Everything Nac

Students at Stephen F. Austin State University will have the chance to meet with and hear from professionals at STEM Connect, hosted by the College of Sciences and Mathematics from noon to 1 p.m., Friday, Feb. 7, in the Cole STEM Building, Room 402.

Representatives from CK Associates, an environmental consulting firm, and Apache Corporation, an international oil and gas exploration company headquartered in Houston, as well as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Department of Public Safety, will discuss their careers and how students can prepare for the future during a panel and one-on-one dialogues.

“STEM Connect provides an opportunity for students to interface with STEM professionals and discuss real-world career connections of SFA classroom experiences to key concepts and core principles needed to support innovation, problem-solving and creativity on the job,” said Dr. Kimberly M. Childs, dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics. “SFA students benefit both personally and educationally as they develop a more complete sense of STEM career expectations and satisfaction.”

Students in attendance will also have the opportunity to ask questions and learn from panelists about the opportunities in the STEM fields.

“STEM will always be a part of the earth’s DNA because it gives solutions in a world filled with problems,” said Chikere Ogbonnaya, SFA alumnus and senior geoscientist with the Apache Corporation. “Be open to learning new skills that put you in a better position to offer solutions.”

To learn more about the College of Sciences and Mathematics, visit sfasu.edu/cosm.

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

Stephen F. Austin State University will host its fifth annual Darwin Day program from 4 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12, in the Kennedy Auditorium with featured speaker Dr. Scott Egan presenting “Natural selection promotes the ‘Origin of the Species’ among populations of herbivorous insects.”

Darwin Day is an annual celebration of science that is held on or around the birthday of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin to commemorate his contributions to the understanding of the biological sciences.

“Students interested in the sciences, or who simply have questions about the origin of life on Earth, occasionally have existential conflicts between the scientific truths of the natural world and what students have learned through their faith,” said Dr. Stephen Mullin, professor and chair of the Department of Biology. “This presentation provides yet another piece of evidence illustrating what science has taught us about the natural world.”

Egan will present research on three core areas in the field of ecological speciation during the presentation.

“Ecology has always played a pivotal role in the study of speciation, however, within the last three decades, the role of ecology has been the subject of intensified research,” Egan said.

The event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact Mullin at (936) 468-3601 or sjmullin@sfasu.edu.

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

The New York Times Magazine recently published “The Still Life,” a poem by Stephen F. Austin State University’s Dr. Mark Sanders, professor of English and associate dean of the College of Liberal and Applied Arts.

Guest poetry editor of the magazine and the Young People’s Poet Laureate of the U.S., Naomi Shihab Nye, who recently visited the SFA campus to conduct writing and teaching workshops, selected Sanders’s poem for publication in the Dec. 12, 2019 issue.

In the magazine, Nye explained that Sanders’s use and interpretation of memory deeply resonated with her.

“Memory permeates awareness again and again, illuminating the absent, suggesting not that we keep it alive but that it may keep us alive,” Nye said. “Sometimes the plums or ceramic pitchers in a painting feel more vivid than the ones on our tables right in front of us. It may take, as the poet William Stafford used to say, a certain tilt of the head to perceive it. Here in this poem, no one is gone.”

Sanders was thrilled about his inclusion in the magazine, as he is a fan of the publication and Nye.

“The New York Times Magazine is highly regarded, has a huge circulation, and I’m proud to have been included,” Sanders said. “I am very fond of Naomi Nye’s writing, and it pleases me the poem worked well for her.”

His poem was included in his most recent book, “In a Good Time,” published in September 2019 by WSC Press. The poem also won the Stephen Meats Poetry Prize from the Midwest Quarterly.

Sanders wrote the poem shortly after his mother passed away in 2014.

“The poem is not about her, specifically, but about all those we loved and who are no longer with us,” Sanders said. “The loss is excruciating, but they’re still with us, keeping watch, staying.”

Sanders received other awards for his work in 2019, including both the Western Heritage Award and the Poetry Nebraska Book Award from the Nebraska Center for the Book, for his publication, “Landscapes, with Horses,” illustrated by Charles D. Jones. Additionally, two of his poems were published by Bosque Magazine, “Remembering Nixon” and “Coneflowers,” with the latter receiving a nomination for the Pushcart Prize. He also received a Distinguished Alumni Award from his alma mater, the University of Nebraska at Kearney, for his lifelong work in writing and scholarship.

Sanders’s poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and literary criticism have been published in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and Australia. He has received multiple awards and recognitions for his literary work.

Currently, he is working on a collection of nonfiction, a grouping of roughly 10 creative essays titled “Homecoming Parade.”

For more information, contact Sanders at sandersme1@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-2087.

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

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Feb. 13 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.

Dr. George Ray McEachern, part-time horticulture professor and former Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service pecan specialist from College Station, will present “Pecans: Past, Present and Future.”

McEachern earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in horticulture from Louisiana State University in 1967 and 1969, respectively. He then went on to receive a doctoral degree in horticulture from Texas A&M University in 1973 before serving as an extension pecan specialist at the university from 1969 to 2001.

As a young man, McEachern was mentored by some of the most renowned individuals in the pecan industry, including Fred Brison, O.S. Gray and L.D. Romberg. Additionally, he studied and worked with J. Benton Storey and Bluefford Hancock.

During his 31-year career with the extension service, McEachern worked directly with growers to learn how to grow pecans under a wide variety of conditions. Today, he manages the 54-acre Texas A&M University pecan orchard on the Brazos River Farm near campus. The orchard is used for production research, teaching and extension education.

Since 2001, McEachern has held a 50% appointment as a professor of horticulture retired-active. He also is a pecan production consultant in the U.S. and Mexico.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.

For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.