Everything Nac

Newly sworn-in Texas Secretary of State, Carlos Cascos, spoke to Stephen F. Austin State University economics students Wednesday about the strengths and challenges of Texas and the importance of understanding their community.

Appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott shortly after his election in November, Cascos spoke to the class of approximately 100 students during a stop on a statewide tour. Cascos said the tour was to learn more about the different areas of Texas while educating residents about local, state and federal issues.

He stated he did not want to give the typical secretary of state message encouraging people just to get out to vote, but instead, he wanted Texas residents to understand the issues and their importance. He said students often do not know details of the area in which they live until they establish roots and a career.

Cascos said among his first goals as secretary of state is to improve relations with Mexico, the state’s largest trade partner. Cascos said he expects a deal within the next month to honor the 1944 U.S.–Mexico Water Treaty.

He also highlighted the state’s job growth in various sectors and touted the business-friendly environment of Texas.

In addition, he encouraged students to research communities when choosing a job after college, including tax rates, schools, health care and the effectiveness of local governments.

The Texas Association of Broadcast Educators held its annual winter conference at Stephen F. Austin State University Feb. 27. During the conference, the TABE presented the Broadcaster of the Year Award to Brad Streit, Raycom Media Group’s senior vice president/television. Pictured are, from left, Dr. Al Gruele, SFA associate professor of mass communication; Streit; Sherry Williford, SFA instructor of mass communication and Dr. John Hendricks, SFA professor of mass communication and chair of the SFA Department of Mass Communication.

Students participating in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Mast Student Investment Roundtable are proving they have what it takes to be top-notch financial portfolio managers.

The group, comprising 15 SFA students who have demonstrated exemplary performance in specific investment courses, won first place in the competition’s growth category at the ENGAGE International Investment Education Symposium held in March.

ENGAGE is one of the largest student investment conferences in the U.S. The annual event was held this year at Wayne State University in Detroit to provide students with the opportunity to participate in discussions with today’s leading investment professionals in preparation for their role as tomorrow’s financial leaders.

Student teams from 57 universities across the U.S. and Canada participated in this year’s event. Universities with student-managed portfolios were invited to compete based on their financial performance in the areas of growth, value, blend/core and asset allocation styles of management. Twelve-month risk-adjusted returns from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2014, were used to identify the top portfolio team in each category.

“The growth category focused on universities with student teams that only invest in stocks,” said Dr. Kyle Jones, SFA associate professor of finance, who accompanied the team to the competition. “SFA’s students had a return rate of approximately 19 percent in 2014. That’s incredibly impressive, especially when you consider that the Standard and Poor’s 500 index return rate averaged markedly less at about 13 percent.”

Students representing the Mast Student Investment Roundtable included Neel Warren, a senior finance major from Palestine; Steven Hawkins, a senior economics and finance major from Longview; Blake Moore, a senior finance major from Lufkin; and Ryan Swor, a senior finance major from Carrollton, who later discussed the team’s win on CNBC.

During the nationally televised interview with a panel of financial experts, Swor provided details about the stocks the team selected. “Gilead is a strong biotechnology company,” Swor said. “It recently developed a breakthrough hepatitis C treatment drug. We also like Home Depot. More and more people today are opting to make improvements to their homes rather than purchase or build new ones, so that stock is performing well.”

The children of A.T. and Patricia Mast, honoring the Mast family’s longtime support of the university, established the Mast Student Investment Roundtable in 2012. The roundtable’s members invest more than $500,000 of real money, which includes funds from the SFA Alumni Foundation and the SFASU Foundation.

“The faculty members in SFA’s finance department provide our students with a thorough education in financial management, teaching them to analyze stocks and then encouraging them to use that knowledge to make sound investment decisions,” Jones said. “The opportunity provided by the Mast Student Investment Roundtable is a key element in helping our students gain the skills they need to compete and win on the national level.”

The Stephen F. Austin State University Stone Fort Museum will present the inaugural Cum Concilio Club Heritage Preservation Award, honoring those who are dedicated to preserving Nacogdoches and its history.

Officially established in 2009, the award will highlight the CCC of Nacogdoches’ commitment to the preservation of the city’s cultural and historic landscape. This women’s study club, organized in Nacogdoches in 1894, acknowledged the importance of historical preservation with the loss of the Y’Barbo stone house in 1902. Distraught by the demolition of the house, members dedicated their time and efforts to protecting other historic aspects of the community.

In 1936, a replica structure of the stone house was built by the Texas Centennial Commission on SFA’s campus. The house, which paid homage to the club’s preservation efforts, became a regional history museum known today as the Stone Fort Museum.

The biennial award, which will be presented in October, will recognize an individual or group who has made significant contributions to the preservation of the natural and cultural history of Nacogdoches County. Award recipients will be recorded on a plaque located in the museum garden, which will guide visitors to completed preservation projects throughout the county.

Nominations are now being accepted and are due by Tuesday, June 30. For more information, contact Carolyn Spears at (936) 468-2408, or email stonefort@sfasu.edu, or visit www.sfasu.edu/stonefort for further instructions.

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).