Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present a flute and piano recital when guest artists Meghan Bennett and Maria Lyapkova perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 28, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Bennett is adjunct instructor of flute at Prairie View A&M University, and Lyapkova is a teaching assistant at The University of Texas in Austin.

Their program features “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” by Christoph Willibald Gluck; Sonata for Flute and Piano by Anatoly Samonov; Black Anemones for Flute and Piano by Joseph Schwantner; and Sonata for Flute and Piano by Yuko Uebayashi.

Bennett leads a diverse career as an educator and solo, chamber and orchestral musician. Most recently, she was guest soloist with Chamber Music International in Dallas, joined the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players on tour, and was flutist with Spotlight on Opera in Austin. She has performed with the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, Waco Symphony Orchestra, Round Rock Symphony and the Palmetto Opera Orchestra.

Bennett is a founding member of both Prismatx Ensemble, a contemporary music ensemble based in Austin, and Li5ten quintet, 2017 quarterfinalists at the Fischoff Competition, and she is a recipient of the Chamber Music Residency Fellowship at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She is also a member of Emissary Quartet, whose 2016-17 season highlights included an invitation to perform and present a workshop at the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention and a week-long residency in Seattle, Washington.

Lyapkova has appeared at top festivals including the Aspen Music Festival and School and the National Music Festival in the United States, Spotlight on Young Musicians in France, and the Primavera Classica in Russia. Prior to her duties at U.T.-Austin, she was a full-time staff accompanist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and instructed chamber music, piano ensemble class and piano accompaniment at the University of South Florida.

The SFA concert is a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House, Stephen F. Austin State University’s historic downtown art gallery, will be open regular hours during spring break.

An encore screening of the film “Koo-Hoot Kiwat: The Caddo Grass House” will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 24, in Cole Art Center. In the PBS film, which is directed by Curtis Craven, a Caddo tribal elder and his apprentice return to their ancestral homeland in East Texas to direct the construction of a traditional grass house.

Showing in Cole Art Center are the exhibitions “Caddo Contemporary: Present and Relevant” and “Frank Dituri: Il Sacro.” (The Sacred).

Featuring ceramics, paintings, beadwork, stonework and drawings, “Caddo Contemporary” is a collaborative presentation of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and Art Galleries and the Caddo Mound Historic Site in Alto. The exhibition highlights the work of seven Caddo Nation artisans, including Wayne Earles, Chad Earles, Chase Earles, Raven Halfmoon, Yonavea Hawkins, Jeri Redcorn and Thompson Williams. The show closes March 24.

Only a few days remain to see “Frank Dituri: Il Sacro.” (The Sacred), which includes photographs the artist took in Italy over the past few years. The show closes Sunday, March 17.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. Regular hours are from 12:30 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Griffith Gallery in the Griffith Fine Arts Building on the SFA campus will be closed during spring break and will reopen Tuesday, March 26.

All events and exhibitions are free to the public.

For more information, contact the gallery director at (936) 468-1131 or the Cole Art Center front desk at (936) 468-5500.

Trading a typical classroom for a simulated intensive care unit within Stephen F. Austin State University’s DeWitt School of Nursing, students in a medical nutrition therapy course gather around Justin Pelham, their instructor.

A high-fidelity mannequin rests on a hospital bed, with its chest rising up and down simulating a real-life patient. With tubes connected to the mannequin, Pelham, a clinical instructor in the School of Human Sciences, explains what a registered dietitian would need to know and do in this clinical setting.

For the second year in a row, Pelham has partnered with the DeWitt School of Nursing to offer food, nutrition and dietetics students the opportunity to participate in a nutrition simulation to practice concepts learned in the classroom.

“Taking students to a different setting helps them see and understand concepts in a new light,” Pelham said. “The nutrition simulation is a great way to expose students to equipment utilized in the clinical environment and provide real-world application in an ICU setting.”

During the simulation, the class discussed tube feedings, parenteral nutrition, different respiratory masks, urine output, dialysis catheters and additional intravenous fluids. Then, students were tasked with completing an independent case study regarding one of the disease states covered in class.

“Students had to apply their clinical information in order to figure out their patients’ total caloric, protein and fluid needs based on the information provided,” Pelham said. “The nutrition simulation provides practical experience for the students to think critically and quickly — similar to real-world situations during their dietetic internship.”

The medical nutrition therapy course is focused on teaching students how to conduct nutrition assessments centered on nutrition-related diagnoses, interventions and monitoring/evaluation. The students also learn about chronic conditions, such as heart disease, hypertension, strokes, diabetes, pancreatitis and metabolic stress.

To learn more about SFA’s food, nutrition and dietetics program, visit sfasu.edu/hms/101.asp.

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