Everything Nac

Hospitality administration and fashion merchandising students in Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Human Sciences are raising awareness about sustainability with a “Green is the New Black” event from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, in the Culinary Café, located in the Education Annex Building on the university’s campus.

The event will feature a three-course dinner, a runway show and a fashion gallery tour, which will showcase the students’ event-planning, culinary and design skills.

“I am very excited about this student-led event that will showcase the event management, culinary and excellent customer service abilities of our hospitality students,” said Dr. Gina Causin, assistant professor in hospitality administration.

The meal is based on the farm-to-table sustainability concept where food ingredients are locally sourced. The menu includes a Mediterranean chickpea salad atop a fresh spring-green mix, smothered pork loin, creamed mashed potatoes and pound cake cupcake filled with mixed berries.

“This will be a farm-to-table themed dining experience in which guests will experience locally sourced food ingredients from Appleby Community Farm made into appetizing masterpieces,” said Haley Howland, SFA hospitality student event coordinator.

Fashion merchandising students also will use recycled materials, including denim, to create clothing for the runway show, which will take place between the Human Sciences North and South Buildings on the SFA campus. The runway show will serve as the community event for the Blue Jeans Go Green project, which is a recycle program encouraging people to donate denim to be “upcycled” into UltraTouch denim insulation.

Additionally, the fashion gallery tour will highlight the Blue Jeans Go Green project and educate guests on what happens to the recycled denim and the process of turning post-consumer denim into eco-friendly denim insulation.

Tickets, which include dinner, the exhibit and the runway show, are on sale now and cost $15 per person. Seating is limited, so guests are encouraged to purchase tickets early. Tickets are available at http://tinyurl.com/oz7p5cy.

Additionally, participants who would like to attend only the exhibit and runway show can donate one piece of denim for admission. Event proceeds will benefit the hospitality administration and fashion merchandising programs.

For more information, contact Causin at (936) 468-1411 or causing@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of English and Creative Writing is hosting Dr. David Baker, a poet, professor and editor, who will read a selection of his personal works at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, in Dugas Liberal Arts North, Room 142.

“David Baker brings a considerable reputation and talent to the SFA community,” said Dr. Mark Sanders, SFA professor of English and chair of the department. “He is the author of numerous books of poems and criticism, a Guggenheim Fellowship Award winner and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Award winner. He is highly regarded nationally and internationally.”

Born in Maine, Baker is currently the poetry editor for the Kenyon Review, one of the top literary journals in the country, Sanders said. He also holds the Thomas B. Fordham Chair of Creating Writing at Denison University in Ohio and teaches in the Master of Fine Arts program at Warren Wilson College.

Outside of Baker’s public reading Thursday, he will be on campus during the week to work with SFA creative writing students.

“He’ll be working closely with a number of our creative writing students in a one-week seminar. His readings are evocative and powerful so students and community members will find his poetry of the highest quality,” Sanders said.

Among Baker’s many books are “Midwest Eclogue,” “Never-ending Birds,” “Heresy and the Ideal” and “Show Me Your Environment.” His most-recent collection of poetry, “Scavenger Loop,” was his 15th published book.

Thursday night’s reading is free and open to the public.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s online master’s degree program in educational leadership was named the third best and among the most affordable online programs in the nation, according to a recent ranking by Educational Leadership Degree Programs, a website dedicated to helping students select the degree program that best suits their needs.

“It is a terrific honor to be recognized for the excellence and value that we’ve always known our program to have,” said Dr. Barbara Qualls, assistant professor of secondary education and educational leadership and program coordinator at SFA.

Website editors based the rankings on specific criteria, including tuition, accreditation and size of the program. Site editors said SFA’s program “bolsters Texas’ status as the queen of online education leadership degrees.”

SFA’s nationally accredited program offers a 30-hour master’s degree in educational leadership and an 18-hour principal certification. The program is administered completely online through Desire to Learn, the university’s online course-delivery system.

Qualls said it is “essential to personalize the online experience with frequent communication, detailed and timely feedback, and respectful relationship building.”

Additionally, students in the program experience interactive sessions with other students, real-time communication with professors and extensive use of electronic media such as video production through SFA’s online program.

“Our students are the future of Texas’ educational leadership. They deserve and receive the best and most consistent educational experience we can give them,” Qualls said. “Most SFA students are full-time teachers while in the program; therefore, our faculty members allow them to work at their own pace and within their own schedule.”

The program utilizes a scholar-practitioner approach incorporating theory and practice-based learning that focuses on research-based practices, curriculum and instructional leadership.

“The primary function of this program is to assist students in expansion of their self-perception as a leader and to retain the nurturing qualities of a teacher while building flexible and marketable leadership skills that can sustain lifelong learning,” Qualls said. “Our graduates are leading campuses in all parts of Texas. Lumberjack principals are a gold standard for Texas educational leadership.”

For more information, visit www.sfasu.edu/secondaryed/103.asp.