Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of History will host a presentation featuring Dr. Stephen Taaffe, professor of history, on his recently published book, “Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II,” at 6 p.m. April 5 in Dugas Liberal Arts North, Room 142.

Published in September 2021, the book analyzes 15 high-ranking generals who led the Marine Corps’ six combat divisions and two corps in conflict during World War II. The book discusses the indispensable and unheralded role these generals played in organizing, training and leading their soldiers to victory, despite relative anonymity in the public eye.

“I’m going to talk about why no one has ever heard of these Marine Corps generals,” Taaffe said. “People have heard about Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Omar Bradley and even some Navy guys, like Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz and Adm. Raymond A. Spruance. But if you ask someone to name one Marine Corps general, they couldn’t give you one. I wanted to find out why those generals remain so anonymous to their Army counterparts.”

Taaffe, who is in his 22nd year at SFA and was recently named the Regents Scholar for 2022-23, has written eight books, most of which have centered around generals in various wars. “Commanding the Pacific: Marine Corps Generals in World War II” is the first book Taaffe has written about Marines. According to Taaffe, the book took two years to research and one year to write.

“I hope the audience comes out of the talk with a better understanding of the Marine Corps and what role it played in World War II,” Taaffe said.

The presentation is free and open to the public. Seating is limited to approximately 120 attendees. The presentation also will be streaming on the online meeting forum, Zoom, for those who cannot attend in person.

For more information about the presentation or to obtain the Zoom credentials, contact Dr. Hunter Hampton at hamptonh@sfasu.edu or Heaven Umbrell at heaven.umbrell@sfasu.edu.

To learn more about SFA’s department of history, visit sfasu.edu/history.

By Nathan Wicker, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The Swingin’ Axes and Swingin’ Aces jazz bands at Stephen F. Austin State University will present their “Swingin’ At The Brewery” fundraiser from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, April 1, at Fredonia Brewery in downtown Nacogdoches.

Admission to the outdoor concert is free, but donations are encouraged to benefit the SFA School of Music’s jazz program, according to Dr. Deb Scott, professor of trombone and director of jazz.

​”SFA Jazz has always enjoyed widespread community support, which has been essential to our program,” Scott said. “We are fortunate to have the Fredonia Brewery continuing to host us; we are very grateful.”

The Swingin’ Axes will perform Radio Head’s “Knives Out,” Count Basie’s “Sweet Georgia Brown” and Dan Gailey’s “Big Al Meets the Barnyard Gals,” among other jazz favorites.

The Swingin’ Aces, directed by Dr. J.D. Salas, will play some standard selections from the swing era in addition to a few rock selections from the group Steely Dan.

Shali’s Indian Kitchen on Wheels will be on site, and the brewery’s Rebellion Pizza will be open. SFA Jazz T-shirts and other merchandise will be available for purchase.

Proceeds from the concert will help fund travel costs for both the Axes and Aces when they perform at the Wichita Jazz Festival in Kansas on April 22. The jazz bands will return home on April 23 to present the same concert at 7:30 that night in Cole Concert Hall.

The Fredonia Brewery is located at 138 N. Mound St. For additional information, call the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602 or the brewery at (936) 305-5125.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will present the student-directed full-length play “She Kills Monsters” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 25, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 26, in Regents Suite A in the Baker Pattillo Student Center on the SFA campus.

Directed by Sara Clark, Plano senior theatre major, “She Kills Monsters,” by Qui Nguyen, is a story about love and loss and overcoming grief, and it is a story “for all the nerds out there who grew up with things like Dungeons and Dragons and who always felt like an outsider; this is a play for the outsiders who can finally see themselves represented on stage,” according to Clark.

Agnes Evans has always been a completely average girl with a completely average life. She has an estranged relationship with her teenaged sister, Tilly Evans, who is unusual in every way Agnes is not. On the night of her college graduation, Agnes wishes for her life to change. She gets her wish when Tilly and her parents tragically die in a car crash, turning her life upside down. Now all Agnes has left of her sister is her Dungeons and Dragons campaign she wrote for her friends. Agnes teams up with local Dungeon Master, Chuck, and goes on the adventure Tilly left behind – one filled with demon queens, giant slime monsters and discovery – as she gets to know her strange little sister better than she ever knew her when she was alive. Can Agnes defeat Tiamat and save the lost soul of Athens? Only time will tell.

“We all get to experience the world that teenaged Tilly Evans created before her untimely death and have that escape from the real world she wanted to create for her friends and anyone else who might play,” Clark said. “It is an adventure unlike any other, and I just can’t wait to bring it to this community. ‘She Kills Monsters’ has been a favorite show of mine for years, and I’ve always wanted to be a part of a production. I’m so beyond excited to be directing it.”

The cast features Kelsey Lesseig, New Braunfels senior, as Agnes Evans; Olivia Cantrell, Cedar Park junior, as Tilly Evans; David Smith, Nacogdoches freshman, as Chuck; Nathan Lemmo, Spring freshman, as Miles; Kiya Green, Waxahachie sophomore, as Kelly; Macy Burns, Temple freshman, as Lilith/Lilly; Alexis Hargy, Houston senior, as Vera/Evil Gabbi/The Beholder; Dani Wilson, Denton junior, as Narrator/Evil Tina/Farrah the Faerie; Kaleb Calton, Katy freshman, as Orcus/Ronnie; and Sami Hurley, Dallas sophomore, as Steve.

The crew includes Georgetown junior David Cleghorn, stage manager; The Woodlands senior Dorie Bloodworth, assistant director; Wylie junior Natalie Elderbloom, scenic designer and technical director; Duncanville senior Gaby Trevino, costume designer; Houston senior Cynthia Tovar, lighting designer; and Wylie junior Josiah Richardson, sound designer.

The play is recommended for mature audiences. Faculty production advisor is Dr. Slade Billew.

Tickets are $6. To purchase tickets, visit the SFA Fine Arts Box Office online at boxoffice.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407. Available tickets may be purchased at the door. For more information about the play, call the School of Theatre at (936) 468-4003 or visit theatre.sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University has been named the No. 1 Texas university of its size as a rural-serving institution.

The Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges awarded the designation to SFA, also placing it No. 11 nationally.

“Thriving rural regions require high-capacity, place-based anchor institutions,” said Jerry Kenney, program officer for education and economic opportunity for the T.L.L. Temple Foundation. “A quick glance on a map reveals the importance of SFA as the only major university located in our multi-county Deep East Texas region, an expansive, overwhelmingly rural geography.”

Kenney continues saying that “as the source of a cutting-edge rural workforce, the hub for rural innovation, and the place for pursuing big rural ideas and opportunities, a thriving East Texas, now and in the future, requires a dynamic SFA that embraces its role as a rural-serving institution.”

According to ARRC’s groundbreaking research, the research findings emphasize the important role RSIs play in providing college access to marginalized populations and underserved communities.

“RSIs are important educational access points for low-income students, adult learners, and those from marginalized racial backgrounds, and they are critical to regional economic development, as many RSIs are the largest employer in their region,” said Dr. Andrew Koricich, the project’s principal investigator and ARRC’s executive director.

While SFA serves its rural students and the surrounding rural area, Karyn Hall, SFA’s director of institutional research, maintained that the university balances serving this rural area while simultaneously serving students from metro areas.

“We’re a hybrid institution in that 90% of our students report residency within 200 miles of the university and 40% report proximity within a 100-mile radius of campus,” Hall said. “Around 50% of SFA students come from the Dallas and Houston areas and about 38% come from the East Texas area. We are rural-serving, diverse and hybrid.”

By supporting its service area in this way, SFA also is contributing to 60x30TX, a strategic plan by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board with several goals, Hall said. The plan seeks to ensure that 60% of Texans between the ages of 25 and 34 have a degree or certificate by 2030.

Its other goals include having at least 555,000 students complete a certificate or an associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree from a higher education institution in Texas before 2030, graduating with marketable skills and low student debt. Paired with SFA’s unique tuition rate plans and 15 to Finish initiative, which help students stay on track to graduate with less debt, the rural-serving designation is further proof of SFA’s commitment to accessible education.

“We have an expectation that we serve our region,” Hall said. “The fact that we have this national acknowledgment is really important.”

By serving the student population as a whole as well as the surrounding area, SFA is poised to continue helping the region grow and continue to develop.

Publishing their findings in an online data tool, the ARRC used five factors to score institutions during their years-long effort to identify rural-serving institutions:

percent of institution’s home county population classified as rural
average percent of adjacent counties’ population classified as rural
population size of institution’s home county
institution’s home county adjacency to a metro area
and percent of institution’s total awards conferred in agriculture, natural resources, and parks and recreation.

ARRC is a research collaborative and resource hub with the mission of increasing appreciation for and understanding of regional colleges and their contributions to opportunity and community wellbeing. Learn more at regionalcolleges.org.

By Joanna Armstrong, Marketing Communications Specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University