Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University students enrolled in a patent application course gained first-hand experience with international patent applications by assisting with a patent for an SFA faculty member’s invention that could slow or stop progress of certain cancers.

Dr. Matibur Zamadar, assistant professor in SFA’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is the owner and developer of novel chemotherapeutic compositions and methods that could benefit cancer patients, and he allowed students to shadow and assist in the patent application process.

“All students were required to sign non-disclosure agreements and have searched for patents and technical publications,” said Dr. Michele Harris, SFA professor and mentor to the patent application students. “They have observed the process of taking Dr. Zamadar’s manuscript about his invention and starting the patent application and drafting of patent claims.”

Tom Pruitt, retired patent attorney of Nacogdoches, assisted with drafting the application and spoke to the class, provided material for it and hired students as short-term interns.

“It has truly been a unique experience for this group of students, and Mr. Pruitt has gone above and beyond in giving of his time, expertise and resources,” Harris said.

Pruitt said he and his wife, Deborah, have an interest in encouraging education in intellectual property which stems from their desire to “give back to society in a unique way.”

“STEM innovation is encouraged by patenting,” Pruitt said. “It begs for focused, new training programs. SFA STEM students will be better prepared for their generation to decide how best to do what is best.”

Celeste Keith, a graduate student from Santa Fe, Texas, worked on a small team writing a patent with the assistance of Pruitt. Keith now plans to pursue a career as a patent agent and to take the patent bar exam.

“The class influenced that decision quite a bit,” Keith said. “I had no idea the career existed prior to the course. Once I started learning more about the field, it really caught my interest.”

For more information about SFA’s STEM program, visit sfasu.edu/academics/colleges/sciences-math.

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

The Art Alliance student organization at Stephen F. Austin State University recently held its 35th Annual Spring Art Show in the School of Art galleries. Forty-one art students entered 87 works.

Jed Perl, distinguished critic and juror of Texas National 2018, juried the show. He chose 46 works for inclusion.

The winners Perl selected included Alex Sunsin, Dallas junior, first place for “The Noose,” “Light in Darkness” and “Man in the Shadows,” archival inkjet prints; Sarah Jentsch, Etoile senior, second place for “Martyrdom of Rotten Fruit,” lithograph, “Meadowlark in Spring” lithograph, and “Ex Avium Ossa,” artist book; and Madeline Castillo, League City sophomore, third place for “Enfold,” bronze, and “Bennet and Co.,” sterling silver.

Honorable mentions went to Bailey Idom Coll, Nacogdoches graduate student, for “Comes in Waves,” “The Classifieds” and “All Caps,” mixed media; Andrew Dupree, Oil City senior, for “A Brief Conversation with Mae West,” wood; Delaney Hahn, Austin sophomore, for “Life as We Know It,” bronze; Shelby Martin, Henderson senior, for “Our Time is Golden,” woodcut, “Pour Out My Soul,” woodcut, and “A Never-Ending Cycle,” linocut; and Jack Shanklin, Thousand Oaks, California, graduate student, for “Third on the Left,” ceramic.

Each winner received a cash prize.

Christopher Talbot, director of the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University, announced the recipients of SFA and Friends of the Visual Arts scholarships for the 2018-19 academic year at the recent opening of the 35th Annual Art Alliance Spring Show. More than $35,000 in scholarships was awarded.

Recipients included:

• Weelynd McMullin, Nacogdoches junior, awarded a Patricia Roberdeau Mast Scholarship.

• Sarah Gray, Royce City junior, awarded a Patricia Roberdeau Mast Scholarship.

• Chrissa Hibbitts, incoming freshman from Keller, awarded a Regents Scholarship for Housing.

• Reilly Jerding, incoming freshman from Cypress, awarded a Regents Scholarship for Housing.

• Erik Ordaz, Mexico City, Mexico, graduate student, awarded the Piero Fenci Scholarship for Ceramic Arts.

• Sarah Jentsch, Etoile junior, awarded the Charles D. Jones Art Scholarship and the Barbara Brown Schoenewolf Art Scholarship.

• Samuel Langston, Hudson sophomore, awarded the William E. Arscott Art Scholarship.

• Aldo Ornelas, Chihuahua, Mexico graduate student, awarded the Gary Q. Frields Art Scholarship.

• Chloe Garrett, Orange freshman, awarded the Robert Kinsell Art Scholarship.

• Shelby Locklin, Southlake sophomore, awarded the Gary Parker Art Scholarship.

• Jacob Moffett, Hockley senior, awarded the Art Alliance Scholarship.

• Mason Cullen, Cypress freshman, awarded the Brian Philip Joseph LaBarbera Memorial Art Scholarship and the Debbie Simpson/Terry Miller Memorial Art Scholarship.

• Ethan Thomas, Sugarland freshman, awarded the Elsie and JoAnn Arscott Memorial Art Scholarship.

• Austin Cullen, Cypress junior, awarded the Melba Cranford Memorial Art Scholarship and the Stephen F. Weeks Memorial Art Scholarship.

• Emily Buckland, Grapevine senior, awarded the Jack R. and Claudine W. McKinney Memorial Art Scholarship.

• Tracy King, Killeen senior, awarded the John and Doris Daniel Art Scholarship.

• Rebecca Schneller, Abilene graduate student, awarded the Snyder Family Art Scholarship.

• Bailey Crow, Pinehurst freshman, awarded the Diane, Court and Casey Fouts Art Scholarship.

• Clay Cyr, incoming freshman from Houston, awarded the Friends of the Visual Arts Incoming Student Scholarship.

Activities in and around The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House on June 9 will add to the traditional food, fun and festivities of the annual Texas Blueberry Festival.

Students from the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre dressed as popular characters from fairy tales and children’s stories will again greet those attending this year’s downtown event as they promote the upcoming SFA SummerStage Festival.

The School of Theatre’s trademark dragon character, Schlaftnicht, from the children’s show “Trudi and the Minstrel,” performed the summer of 2005, will make his annual Blueberry Festival appearance along with a dinosaur. Children (and adults) will have the opportunity to talk with the students and take photos with the costumed characters, according to Angela Bacarisse, professor of design and arts management at SFA

Additionally, Red Dirt Memories storytelling with Jerry Permenter will return with two sessions that day at 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Cole Art Center. Question-and-answer forums will follow each session.

Another screening of the popular film “Found Footage: Rediscovering Nacogdoches” will be at noon in the art center. The screening will honor the late Brian Holt Davis who died last November and who played an important role in the film’s making. Discovered at Nacogdoches High School in 1967 but forgotten until a few years ago, the film was digitally restored and viewed in 2014 for the first time in 70 years.

This year’s family-friendly SummerStage Festival features the children’s favorite “Pinkalicious the Musical” with book by Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann, music by John Gregor, and lyrics by John Gregor, Elizabeth Kann and Victoria Kann, and the comedy-drama “Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley. SummerStage runs June 29 through July 19 on the SFA campus.

Theatre students will also sell crafts and do face painting as a fundraiser for their biennial study abroad trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

The Cole Art Center traditionally serves as an official “oasis” during the festival, according to Lisa Steed, events coordinator for SFA galleries, with tables and chairs set up inside where festival patrons can escape the heat. The art center’s restrooms will also be available to festival-goers.

Volunteers with the Friends of the Visual Arts will man an outside tent where they will sell homemade gumbo, blueberry tea and blueberry baked goods with proceeds going toward funding grants and scholarships the FVA awards annually to students in the School of Art. The FVA will again sell notecards that feature photos of Nacogdoches landmarks as photographed by Christopher Talbot, Bill Nieberding, Ryan Russell, Stanley Bohon and other local photographers.

June 10 is the final day to view the Texas National exhibition. Additionally, an exhibition of artwork by the late John Daniel, former SFA art professor, can also be viewed through June 16 in Cole Art Center.

For performance times and ticketing information for the SummerStage Festival, visit theatre.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS. Performances are in W.M. Turner Auditorium and the Downstage Theatre in the Griffith Fine Arts Building on the SFA campus.

Both the Blueberry Festival and the SFA SummerStage Festival are sponsored in part by Tipton Ford Lincoln.