Everything Nac

In an ongoing effort to help ensure student success and expand courses to encompass the diverse field of agriculture, Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of Agriculture now offers a specialized track in agricultural communications.

Agricultural communications combines core agriculture and communications proficiencies to help prepare students to become effective communicators for the agriculture industry. In addition to core agricultural courses, such as animal science, soil science and farm management, students develop skills in writing, photojournalism, public relations and media content development that relate to modern agricultural industries.

“People are becoming more and more aware of agriculture and our diverse practices,” said Dr. Joey Bray, chair of SFA’s Department of Agriculture. “While that’s good, we also have to contend with misconceptions and a lack of agriculture-related information made available to the public.”

Bray said this degree track provides students with the skills needed to promote the field and properly convey science-based information to the public.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects a 9% growth rate in jobs in the fields of agriculture and food sciences during the next decade — a promising outlook for students interested in the discipline.

Bray said agricultural communications open a number of career pathways, including employment in agricultural extension, governmental agencies, private industry, marketing, consulting and public relations.

To learn more about SFA’s agriculture program, visit ag.sfasu.edu.

Story by Sarah Fuller, outreach coordinator for Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture. Contact information: (936) 468-1185 or fullersa@sfasu.edu.

Piero Fenci, professor of art at Stephen F. Austin State University, is among the artists selected to participate in a free, virtual panel discussion to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

The panel brings together a group of locally and nationally distinguished artists and thinkers to reflect on how HCCC has grown over the past 20 years and what the future of craft as a field looks like.

The discussion takes place from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 23. Virtual attendance is free, but registration is required. Visit https://crafthouston.org/events/20th-anniversary-virtual-panel-discussion/ to register.

Professor of art at SFA since 1975, Fenci has earned an international reputation as a ceramist, exhibiting his work from coast to coast, as well as in Italy, Russia and Mexico. In 2012, he was named a “Texas Master” by the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and was the fourth person (and the first ceramist) in the state to be honored with the award. His work is represented in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Scheiner-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred, New York; and in the Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler.

Founded in 2001, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to advancing education about the process, product and history of craft. The center’s major emphasis is on objects of art made primarily from craft materials: clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood or found/recycled materials.
HCCC serves as a resource in the Houston arts community and the region by showcasing emerging and acclaimed artists in exhibitions, introducing visitors of all ages to contemporary craft through hands-on and virtual programming, and supporting the development of working artists through its artist residency programs.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs will host its first Brave Space Series of the semester at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 16, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Multimedia Room.

The program, “Through the Looking Glass,” will discuss ways to view situations and issues through individual perspectives.

“In the world we live in now, we must coexist with our different perspectives,” said La-Meria Seriale, OMA student ambassador. “Come join us and discuss how we as an SFA community can be more inclusive of others’ views and still be behind our own views.”

For more information, contact the OMA at oma@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-1073.

By Joanna Armstrong, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University

An exhibition of tintypes by Bill Nieberding, associate professor of art at Stephen F. Austin State University, will show Sept. 11 through Oct. 9 at Falling Star Gallery.

“Reflections in Silver” features tintype photographs that explore a range of East Texas subjects and still-life.

“Time flows differently in East Texas,” Nieberding said in his artist statement. “Tintype is an antiquated process invented in the 1850s that is inextricably intertwined with the concept of time. Exposures are long, as the collodion emulsion is extremely slow – much less sensitive to light than modern digital sensors.”

But the photographer has to work quickly. A metal plate is covered in liquid collodion and dipped in silver nitrate solution to make it light-sensitive. The photographer loads the plate into a camera, takes the picture and develops it immediately. It all has to happen while the plate is still wet.

“It’s a demanding process that produces one-of-a-kind photographs on metal or glass,” Nieberding said. “It is also a process ideally suited to exploring and rending the notion of time integral to this region.”

Support for the exhibition and Nieberding’s wet-plate-collodion research is funded by a Research and Creative Activities Grant through the SFA Office of Research and Sponsored Programs.

A reception with the artist is planned for 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 18, and will include a special musical performance. Light refreshments will be served.

Falling Star Gallery is located at 216 N. Church St. For more information, call (917) 209-1050.