Everything Nac

Student ensembles in the Sound Recording Technology program at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, in the Mill Room at Banita Creek Hall.

The Commercial Music Ensemble will perform “As It Was” by Harry Styles, “Transparent Soul” by Willow, and “Dive” by Ed Sheeran, among other works. The Popular Music Ensemble will perform “It Ain’t Over ’til It’s Over” by Lenny Kravitz, “Karma Police” by Radiohead and “Bend The Rules” by Niall Horan​, along with other artists. Both groups are directed by James Taylor, SRT lecturer in the School of Music.

Admission is free. Banita Creek Hall is located at 401 W. Main St. For additional information about the SRT program, contact the School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

A performance of Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” will be the highlight at a concert of the Stephen F. Austin State University Symphony Orchestra when the ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Conducting the SFA Symphony Orchestra is Dr. Gregory Grabowski, director of orchestral activities for the university. He describes “Pictures at an Exhibition” as “a wonderful suite that takes the listener on a journey through an exhibition of different pieces of art.”

“The piece was originally a piano solo that was later orchestrated by a number of brilliant orchestrators,” Grabowski said. “The most common one, and the one performed on this program, was by the genius orchestrator Maurice Ravel.

“With the combination of wonderful themes by Mussorgsky paired with the brilliant orchestration vision of Ravel, it’s no wonder this is one of the most performed pieces in orchestral literature,” he added.

Also on the program is Dmitri Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 featuring Dr. Evgeni Raychev, School of Music adjunct faculty, as guest soloist.

“This is a powerful and exciting piece that’s a staple in solo cello literature,” Grabowski said.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

The concert will be rebroadcast at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, on the SFA Symphony Orchestra YouTube channel.

There is still time to bid on unique works of art in the 12 X 12 Scholarship Fundraiser hosted by the Friends of the Visual Arts at Stephen F. Austin State University and benefiting students in the SFA School of Art.

Anyone may silently bid on the exclusive one-of-a-kind pieces on display at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Silent bidding ($250 minimum) will continue up to the day of the art party, which is planned for 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 22 at the art center. Starting bids drop to $100 the night of the event, and raffle tickets will also be sold that night. Appetizers and wine will be served at the auction party. This year’s featured artist is Professor Peter Andrew, who has donated several pieces to the auction.

The purpose of 12 X 12 is to raise funds for the FVA scholarships and grants that are awarded to SFA art students. Between $12,000 and $15,000 is awarded annually in scholarships to deserving students in the School of Art.

In addition to the Friends of the Visual Arts, other sponsors of 12 X 12 are The Flower Shop, The Cottage Wine Bar, Woodworkers Club of East Texas, Canty Forklift, Galleria Z, Wright Construction and The Monarch Group of Raymond James.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information about 12 X 12, contact Linda Mock at mockl@sfasu.edu.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Schlief School of Accountancy in the Rusche College of Business held an informational session Oct. 13 for approximately 100 Nacogdoches High School students interested in the accounting profession. In addition to careers in accounting, presenters discussed SFA’s accounting degrees, scholarships, internships and other opportunities. Presenters included, from left, Alicia Howatt, recruiter for Axley & Rode; Zachary Wilson, accounting senior from Crosby and president of SFA’s chapter of the Beta Alpha Psi professional and honorary accounting fraternity; Dr. Kelly Noe, accounting professor and director of the Schlief School of Accountancy; Marie Kelly, accounting lecturer; and Deborah Crenshaw, a teacher in the NHS Career and Technical Education program. “Student response was overwhelmingly positive, and we foresee continuing this partnership in the years to come,” Kelly said. For more information, visit sfasu.edu/cob.

No matter how you feel politically about President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive up to $10,000 of student debt, you need to consider the economic realities of it, said Dr. Mikhail Kouliavtsev, chair of the Department of Economics and Finance in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Rusche College of Business.

“Most economists appear to agree that this is, overall, bad economic policy, if nothing else,” said Kouliavtsev, who also directs SFA’s Center for Business and Economic Research. “It creates perverse incentives, sets a bad precedent, ignores and fails to address the underlying problem (and may even make it worse in the future), and is poorly timed.”

In CBER’s quarterly newsletter, Kouliavtsev reviews how the Biden plan not only cancels $10,000 loan balances ($20,000 loan balances for those who received Pell Grants) but also expands borrower eligibility for the income-based repayment program.

“This is a comprehensive debt relief program, not simply debt forgiveness,” he said.

The Congressional Budget Office estimate of the program, which was released after the policy decision was made, is $400 billion over 30 years.

In the CBER newsletter, Kouliavtsev addresses the reasons behind developing the debt relief policy, its inconsistent impacts geographically (sometimes in good ways), and its goal to increase disposable income for families, which will increase the demand for goods and services.

“But this tends to put upward pressure on prices,” Kouliavtsev said. “We don’t need that during a period when we’re battling historic inflation. This boost to the economy was needed in 2020 or early 2021, when we were in a deep pandemic-induced recession.”

Debt forgiveness also may give higher education institutions incentive to raise tuition. And current and future borrowers may expect similar debt forgiveness policies to be implemented in the future.

“Because the underlying problem of financing higher education remains unsolved, we are all but assured that the debt crisis will repeat itself,” Kouliavtsev said.

To learn more, visit sfasu.edu/cber or contact the center at (936) 468-4301.

About CBER
CBER is one of several entities launched recently by SFA’s College of Business to help bolster local businesses. Others include Business and Community Services; the Greg Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship, or ACE; and the Small Business Resource Hub, which is housed in ACE.