Everything Nac

Raised roaming the halls of Stephen F. Austin State University’s buildings, Megan Weatherly, interim director for SFA’s Center for Teaching and Learning, finds it particularly touching to have been named one of the 2020 President’s Award recipients.

“There’s a large print above my desk that states ‘Work Hard and Be Nice to People,’” Weatherly said. “That’s what I try to do each day. To have those efforts recognized by colleagues and administration is very, very humbling.”

Weatherly was born and raised in Nacogdoches. Her father was a small business owner, and her mom, Pat Sharp, retired in May 2019 after 40 years teaching in SFA’s Department of Geology.

“I like to joke that I grew up on the third floor of the Miller Science Building, but it’s a pretty true statement,” Weatherly said. “I didn’t realize how unique that experience was at the time: I’d get to peek in Bill Gibson’s entomology lab almost daily. I played with the physics demos in the halls of Miller. When I was young, my parents took us to viewings at the observatory, shows in the planetarium, exhibits in the Turner Gallery, plays in Griffith Auditorium, each year’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony, and almost every Homecoming parade and duck dash.”

Weatherly received her bachelor’s degree from SFA before heading to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas and completing her master’s degree in history. She returned to SFA as an adjunct in 2010 before being hired full time in 2014 as an instructional designer in the CTL.

“I used to roam the Steen Library stacks for hours,” she said. “This is particularly poignant for me, since my office is now just steps from where the children’s stacks used to be. SFA was a critical part of my personal and intellectual growth. Now it’s a critical part of my professional growth, as well.”

Weatherly was named CTL interim director in May 2019 and will be the full-time director beginning Sept. 1.

“I’m responsible for collaborating with administrators, faculty and staff to advance institutional teaching, learning, technology, educator development and distance-education initiatives,” Weatherly explained. “I’m also responsible for departmental strategic planning, budget planning and oversight, and management of staff.”

This sounds, and often is, highly technical, but her favorite part of the position is a bit simpler: “I get to spend my days thinking about, talking about and working with others who value my two favorite subjects: teaching and learning,” Weatherly said.

The CTL was an integral part in the university’s response to the global pandemic, helping transition many classes to online and distance modalities in a matter of weeks. CTL staff members also worked around the clock to provide faculty and staff with training on the various course modalities and new instructional technology.

“Pre-COVID-19, our days were full, but not nearly as full and fast paced as they are now,” Weatherly said. “Every day brings new challenges and new opportunities. I think the largest change COVID-19 has wrought is that it has increased our agility. We anticipate needs farther in advance, and we’ve learned to respond with personalized solutions and in ways that are scalable.”

Weatherly has high hopes for the future of both her professional role and the role of the CTL.

“When CTL staff members developed a new strategic plan several years ago, we decided that our vision for the future would be to ‘serve as collaborators and catalysts in a community that advances teaching and learning,’” she said. “We’ve worked very hard to build stronger relationships with faculty members, to diversify our educator development offerings, to create a community of educators and to align our work with institutional objectives. We’re seeing the fruits of those labors. We want to be change agents on this campus, and we’re making good progress toward that end.”

By Christine Broussard, marketing communications coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University.

In setting the example of “being the best,” Stephen F. Austin State University Professor of Military Science James Attaway recently was promoted from the rank of major to lieutenant colonel.

“Being promoted to lieutenant colonel means a lot to me,” Attaway said. “I started in the Army as a private more than 20 years ago and plan to retire in a few years with my final rank as a lieutenant colonel. It is incredible to think back on all I have experienced.”

Attaway, who graduated from SFA in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology, began his Army career in 1998 when he enlisted as an infantryman. He has since completed training at Ranger, Airborne, and Air Assault schools and more. He has served with numerous units across the world, including Kosovo, Iraq, Korea and Afghanistan.

Attaway was selected as SFA’s chair of military science in 2018. Since then, he has overseen a successful 50-year anniversary for the department, helped establish the 1st Lt. Kile G. West 5K and 10K Memorial Race, and aided the ROTC Ranger Team in winning first place in the Task Force Ranger Challenge for the first time in SFA’s history.

He said he is happy to be “stationed” in Nacogdoches, where he and his family plan to remain after his retirement.

“After 17 years of marriage and 10 moves, it feels really good to be putting down roots,” Attaway said.

Even though his rank has changed, Attaway is still committed to training future Army officers for commissioning.

Despite the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the faculty and staff under Attaway’s leadership have continued to train cadets. Due to safety restrictions, the department is preparing for course modality changes and physical distancing regulations.

“As both Army officers and noncommissioned officers, part of our job is to adapt, overcome and complete missions,” Attaway said. “While COVID-19 has changed how we teach, it hasn’t caused us to stop teaching and mentoring the next generation of Army officers.”

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

As schools and universities carefully crafted their reopening plans amid the coronavirus pandemic, questions about health and safety for students and faculty were at the forefront. Right along with those were questions about sporting events and extracurricular activities.

Although Stephen F. Austin State University currently does not have any home football games scheduled following the Southland Conference’s decision to postpone conference competition for the fall, the athletic department is working to amend that. SFA Athletics Director Ryan Ivey said in a recent press release that SFA will explore avenues for fall competition against other institutions looking to compete.

The Lumberjack Marching Band will be ready if and when that happens.

SFA band directors worked throughout the summer on more than designing marching routines; they are fine tuning plans to keep their student musicians safe. Directors opted to split the university band into two separate groups of equal instrumentation to better accommodate social distancing guidelines on the field and in the stands, according to Dr. Tamey Anglley, associate director of bands at SFA and director of the Lumberjack Marching Band.

“We are requiring students to wear face masks anytime they aren’t playing their instruments and brass players to have bell covers for their instruments to help lower the aerosol emission from their bells,” Anglley said.

Additionally, all drills on the field will be at six-step intervals, which means students will be 11.25 feet apart while performing.

As the far-reaching effects of the pandemic began to become more apparent last spring, SFA band directors started researching best COVID-era practices for band instruction and performance. In May, the directors attended a virtual athletic band symposium sponsored by the College Band Directors National Association. The symposium featured presentations from the scientists who were leading the aerosol studies out of University of Colorado and Colorado State University and also clinics from various marching band directors around the country, Anglley explained.

“At that time, no one knew football could or would be canceled or moved to the spring semester,” she said, “so we were mostly discussing the safety measures we needed to take for our students and the many details to think about with social distance protocols. Since then, I have been in communication with our regional CBDNA and Southland Conference athletic band directors where we discuss how everyone is planning this season.”

As a result, fall rehearsal days, performances and game day times for the LMB will be alternated as needed, Anglley explained. If home football games can be scheduled, the band plans to perform, albeit in a limited fashion.

“We went into this season knowing that we wouldn’t be performing at pregame or halftime, but we are still discussing with athletics the possibility of a postgame performance once all football personnel have vacated the field,” Anglley said.

Color guard and drum line camps were conducted this week; leadership camp is Aug. 22; and split-band rehearsals are scheduled during regular class time once the fall semester starts.

For many, performing in the Lumberjack Marching Band is a highlight of the SFA university experience – one that builds memories and fosters friendships that last a lifetime. The 2020 fall LMB season will be like none other before it, and directors are committed to making it memorable and safe.

“The health and safety of the students is our utmost priority at SFA and in the Lumberjack Marching Band,” Anglley said. “We have and will continue to work diligently to provide a safe rehearsal and game day space for our students to have a fulfilling musical experience.”