Everything Nac

Matt Turner, a 2009 graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University’s forestry program and owner of Turner Fabrication, is hosting a Swedish exchange student for one month as a part of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture’s partnership with Älvdalens Educational Center in Älvdalens, Sweden.

Jonatan Jakobsson, a welding student, is completing his final year at Älvdalens, a forestry and hospitality post-secondary technical college. As a part of the curriculum, Älvdalens students are required to complete internships in their field of study. Jakobsson said the partnership between his college and the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture was a great opportunity to travel outside of Sweden and learn more about his trade.

“Texas is a beautiful state, and I wanted to see more than Sweden,” Jakobsson said.

These cross-cultural connections facilitating student growth are a big reason why Älvdalens and the college of forestry and agriculture forged the relationship.

“In many ways our students can benefit from this exchange,” said Ing-Marie Bergman, manager for marketing and internationalization at Älvdalens. “They will learn about another country, get to experience another culture and gain better appreciation of other cultures, as well as their own.”

Jakobsson will spend Aug. 15 to Sept. 15 observing the daily operations at Turner Fabrication and learning more about the business from its owner. Turner, who also holds a degree in manufacturing engineering, said he hopes to show Jakobsson more about how the business world operates because the transition from school to the working world can sometimes be difficult for students.

The whir of machinery at Turner’s fabrication is in sharp contrast to the quiet forests of East Texas where he studied as an SFA student, but he maintains close ties to the faculty.

“We’ve known Matt as a student, a colleague and a friend,” said Dr. Hans Williams, associate dean of SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry.

Turner’s history with the college and his local metal fabrication business presented the perfect opportunity to provide a valuable experience for Jakobsson, Williams said.

This summer, five SFA students also visited Älvdalens, Sweden, where they learned about Swedish history and forestry practices. For information on this and related topics, visit the college of forestry and agriculture’s website at www.atcofa.sfasu.edu.

The Center for Regional Heritage Research at Stephen F. Austin State University has been awarded a $39,600 grant from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training to digitally preserve and study hundreds of Caddo ceramics obtained from archaeological sites throughout East Texas.

The grant from the funding agency, which is part of the National Park Service, will support the 3-D scanning, processing and analysis of the artifacts, offering researchers unprecedented access to these important historical objects. The images will be stored in an online repository for future research, while the sacred vessels themselves will be returned to the Caddo in accordance with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Dr. Robert Z. Selden Jr., research associate at the CRHR, said the 3-D images will help researchers and the Caddo themselves learn more about the unique culture, adding that the Caddo are working cooperatively with researchers to preserve this aspect of their history for future generations.

“While the more regularly employed 2-D models have a great practical advantage because they involve less time and digital storage space, they also reduce 3-D objects to 2-D approximations,” Selden said. “3-D is preferable since it is more faithful in both form and dimension to the original object.”

While previous Caddo ceramic research has focused on classifying the artifacts by motif and design elements, Selden said the current project will allow him and other scholars at the CRHR to delve further into the stories behind the objects’ varied shapes.

“By making an effort to continually push beyond documentation, we are effectively making an intellectual investment in altering the current practice of archaeol

The exhibition “Sedrick Huckaby: Quiet Dialogues” will close with a reception with the artist in attendance from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

The exhibition, which features expressive oil paintings with heavy applications of impasto depicting members of Huckaby’s African-American family, has been on display since July 25. The exhibition also features a selection of prints and drawings from his recently completed “99 Percent” suite.

For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.