Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University has been recognized for its commitment to educating all students – regardless of physical challenges – with the 2014 Desire2Excel Award for Accessibility.

The award is presented by D2L, a global leader in educational technology and the creator of Brightspace, an integrated learning platform used by SFA faculty members and students. The company lauded SFA for demonstrating how such partnerships and technology can make education available to more learners.

“It is one of D2L’s core beliefs that education should be accessible to all,” said John Baker, president and CEO of D2L. “Brightspace was built and continues to grow with accessibility in mind. We strive to make our integrated learning platform easy for people to navigate and understand using assistive technologies or any and all devices that support their needs.”

A large part of the university’s dedication to accessibility is ensuring that faculty members are provided with professional development that includes how to make instructional materials accessible, according to Dr. Randy McDonald, director of SFA’s Center for Teaching and Learning.

“We conduct rigorous professional development for faculty members concerning the design of online courses, and we continually collaborate with the SFA Office of Disability Services to help ensure the needs of each and every student are met,” McDonald said.

“The university is able to provide accessible support to students and faculty members using the Brightspace integrated learning platform,” McDonald added. Led by Andra Floyd, SFA’s D2L support team includes student workers who specialize in providing accessible tech support.

SFA’s focus on accessibility for all students is “part of our DNA,” said Janet Kamps, distance education coordinator at the Center for Teaching and Learning. She said that commitment stems from the institution’s origins as a teacher’s college.

“Personalized instruction, mentoring, and respect for and inclusion of all university community members are foundations of our university,” she said. “Brightspace has played a crucial role in enabling us to live up to those ideals and ensure that students’ access to a quality education is not obstructed. Taking responsibility for accessibility is foundational here – it’s something we all do.”

D2L partners with thought-leading organizations to improve learning through data-driven technology that helps deliver a personalized experience to every learner, regardless of geography or ability. D2L’s open and extensible platform is used by more than 1,100 clients and 15 million individual learners in higher education, K–12, health care, government and the enterprise sector, including Fortune 1000 companies. The company has operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil and Singapore.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will present the student-directed “Springtime” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 17, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, in the Downstage Theatre on the SFA campus.

Center Point senior Sloan Frierson directs this one-act play by Cuban-American avant garde playwright María Irene Fornés about the eternal story of love and betrayal. The cast includes Dallas sophomore Dominique Rider as Ray; Beaumont freshman Kate Shirley as Greta; and Lake Dallas sophomore Andrea Nelson as Rainbow.

When Greta is diagnosed with tuberculosis, Rainbow does everything she can to take care of her, including breaking the law in order to afford Greta’s medicine, explains Frierson.

“Caught up in petty theft, Rainbow gets dragged further into the underworld by a man named Ray, who becomes a fixture in the couple’s lives,” she said. “Ultimately, it is Ray who drives them apart.”

The production staff includes Kara Bruntz, Charleston, S.C., sophomore, stage manager; Keenan Chiasson, Richmond sophomore, scenic designer; TJ Davis, Beaumont sophomore, costume designer; Monika Zimmermann, Singapore junior, lighting designer; Jennifer Bush, Edgewood senior, sound designer; Lane Davidson, Denton freshman, assistant sound designer; Caitlin Parker, Groves sophomore, choreographer; Sam Friedrich, Saudi Arabia junior, hair and makeup designer; and Tevia Loeser, Spring freshman, properties manager.

Faculty production advisor for the play is Melissa McMillian-Cunningham.

Frierson has directed in the Upstage and has performed in Mainstage productions of “Trojan Barbie,” “Stage Door,” “Three Sisters,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “The Importance of Being Earnest,” and she has performed in the Festival of New American Plays at SFA. She is a creative writing minor whose work will be published in this year’s edition of Humid.

Tickets are $4. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit theatre.sfasu.edu “Springtime” is recommended for mature audiences (teens or older).

Renowned saxophonist Shelley Carrol will appear with the Swingin’ Axes when the jazz ensemble and the Swingin’ Aces perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 17, in Cole Concert Hall on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

The Swingin’ Axes, directed by Dr. Gary Wurtz, professor of trumpet and jazz studies at SFA, will perform “Li’l Darlin,” “Double-O” and “Every Day I Have the Blues” from the Count Basie library, as well as Herbie Hancock’s “Driftin’” with Carrol as guest soloist. The Axes’ program will also feature Duke Ellington’s “Perdido,” “Stan Kenton’s “Pegasus” and Pat Metheny’s “The First Circle.”

Hailing from a family of gospel singers and musicians in Houston, Carrol attended the High School of the Performing and Visual Arts and was a standout in the city’s Summer Jazz Workshop before earning a place in the Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band at the University of North Texas. As a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, he toured the U.S. and 30 foreign countries. Carrol was a finalist in the Texas Commission for the Arts “State Musician” recognition and was named the 2007 Sammons Center Jazz Artist of the Year. He is also a 2014 Dallas Observer nominee for Best Jazz Act and has been on tour with multi-platinum artist Sheryl Crow.

Opening the concert will be the Swingin’ Aces, directed by Dr. Deb Scott, professor of trombone and jazz studies, performing a program of “big band classics,” including “Moonlight Serenade” by Glenn Miller and the energetic “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Louis Prima. Both will feature graduating senior music major Angel Duran on clarinet as well as junior psychology major Aaron Gentry on drums. Other classics will include John LaBarbera’s “Basie’s Buddy B,” as well as his famous Latin composition, “Tiger of San Pedro,” made popular by the great trombonist, Bill Watrous.

Tickets for the concert, which is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music, 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.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “Mile… Mile & A Half” at 7 p.m. Friday, April 17, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

A documentary film by The Muir Project, “Mile… Mile & A Half” is the story of five friends who leave their daily lives behind to hike California’s historic John Muir Trail, a 211-mile stretch from Yosemite to Mt. Whitney (the highest peak in the contiguous U.S.). Their goal, according to information at themuirproject.com, is to complete the journey in 25 days while capturing the sights and sounds they encounter along the way.

The documentary is directed by Jason Fitzpatrick and Ric Serena. It is 87 minutes in length.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Night Film Series and is sponsored in part by the Nacogdoches Junior Forum, The Liberty Bell, Main Street Nacogdoches, Bill Arscott, Jill Carrington, Karon Gillespie, John Heath, David Kulhavy and Brad Maule.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

The annual spring concert of Stephen F. Austin State University’s Steel Band will feature pop tunes from “then and now,” according to Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at SFA.

The concert, slated for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 15, in Cole Concert Hall on the university campus, will include such popular songs as “Take on Me,” “Margaritaville,” “Locked Out of Heaven,” “Africa” and “Come on Eileen.”

“The group will be playing songs that everyone can sing along with,” Meyer said. “I want the audience to be much more involved at this concert, so feel free to sing and dance along as the steel band performs some great hits from several decades ago to the present that every generation knows and loves.”

The SFA Steel Band, also known as the Jacks of Steel, is a student ensemble comprised of about 20 music majors and non-music majors from SFA. The group performs throughout the East Texas region for both public and private events. For more information on booking the SFA Steel Band or small steel pan quartet for an upcoming party, conference, gathering, celebration or any other type of event, email Meyer at meyerbe@sfasu.edu for rates and availability.

This concert is a feature of the Cole Performing Arts Series and is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music.

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.

Two of the major performing ensembles at Stephen F. Austin State University will combine forces in a special concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Select members of the SFA Wind Ensemble and the A Cappella Choir will perform the Mass in E Minor by Anton Bruckner.

“This is one of the few pieces where the orchestra supporting a choral work is made up entirely of brass and woodwinds,” said Fred J. Allen, director of bands at SFA. “Most choral pieces accompanied by instruments use strings, but this one does not.” Allen will conduct the work.

Dr. Tim King, director of choral activities as SFA and of the A Cappella Choir, described the work as “heartfelt and beautiful.”

“Bruckner, a dedicated church musician, knew the tradition of the mass,” King said. “The E minor Mass for orchestra winds and chorus had as its predecessor the Harmoniemesse by (Joseph) Haydn. However, Bruckner brought to mass what Haydn could not – the lush harmonic language of late 1800s.

“The E minor Mass stands unparalleled in genre for winds and chorus,” he added.

Though Bruckner was born in Austria, his style is often referred to as representing Austro-German Romanticism, according to Allen.

A pair of short pieces by German composers will open the concert. These include March in F by Ludwig von Beethoven followed by Geschwindmarsch by Paul Hindemith. Hong Kong graduate student Jeff Leung will conduct the two pieces.

“The Hindemith march is based on the melody of the Beethoven piece, linking these two works across 130 years,” said Allen. “Both marches are written for small groups of wind players.”

Tickets for the concert, which is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music, 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.

Nita Hudson has one of “those” kinds of minds. She’s organized, meticulous and detail-oriented. She thrives on planning and scheduling, which means her projects meet deadlines. No duty is too difficult; no responsibility is too great. She makes sure people are where they are supposed to be, doing what they are supposed to be doing.

That’s why she is slightly annoying (in a good way) and thoroughly endearing (in the best way) as assistant director, production stage manager and properties manager for Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music’s annual opera theater production.

Hudson, who has taught voice, opera and vocal literature at SFA for 21 years, is working on her 49th opera production with SFA Opera Theater’s presentation of Frank Loesser’s “The Most Happy Fella.” The musical comedy will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 9 through 11, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

“She likes to be organized,” Debbie Dalton, associate professor of voice at SFA and director of the opera, said of her right-hand person, “and she does things so quickly. That’s the way her mind works.”

In earlier years, Hudson was exposed through family members to Alcoholics Anonymous’ 12-Step Program. She took what she observed and learned how to tweak the program concepts to help her organize, prioritize and meet deadlines, mostly by “taking one day at a time,” she said.

“And I depend on God,” Hudson said, adding that praying about problems and for people, along with relying on daily devotionals, helps her get the day started and keeps her focused.

A proud SFA alumna, Hudson jokingly said she sees herself as “one of God’s little secret agents,” working behind the scenes to “sprinkle a little joy here and a little motivation there.”

“I just want to give back to SFA what SFA gave to me,” she said.

Her organizational skills extend beyond the annual opera production and into her everyday performance as a School of Music faculty member.

“Oh boy, what doesn’t she do?” Dalton said. Hudson organizes logistics for SFA’s vocal program, including scheduling rooms to be used for studio classes; compiling meeting, recital, touring and competition schedules for an all-inclusive vocal calendar; and scheduling accompanists for opera auditions and end-of-semester vocal juries. She assists the director of the School of Music in presenting the annual Friends of Music Extravaganza by coordinating the scholarship awards; directing the opera selection performed at the event; coordinating lighting; and staging ensembles, instruments and props for performances.

Further evidence of Hudson’s multi-tasking talents can be seen in her ability to successfully manage two other jobs, including directing the adult choir at Christ Episcopal Church and working as a long-time medical records and transcriptions clerk at Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital, where she jokingly describes herself as “the stage manager of medical records.” Hudson began working at Memorial in the mid-1980s as an undergraduate student at SFA. She has a Bachelor of Music degree with teacher certification and master’s in music, both from SFA. She taught at East Texas Baptist University for about 10 years while she also worked at SFA.

Hudson has solely taken on the task of collecting all the props for “The Most Happy Fella,” because “she knows it will be done right,” Dalton said.

In addition to all the duties she juggles with the opera production, Hudson, who had 17 years of dance training, also has taken on the job of choreographer for “The Most Happy Fella.”

“With training as a singer and dancer, I know how to make the choreography easy to dance to while singing,” she said, “and I want to make their bodies look like what their voices sound like.”

“I used to think she was bossy and wanted to control everything, and maybe some of that is true,” Dalton said with a laugh. “But having everything organized and under control gives her comfort, and it sure comforts me, because I don’t have to crowd my brain with those details.”

Hudson’s desire to get things done quickly comes, in part, from simply wanting to help others, Dalton said.

“She’s just kind and caring and passionate about everything she does,” Dalton said, “ … a big heart in a little bitty person.”

This production, which is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music as part of the University Series “Connect,” is sponsored in part by Point A Media. Prior to Thursday’s opening night performance, Dalton will give a 7 p.m. informative talk in Griffith Gallery, located across the hall from Turner Auditorium.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $7.50 for students. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

Turner Auditorium is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

SFA voice instructor Nita Hudson works with some of the cast members of “The Most Happy Fella” in perfecting one of the dance numbers for Frank Loesser’s musical comedy to be presented by SFA Opera Theater at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 9 through 11, in Turner Auditorium.

SFA voice instructor Nita Hudson helps Brownsville senior vocal performance major Guillermo Delgado rehearse one of the numbers he will perform in Frank Loesser’s “The Most Happy Fella” to be presented by SFA Opera Theater at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 9 through 11, in Turner Auditorium.