Everything Nac

The exciting string quintet SYBARITE5 will perform the newly composed “Electric Blue Sand,” written by Stephen Lias, professor of composition in the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music, when the ensemble performs at SFA in the College of Fine Arts’ University Series.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18, in W.M. Turner Auditorium and is sponsored in part by Cataract, Glaucoma, Cornea & Retina Consultants of East Texas/Benchmark Optical/Medical Arts Surgery Center.

SYBARITE5 is known for its eclectic repertoire – from Piazzolla to Brubeck to Radiohead – and its unconventional approach to music performance, according to Scott Shattuck, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and director of the series.

“This group of passionate young performers, all top professionals based in New York City, grabs and holds audiences in a way that’s truly special,” Shattuck said. “They keep audiences on the edge of their seats.”

In conversations with SYBARITE5’s booking agent last spring, Shattuck suggested the ensemble consider performing a piece that would be written by Lias, whose works are regularly performed throughout the United States and abroad, specifically for SYBARITE5 and its wide-ranging repertoire.

“I was, of course, delighted that they agreed,” Lias said, “and I wrote the piece for them in June of this year.”

Lias describes “Electric Blue Sand” as “a fun little piece” that the audience may find a little out of the ordinary. Its name, which Lias chose following the work’s completion, came from NASA’s “mind-blowing” discovery this past summer of a bright blue sand bar on Mars.

“Knowing that SYBARITE5 specializes in genre-bending music that is often fun and/or unconventional, I just decided to write a fun little piece that was slightly funky and irreverent,” Lias said. “I had nothing particular in mind when I wrote it other than to capture energy in an enigmatic way. Thus, when I finished it and was looking for an enigmatic title that also sounded like it had energy, the headline ‘NASA discovered an electric blue sand dune on Mars’ seemed to give me exactly what I wanted.”

Comprised of Sami Merdinian and Sarah Whitney, violins; Angela Pickett, viola; Laura Metcalf, cello; and Louis Levitt, bass, SYBARITE5 has taken audiences by storm all across the U.S., Shattuck said.

“I hadn’t heard of them until they were recommended to me,” Shattuck confessed, “but when I heard their recordings, watched their videos, read their reviews and saw how quickly they had conquered the classical charts and the nation’s most prestigious venues, I knew they would absolutely thrill our audience. They truly are the cutting edge of string music in America today, and knowing how much they love to collaborate with innovative composers like Steve, I wanted to see if we could make a connection that would create a unique opportunity for our audience.”

Prior to the performance, Lias and Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, associate professor of violin and viola in the SFA School of Music, will present an informative talk at 7 p.m. in Griffith Gallery. The gallery is located across the hall from Turner Auditorium, which is inside the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive. The audience is invited back to the gallery for a post-performance reception to meet the performers and to honor the corporate sponsor.

Single event ticket prices for the University Series are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for non-SFA students/youth. Tickets for SFA students are $3.

For more information or to purchase tickets, visit finearts.sfasu.edu, stop by the Fine Arts Box Office in Room 211 of the Griffith Fine Arts Building, or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.

Stephen F. Austin State University senior nursing student Savana Eaton and assistant professor Dr. Angela Jones are equipping nursing students across the nation with a pocket reference card to assist them during patient interactions.

Focusing on patient health history, the card condenses essential information into cues for various assessment questions and was published online by Quality Safety Education for Nurses, a national organization dedicated to improving patient care. While Eaton created the original reference, Jones worked closely with her, expanding it to cover all aspects of the assessment history nurses perform and aligning it with the organization’s competencies.

“The idea was to give them something that was a bit of a comfort but also met the patient’s needs,” Jones said. “It helps to promote communications between the students and the instructor as well as the assigned nurses.”

Now, the card is given to every nursing student the first day of class and is required for clinical rotations.

“It’s given me a lot of confidence,” Eaton said. “It helps me going into a patient’s room knowing I have everything I need.”

Although the department has had material published by the organization before, this marks the first time a faculty and student collaboration has been published, a significant accomplishment for the School of Nursing, said Tamara Harris, director of the school.

“Nurse educators from all nursing program types across the U.S. use the evidence-based teaching strategies published on the website,” Harris said.

To view the pocket card, visit qsen.org/admission-health-history-assessment-pocket-card.

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

A Stephen F. Austin State University student’s desire to make a difference in animal conservation took her more than 8,000 miles from her hometown of Jasper to the bush of Zimbabwe, giving her the chance to walk with lions.

Krista Ward, a senior biology major and forestry minor, spent two and a half weeks in Antelope Park, a private game reserve set on 3,000 acres of savanna. Working with the volunteer organization African Impact in conjunction with the African Lion and Environmental Research Trust, she assisted with a project measuring the effects of captivity on four lions kept on the property.

Every other morning Ward would walk two lions at a time for an hour.

“It was really scary because they told us there were nine-month-old cubs, so I was thinking they were small,” she said. “They were huge, and there were four of them.”

Ward would flush the lions out of their enclosure by walking behind them, following them wherever they went on trails around the property. Because lions attack from behind, she made sure to keep them in front of her or to the side. When the lions lay down, she could safely crouch beside them and interact with them.

“The first time seeing lions was heart-stopping,” Ward said. “I felt really scared at first, but as I walked that went away.”

She and the other volunteers made toys for the cubs out of elephant poop, grass and sticks and took behavioral data that would later be compared to data from wild lions. Other days, they would go into the park and help on different projects, looking for elephants and giraffes and recording observational and behavioral data. They also toured a nearby village and interacted with the locals.

“They have a different way of life, and it was really interesting to see it because they do just fine,” Ward said. “They survive with what they have, and they make the most of it.”

When she decided to travel abroad, she went to SFA’s Office of International Programs for help. The office did not have a program in Africa, but the study abroad coordinator, Inés Maxit, was more than willing to assist her in finding the best options available. Ward researched programs online and brought her findings to Maxit, who reached out to other schools for feedback.

The office works closely with students through every step of the application process, making sure students have as seamless an experience as possible, Maxit said.

“I have met with many students after their study abroad experience, and I can see how they have grown,” she said. “It is no doubt a transformative experience.”

While Ward primarily took the trip to further her education, she was impacted in ways she didn’t expect.

“I have definitely changed because of this volunteer experience,” Ward said. “I was humbled by the cultural differences and other ways of life and respect other cultures in ways I didn’t before.”

Though traveling can be unsettling, she said, every moment of uncertainty was worth it.

“I hope anyone thinking about studying abroad would do it, because it was an amazing experience,” Ward said.

For more information about SFA’s study abroad programs, visit sfasu.edu/oip/244.asp.

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