Everything Nac

Whether she is promoting Stephen F. Austin State University’s educational programs or working in the Nacogdoches community with young people, Dr. Judy Abbott, dean of SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education, is all about education and the community.

Recognizing Abbott’s leadership, involvement and service to the community, the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce recently named her Citizen of the Year. This award acknowledges an individual who has performed outstanding services for the betterment of the community, made exceptional and sustained contributions to the community, and possesses the characteristics of honesty, sincerity, integrity, and benevolence.

In 2010, Abbott and her husband, Ralph, moved to Nacogdoches when she was named dean. In this role, Abbott oversees SFA’s largest college, which comprises five academic units ranging from elementary education to human services.

Within the community, Abbott shares her passion for education. She finds opportunities for people to learn how they can impact a community’s economic health, and she works with citizens to help them understand how a community invests in the educational system and in them as individuals. She also helps locate opportunities for educators to connect to civic and business leaders in order to invest in public education.

Abbott is a member of Friends of Historic Nacogdoches, American Association of University Women, SFA University Women’s Club, the Federation of Women’s Clubs, Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce and a volunteer for Master Gardener programs.

Barbara Holl, operations vice president for the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce, said Abbott’s work as chair of the chamber’s education committee has been instrumental in helping high school students continue in their academic pursuits.

Abbott oversees the Nacogdoches County’s Opportunity for Better Learning Experience banquet and scholarship program, which honors graduating high school seniors who chose a more rigorous recommended or distinguished program of study in their high school courses and completed documented service hours.

Additionally, Abbott co-chairs the Leaders of Tomorrow Crew, which provides opportunities for eighth graders to learn about their community and teaches leadership skills.

“Through her leadership, scores of students have chosen SFA,” Holl said. “She devotes her time and resources to all these events. Dr. Abbott is passionate, committed and positive about her work. She is a great example to others.”

Members of the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce submit names and supporting criteria to an executive committee each year for the Citizen of the Year award. The executive committee reviews the nominations and narrows the selection to three candidates. Nominations are presented to members of the chamber’s Board of Directors, who vote by secret ballot.

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

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host a Saturday Seminar on wildscaping for pollinators from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 22 at the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

“Pollinators are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat, but their populations are threatened with serious decline,” said Dawn Stover, SFA Gardens research associate and pollinator plant specialist. “Anyone can help native pollinators by planting their own backyard pollinator habitat.”

During the seminar, Stover will present how to effectively garden to attract pollinators. Participants will learn about the different kinds of native pollinators and other beneficial insects and their roles in the garden. Stover also will explore appropriate plants to use and effective gardening techniques to maximize pollinator participation in the garden.

The workshop will include a hands-on opportunity to make pollinator-friendly seed balls and an option to tour pollinator plants in the landscape and nursery at the PNPC.

Participation for the garden design seminar is limited, and advanced registration is required. The cost is $25 for SFA Gardens members and $30 for non-members. Call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu to reserve a seat.

Tickets are still available to a performance of the Reduced Shakespeare Company in “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) [revised]” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

Written by Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, with additional material by Reed Martin, and directed by Martin and Austin Tichenor, the play became London’s longest-running comedy and also enjoyed a successful New York run. The Nacogdoches performance, which is part of the SFA College of Fine Arts’ University Series, is the first stop on a national tour that will take the RSC from California to Massachusetts.

Prior to the performance, Dr. Elizabeth Tasker Davis, associate professor and coordinator of graduate studies in SFA’s Department of English and Creative Writing, will present an informative talk on “Shakespeare’s Women” 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.

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. The play is recommended for mature audiences.

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 art students who participated in a Maymester study abroad program in Iceland will present the course work they created in an exhibition to show Sept. 10 through 21 in the lower art building on the SFA campus.

“Endless Dusk: An Icelandic Experience” will open with a reception at 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, in the student galleries.

This past May, 10 SFA art students traveled to the Baer Art Center in northern Iceland where they observed and explored the Icelandic landscape and responded by making creative work: drawing, painting, ceramics, photography and installation. Wesley Berg, assistant professor in the School of Art, and Lauren Selden, SFA professor of art, accompanied the students on the residency.

SFA art exhibitions are free and open to the public. For information, contact the School of Art office at (936) 468-4804.

Researchers at SFA Gardens are reaping the sweet rewards of their ongoing investigation into the feasibility of adding kiwifruit to the state’s long list of agricultural commodities.

Since the initial crop produced in 2014 – the state’s first-ever successful kiwifruit harvest – the expanding plot of golden kiwifruit, located on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus, has produced more than 1,500 pounds of the small, tender-fleshed fruit.

“We collected 750 pounds this year,” said Dr. David Creech, SFA professor emeritus of agriculture and director of SFA Gardens. “The harvest came a little early this year, likely due to the intense heat we’ve had.”

While kiwifruit is eaten when tender, Creech explained they are harvested while still firm. To know when the crop is ready for harvest, the sugar content of the fruit is regularly monitored.

“We check the sugar content with a refractometer, which is a hand-held tool,” Creech said. “You cut the fruit in half and place some juice on the tool, and when the sugars hit a brix measurement of 10 to 12 you’re ready to harvest.”

In 2011, Dr. Jay Spiers, associate professor of horticulture at Auburn University and a longtime friend of Creech, provided SFA with the initial 30 vines comprised of three female and three male varieties.

These fruits do not share the appearance of the typical fuzzy-skinned, green-fleshed kiwifruits commonly found at supermarkets. These varieties, known as golden kiwis, have a smooth, edible skin and golden-colored flesh.

According to researchers at Auburn University, the varieties trialed at SFA, including the AU Golden Dragon and AU Golden Sunshine, contain antioxidants that provide higher levels of cellular protection than those found in green-fleshed varieties.

“When we first grew kiwis in 2011, we really didn’t know a thing about them because no one had ever fruited them in Texas,” Creech said. “When we fruited them in 2014 on young vines, some of my agriculture buddies thought it was a fluke, but then we had a big crop in 2015, which opened some eyes.”

Since that initial harvest, Creech’s knowledge of the kiwifruit industry has continued to expand.

This spring, Creech spent two weeks in New Zealand, one of the world’s leading producers of kiwifruit, visiting orchards with a group of interested Texas investors. In 2017, he traveled to Changsha, China, to study the work of Yanoon BioTech Company’s kiwifruit breeding program. Creech also spent a week in California’s kiwifruit growing regions, where the ubiquitous green kiwifruit varieties thrive.

“The golden kiwifruits are grown in California, but success has proven to be difficult due to the low humidity and high sunlight pressures placed upon this thin-skinned fruit,” Creech said. “The higher humidity of the Gulf Coast South, less intense sunlight and wind pressures are favorable to golden kiwifruit culture.”

Creech said that commercial fields can produce up to 50,000 pounds of kiwifruit per acre, which requires substantial infrastructure investment in the form of support systems and trellises for the vines.

“It’s a real high-technology crop,” Creech said. “You have a male and female plant, and it has to be the right male in terms of the time of pollen shed and stigma receptivity.”

Creech said that many farmers in New Zealand are transitioning to all female kiwifruit orchards and implementing artificial pollination using pollen collected from all-male kiwifruit orchards. These cautionary steps are taken because even if the female plants are fertilized, the success and size of the fruit relies on the amount of pollen transferred, and natural pollinators are not always reliable if weather is inclement during the blooming period.

“When you have that kind of investment, you need to ensure good pollination,” Creech said.

In addition to the trial plots at SFA, new plots are being installed in northeast Texas and on the northwest side of Houston to determine if certain areas of the state are more conducive to plant growth.

“It’s a long-term project, like so many new crops,” Creech said. “So far, we’re encouraged, and we do think there is some opportunity. We have a long way to go to fully understand the technology needed to produce the kind of yields and production they get in New Zealand and California.”

For more information regarding this research, contact Creech at (936) 468-4343 or dcreech@sfasu.edu.