Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St., in Nacogdoches. Dr. Mike Arnold, Texas A&M University horticulture professor, will present “Sifting Ashes for a Phoenix and Other Tales from the Former Texas A&M Horticulture Garden.”

Arnold earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in landscape horticulture from Ohio State University before receiving his doctoral degree in horticulture from North Carolina State University. After a brief stint at Tennessee Tech University, he assumed a position as assistant professor of landscape horticulture at Texas A&M University, where he has progressed through the ranks to professor.

Arnold’s areas of research include investigating landscape establishment of container-grown plants with particular interest in the post-harvest impacts of various nursery and greenhouse production practices. He also is involved with landscape plant selection and breeding in order to enhance sustainability and minimize input.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month at SFA’s Pineywoods Native Plant Center. A rare plant raffle will be held after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the nearby Raguet Elementary School, 2428 Raguet St., with continual shuttle service to the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building.

For more information, call (936) 468-1832 or email grantdamon@sfasu.edu.

Dr. John Allen Hendricks, chair of the Stephen F. Austin State University Department of Mass Communication, left, accepts a check from Neal Slaten, president of Tipton Ford Lincoln of Nacogdoches. The dealership is sponsoring mass communication students in an upcoming trip to the National Student Advertising Competition, which will be held Thursday through Saturday, April 14-16, in Lubbock.

SFA students have spent two semesters building a campaign for the national client Snapple, which includes research, strategy, paid and earned media, creative, print, broadcast, jingles, digital and retail in-store activation tactics. The students will compete against universities from Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma.

During the fall American Advertising Federation District 10 competition in Houston, two SFA students were members of the first-place team and one was a member of the third-place team. For that competition, participants had only eight hours to create an advertising campaign.

The Percussion Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will welcome a guest artist when the group performs at 6 p.m. Monday, April 18, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Dr. Josh Armstrong, assistant professor of percussion and assistant director of bands at Delta State University, will perform on Ivan Trevino’s piece, “Flow,” which features a soloist who alternates between snare drum and marimba, accompanied by percussion trio, according to Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies for the SFA School of Music.

Armstrong has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention and the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, and he has appeared as a guest artist at multiple universities around the country. He has performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Waterloo/Cedar Falls Symphony, North Mississippi Symphony, Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra, Lubbock Symphony Orchestra and Midland Symphony. He has appeared at numerous Days of Percussion including in Arizona, Iowa and Mississippi. He has also been a guest soloist with the Waterloo Municipal Band.

The Percussion Ensemble will also premiere Elliot Cole’s “Amen,” which is a slow-motion walk through the “Amen Break,” a seven-second clip from a funk song from 1969 by The Winstons, Cole explains.

“It has been called the most influential seven seconds in music,” the composer said. “DJs have used it as the drum break in innumerable tracks, spawning whole genres of dance music where it is an essential element.”

Also on the program is the piece “Signals Intelligence,” which “explores the experience of hearing an electronic transmission in which order is clearly audible, but the information density is too high for any human to parse,” Meyer explains.

“The experience is one of being made aware of that which is always just out of reach, just beyond comprehension,” he 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.

Presenting to an audience packed with students, faculty and staff members, and eager mothers, fathers, siblings and friends, nine Stephen F. Austin State University undergraduates presented a snapshot of months spent pouring over facts and findings Thursday, March 31, during the 2016 SFA Undergraduate Research Conference.

One undergraduate student research project from each SFA college was chosen as top scholar and received $250. Seven additional outstanding student research projects were selected from each college as finalists.

“After conducting my research, presenting and talking to the public afterward, it was truly a transformative experience,” Paige Sumney, senior general business major and the conference’s first presenter, said following her presentation. “I know more about records management than I previously thought possible because of that experiential learning, and I learned from several audience members afterward that I’m rather articulate and portray confidence well.”

Sumney was chosen as top scholar among the Nelson Rusche College of Business research finalists. She presented her findings of a records management experiential study she undertook at Ward Animal Hospital, a Nacogdoches veterinary clinic.

“Records management is a very continuous cycle and every business needs to learn ways to improve and preserve all the information they gather from customers,” Sumney told the audience gathered in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Theater. “I was able to review Ward Animal Hospital’s policies and procedures and wrote them their own personal SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, which I gave to them and identified areas they could improve in or were strong in. “

Marie Wilhelm, senior kinesiology major and top scholar from SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education, was second to present. She reviewed the results of her research on stress and stress management in kinesiology undergraduate students.

“Stress experienced by students contributes to poor academic performance, lack of motivation, obesity and chronic illness, so for these reasons, studying stress in college students is important,” Wilhelm said. “Results indicated ‘academics’ and ‘work’ were the two main causes of stress reported by students.”

Other top scholar individuals and groups to present included Shelby Gilliland of the College of Fine Arts; Cassey Edwards of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture; Amber Juarez, Meagan Beckwith, James Hardcastle, Meagan Sellers and Jovita Ndong of the College of Liberal and Applied Arts; and Carmel Tovar of the College of Sciences and Mathematics.

Conference presentations provide students research experience beyond data gathering and organization.

“This was my first time to present at a conference. I was so nervous I wrote ‘breathe’ in my notes so I wouldn’t forget,” Wilhelm said. “Being chosen as top scholar is amazing — working on a project and then having your work recognized is an awesome feeling. I am humbled, honored and overjoyed. From this experience, I have gained confidence in myself as a speaker and as an academic.”

Dr. Steven Bullard, SFA interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, and Dr. Eric Jones, associate professor of kinesiology and health science, introduced the top scholars before the conference’s presentations and made a comment that resonated with Sumney.

“This is a transformative experience,” she said. “Before I went to Ward Animal Hospital, I had only a vague idea of what records management actually meant. I hadn’t yet created those connections between the classroom and the real world. The research was relatively easy because I had a great business leader, Cathy Hammond, to help me.

“The planning was a little difficult because I’ve never been an amazing writer,” Sumney added. “It’s something I’ve struggled with since I was little, and this was the longest paper I had to write at more than 13 pages, so you can imagine my anxiety. I did conquer it and wrote one of the best research papers that I’m proud of — even more so now.”

All projects chosen by the URC executive committee, which includes Dr. Leslie Cecil, SFA associate professor of anthropology and chair of the Department of Anthropology, Geography and Sociology; Drs. Mark Faries, Eric Jones, Elizabeth Tasker-Davis and Michael Tkacik, were presented during the conference. All URC finalists presented posters in the Twilight Ballroom following the presentations.

“The purpose of this annual conference is to highlight and honor outstanding undergraduate research,” Cecil said. “Students present on the paper or project they submitted, which must be completed during the previous calendar year and be faculty sponsored.”

Now in its ninth year, the conference was created by SFA’s College of Liberal and Applied Arts in April 2008. Twelve students presented in its first year.

“I’m proud of my fellow top scholars,” Sumney said. “During rehearsal, we were nervous and all kind of leaned on each other for support and tips because they were our peers. Compared to the rehearsal, we all did so much better at the actual conference. Plus, I think that shiny purple plaque with our names and project names helped boost our confidence a bit.”

In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month, Stephen F. Austin State University’s health science program’s senior seminar class will hold the second annual SFA Take Back the Night event beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 21, in front of the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the SFA campus.

Take Back the Night aims to provide information about the necessity of sexual consent and to encourage support to victims of sexual violence. During the event, participants will receive information about sexual violence and the resources available on campus.

Speakers include John Fleming, Nacogdoches County attorney; Russell Maness from the Nacogdoches Black Belt Academy; Quinn Runnels, advocate from the Family Crisis Center of East Texas; and Brandi Guidry, SFA health science student.

Additionally, participants can join in an on-campus march and witness a self-defense demonstration.

The event is free and open to SFA students and community members.

For more information, contact Cyndra Krogen-Morton, SFA lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Science, at (936) 468-3988 or mortonca1@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s dance program and Repertory Dance Company will showcase senior choreographic works and company performances in the Danceworks production, In Reel Time, which premieres at 7 p.m. Thursday, April 21, in the Lucille Norton Health and Physical Education Complex, Room 201, on the SFA campus.

Additional showings will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, April 22, and 1 p.m. Saturday, April 23.

This semester’s show will present a “cinematic” feel, according to Heather Samuelson, co-coordinator of SFA’s dance program. She said the In Reel Time theme was chosen to reflect the variety of dance genres and content that will be showcased.

“More than 25 dancers are participating in this semester’s production,” Samuelson said. “Danceworks will present two SFA senior choreographic works by Mariah Lavallais and Meagan Torres; three independent choreographic projects; two faculty member productions and three dances from SFA’s Repertory Dance Company.”

Additionally, guest artists Elijah Gibson and Sarah Imhoff-Jones created two choreographic works, which will be featured during the event. Gibson’s contemporary production includes intimate partnering and solo work. Imhoff-Jones’ choreography is a modern dance based upon Native Americans’ belief in spirit animals.

Samuelson and Haley Jameson, associate professor in SFA’s dance program, also created works for this semester’s show. Samuelson choreographed a fun-filled production incorporating acrobatics and intricate partnering work. Bringing her theatre and performance experiences into the mix, Jameson choreographed a jazz production to “Cell Block Tango” from the movie, “Chicago,” which will be performed in the Broadway jazz style of Bob Fosse.

Tickets cost $5 for students, $8 for faculty and staff members, and $10 for general admission. Tickets will be sold at the door in the HPE lobby prior to the performance. All funds raised from Danceworks will go toward the production of future concerts and student productions.