Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University has been ranked among the top 50 great value colleges for family and consumer sciences degrees in the nation by Great Value Colleges, a website dedicated to helping students discover the best degree and college for them.

SFA’s No. 47 ranking among the almost 400 U.S. colleges identified for comparison distinguishes it as one of the most attractive programs for consumer sciences students.

The ranking was created based on master’s and doctoral degree, research, internship and scholarship opportunities. Data also was collected from payscale.com and university websites.

Dr. Lynda Martin, director of SFA’s School of Human Sciences, said receiving the ranking is an honor.

“This recognition is a testament to how qualified and supportive SFA’s School of Human Sciences faculty members are,” Martin said. “They go the extra mile to make sure our students receive a quality education, and it is nice to see it recognized.”

The family and consumer sciences program at SFA is designed with two tracks. The family and consumer sciences degree track prepares students for broad-based employment in the field of family and consumer sciences and for effective individual and family living.

The second track, family and consumer sciences education with teacher certification, educates students to teach at the high school level.

Martin explained all students within this major must complete an internship, which offers real-world experience and networking opportunities. Additionally, students are encouraged to participate in study abroad opportunities. SFA also offers an online Master of Science in family and consumer sciences.

A packed house greeted former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush this past week as he addressed Stephen F. Austin State University students, faculty and staff, and community members during the inaugural Nelson Rusche Distinguished Lecture Series on the university’s campus.

SFA’s Rusche College of Business established the lecture series this year as a biennial event designed to bring scholars and business leaders to the SFA campus to discuss timely issues.

“The launching of the Nelson Rusche Distinguished Lecture Series is a special event for the college, especially as the series helps us advance our mission,” said Dr. Tim Bisping, dean of the Rusche College of Business. “We are so thankful and appreciative of the generosity and foresight of Mr. Nelson Rusche in helping us make this happen.”

In 2002, the college was named in honor of Nelson Rusche, whose gift endowed the college and provided scholarships for students majoring in business. His gift also supports other educational programs, including the lecture series.

“It was great to see the Grand Ballroom filled with people excited to attend the event,” Bisping said. “There were many takeaways on assorted topics. For instance, the importance of hard work, perseverance and integrity were emphasized throughout. It would be hard to find better advice for future leaders.”

Through a question-and-answer format, interviewer Bob Slovak, SFA alumnus and sports anchor and reporter for Houston’s KTRK-TV, discussed Bush’s ideals regarding leadership qualities, the political climate, career success and more.

Bush, Florida’s first two-term governor, said his interest in politics stemmed from having a servant’s heart and desire to solve problems.

“My interest in politics was to serve, and I was able to do that as governor of a complex state. It was eight years of incredible learning,” Bush said. “I think we need to get back to campaigns being not the end but the means to get to a place where you can solve problems, help people who truly need it, change the direction of the country and unite people around shared values.”

While governor, Bush and his administration focused on education reform and lowered taxes. He founded the nonprofit Foundation for Florida’s Future, which joined forces with the Urban League of Greater Miami to establish one of the state’s first charter schools.

“Try to live a life of virtue and meaning and leadership kind of comes naturally,” Bush said. “Be courageous consistently. Try to show integrity. Be honest. That’s the foundation for a successful life.”

He also stressed having “dogged determination,” being hardworking and having intellectual curiosity to be successful in life.

Earlier in the day, the college also hosted the SFA Leadership Summit, which featured a panel discussion with seven successful SFA alumni about leadership principles and business and corporate issues.

“The leadership summit was a great success. We were fortunate to be able to bring to campus a distinguished panel of accomplished alumni and have them interact with our students,” Bisping said.

Summit panelists included Greg Arnold, chairman and CEO of the Truman Arnold Companies; Chris Bagley, president and chief operating officer for BancorpSouth; Terry Bonno, senior vice president of marketing and contracts for Transocean; Michael Calbert, chairman of the board for Dollar General Corporation; Stacie Shirley, executive vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer of Tuesday Morning Corporation; Steve Stagner, executive chairman and chairman of the board for Mattress Firm; and Michael Taff, executive vice president and CFO for Chicago Bridge & Iron Company.

Panelists discussed their first jobs and mistakes they have made to help lend insight into building a successful career in business; advised students on leadership principles such as hard work, intellectual curiosity, discipline and communication skills; explained how they manage stress and balance their personal and professional lives; and reminisced about their most influential professors at SFA.

“The summit made available to our students, on a first-hand basis, insights from proven leaders regarding effective leadership,” Bisping said. “As students work to develop their leadership skills, the insights provided by our panelists will serve as effective guidance.”

Dr. R. Scott Beasley, professor emeritus of forestry and former dean of Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, was inducted into the Texas Forestry Hall of Fame at a reception held Monday, Nov. 7, at the Texas Forestry Museum in Lufkin.

“Scott’s steadfast sense of values and his leadership as dean of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture influenced the professional development of many students and faculty members and enhanced the reputation of SFA,” said Dr. Hans Williams, interim dean of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.

Beasley received his Bachelor of Science in forestry at SFA in 1964. He earned a Master of Science and doctoral degree in forest hydrology from the University of Arizona at Tucson. After seven years with the U.S. Forest Service Forest Hydrology Laboratory in Oxford, Mississippi, he accepted a position at the University of Arkansas at Monticello in 1976 and was appointed as the head of the university’s School of Forestry and Natural Resources in 1988.

In 1992, Beasley was named dean of the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture. During his tenure as dean, Beasley achieved a number of administrative accomplishments that include, but are not limited to, working through the Texas Coordinating Board of Higher Education to change the Doctor of Forestry to a Doctor of Philosophy; initiating a successful effort to officially designate SFA’s College of Forestry as the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and, later, the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture in honor of Arthur Temple’s contributions to forestry and economic development in Texas; developing state-of-the-art geographic information system laboratories for graduate research and undergraduate teaching; increasing the number and value of scholarships awarded annually to students; obtaining the university’s first patent, a cultivar of Camptotheca with enhanced properties for cancer treatment; and working with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and the SFA Arboretum to establish the first Native Plants Center in Texas.

Additionally, Beasley serves as chair of the Texas Forestry Association, chair of the Texas Society of American Foresters, co-chair of the Society of American Foresters national convention and is on the task force for SAF forestry program accreditation. He was appointed a Fellow of the SAF and received the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture’s first Distinguished Alumni Award.

“I can think of no finer individual than Scott, who has contributed more to forestry and the professional and personal development of the people who serve forestry,” said Williams.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the Cello Club with Dr. Evgeni Raychev in a recital at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Cello Club continues its mission to promote cello ensemble playing and to bring cellists together, according to Raychev, instructor of cello in the SFA School of Music and director of the ensemble.

The concert, which is part of the Cole Performing Arts Series, will feature original works and arrangements from different time periods.

“All of the cellists have been working with me in preparation for this concert in one-to-one communication, either in person or through the Internet,” Raychev said. “It is really amazing to listen to a choir of cellos as the number grows bigger. The listener should expect to see over 20 cellos on stage.”

The Cello Club is in its third season.

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.

Hans-Jochen Scheidler, a Berlin resident and former prisoner of the East German state secret police, will present a keynote address titled “A Former Political Prisoner’s Personal and Historical Review of Twenty-Five Years of German Unity” at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, in the Ferguson Building, Room G78, on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

His presentation is sponsored and organized by the SFA Department of Languages, Cultures and Communication. It is free and open to the SFA and Nacogdoches communities.

“I met Mr. Scheidler in May 2014 at the memorial site of the former East German state secret police prison, Hohenschönhausen,” said Dr. Louise Stoehr, SFA associate professor of German and the director of the Language Resource Center. “He was the contemporary witness who met with my study abroad students, introduced them to the history of the Hohenschönhausen prison and took us on a tour that traced the stages of his personal experience being a political prisoner at that site.”

Scheidler was born in 1943 in Wollhaus, now a part of Poland. In 1968, just before he was expected to begin doctoral studies in physics, he and his friends distributed 800 leaflets protesting the Soviet intervention during the Prague Spring.

He was arrested by the Ministry of State Security of the German Democratic Republic and sentenced to two years and six months in prison, which he spent at the labor camp in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen.

“In his presentation, Mr. Scheidler will address the importance of free speech for an open, democratic society and share his personal experience of attempting to exercise free speech in a dictatorship and the consequences of that attempt,” Stoehr said. “I am hoping that participants will realize the importance of constructive, free speech and a free press for maintaining a functioning democracy. Similarly, I would hope that participants will think about the implications of Mr. Scheidler’s experiences for our society today.”

Following his early release in December 1969, Scheidler worked as a technician and was barred from pursuing his academic career as a physicist.

“I am excited that more of the SFA community, especially those who do not have the opportunity to travel to Berlin and meet with Mr. Scheidler, will have the opportunity to learn firsthand from a contemporary witness to life in a dictatorship and the contrast of his life then to the life he leads now in (re)unified Germany,” Stoehr said.

As a contemporary witness to East German political history, Scheidler has worked as a tour guide at the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial since 2009.

A reception for the opening of the “All Things Nacogdoches” photo exhibition is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Sponsored by the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau, the exhibition will feature the winning entries from a photo contest designed to highlight a variety of themes that showcase Nacogdoches, according to the entry application.

The exhibition will include the best submitted photos taken of Nacogdoches nature, culture and food, best photos taken with a mobile phone or tablet, best photos captured by someone 21 and younger, best photos of action or adventure moments, and photos that show “what Nacogdoches represents to you.” The CVB accepted entries Sept. 7 through Nov. 7.

Winners in the juried competition will be announced at the reception, and cash prizes will be awarded. The exhibition will show through Jan. 14 in the Reception Gallery. Admission is free.

“The photo contest is a great opportunity for the CVB to partner with the Cole Art Center, to feature local talent and to build upon the CVB’s library of images that will be used to showcase our destination as a film friendly city, and for other promotional purposes such as the CVB’s website and social media, just to name a few,” said Sherri Skeeters, marketing director for the Nacogdoches CVB.

The Cole Art Center is Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art’s historic gallery at 329 E. Main St.

For more information, visit www.VisitNacogdoches.com or contact the CVB at (936) 564-7351. Contact Cole Art Center at (936) 468-1131.