Everything Nac

With a grant from the Center for Applied Research and Rural Innovation at Stephen F. Austin State University, the SFA School of Art has developed a new student docent program at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House. Additionally, the grant support will enable the return of the popular School of Art Friday Night Film series.

Art students at SFA will soon offer guided tours of the exhibitions showing at the Cole Art Center, SFA’s historic downtown art gallery. The program targets K-12 schools and educators in East Texas by offering tours to students. Regularly scheduled weekend tours will also be open to the public.

“We hope that the docent program will bring new and returning visitors into the Cole Art Center,” said Amanda Breitbach, assistant professor of art at SFA and principal investigator for the grant proposal. “The program will benefit SFA School of Art students, who will research the art and artists to prepare guided tours, and it will benefit visitors who tour our exhibitions. We especially want to work with area K-12 teachers who would like to bring student groups to the art center, and we plan to offer weekend tours to appeal to out-of-town visitors as well as locals.”

As part of the same grant, the School of Art plans to resume its free Friday Night Film series and collaborate with local art groups and nonprofits to plan other future “First Friday” events. The first film screening is at 7 p.m. March 3 in Cole Art Center and will feature “Icepick to the Moon,” written, edited and directed by Skizz Cyzyk. It is a documentary about musician the Rev. Fred Lane and the Raudelunas arts collective of Alabama.

“The film series was very popular in the community, and we’re excited to bring it back,” Breitbach said. “Film professors Bill Arscott and Brad Maule and film historian Ron King have all been very supportive in this effort. We plan to share a variety of films, from classic movies to art house films, documentaries and student work.”

Breitbach said the School of Art envisions the Cole Art Center as an important center for the arts in East Texas. Another aspect of the grant will be working with the SFA Center for Business and Economic Research to measure the economic impact of the arts in Nacogdoches.

“We see the arts as a valuable part of our local economy, and this study will give us useful data about the role of the arts right now, as well as identifying areas for expansion in the future,” Breitbach said.

SFA graduate assistants Dagon Blank and Joseph Owalabi will coordinate and oversee the new programs.

Showing at The Cole Art Center through March 24 is the exhibition “Persona,” with multimedia work by artists John Rasimus, Richie Budd and Kris Pierce.

The mission of the Center for Applied Research and Rural Innovation, or CARRI, is to “bring faculty and students together with business, industry, education and community partners in dynamic, interactive environments. Through these interactions, students will learn how to use their skills to work in teams with other students from multiple disciplines in order to solve complex real-world problems for rural and smaller communities,” according to information at sfasu.edu/carri.

Educators and other groups interested in scheduling a docent-guided tour may email requests to sfaartgalleries@sfasu.edu

For more information about the School of Art, call (936) 468-4804. To contact Cole Art Center, call (936) 468-5500.

Larry Greer, adjunct faculty instructor of guitar at Stephen F. Austin State University, will present a faculty recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 2, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The program will feature a mix of classical (Francisco Tárrega and J.S.Bach) and popular (Dan Fogelberg’s Etude #3 for flute and guitar) music, a set of jazz standards and two original compositions. Greer will be joined by his wife Karen Greer, vocalist; and faculty colleagues Dr. Christina Guenther, flute; Dr. Brad Meyer, percussion; Dr. J.D. Salas, bass; and Dr. Ben Morris, piano.

In addition to teaching classical and jazz guitar at SFA, Greer teaches guitar and bass at Angelina College and previously taught classical guitar at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and Eastern New Mexico University in Taos, New Mexico. He has served as an adjudicator and clinician at high school and college jazz festivals around the state and served as jazz organizer for the Texas Community College Band Directors Association. He directs and arranges for the SFA electric guitar ensemble. This unique ensemble performs repertoire from the Renaissance to rock including jazz standards arranged for eight to 10 guitarists.

Concert tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s JacksTeach program and Center for Applied Research and Rural Innovation are hosting a series of workshops this summer on inquiry science lab solutions for high school teachers.

These workshops are designed to help teachers facilitate and prepare true inquiry-based labs, use lab technology and equipment in an inquiry setting, and maintain a safe laboratory environment.

There will be three different topic-focused workshops: biology, June 5-9; physics, June 20-23; and chemistry, June 26-30. All sessions will run from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The workshops will be held on the SFA campus and led by university faculty and staff. Participation is free, and lunch will be provided daily. Lessons shared will meet Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills requirements and Next Generation Science Standards.

Attendees will receive a $100 stipend per day of full participation and up to $500 worth of laboratory supplies. To be eligible for the workshops, teachers must be public high school science teachers from the deep East Texas region with confirmed fall 2023 assignments in biology, chemistry or physics.

Applications close March 1, and acceptance emails will be sent by March 15. Spots are limited.

To get more information and request the application link, call (936) 468-3960 or email jacksteach@sfasu.edu.

By Alyssa Faykus, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Dr. Deb Scott, professor of trombone and bass trombone at Stephen F. Austin State University, will perform works by living composers in a recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Works of two prominent women composers, including Ida Gotkovsky and Elizabeth Raum, will be featured along with works by Ben Morris, SFA’s new composition faculty member, and by Canadian composer Michalis Andronikou.

Joining Scott on the concert will be colleagues Dr. Thomas Nixon, collaborative pianist; Dr. Carlos Gaviria, contrabass; Dr. Scott LaGraff, baritone voice; and SFA graduate student Martha Jhoana, harp.

Raum’s “The Secret of Ben Søgen for Trombone and Piano” was composed in 2019 and is “a beautiful and lyrical piece portraying the journey of a mythological character,” according to Scott.

Concerto pour Trombone et Orchestre by Gotkovsky is a well-known concerto for trombone. Scott performed the work last August with an orchestra at the Trombonanza Festival in Argentina.

Scott describes “In Memoriam Theodore Antoniou” for harp and trombone by Andronikou as “a lovely lyrical piece that blends the harp and trombone in beautiful ways.”

“If You Give a Moose a Muffin” for baritone voice, bass trombone and upright bass, written by SFA’s Morris, is based on the text of a popular children’s book by Laura Joffe Numeroff. Originally composed to be performed for children, the piece uses fun effects and mutes to bring the story to life.

Scott is a performing artist for Rath Trombones, England, and is active worldwide as a soloist and clinician. She is the director of the Composers Workshop for the International Trombone Festival and a recent member of Monarch Brass. Scott’s solo CD, “Playing Favorites,” was released in 2017 by Navona Records. She has twice been a featured soloist and faculty member in Santa Fe, Argentina, at Trombonanza, the largest brass festival in South America.

Recital tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

The Singin’ Axes and Kantorei choirs at Stephen F. Austin State University will welcome Fort Worth ISD Lone Star Youth Chorus and its director, Jesse Cannon II, along with other guests to perform in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, in Cole Concert Hall on the university campus.

The program, “Holding the Light: A Black History Month Celebration” will feature works by Robert Ray, B.E. Boykin and Marques L.A. Garrett, according to Dr. Tod Fish, associate director of choral activities at SFA and Singin’ Axes and Kantorei director.

“Black History Month is an important part of our country’s social fabric and deserves to be celebrated,” Fish said. “The concert features musical compositions and the poetry of African American artists. ‘Holding the Light’ is a powerful poem by Stuart Kestenbaum that speaks of love and light repairing the brokenness of the world. It resonates with today’s society.”

The choirs will be joined by SFA faculty members Dr. Thomas Nixon and Maggie Hinchliff, collaborative pianists, and Dr. J.D. Salas, bass guitar; Ryan Herriage, graduate conductor from Sulphur Springs; and SFA School of Music alumni Frances Teal and Jay Teamer, guest soloists.

The featured work on the concert is Ray’s “Gospel Mass,” performed by the Kantorei and Singin’ Axes combined choirs. “Dr. Ray ingeniously takes the movements of the Roman Catholic Mass and composes it in a gospel musical style,” Fish said. The musical talents of Teal, Teamer and Salas are showcased on this work.

The combined SFA and Fort Worth ISD choirs will sing Boykin’s “Holding the Light,” a work that “displays a lovely piano accompaniment with simple melodic and harmonic material that clearly conveys the complex societal issues present in the text,” Fish said.

In the concert’s finale, the combined choirs will sing the classic spiritual, “Soon I Will Be Done,” in which Garrett’s setting uses “driving rhythm and colorful harmonies” to build energy throughout the piece, according to Fish. Cannon, who serves as vocal division vice president of the Texas Music Educators Association and director of vocal and elementary music for Fort Worth ISD, will conduct the combined choirs for the finale.

Concert tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

The Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents celebrated Presidents Day by officially electing Dr. Steve Westbrook the 10th president of the university. Here, Westbrook signs the Bible all previous SFA presidents signed before him while surrounded by his family: wife, Dayna, and sons, from left to right, Reed and Bryce. In addition to friends, family and past regents, Dr. William R. Johnson, SFA’s fourth president, and relatives of the late Dr. Baker Pattillo, SFA’s eighth president, attended the board meeting. Westbrook will serve until his retirement May 31. He is not a candidate for the 11th president’s position.

The Stephen F. Austin State University DeWitt School of Nursing held its inaugural Nursing Leadership Conference Feb. 3 to inspire emerging leaders in the field through dynamic speakers, career placement vendors and an SFA alumni panel discussion.

The conference hosted fourth-semester nursing students, as well as nursing students from Panola College in Carthage.

“It’s an exciting time in the nursing profession, but there are also unique challenges,” said Shelley Hunt, coordinator of SFA’s registered nurse to Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. “The Nursing Leadership Conference gave nursing students the opportunity to learn from amazing leaders in our region. I enjoyed interacting with the participants, and I’m excited for future conferences to involve even more students from additional programs.”

Speakers at the conference included Paul Smith, a 40-year veteran of the financial services industry; Bryant Krenek, retired CEO of the Memorial Health System of East Texas; Bonnie Dubin, director of recruiting, development and engagement for the Willis-Knighton Health System; and Teresa Halcomb, chief nurse executive for Christus Good Shepherd Health System.

Speakers delivered presentations on such topics as unity, leadership, effective communication and nurse roles.

The alumni panel featured four SFA graduates, all of whom attained their Bachelor of Science in Nursing and are registered nurses. They included Jordan Bass Jones, home health nurse at Pineywoods Home Health Care; Matthew Malloy, director of operations at Nacogdoches Memorial Professional Group; Dari Pierce, former labor and delivery nurse, surgical and anesthesia recovery nurse, and current clinical coordinator at SFA; and Kristen Shields, emergency room nurse at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Henderson and Christus Good Shepherd Medical Center of Longview.

“The event was a huge success given the students’ overwhelmingly positive feedback,” said Christopher Ryan, SFA associate professor and co-coordinator of the event. “I am truly delighted to be able to offer different perspectives on leadership from experienced leaders within our region. We hope to expand and develop new experiences during future conferences that will further impart wisdom to future nursing leaders.”

Students in attendance at the conference gained new perspectives on leadership.

“The speakers gave true insight on what it meant to be a leader in the profession that we are pursuing and did it in an interactive way,” said Tiffany Wells, SFA senior nursing student. “Besides the amazing speakers, it was incredibly helpful to go around and talk to the different employers during our break and hear what they had to offer.”

Participants also had the opportunity to get some advice on leadership positions in the nursing field.

“I have always had an interest in leadership, and I really loved getting to talk to several people who’ve been in those positions before,” said Ainslie Sylvest, SFA senior nursing student. “It was very beneficial to be able to learn what it takes to make a great leader as well as hearing advice for how to get to those roles.”

Learn more about SFA’s School of Nursing at sfasu.edu/nursing.

By Alyssa Faykus, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.