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Members of Stephen F. Austin State University’s professional business student organization, Phi Beta Lambda, won 13 first-place awards in various competitions during the recent 2016 PBL State Leadership Conference in Dallas.

In addition to their record-breaking number of awards, 13 students qualified for the annual National Leadership Conference in multiple events, which Henry Dunn, PBL faculty adviser and lecturer of general business at SFA, said is the university’s largest qualifying group in the organization’s history.

“This accomplishment is phenomenal. Each year we have competed, we have qualified for nationals. And, every year we have attended nationals, we have brought home at least one top-10 award,” Dunn said.

During the State Leadership Conference, students compete in events that test their business knowledge and skills. These competitive events include objective tests and/or performance-based activities.

Kristi Clifford, SFA junior business communications and corporate education major with a minor in economics, placed first in organizational behavior and leadership at the state conference.

“I was so happy to place,” Clifford said. “Going to nationals is such a fun experience for the chapter. We had 13 first-place awards, so it really shows that when you attend SFA, you’re getting a quality education, and that means so much.”

During the conference, Clifford also was elected Texas PBL president for the 2016-17 academic year.

“This organization has given so much to me, and I can’t wait to give back,” she said.

The SFA PBL chapter also was awarded the President’s Volunteer Service Award, which recognizes individuals and organizations for outstanding community service. The SFA chapter performed more than 500 hours of community service last year. Additionally, the chapter received the 2015-16 National Action Awareness Award.

Dunn also was named the Texas PBL Adviser of the Year.

“I was totally surprised because I don’t do this for personal accolades. To me, this recognition is a testament not of my abilities or work, but to the accomplishments of this chapter and its members,” Dunn said.

To date, organization members have qualified for 66 events at the national level. Nationals will be held June 24 through 27 in Atlanta, Georgia.

“This is one reason we are affiliated with Phi Beta Lambda. It gives students an opportunity to not only showcase their talents on a national scale, but also to travel,” Dunn said. “Many of these students have never been on an airplane or traveled to locations like Anaheim, California; Nashville, Tennessee; or Chicago, Illinois.”

The national conference has an average of 1,500 to 2,000 students compete from schools throughout the United States.

Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the annual Choral Masterworks Concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, May 6, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

Under the direction of Dr. Tim King, director of choral studies at SFA, the A Cappella Choir, Choral Union, Women’s Chorus and the Orchestra of the Pines will perform “An American Requiem” by Richard Danielpour. Guest soloists will be SFA alumni Erin Roth, mezzo-soprano; Richard Novak, tenor; and Casey Jones Parrish, baritone.

“An American Requiem” is being presented in commemoration of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, according to King.

“This year marks the 15th year since the tragic events of 9/11,” he said. “We don’t do a masterwork in the fall, so we are taking this opportunity for remembrance.

“The work began as a tribute to the American soldier and an examination of the insanity of war,” King explained. “During the early stages of composition, the tragic events of 9/11 occurred, hence the dedication reads: ‘to the memory of those who died in the wake of the tragic events of September 11, 2001, and in tribute to the American soldier – past, present and future.'”

Even though “An American Requiem” is not a liturgical work, Danielpour uses the Roman Catholic Requiem liturgy as outline for the work, King explained.

“However, he supplements the liturgical text with poetry from American poets Whitman, Emerson, Michael Harper, Hilda Doolittle (better known as H.D.), which makes this truly ‘An American Requiem,'” he said. “I believe this work will be recognized by music historians as one of the 21st century’s greatest American works. With a huge orchestra, massed choirs and accomplished soloists, the beauty and sheer power of the music rewards both the music critic and music lover.”

Roth, who is from Lufkin and earned a Master of Music from SFA in 2007, serves as the alto section leader and soloist in residence with the Sanctuary Choir at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas and also regularly performs as a soloist and chorister with the Highland Park Chorale, a professional choral group. She resides in Plano with her husband, Chad.

Novak holds a Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in vocal performance from SFA, and he earned a doctoral degree in vocal performance from the University of North Texas. He is the music director at Sts. Peter & Paul Catholic Church in New Braunfels where he is also choir director and music teacher. He is an adjunct voice instructor at the University of the Incarnate Word. He resides in New Braunfels with his wife, Laura, and three children.

Parrish is a native of Livingston now living in Houston where he serves as assistant choir director at Cook Middle School in Cy-Fair ISD. He is a member of the Houston Men’s Choir and a staff singer at the United Methodist Church-Downtown Houston. He earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and master’s degree in choral conducting at SFA.

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.

Immersion is said to be one of the best ways to learn any language. Stephen F. Austin State University undergraduate students studying German are bringing that adage into the 21st century as they create virtual museums for display on iPads and tablets examining German cultural history from 1942 to 1990.

“The motivation behind this project is twofold,” said Dr. Louise Stoehr, SFA associate professor of German and director of the Language Resource Center. “In an effort to make class assignments more relevant to communication modalities of the 21st century, students create interactive websites instead of writing papers. At the same time, critical thinking skills — learning to ask the difficult questions and seek answers to them — are a focal point of the course. Beyond fostering intermediate-level acquisition of German, the larger goal of this course is to successfully encourage and support mentored undergraduate scholarship.”

Begun last year as an extension of a study abroad program, the virtual museum project allows for students to study the history of Germany from the middle of the Nazi Third Reich through the unification of East and West Germany.

”The virtual museum project evolved as a component of SFA’s fourth-semester German course, in which students study the cultural and political history of mid- to late-20th century Germany,” Stoehr explained. “Specifically, through the media of film, graphic novels and youth literature, students learn about resistance to Nazi ideology and leadership during the Third Reich, examine the stark differences of daily life in West and in East Germany, and finally discover through firsthand accounts how average people in East Germany successfully achieved what is known as the 1989 Peaceful Revolution.”

According to Stoehr, the projects were well-received by faculty and staff members, students and the community in the virtual museum’s first year.

“People are impressed that students create the projects they do and present them in a modality that invites the visitor to engage personally with the materials as he/she wishes,” Stoehr said. “At a recent conference, a number of colleagues in attendance wanted to know if they could ‘steal’ my idea for adaptation at their own campuses. Many professors really liked the project for its ability to showcase what language students are doing and to demonstrate the relevance of our subjects to a well-rounded education.”

Groups of two to three students in Stoehr’s fourth-semester German course will present in-depth and interactive websites on selected topics from the time period to the public from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 5, in the Griffith Art Gallery on campus.

The Wind Symphony at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “Tin Pan Alley” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, May 2, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

The program will showcase music by early 20th century American composers, such as Scott Joplin and George Gershwin, according to Dr. Tamey Anglley, acting associate director of bands at SFA. The concert will also feature SFA School of Music faculty member Dr. Nathan Nabb, professor of saxophone.

Joplin’s lesser-known “Combination March” will open the program. “This composition was only Joplin’s second published march,” Anglley said.

Nabb will perform on L. Mark Lewis’ Concerto for Alto Saxophone, which he composed for saxophonist Kenneth Tse in 2009.

Gershwin’s “Second Prelude,” which he referred to as “a sort of blues lullaby,” is the second in a set of three preludes that he wrote for piano in 1926, Anglley explained.

The Wind Symphony will end the concert with one of Gershwin’s most well-known pieces, “An American In Paris.”

“In 1928, Gershwin composed ‘An American In Paris’ as a tone poem for orchestra after a trip abroad that inspired him to work in earnest on a recent commission he had received from the New York Philharmonic,” Anglley said. “His idea for the new work solidified as he was shopping for Parisian taxi-horns to take back to the US, as he wanted to capture the tumult of Paris’ streets in music and create a concert work that didn’t center around the piano.”

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.

Stephen F. Austin State University bands will present the annual “Concert in the Park” at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 1, on the lawn in front of the Wright Music Building.

Performing will be the University Band and the Symphonic Band, both directed by Dr. James Dreiling, acting assistant director of bands at SFA; the Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, acting associate director of bands; and the Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. David Campo, acting director of bands while Fred J. Allen is on spring sabbatical.

The SFA University Band will open the concert with “Into the Clouds” by Richard Saucedo and guest conducted by graduate assistant Dwight Watson of Wylie. The second selection is conducted by graduate assistant Taylor Goodwin of Ennis and was inspired by the untimely death of gifted actor James Dean. “As Summer Was Just Beginning” was composed by Larry Daehn in 1994 and has become a popular ballad with bands across the nation. The University Band will conclude its portion of the concert with a march by Karl L. King. “Liberty Fleet” was composed in 1942 and is one of his lesser-known marches.

The Symphonic Band will open its portion of the concert with “Albanian Dance” by Shelley Hanson followed by a medley of familiar tunes from the 1938 classic film “The Wizard of Oz,” including “Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead,” “If I Only Had a Brain,” “We’re Off to See the Wizard” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” The Symphonic Band will conclude with the classic march “Them Basses” by G.F. Huffine featuring the low brass and woodwinds sections.

The Wind Symphony will perform Scott Joplin’s second published march “Combination March” written in 1896 for piano. “Combination March” was only Joplin’s second published march. Wind Symphony will finish with George Gershwin’s well-known “An American In Paris.”

Concert in the Park will close with the Wind Ensemble performing highlights of the semester with selections from composers Steven Bryant, Léo Delibes, Darius Milhaud and Henry Fillmore. The performance will feature Bryant’s “In This Broad Earth,” Delibes’ stirring “March and Cortege of Bacchus,” first presented by the Wind Ensemble on their annual spring tour, and selections from Milhaud’s” Suite Francaise” and Fillmore’s rousing march, “Rolling Thunder.”

The “Concert in the Park” setting was created by SFA Director of Bands Emeritus Melvin B. Montgomery. Admission is free. Beginning at 1 p.m., Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, honorary band service fraternity and sorority, will sell $5 hamburger plates that include a burger, chips and drink.

For more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Rockin’ Axes at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “The Sounds of the ’70s, Part II” when the ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 29, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Directed by Andy Sperandeo, instructor in SFA School of Music’s Sound Recording Technology program, the Rockin’ Axes consists of SRT students who study influential, popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries, according to Sperandeo. The course work helps students to develop skills necessary to transcribe, rehearse, arrange and perform in an ensemble setting.

“The Sounds of the ’70s, Part II” will feature the music of Michael Jackson, Styx, Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, Earth Wind & Fire and more.

“We did ‘The Sounds of the ’70s, Part I’ last semester, but there was still so much great music from that era we didn’t cover that I wanted to carry the theme over to this semester,” Sperandeo said.

Among the pieces to be performed are Jackson’s “Rock With You,” “Come Sail Away” by the progressive band Styx, and Joel’s “Just the Way You Are.”

“Billy Joel was and still is one of the greatest singer/songwriters of our time,” Sperandeo said. “I think the students can learn a thing or two from his writing style and learn to appreciate what a great voice he has, as well.”

The Rockin’ Axes will also perform “Wild Horses” by the Rolling Stones and “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire.

“The Stones were one of the first super groups of the ’60s and’ 70s, so they had to be included in the set list,” Sperandeo said. “‘Wild Horses’ has been covered by so many artists over the years, showing its staying power and connectedness to so many generations.

“Earth, Wind & Fire had it all – progressive, soulful, powerful horn section, soaring harmony vocals, catchy ‘poppy’/funk tunes,” he said. “We also would like to pay homage to the late great founder, Maurice White.”

As guest artists on the program, the Contemporary Guitar Ensemble, also a product of the SRT program and directed by Sperandeo, will perform an arrangement of guitar great Jimi Hendrix.

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.

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