Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University Charter School has been ranked the best charter elementary school in Texas.

Niche, an organization dedicated to helping users find the best colleges, schools, neighborhoods and companies using data and analysis, ranks schools and districts based on statistics and reviews from students and parents. It recently ranked 315 Texas charter elementary schools, and SFA’s Charter School came out on top.

“We hope this ranking continues to build trust with our families and community and serves to influence the university teacher candidates we serve,” said Lysa Hagan, SFA Charter School director. “Every moment is a learning moment of high expectations. Each member of our school community strives for rigor and urgency within each day of learning.”

A five-star parent review on Niche.com noted, “I enjoy the positive atmosphere at the SFA Charter School. My children are learning and retaining the information. The resources made available by the university are wonderful. We have been blessed with great teachers.”

While serving more than 250 elementary students, the SFA Charter School also exists as a learning laboratory for SFA students studying in the Department of Elementary Education.

“SFA has long been a leader in teacher education,” said Dr. Judy Abbott, dean of SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education. “SFA began as a teachers college, and we remain among the top teacher education programs in the state. As such, we attract high-quality teacher candidates. The charter school students certainly benefit from this. If you want to be a teacher, it’s widely known that SFA is the place to be.”

In addition to the Department of Elementary Education, various other university departments, such as the Department of Kinesiology and Health Science and the Department of Human Services, partner with the charter school to provide college students with opportunities to work with elementary students. Many university faculty members also use the school for research opportunities.

To learn more about SFA’s Department of Elementary Education, visit sfasu.edu/elementaryed. For more information about the SFA Charter School, visit sfasu.edu/charter_school.

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

A group of students and faculty from Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of Computer Science recently attended the 2018 Grace Hopper Celebration in Houston, the world’s largest annual gathering of women technologists.

The event celebrates the late Grace Hopper, Navy rear admiral and pioneer in the field of computer science, and brings together women from across the country to discuss research, career interests and emerging technology and participate in professional development activities, said Dr. Deborah Dunn, professor and chair of the department.

“It is critical and extremely beneficial for students to attend events like the Grace Hopper Celebration,” Dunn said. “It not only gives them an opportunity to network with other women in the field, but it also allows them to attend sessions to learn more about the topics they find interesting.”

While at the event, several of the students interviewed with companies, and some even received offers for jobs and internships, Dunn said.

Ariel Inman, junior computer information systems major of Lufkin, was able to speak to representatives from companies like Google, Microsoft and Apple about what they look for in employees.

“That is an experience you can’t find anywhere else,” Inman said. “This opportunity enabled me to go outside of my comfort zone and better prepare myself for the workforce.”

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

Stephen F. Austin State University music faculty members J.D. Salas and Daniel Chapa will present a tuba and euphonium recital with collaborative pianist Hyun Ji Oh in the opening event of the 14th annual SFA Octubafest celebration.

The concert is at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, in Cole Concert Hall and is part of the SFA Friends of Music Concert Series.

Octubafest is an international concert and recital series started by the Harvey Phillips Foundation to showcase the tuba and euphonium as solo instruments, according to Salas.

“Throughout the month of October, universities around the world will host celebrations, including guest artist recitals, chamber music concerts and other tuba-euphonium related events,” he said.

Salas will perform J.E. Barat’s “Introduction and Dance” and Frank Gulino’s “Onwards and Upwards,” which is a piece commissioned in 2017 by a consortium in which Salas was involved. He will also perform “Squareman’s Jazz” by Ben McMillan.

“This is a piece for unaccompanied tuba that I will be interpreting a little differently by using several effects pedals to further highlight the various styles in the piece,” Salas said.

Chapa, performing on euphonium, will showcase one of his favorite arrangements of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Songs Without Words (Op. 53 No. 4).”

“I first encountered this piece in one of my music theory classes during my time as graduate student at the University of North Texas,” he said. “After analyzing and listening to the beautiful melodic line, I also noticed the melody stayed in the upper voice for the entirety of the song. This type of scoring made Mendelssohn’s song and several others very easy to arrange and a lot of fun to play!”

On trombone, Chapa will perform “Song for Ina” by Philip Sparke, The piece was originally composed for euphonium solo with brass band. There have been several adaptations of the piece including this particular arrangement of solo trombone with a tuba-euphonium quintet.

Chapa will also perform McMillan’s “Tomes of Hardened Steel,” which was composed for tuba and CD. The composer writes, “Initially I wasn’t intending to create an orchestral sound, but the more I played around with the gems of ideas, the more I found it leaning towards an epic fantasy film score in three movements – ‘Across the Plains,’ ‘Fountain of Dusklight’ and ‘Juggernaut.’ Though the title suggest a vague story, I prefer to leave the specifics up to the listener.”

Concert 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.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s A Cappella Choir will present “Music of Our Time” when the choral ensemble performs its first concert of the fall semester at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The program features choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries, according to Dr. Michael Murphy, director of choral activities in the SFA School of Music and conductor of the A Cappella Choir. The performance will showcase works by Norman Dello Joio, Samuel Barber, Alfred Schnittke, Michael Ostrzyga, Zdeněk Lukáš, Jake Runestad, Jocelyn Hagen, Carol Barnett, Joan Szymko and others.

“This concert focuses on distinctive and important choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries from the United States, Germany, Russia and the Czech Republic,” Murphy said. “Another important focus in this concert will be on American women composers.”

“Agnus Dei” is Barber’s own 1967 arrangement of his popular Adagio for Strings that was composed in 1936. In this setting of the text “Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us,” Barber captures a sense of universal and timeless spirituality, Murphy explained.

The choir will perform Dello Joio’s 1946 “A Jubilant Song,” which exhibits frequent meter changes and syncopations, Murphy said.

“The work is best described as pantonal, or not in just one particular key, but shifts freely in many keys,” he said. “Dello Joio sets Walt Whitman’s cheerful poem ‘A Song of Joys,’ which describes the many wonderful things that life has to offer.”

Schnittke’s “Three Sacred Hymns” is also on the program.

“In the 1970s, Alfred Schnittke moved away from his radical and avant-garde compositional style and began to write with more traditional harmonies,” Murphy said. “His 1984 ‘Three Sacred Hymns’ is on this program and features a double choir, rich harmonies and frequent meter changes.”

The concert is a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive.

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.