Everything Nac

Two graduating seniors in the health science program at Stephen F. Austin State University spent their fall internships helping university officials conduct contact tracing for COVID-19 cases reported on campus.

Wendy Chavez of Houston and Frankcheskia Pyrtle of Conroe gained real-world experience through their internships, which were established by the Office of the Dean of Student Affairs to help SFA Health Services manage COVID-19 cases on campus.

Both Chavez and Pyrtle began their college careers at SFA knowing they wanted to help people and their communities, so they took nursing courses. But they were soon drawn to the health science and epidemiology fields. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, they truly realized the impact of their new career path.

“When COVID broke out, I noticed a shortage of public health professionals,” Chavez said. “There are not that many people who choose to go into epidemiology or public health, but those workers are essential now more than ever before.”

Despite the need for more public health professionals, many internships in this field were canceled because of the pandemic. That was the case with Chavez’s internship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Pyrtle also was having difficulty finding an internship in a health care facility because of the pandemic, so when Dr. DawnElla Rust, professor of health science at SFA, presented Chavez and her with the opportunity to help SFA while gaining valuable experience, they took advantage of it.

“With all the problems these students faced securing internships during COVID-19, I really wanted to provide them with a meaningful experience,” Rust said. “Both Wendy and Frankcheskia expressed an interest in ‘doing epidemiology,’ and the pandemic provided them with a transformational opportunity to develop their skills while helping SFA.”

Contact tracing has long been practiced for infectious diseases, but the pandemic has pushed it into the limelight. SFA needed its own contract tracing team as students returned to in-person learning on campus in August. Dr. Adam Peck, assistant vice president for university affairs and dean of student affairs, turned to SFA’s health science program for help.

“I think this is a great model of an academic and student affairs partnership,” Peck said. “We really benefited from the expertise and training of these students, and I’m glad we could provide them an internship experience during a time that those were so hard to come by.”

Chavez and Pyrtle took a seven-hour training course from Johns Hopkins University and began their internships in August.

“This was the perfect opportunity, as someone who plans to go into the health care field, to be hands on and assist with an issue that affects everyone,” Pyrtle said.

SFA’s seven-member contact tracing team faced some challenges during the semester.

“Almost every week, something was changing,” Pyrtle said. “There was an update, or something needed to be added to our system or procedure forms. We had to be diligent about implementing these changes and informing the SFA community.”

Despite the hard work during an unprecedented time for health care workers, Chavez’s experience has solidified her love for epidemiology and her career choice.

“To succeed in this field, you must be attentive, compassionate, patient and understanding,” she said. “I have learned how to solve conflicts on my own and adapt to the constant change of procedures and protocols. I’ve also developed skills like time management and professionalism.”

Pyrtle said she’s gained insight she can use to help keep her friends, family and community safe.

“Safety, health and personal wellness have always been passions of mine,” she said. “If I am ever able to expand my knowledge and enlighten others on those subjects, I consider that a major success.”

Both Chavez and Pyrtle are pleased with the SFA community’s response to the pandemic.

“Overall, faculty and staff, as well as students, have been cooperating with us and handling this pandemic well,” Chavez said.

“I think the most important general improvement that could be made would be self-accountability on everyone’s part,” Pyrtle said. “We are restless, and we want to go back to a normal life as soon as possible, but we all need to come together during times like this and work toward a common goal of slowing the spread. We need to keep ourselves and others safe. We need to act as a collective to see real improvements.”

For more information on SFA’s health science program, contact Rust at drust@sfasu.edu.

By Jo Gilmore, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s chief diversity officer has been appointed to serve as an interim vice president for the institution.

Dr. Michara DeLaney-Fields will serve as interim vice president for student affairs beginning Dec. 19. DeLaney-Fields joined the SFA staff in 2019 as assistant dean of the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and was promoted to chief diversity officer in August of this year.

She will fill the interim role until a permanent vice president for student affairs is named, which is expected to occur during the spring semester.

The interim post became available due to the upcoming retirement of Dr. Steve Westbrook, SFA’s vice president for university affairs. Dr. Scott Gordon, SFA president, said DeLaney-Fields has the right background to serve as interim during the search to fill the position.

“Dr. DeLaney-Fields’ understanding of the wide range of responsibilities involved in student life and her commitment to student success will allow her to lead the division effectively as interim vice president during this transition,” Gordon said. “We have launched a national search for the position, but with her level of experience, we are well-positioned to manage this important operation until the permanent hire arrives.”

As chief diversity officer, DeLaney-Fields leads a number of student service-based areas on campus, including Counseling Services, Disability Services, the Veterans Resource Center, Health Services and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in health studies, DeLaney-Fields earned two master’s degrees, one in health education and the other in human performance and kinesiology, from Texas Southern University. She received her doctoral degree in educational leadership from Prairie View A&M University.

DeLaney-Fields previously served in roles including assistant vice president for student affairs and student engagement and interim vice president for student affairs at Albany State University in Georgia.

For top graduates from the Stephen F. Austin State University Rusche College of Business, the landing spot of Lufkin is increasingly becoming an option. And while the nightlife and the food scene might not compare to what a young professional would find in Houston or Dallas, the opportunity surely does.

Located on Lufkin’s west loop, one of Angelina County’s largest employers, Lockheed Martin, offers great pay, meaningful work, top-tier benefits, and the chance to be part of one of the largest companies in the world. The international aerospace, defense, arms, security, and advanced technologies company employs 110,000 people globally, and had nearly $60 billion in net sales last year.

The Lufkin facility recently expanded with a 30,000-square-foot building and plans to add more than 100 jobs during the next few years. While Lockheed has been a fixture at SFA career fairs since 2017 – it most recently participated in the Fall Career and Internship Expo in October – and while it’s been known as a destination for engineers, a handful of business alums have joined the company since 2018. It’s a new yet positive trend, one that Dr. Pam Rogers, a professor in the department of Management and Marketing, wants to nurture.

The college, Rogers said, can customize a degree plan with courses that dovetail nicely with a career in advanced manufacturing such as: Operations, Purchasing, Analytics, Supply Chain Management, Project Management, and other electives. For those who take that path, or something similar to it, employment at a place like Lockheed could be the reward.

“They are now looking to the Rusche College of Business for talent – not just engineering students, but business students,” Rogers said. “It’s obvious they’d want the engineering students, but the business students aren’t that obvious.”

Trevor Crittenden was one such student. He enrolled at SFA when he was 25 years old. He was behind with his degree, his career, and even his life. Or so he thought.

That was in fall 2017, after he’d convinced himself to break out of a dead-end job in Longview and reclaim his ambition with an all-in move to Nacogdoches. The goal was simple – take a lot of courses in a short amount of time and get himself back in the game.

He did just that. In two years – with the help of completed prerequisites and a 15-hour summer semester – Crittenden earned his degree in general business and landed a job as a manufacturing planner with Lockheed. In the parlance of operations management, his journey could be described as inputs, transformation, and outputs.

Nowadays, Crittenden, 28, doesn’t think of himself as being behind. And having met his fiancé, Brooke, at the Lufkin location, he considers himself right on time, or even a bit ahead of the pack.

“I needed to dedicate two years of my life for the rest of my life,” he said. “I looked at all the things I could possibly do, and in business there are no limits. The more I put in, the more I’ll get out.”

While Crittenden was in high school, he was in a serious motorcycle accident that left him with major back problems that ultimately derailed his first attempt at a degree in nursing. A series of surgeries, the last of which was successful, left him unable to finish the program, hence the associate degree and a job as a cardiac stress technician in Longview. But even if he had found his health, Crittenden knew there was something bigger out there.

“There wasn’t any growth,” Crittenden said. “I couldn’t move up because I didn’t have a bachelor’s degree.”

And then came SFA and Rusche’s faculty and staff.

“I found my home,” he said. “They would do whatever was in their power to help me succeed.”

Crittenden wrapped up his two-year push through business school with a 3.9 GPA and went to work two days after he graduated in May 2019. For now, Lufkin is a good spot. But Lockheed has a headquarters in Grand Prairie for missiles and fire control, the division in which he currently works. Lockheed also has a facility in Fort Worth.

“I think that’s my end goal,” Crittenden said, referencing a future move to the DFW metroplex.

Dr. Tim Bisping, dean of the business college, sees a long-term, fruitful connection developing between business majors and the blue-chip company that’s employing them: Alums have a quality place to begin their careers while Lockheed can rely on them to do the job they’re hired to do.

“Graduates of the Rusche College of Business are prepared to have an immediate impact on business operations,” Bisping said. “This continuing relationship with Lockheed Martin serves as validation of this, and it represents an outstanding opportunity for both our graduates and the company.”

As Crittenden raced to make up for lost time, a younger classmate of his was busy executing the perfect plan.

Kelsey Bowers Massey knew going into college that she wanted a career in manufacturing, so a degree in business management was the only thing on her academic radar. As a Lufkin native, she was also aware of Lockheed and the opportunities it offered. Between existing Lufkin connections and those she knew she could make at the business college, a place like Lockheed looked like it was well within reach.

“I was one of those students who was anxious to get done and jump into the business world,” Massey said.

If that was her goal, she accomplished it. She was hired as a manufacturing planner four months prior to graduation, starting two days after college was over in December 2019.

But just because she was career-oriented from the beginning didn’t mean she blazed through college without enjoying the experience. She cherishes the hands-on, face-to-face time she had with professors, particularly Rogers and Dr. Matt Lindsey, her advisor.

During her senior year, Massey was also president of the SFA chapter of Delta Delta Delta, one of the largest and oldest sororities in the United States. With about 130 members at SFA, and not to mention the chapter’s finances and its 30-plus officers, Massey had her hands full.

“I learned how a business works,” she said. “It prepared me for a real job. You see everything.”

As a 23-year-old woman looking to make her way in the business world, Massey has a great role model right there at Lockheed. Marillyn A. Hewson, now the executive chairman of the company, was the chairman, president and CEO from January 2014 to June 2020. In 2018, Hewson, who has a bachelor’s in business administration and a master’s in economics, was considered by Forbes to be one of the most powerful women in the world.

“I was pleasantly surprised at how many women work at the Lufkin location,” Massey said. “Having a female CEO has changed the culture at Lockheed Martin.”

Massey is certainly ambitious. In the near future, she plans on returning to school for an MBA, which puts her on the long track for upper management. And since Lockheed has locations in every state and in countries across the world, Lufkin might not be her ultimate destination.

“I’ll never turn down an opportunity,” she said.

Even if she winds up in a major metro with a plumb position and a salary to match, the alma mater will never be far from her thoughts.

“I want to be part of the SFA community,” Massey said.

By Richard Massey, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.