Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University timbersports team, the Sylvans, claimed its third consecutive victory at the 62nd annual Association of Southern Forestry Clubs Conclave hosted last week by Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

“This was the most talented and dedicated team I’ve seen since becoming the faculty advisor in 2012,” said Dr. Jeremy Stovall, associate professor of forestry.

The team competed in a series of challenging academic and physical events against 13 other universities from across the South, including Clemson, Virginia Tech and Auburn.

Although physical events, such as crosscut sawing, axe throwing and log birling, an event in which two competitors run on a floating log with the goal of pitching an opponent into the water, take center stage, excelling in the academic events is a key point of pride for the Sylvans.

“The win in the academic competition really speaks to the strengths of our forestry program and the quality of our undergraduate students,” Stovall said. “This win is coming in the same year our student chapter of the Society of American Foresters won the national quiz bowl and our student chapter of the Wildlife Society won the state quiz bowl.”

As if placing first in both academic and physical events wasn’t enough, two SFA students sealed their positions in Southern Forestry Conclave history by setting records in two physical events.

For the first time in the 62-year history of the Southern Forestry Conclave, Tyler Jones, a junior urban forestry major, threw a perfect score of 15 by hitting five consecutive bullseyes in the axe-throwing event.

“The axe-throw competition was a lot of fun, and my throws went by like a blur,” Jones said. “Breaking the record at my first conclave was such a surprise.”

Senior forest wildlife management major Ian Erickson then broke a 26-year record in the men’s bowsaw event by cutting an 8-inch-square cant in 6.56 seconds.

The Sylvans also were awarded the Sportsmanship Award for the team’s efforts in assisting Louisiana State University in executing the event, as well as for overall professionalism and support of other teams.

While the Sylvans primarily comprise forestry students, all majors are welcome to join. For more information on the Sylvans, contact Stovall at stovalljp@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. Photo courtesy of Rachel Murray.

As the use of technology expands to encompass almost every activity in our lives, it has become an integral teaching tool in higher education.

This past fall, two faculty members in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of History utilized new media to team teach the senior capstone course by introducing podcasts into the program.

“Podcasts are a growing medium that encourages students to consider audience engagement beyond the professor reading a paper and stuffing it in a desk drawer,” Dr. Hunter Hampton, lecturer of history, said.

Hampton and Dr. Court Carney, professor of history, assigned students the task of producing podcasts based on original research. This project introduced history students to public history, or how historians present the past to the public, and it helped them gain skills using new media.

The duo agreed that producing the podcasts required the same components as writing a successful history paper: primary sources, argument, context and narrative.

“We wanted to do something a bit unexpected that would still maintain the integrity of a research-intensive senior capstone class,” Carney said. “This project required students to choose a research topic that had appeal to a larger audience, and it pushed the students to sharpen their communication skills as they worked to bring their research to a nonacademic audience.”

Hampton said it took a while for the students to settle in to a course that was taught by two instructors simultaneously, but once they began to understand the assignment and what was expected, the students’ podcast projects began to take shape.

“As a teacher, I believe it is important for students to understand the past and engage the present. This project gave them the opportunity to think about how to communicate the value of their history project in a way that would involve the public,” Hampton said.

Hampton and Carney’s innovative teaching method was recently honored with a Bright Spot award from the SFA Faculty Senate, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the SFA vice presidents. Hampton and Carney said that moving forward, they plan to look for more opportunities to team teach.

“The team-taught element of the course created a real energy in the classroom, so we are already looking for new ways to incorporate that structure into future courses,” Carney said. “I think it’s a great thing to emphasize here at SFA, especially for interdisciplinary courses.”

For more information on the Department of History, visit sfasu.edu/history.

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

Employees from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, recently met with Stephen F. Austin State University Rusche College of Business students to share their insights.

OCC representatives Jennifer Pena, national bank examiner and Longview field office analyst, and C. Welch, assistant deputy comptroller, spoke to students about their work with the federal government. The OCC charters, regulates and supervises all national banks and federal savings associations, as well as federal branches and agencies of foreign banks.

Pena began her career as a banker before joining the OCC in 2008. As a national bank examiner, she has led training teams and training for newly hired examiners.

Welch, a 20-year OCC veteran, worked for many years in Washington, D.C., within the problem bank/resolution division. In her current role, Welch leads a team of 18 bank examiners and supervises 26 banks chartered by the OCC operating in East Texas.

SFA’s Finance Club hosted the event in partnership with the Student Success Passport program. David Kaiser, director of SFA’s Chadwick family banking program, explained this presentation helped introduce students to new career options.

“I believe one of the main takeaways for students is that banking supervision is a viable career and is very attainable for Rusche College of Business graduates. There are real opportunities not only in Dallas, Houston and Washington, D.C., but also in places like Longview,” Kaiser said.

SFA offers a Bachelor of Business Administration in banking to help prepare students to fill the growing need for qualified bank and financial services industry personnel. The program combines core coursework in business and finance with a variety of industry-specific courses and learning opportunities. To learn more, visit sfasu.edu/cob.

By Kasi Dickerson, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will present the one-act play “Postponing the Heat Death of the Universe” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 5, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 6, in the Downstage Theatre on the SFA campus.

Written by Stephen Gregg, “Postponing the Heat Death of the Universe” is directed by Longview junior Bethany Trauger. The play is about the conversation that ensues between two people after one loses a scholarship contest to the other. “Hours ago, Nick lost a scholarship contest. Now he’s lying motionless in a dark room, and when Jackie, the winner of the contest, arrives to give him her condolences, she finds his behavior a little bizarre,” the synopsis reads.

The cast includes Royce City junior Bayley Owen as Nick; Arlington sophomore Sadie Mae Taylor as Jackie; and Lufkin sophomore Britney Day as Stacy. Stage manager is Hawkins junior Allie Smith, and assistant stage manager is Edinburg freshman Makayla Moreno.

Trauger is a junior theatre major with an emphasis in directing and an interest in dramaturgy. She has previously directed “Hanging On” by Claudia Haas, and she was dramaturg for the musical “Oklahoma!”

Faculty production advisor for “Postponing the Heat Death of the Universe” is Rosie Brownlow-Calkin.

Tickets are $4. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit theatre.sfasu.edu.