Everything Nac

An exhibition highlighting the history of African-American leaders in Nacogdoches is the final product for students in a history graduate course within Stephen F. Austin State University’s College of Liberal and Applied Arts.

“I taught a graduate-level history course at SFA this spring, and my students and I developed, designed and produced an exhibition titled, ‘Leaders of Courage: Educating, Mobilizing and Preserving the African-American Community of Nacogdoches,’” said Dr. Paul Sandul, associate professor in the SFA Department of History. “The title comes from a quote by local civil rights activist Arthur Weaver.”

The exhibition will be on display from 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, June 14 through July 8, in the historic E.J. Campbell High School, 499 South Shawnee St. An opening reception is scheduled for the evening of Monday, June 13.

“The focus of the exhibition is to highlight such Nacogdoches heroes and leaders as E.J. Campbell, Arthur Weaver and Birdie Wade and the good work they did toward sustaining the community, especially as they faced the difficulties of racism and violence in a Jim Crow Nacogdoches,” Sandul said. “The exhibition highlights this last reality, while underscoring the courage and leadership of these three individuals—for the betterment of the African-American community and, really, for all of us calling Nacogdoches our home today.”

Students within Sandul’s History 570 Collections Management course spent the entirety of the spring 2016 semester digging through East Texas Research Center archives to create 10 text-based, 40-by-32-inch poster boards. The Leaders of Courage posters will be filled with historical information, dozens of historical photographs, maps and an in-depth timeline.

“This graduate course and project introduced students to the essential knowledge, skills and abilities required to conduct the management of archival and museum collections with a specific focus on serving and reaching a public audience,” said Sandul. “In fact, each of these students aspires for a public history career in one of these fields and is the very reason each has enrolled at SFA.

“While the students read essays, extended monographs and technical briefs to familiarize themselves with the processes and practices of archival and museum collections, they had a heavy ‘hands-on’ emphasis to provide them with real-world experiences. Functioning as a member of a team, the students thus created an exhibition highlighting collections at the local East Texas Research Center archive. The Leaders of Courage exhibition is the product of that hands-on experience,” Sandul said.

QR codes, or bar codes with the capability to be scanned by smartphones, also were developed by students for the exhibition. When scanned, the codes link to Internet sites with recorded oral histories and other additional historical information pertinent to the Leaders of Courage project.

For more information, email Sandul at sandulpj@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s educator preparation program within the James I. Perkins College of Education hosted its first Partners in Educator Preparation Appreciation Banquet on May 26 on the university campus.

During their final semester before graduation, SFA students majoring in education begin their student teaching in school districts across Texas.

The banquet recognized school administrators, mentoring classroom teachers, field supervisors, administrators, and faculty and staff members in the educator preparation program for their support throughout the year.

Dr. Jannah Nerren, associate dean in the College of Education’s Office of Assessment and Accountability, said SFA sends approximately 350 students each academic year into approximately 550 classrooms across Texas to complete their student teaching.

“This banquet strengthens the relationship between the stakeholders involved in educator preparation of our teacher candidates,” Nerren said. “We wanted to emphasize how important it is for us to work together in our various roles to help prepare this generation of future educators.”

The evening included an informal reception with music provided by students from SFA’s School of Music, dinner, a keynote speech and an awards presentation.

Nerren said keynote speaker Dr. Kandi Hill-Clarke, dean of the Bayh College of Education at Indiana State University, inspired attendees with a motivational speech about the importance of education.

“Dr. Hill-Clarke’s goal was to make all the educators in attendance feel valued and appreciated while underscoring the importance of the educator as the individual who creates the possibility for all other professions,” Nerren said.

SFA teacher candidates nominated their field supervisors and mentoring teachers for awards, which were presented during the banquet.

Cheryl Van Norman and Linda Bruton, both SFA adjunct faculty members, received the Outstanding Field Supervisor award for their work in helping more than 40 SFA student teachers during the fall and spring semesters. Paul Banner from Furneaux Elementary School in Carrollton and Valerie Frazier from Hendrick Middle School in Plano received the Outstanding Cooperating Teacher award for the fall and spring semesters.

“I’m very pleased with the event’s turnout and attendees’ enthusiasm,” Nerren said. “We think it was a successful event, and our mission was accomplished.”

More than 14,000 miles away in Bangalore, India, Stephen F. Austin State University graduate student Nandita Mehrotra puts the finishing touches on her thesis in preparation for its defense.

During the past few months, she has been studying patient-turnaround time at an outpatient cancer center in India and the role interior design plays in health care settings.

As a full-time employee in India, Mehrotra was able to complete her Master of Science in human sciences online in May through SFA’s School of Human Sciences within the James I. Perkins College of Education.

“The ability to pursue a master’s degree in the U.S. while living in India was wonderful,” Mehrotra said. “I was able to complete my degree only because it was available online.”

Heather Catton, director of international studies and programs at SFA, agrees offering courses online provides international students with great opportunities.

“For students like Nandita, who are working full time and/or have a family, they can’t drop everything and move to another country to earn their degree,” Catton said. “When a degree can be offered completely online, it’s a great option for students because they have access to the academic content. They can continue to work, live at home, and still have a U.S. degree and a different perspective.”

Mehrotra said she enjoyed the experience.

“It was very interesting to interact with faculty members and students halfway around the world and understand their way of thinking, working and expressing thoughts, ideas and analyses,” Mehrotra said.

Through Desire 2 Learn, SFA’s online course-delivery system, Mehrotra worked with other SFA students and faculty members. Her coursework consisted of the completion of specialized health care readings and textbooks, performance of on-site facility analyses and weekly interaction with renowned leaders in the health care design industry, which she described as interesting and helpful.

Mehrotra surveyed patients for 12 days for her thesis to obtain an understanding of patient experiences and satisfaction levels. She mapped the movement of 19 patients in the facility and interviewed 15 health care providers and staff members. She also studied patient, doctor and staff member perspectives on patient turnaround time.

“The Collaborate feature in Desire 2 Learn is a wonderful tool for online education and really makes the educational/classroom interaction easy and enjoyable,” Mehrotra said. “I was able to attend a significant percentage of online study sessions because of the difference between Indian Standard Time and U.S. Central Time. When it was morning at SFA, it was late evening in Bangalore, and I was home from work then.”

Dr. Mitzi Perritt, professor of interior design and graduate coordinator in SFA’s School of Human Sciences, met with Mehrotra weekly via Collaborate in D2L and said it was as if they were in the same classroom.

“Nandita has been a special student. She is eager to learn, very respectful and produces high-quality work. It has been an amazing experience for me to work with her as her major professor and teacher,” Perritt said. “Our relationship is a close one, and we have enjoyed working together.”