and story props for children to her alma mater, Stephen F. Austin State University.

The collection includes Golden Books, first editions, textbooks, fiction, non-fiction and more. Most of the materials will be available for teacher candidates and Early Childhood Lab and Charter School teachers to check out for instruction.

“The collection significantly enlarges the children’s literature collection at the Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center,” said Dr. Judy Abbott, dean of SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education. “This substantial increase in the number of books enhances the range and scope of topics, themes, authors and illustrators that will be available to our elementary and early childhood candidates.”

Kane, a 1939 SFA elementary education graduate, taught school throughout Texas, but began her career at the SFA Nursery School and then moved to teach at a one-room schoolhouse in Troup. In the 1940s, she taught in Port Arthur and began a nursery school for the Presbyterian Church. During the next 20 years, Kane taught first grade at various schools and continued implementing nursery school programs in churches her family attended.

In 1978, Kane and her husband Vernon moved with their two children to League City, where she began teaching children’s literature, fine arts and supervising students in the laboratory school at the College of the Mainland’s child development associate program.

“She knew every librarian for miles around,” said Kane’s daughter, Dr. Diane Kane. “Many of her students began offering story time as a regular part of library programming because of mother. This practice continues today.”

Kane became known as “The Story Lady” for the time she spent reading to toddlers and babies and helping parents select books. Diane, who is the STEM lab director at The Galloway School in Friendswood, said her mother would read to children in nursery and private schools, neighborhood children and even children in waiting rooms.

“She was never without a book in her purse or pocket, and she knew the style of authors and illustrators like the back of her hand,” Diane said. “She finally hung up her reading apron when she was 83 years old.”

A dedication ceremony and reception to recognize Kane and formally introduce the collection will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 14, in SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center, Second Floor Resource Room, where the books will be housed. This event is open to the public.

“The fact that the books will be used by the SFA Charter School students makes my heart sing,” Diane said. “The SFA Charter School is about the same size as the Clear Creek Children’s Institute, the school our family owned and operated for 12 years, and the philosophy is the same. This is my assurance that the books and props have come home.”

An artist’s reception for the exhibition “Christopher Troutman: Drawing and Narrative” is slated for 5 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29, in Griffith Gallery on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

The exhibition, which features Troutman’s beautifully rendered drawings portraying scenes from urban daily life, will continue showing through Oct. 14.

John Handley, director of galleries at SFA, describes Troutman as “a master draftsman, able to create visually compelling imagery that touches on the real and the imaginary.”

“His images are complex in their narrative and visual representation as well as in their use of unusual perspective,” Handley said.

Admission to the exhibition, which is hosted by the SFA School of Art and sponsored in part by the Friends of the Visual Arts and Nacogdoches Junior Forum, is free.

Gallery hours are from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. For more information, call (936) 468-1131. Griffith Fine Arts Building is located at 2222 Alumni Drive.

Nathaniel Briggs always knew he wanted to help people; he just didn’t know how to achieve his goal. When Briggs first entered college, he was a music education major, however, Briggs, now a Stephen F. Austin State University graduate student in the counseling program, soon realized he “loved people more than music” and changed his major.

Intrigued by the way people think, Briggs of Saginaw, Texas, serves as a counselor-in-training in SFA’s Counseling Clinic, which is provided by the university’s Department of Human Services’ counselor education program.

The program offers three degree tracks: clinical mental health counseling, school counseling and rehabilitation counseling. Briggs, like many other SFA students in the program, has the opportunity to put his education into real-world practice by working in the clinic.

“The clinic provides myriad opportunities,” Briggs said. “We help people from all walks of life, therefore, we receive a broader experience by working with different clients whether they are children, adults or couples.”

The clinic is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and is located in the Human Services Building, Room 201, on the SFA campus. The clinic offers individual, couples, family and group counseling, consultations, assessments, intakes, screenings and referrals to SFA students and local community residents.

Amanda Pruit, director of the Counseling Clinic and a licensed professional counselor, explained the clinic is an educational tool.

“The clinic and amazing faculty members are the jewels in this program,” Pruit said. “It’s an outstanding training tool. It is a tremendous advantage for our students to be able to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to real-world settings.”

Students who are in the internship and practicum portion of the 60-hour counselor education program utilize the Counseling Clinic for hands-on learning, and Pruit is available to assist the students as the on-site director.

“I think our graduate students leave with a much broader skill set than programs that don’t offer on-site training,” Pruit said. “SFA provides many resources to support our students, including the opportunity to observe and create their professional identity.”

Because it is a training clinic, sessions are recorded with the client’s consent, and the recordings are used as training videos. Also, every student in the program is required to obtain observation hours. Ideally, Pruit said students can watch the counselors-in-training through observation bays attached to each room in the clinic, but the recordings offer another option for students to observe.

“There aren’t really any limitations to whom we can serve,” Pruit said. “It’s really nice because the graduate students are trained in a variety of skills so they are able to serve any issue.”

The clinic runs like an off-site facility with graduate assistants managing the office alongside interns and the practicum students providing the counseling services. Graduate assistant Brittani Woodstock oversees the clients’ files, payments and confidentiality.

Counseling services costs are determined by a variable fee scale based on net family income and family size, typically ranging from $5 to $20 per visit. To schedule an appointment or for more information, contact the clinic at (936) 468-1041.

Kris Nichols, Stephen F. Austin State University student and president of the SFA chapter of Psi Chi, an international psychology honor society, recently received the SFA College of Liberal and Applied Arts’ Research Apprenticeship Program Scholarship for the fall semester. He is pictured with Dr. Marc Guidry, left, the college’s associate dean, and Dr. Lauren Brewer, right, assistant professor of psychology and Nichols’ mentor.

“I am thrilled that Kris’ hard work and advanced ideas have been recognized by the college,” Brewer said. “Kris easily reads, integrates and critiques the literature in my field, and the ideas that stem from his explorations are impressive. Kris’ innate talents are rivaled only by his relentless work ethic and high standards. He is truly deserving of this award.”

Stephen F. Austin State University fashion merchandising students enrolled in a fashion promotion course and the Fashion Merchandising Club kicked off the Blue Jeans Go Green denim drive Sept. 20. Organizers set up an information table and donation site in the front of the Baker Pattillo Student Center on campus.

This is the third year SFA has participated in Cotton Incorporated’s Blue Jeans Go Green project, which challenges people to donate denim to be “upcycled” into UltraTouch denim insulation. SFA students hope to collect more than 10,000 pieces of denim this fall, according to Jamie Cupit, fashion merchandising instructor in SFA’s School of Human Sciences. Students will be collecting denim again from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 4 in front of the BPSC.

Alongside Nacogdoches’ celebration of its 300th anniversary and Stephen F. Austin State University’s preparation for its 100th, the Stone Fort Museum on the SFA campus will honor 80 years of service to the university and community during a celebration slated for Oct. 15.

“The opening of the facility represented the culmination of work by a variety of groups in town, including the Nacogdoches Historical Society and the Cum Concilio Club,” said Carolyn Spears, director of the museum. “In 1936, the museum began its life on the SFA campus when the Board of Regents of Texas State Teachers College accepted the building from the Texas Centennial Commission and the Nacogdoches Historical Society. Concluding 80 years of service in 2016, the museum celebrates not just our past but looks to the future. “

SFA Piney Woods Fiddlers will open the 80th celebration at 6 p.m. at the fort before City of Nacogdoches Mayor Roger Van Horn reads a proclamation regarding the fort’s historical importance. The public is then invited to participate in come-and-go activities, including a Dutch oven-cooking demonstration by Nacogdoches Boy Scouts and a discussion of life as a Texian soldier by David Pistole, living history re-enactor.

“The museum is marking its anniversary with the launch of an institutional planning process that will align our programs more closely with the SFA Envisioned strategic plan,” Spears said. “The planning committee, comprising SFA faculty and staff members, local heritage resource professionals and community members, is working to advance the mission of the museum as a learning laboratory for SFA students and a relevant resource for the community.”

The exhibit “El Camino Real de los Tejas and Building Nacogdoches: 1716 – 2016” will be on display during the event and, Spears said, will correlate well with the celebration’s overall spirit.

“The exhibit is an outgrowth of a decade-long project on the Camino Real, dating back to the 1998 award-winning exhibit, ‘Traversing the Wilderness: El Camino Real in Eastern Texas,’” she added. “A series of workshops from 2008 through 2012 introduced educators to the national historic trail, and in 2015, the museum completed the initial installation of a Spanish Colonial demonstration garden that interprets native and introduced plants along the trail. The current exhibit focuses on the trail along which the Spanish traveled on their way to eastern Texas, the people and places along the trail and their impact on the development of Nacogdoches.”

A John Wayne film, “The Big Trail,” will be shown on the Stone Fort’s north lawn beginning at 7:30 p.m. with a brief introduction by Jeff Williams, an expert of the Camino Real trail, who will discuss the difference between trail travel fiction and reality. Patrons are encouraged to bring lawn chairs.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (936) 468-2408 or email stonefort@sfasu.edu.

Among the featured Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music faculty members who will perform in the annual Pi Kappa Lambda Music Faculty Showcase at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus are, front, from left, Mario Ajero and Nita Hudson; middle, from left, Lee Goodhew, Emily Mitchell, Emily Milius, Kayla Roth, Deb Scott, Scott LaGraff, Charlotte Davis, Gary Wurtz and Stephen Campbell; and back, from left, Andrew Parr, Richard Leonberger, Ron Petti and Christina Guenther. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for students. For tickets or more information, visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS. Proceeds benefit music scholarships.