Everything Nac

Three Stephen F. Austin State University political science students, from left, Parker Lambes, Alec Bartlett and Dawson Dowdy, presented their research on various topics last week during a joint conference with the University of Mary-Hardin Baylor. Dr. Ken Collier, SFA associate professor of political science, right, chaired the panel “Politics, Presidents, and Prices,” which was one of 10 panels hosted throughout the day.

Dr. Nancy Beck Young, a political historian and professor at the University of Houston, served as keynote speaker of the event. She presented research titled “The Lady Bird Special: Race and the 1964 Presidential Election.”

Members of the Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents viewed schematic drawings for a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics facility during the group’s April quarterly meeting and voted to name the facility in honor of long-time SFA benefactors Ed and Gwen Cole.

“The Coles have changed lives at SFA,” said Jill Still, SFA vice president for advancement. “Funding provided by Ed and his late wife, Gwen, supports fine arts, audiology, nursing, student scholarships, faculty development, athletic programs and more. Their generous gifts have impacted student success, which was a passion that they shared.”

A glass atrium planned for the four-story Ed and Gwen Cole STEM Building will highlight the 50-foot dome of a new planetarium, which will seat more than 100 people and provide significant viewing opportunities for SFA students and the public.

Barry Nelson, Board of Regents secretary and chair of the building and grounds committee, said the committee members enjoyed the challenge of working with the architects to develop a design that was unique and impressive while meeting the budgetary requirements of the project.

“The building will have a stunning entryway that will draw people in,” Nelson said. “The facility will define our campus, and it will be a structure that others will come to see when they are planning STEM facilities and even other types of building projects.”

In correlation with current educational trends, the facility will showcase “maker spaces,” which are classrooms and laboratories focused on hands-on learning. Dr. Kimberly Childs, dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics, defined maker spaces as “unscripted labs where students go to invent, imagine and build.”

Dr. Danny Gallant, vice president for finance and administration, said the university is moving forward to the next design phase. Construction is projected to start in November, and the expected completion and move-in date is August 2018.

When the STEM facility is complete, space will become available in other buildings on the campus, particularly the E.L. Miller Science Building. During a special meeting Friday, the board heard presentations from two architectural firms to determine space requirements and develop programming for the science building.

Members approved hiring Facility Programming and Consulting, a company that specializes in space utilization. Facility Programming and Consulting worked with the university on the new STEM building and has completed projects across the nation. The company will identify renovation needs in the Miller Science Building and provide recommendations to ensure the best use of institutional space in the building.

Regents also approved construction of a parking lot adjacent to the parking garage on Feazell Street to replace spaces that will be removed as a result of the STEM facility construction.

SFA’s 2020 master plan addresses the need for additional space for the College of Fine Arts, including the development of a performing arts district. Three architectural firms presented material and ideas concerning this project to the board during Friday’s meeting.

Regents approved the hiring of Houston-based Kirksey Architecture to review the university’s needs, requests and limitations pertaining to the performing arts center. Kirksey Architecture will create “a recipe book for building” the performing arts center through fact-finding, facility tours and research. Kirksey Architecture also played a role in the design of SFA freshman residence hall Lumberjack Landing.

The board approved renovations to the William R. Johnson Coliseum men’s basketball locker room, which includes converting 200 square feet from the shower area to provide more room for team gatherings and meetings.

In other business, regents approved the allocation of scholarship funding to support enrollment in the Department of Secondary Education and Educational Leadership in the James I. Perkins College of Education. Board members approved a reduced rate for students in the online educational leadership program, which will save each student in the 18-credit hour certificate program more than $2,000, while each student in the 30-credit hour master’s program will save almost $4,000. The rates will allow SFA to remain competitive among peer institutions.

Additionally, regents ratified a five-year agreement with AcademicWorks, a financial software program, to help centralize the scholarship process and make it easier for students to apply and search for scholarships.

Regents approved the fiscal year 2015-16 summer budget and ratified $82,125 additional grant awards allocable to the 2016 fiscal year; the funds are a portion of the $6.7 million in grant funding for the fiscal year.

When the Stephen F. Austin State University Foundation was created 40 years ago, members of the SFA Board of Regents at that time served as foundation board members. On Tuesday, regents honored the current foundation board members and reaffirmed the university’s relationship with the foundation, a non-profit organization that exists to serve and benefit the university.

Regents heard reports from Hilltop Securities, the Faculty Senate, Student Government Association and President Baker Pattillo. Regents received an update on the university’s marketing campaign and new SFA website, and approved the campaign’s budget.

During the Tuesday meeting, the board received a report from the SFA auditor and also approved:

• building and grounds policy, academic and student policy, and financial affairs policy revisions;

• the redistribution of funds from the sale of property donated to the university;

• curriculum and core curriculum revisions;

• an amended agreement with the Educational Advisory Board through June 2021;

• an amendment of SFA’s and Texas A&M University’s investment agreement; and

• increasing Aramark’s financial commitment to the university as it continues to diversify its food service program.

Dr. Steve Bullard was appointed provost and vice president for academic affairs during Stephen F. Austin State University’s Board of Regents meeting Tuesday.

Bullard has served as interim provost since July 2015 and has been dean of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture at SFA since 2009. He also holds the Henry M. Rockwall Chair in forestry. Prior to his employment at SFA, Bullard served as chair of the Department of Forestry at the University of Kentucky from 2004 to 2009, and as a faculty member and administrator at Mississippi State University from 1983 to 2004.

Bullard received a bachelor’s degree in forestry and a master’s degree in forest management-economics, both from Mississippi State University, as well as a doctoral degree in forest management economics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1983.

Dr. Kenneth Farrish, director of the division of environmental science and professor of forestry and environmental science, was officially named the 2016-17 SFA Regents Professor during the board meeting.

Reserved for exemplary role models to the university community, the title of Regents Professor is the highest honor SFA bestows upon faculty members and is held for one academic year.

Farrish joined the SFA faculty in 1996. In 2003, he was named the Arnold Distinguished Professor of Forest Soils and Environmental Science.

Faculty members granted tenure by the board included Luis Aguerrevere, human services; Mary Catherine Breen, secondary education; Andrew Brininstool and Christopher Sams, English; Ellen Caplan, library; Dusty Jenkins and Sarah Savoy, psychology; Leah Kahn and Pamela Vaughn, elementary education; Kelly Noe, accounting; Mark Schaub, economics and finance; and Linda Post, art.

Regents approved the following faculty promotions:

To professor – Mario Ajero and Christina Guenther, music; Kwame Antwi-Boasiako, government; Jeremy Becnel, mathematics and statistics; Linda Bobo, kinesiology; Philip Catton, history; I-Kuai Hung and Matthew McBroom, forestry; Kefa Onchoke, chemistry; Mark Scanlan, economics and finance; Scott Shattuck, theatre; Le’Ann Solmonson, human services; and Chris Talbot, art.

To associate professor – Luis Aguerrevere, human services; Mary Catherine Breen, secondary education; Andrew Brininstool and Christopher Sams, English; Karol Chandler Ezell, anthropology, geography and sociology; Brandon Fox, elementary education; Dusty Jenkins and Sarah Savoy, psychology; Kelly Noe, accounting; and Linda Post, art.

In addition, regents approved the appointment of Eralda Lameborshi as visiting lecturer of English and creative writing.

Regents approved the appointment of Kyle Keller as head men’s basketball coach, as well as Christopher Morriss, coordinator of intramural sports and camps, and Katherine Yandell, Campus Recreation coordinator of aquatics and safety; Elizabeth Chambliss, financial aid officer; Tanh Nguyen, postdoctoral research associate, forestry and agriculture; Aparecida de Fatima Cordeiro Dutra, research associate in the Center for Regional Heritage Research; Amanda Romig, compliance coordinator in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs; Gavin McCarty, post office manager; and Cynthia Haile, director of parking and traffic.

Appointments in the Office of Admissions included Lauren Manzanares, regional coordinator, and Chelsea Pitts, counselor. Changes of status in the office included Ryan Horne, from assistant director to regional coordinator; and Janet McLeroy, from senior admissions counselor to assistant director.

Other status changes included Kristen Smith, from financial aid officer to student loan manager in the Office of Financial Aid; Gary Wurtz, from professor of music to professor and interim director of the School of Music; Katie McClain, from human resources specialist II to human resources representative; Veronica Weaver, from assistant director of orientation to director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs; Randall Scott, from director of Piney Woods Area Health Education Center to manager of transportation and special services; and Laura Turner, from academic adviser in the Nelson Rusche College of Business to academic adviser in the College of Sciences and Mathematics.

Promotions in the Ralph W. Steen Library include Johna Von Behrens to librarian II and Dillon Wackerman to archivist II. Status changes include Hayley Gillen, from program associate in the James I. Perkins College of Education to supervisor, library acquisitions and loans; Barbara Olds, from supervisor of library acquisitions and loans to manager of library e-resources and assessment.

Donald Brent Burt of the Department of Biology was granted faculty development leave for the fall 2016 semester. Faculty development leave for the spring 2017 semester was granted to Philip Catton of the Department of History and James Van Kley of the Department of Biology.

Regents honored three long-term faculty members who have recently retired with the title professor emeritus: Libby Rhodes, kinesiology; Kathleen Belanger, social work and Robert Strader, computer science. Regents also approved the retirements of John Goodall, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts; Rebecca Greer, professor of human sciences; and Mark Turner, assistant professor of music.

East Texans can be among the first to hear the newest works by three acclaimed playwrights during the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre’s 2016 Festival of New American Plays scheduled for Tuesday through Saturday, April 26 through 30, on the SFA campus.

This biennial event showcases the work of some of the best playwrights in the nation in a five-day festival during which each selected play is presented twice in staged readings by SFA theatre students, according to Jack Heifner, SFA School of Theatre’s playwright-in-residence, director of the festival and one of the featured authors.

“Since 1998, we have brought playwrights to our campus to see their new works,” Heifner said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for our audiences to view ‘theatre in the making.'”

This year’s festival features Heifner’s play “Bury Me In This,” along with “cul-de-sac” by John Cariani and “Julia & Ellie” by Chiori Miyagawa.

“The Festival of New American Plays is one of the most distinctive and exciting aspects of our programming, and we’re so grateful to Jack Heifner for creating it at SFA,” said Scott Shattuck, director of the School of Theatre. “We always look forward to welcoming world-renowned writers and seeing our students participate in the development of their next major plays.”

The festival will open with Heifner’s play “Bury Me In This,” which will be read at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 30. Cariani’s “cul-de-sac” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 28, and Saturday, April 30. Miyagawa’s “Julia & Ellie” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, and Friday, April 29. These plays are recommended for mature audiences.

Heifner is best known for his play “Vanities,” which ran for five years in New York and became one of the longest running plays in off-Broadway history. He is also the author of “Patio/Porch,” “Natural Disasters,” “Running on Empty,” “Bargains,” “Boys’ Play,” “Home Fires,” “Heartbreak,” “Comfort and Joy” and more than 30 other plays produced in New York, Los Angeles and theatres around the world. Heifner has written the book to six musicals, including “Leader of the Pack” on Broadway and “Vanities – A New Musical,” which opened in New York in 2009. He has also written for television and film.

Since 1997, Heifner has been playwright-in-residence at SFA where he teaches play, screen and television writing one semester each academic year. At SFA, he has directed “Home Fires,” “The Seagull,” “The Member of the Wedding,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” “Stage Door” and “The Importance of Being Earnest.”

An actor and a playwright, Cariani has appeared on and off Broadway and in several films and television shows. He won an Outer Critics Circle Award and earned a Tony Award nomination his performance as Motel the Tailor in the 2004 revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” starring Alfred Molina. He received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for his work in “Something Rotten!” He’s been in movies with Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and Ed Asner. He’s probably best known for his role as CSU Tech Julian Beck on NBC’s long-running drama, “Law & Order.” He played Professor Otto Bahnoff in the final season of CBS’ “Numbers,” and many people know him as reporter Michael Falk on IFC’s “The Onion News Network.” He’s guest-starred in many TV shows, including “Homeland,” “The Good Wife” and “The Blacklist.”

As a playwright, Cariani is best known for his first play, “Almost, Maine,” which premiered at Portland (Maine) Stage Company in 2004 and opened off Broadway in 2006. It has since become one of the most frequently produced plays in the United States and has been translated into nearly 20 languages. Other plays include soon- to-be published “Last Gas” and “LOVE/SICK.”

Miyagawa is a New York City-based playwright. Her plays have been produced by off-Broadway theaters, at renowned performance spaces in New York City and regionally. Twelve of her plays are collected in two books: “Thousand Years Waiting and Other Plays” and “America Dreaming and Other Plays.” She is a recipient of many fellowships, including a McKnight Playwriting Fellowship, a Van Lier Playwriting Fellowship, a Rockefeller Bellagio Fellowship in Italy, and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship at Harvard University. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, American Theater Magazine, Huffington Post and other publications.

Among her plays and productions are “This Lingering Life,” “I Came to Look for You on Tuesday,” “Dream Acts,” “I Have Been to Hiroshima Mon Amour,” “Thousand Years Waiting” and “Leaving Eden.”

All performances of the festival will be in the Downstage Theatre of the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive. The festival is sponsored in part by Tipton-Ford-Lincoln. For more information, visit theatre.sfasu.edu.

The festival is part of the SFA School of Theatre’s Mainstage Series. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students and youth. For tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The SFA Friends of Music will accept reservations through noon Monday, April 18, for Extravaganza 29, Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music’s annual gala banquet. The event is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday, April 22, in the Grand Ballroom of SFA’s Baker Pattillo Student Center.

This year’s Extravaganza, “The Rising Stars of SFA,” celebrates the 29th anniversary of the gala and fundraiser, which features gourmet dining, performances by student soloists and ensembles, and the presentation of student awards in an exciting evening of music, according to Dr. Gary Wurtz, interim director of the SFA School of Music.

“There is no better way to experience a cross section of what the SFA School of Music has to offer than at our annual Extravaganza,” Wurtz said. “While enjoying a good meal, those in attendance hear performances by the top choir, band, orchestra, jazz band, student recitalists, opera performers, and more. Our fantastic students provide both dinner music and a dance to end the evening. It is really a lot of fun!”

Part music student awards ceremony, part formal dinner, and part musical potpourri, Extravaganza will feature jazz, harp, wind ensemble, choir, opera, string quartet and orchestra. Additional highlights include awarding the Outstanding Music Alumnus of the year and Outstanding Recitalists of the year.

As is tradition with Extravaganza, the music faculty has selected an outstanding alumnus to honor, and this year’s recipient is George Faber of Tyler, director of visual and performing arts for Tyler ISD, as well as a very active and respected musician throughout East Texas. Faber has performed with such notables as Grammy Award-winning song writer and trumpet player Tom Browne, Ray Charles, Chubby Checker, Percy Sledge, Glen Campbell, Johnny Mathis, Lou Rawls, Bill Cosby, Charlie Daniels, The Statler Brothers, The Oakridge Boys, “Blue Lou” Marini of the Blues Brothers, Jon Faddis (director of the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band and former trumpet player with the Doc Severson Tonight Show Orchestra), Mark Mullins (trombonist for Harry Connick, Jr. and founder of the New Orleans-based group Bonerama), and many others.

The Extravaganza 29 committee includes John and Melinda Rohrer, co-chairs, Habiba Awan, Caryl and Harold Hall, Carolyn King, Dee Allums, Gloria and Cecil Settle, Gloria Williams, MaryAnn and Farrar Bentley and Ed Cole.

“The Extravaganza is a wonderful opportunity for our community to enjoy performances by the gifted students of the SFA School of Music,” said Melinda Rohrer. “It is a fun event with excellent food and beautiful music.”

This year’s Friends of Music officers include Jackie Warthan, president; Caryl Hall, president-elect; Missy DeVine, secretary/treasurer; and Carrie Ventura, past president.

Tickets are $40 for adults and $10 for students. Patron level tickets range in prices from $65 to $140, and donations will be accepted for the Friends of Music scholarship fund. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The University Band and the Symphonic Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the concert program “Inspiration” when the bands perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

The selected works to be performed were inspired by folk songs and dances, tragic life events and the dream of flight, according to Dr. James Dreiling, interim assistant director of bands at SFA.

The University Band will open the concert with “Into the Clouds” by Richard Saucedo and guest conducted by graduate assistant Dwight Watson of Lavon.

“This lively fanfare is filled with rhythmic energy and was inspired by the composer’s dream of flight,” Dreiling said.

The University Band will also perform “Festivo” by Czech composer Vaclav Nelhybel and the popular ballad for band “As Summer Was Just Beginning” by Larry Daehn, who was inspired to write the piece following the untimely death of gifted actor James Dean. Graduate assistant Taylor Goodwin of Ennis will guest conduct.

The University Band will conclude its portion of the concert with the march “Liberty Fleet” by Karl L. King.

“Along with John Phillip Sousa and Henry Fillmore, King is known as one of the most prolific march composers, having composed more than 180 marches,” Dreiling said. “This march, composed in 1942, is one of his lesser-known marches and was inspired by a fleet of war ships used in World War I.”

The Symphonic Band opens the second half of the concert with “Westport Overture” composed by SFA music faculty member Dr. David Campo, director of the Lumberjack Marching Band, who “has a growing reputation as a composer for wind bands,” Dreiling said. The Symphonic Band will also perform “Variations on a Korean Folk Song” by John Barnes Chance and “Heaven’s Light” composed by Steven Reineke.

“This moving piece was commissioned by Evans High School in Evans, Georgia, after the death of high school band member Holly Spivey and her parents in a house fire,” Dreiling explained.

The concert will conclude with the celebratory piece “Albanian Dance” by Shelley Hanson based on the popular Albanian folk tune “Shota,” which seeks to re-create the festive mood of a raucous village dance, Dreiling said.

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.