Everything Nac

After a hiatus due to COVID-19, students in Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Human Sciences concluded their sixth Cooking Matters program Monday with a “Jeopardy”-style nutrition game, a potluck and graduation ceremony.

During the six-week collaboration with the East Texas Food Bank, SFA students enrolled in Justin Pelham’s community nutrition class worked with Nacogdoches community members to educate them on healthy eating habits and budgeting.

“This class provides application from classroom content and theory to the real-world,” said Pelham, SFA food, nutrition and dietetics clinical instructor. “Students get to interact with local community members and help provide essential nutrition education and basic cooking skills to the participants.”

Each Cooking Matters segment comprised a nutrition education portion followed by a cooking segment. Throughout the program, student instructors completed four different roles ranging from chef instructors and nutrition educators to clean-up crew and grocery shoppers.

“I learned that people really are interested in nutrition,” said Traci Houston, senior nutrition and dietetics major from New Orleans. “People want to learn about how to live a better life, how nutrition impacts them and what quality of life they can have based on what they eat.”

According to Pelham, roughly one-in-three people in Nacogdoches live poverty, making the program even more important for the community. SFA students recruited participants utilizing assistance from the Helping Other People Eat Pantry, which provides supplemental food to Nacogdoches County residents in need. This year, 11 community members graduated from Cooking Matters.

Throughout the program, participants learned how to prepare healthy meals, including turkey tacos, Chinese veggies and rice, and black-eyed peas and rice.

Pelham said the Cooking Matters program will be offered again next fall.

For more information on the SFA food and nutrition, and dietetics and nutritional sciences programs, visit sfasu.edu/hms.

By Nathan Wicker, senior marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State University graduate student Jessica Gryder will present her Master of Fine Arts candidacy exhibition “Anaglyph: The Collision” Nov. 15 through 19 in the front gallery of the SFA Art Building off Wilson Drive on campus.

An exhibition reception is planned for 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 16, in the front gallery. Admission and reception are free.

Gryder, who graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design in 2020 from McMurry University in Abilene, uses a combination of film and digital photography to create inkjet images mounted on wood panel.

In an excerpt from her artist statement, influenced by graphic designer and art director Bradbury Thompson’s Rock Roll, Gryder states: “I saw vibrant variations creep into my art due to the enjoyment and childlike freedom colors can bring. Like an anaglyph, the viewer is able to mentally create a new image with the layers provided. The separate layers represent the relationship of past and present women influential in my life. I invite people to physically move in order to take in the different layers of each piece. Similarly, I encourage the viewer to move in a forward direction while reflecting and learning from the past.”

For information about the SFA School of Art, call (936) 468-4804.

Voice students in the School of Music at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “A Program of Opera Scenes” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Under the direction of Dr. Deborah Dalton, associate professor of voice and opera at SFA, with collaborative pianist Dr. Thomas Nixon and Bora Cho, graduate assistant in collaborative piano, the program will feature scenes from “The Mikado” by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan; “Die Fledermaus” by Johann Strauss; “Il trovatore” by Giuseppe Verdi; “The Old Maid and the Thief” by Gian-Carlo Menotti; “The Most Happy Fella” by Frank Loesser; “Cosi fan tutte” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “Carmen” by Georges Bizet; “Hansel and Gretel” by Engelbert Humperdinck; and “The Bartered Bride” by Bedřich Smetana.

“I am delighted to have Dr. Thomas Nixon’s help this term,” Dalton said. “He brings a wealth of experience from coaching singers for Arizona Opera, University of Arizona opera program, and others. Bora Cho, graduate assistant in collaborative piano, will join us again. Cho did an outstanding job playing the entire scenes program in Fall 2020.”

Dalton chooses the annual opera workshop program repertoire according to the voices and abilities of each class. Classes are limited to juniors, seniors and graduate students.

Among the prominent scenes to be performed is the card scene from “Carmen” in which the characters Frasquita and Mercedes use the cards to tell their fortunes and are delighted with the promise of love and riches. When Carmen demands a turn, every hand for her is the same – death.

Another scene is the “Fledermaus” trio, where Eisenstein, his wife, Rosalinda, and their maid, Adele, each have exciting plans for the evening. “Eisenstein is to report to jail that very evening but he plans to attend a lavish ball first,” Dalton explains. “We discover that the ladies have received an invitation to the ball, too, and none of them know the others are invited. As they say a sad farewell, each one finds it difficult to contain their excitement.”

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.

Students with little or no experience in the online learning environment will receive ­the coaching and mentorship needed to succeed outside the traditional setting of a brick-and-mortar campus through the Bridges to Business program offered by Stephen F. Austin State University’s Rusche College of Business.

The three-course Bridges to Business sequence, a mix of online and in-person instruction meant to transition students from the classroom to a fully online business degree program, will be offered at the Atascocita Center, which is affiliated with the Kingwood campus of Lone Star College, in spring 2022.

The program is designed for working students who have already completed their associate’s degrees. Courses in business ethics, marketing and business law, led by a team of established SFA professors, will launch students into a structured yet flexible curriculum that accommodates work and family.

“If you are a student who’s looking to enhance your value in the marketplace, this is the program for you,” said Dr. Tim Bisping, dean of the college of business. “Through Bridges to Business, you can improve opportunities for advancement with your current employer, or increase your chances of being hired by a company of your choice.”

The college offers online bachelor’s degrees in general business, sports business, and business communication and corporate education, as well as an MBA.

Graduates of the college have gone on to work for Amazon, Lockheed Martin, Merrill Lynch, the Houston Texans and Peloton Interactive, and some have become entrepreneurs in tech and accounting. Many have found great employment with excellent salaries throughout the state of Texas, Bisping said.

Students already enrolled in Rusche’s online degree programs speak to the accessibility of the faculty, the peer engagement during class, and the ability to shape their college experience around a life that in many instances includes family and career.

“SFA’s online business program has enabled me to work toward completion of my degree at the university I always felt most connected to, even from afar,” said Rick Lowry, an online student based in The Woodlands. “The instructors are accessible, engaged and experienced. They want to help students succeed.”

Eligible students must have completed 15 transferable hours and have at least a 2.0 GPA. Apply at sfasu.edu/apply. For more information, contact cob@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-3101. Learn more about the Rusche College of Business and Bridges to Business.

By Richard Massey, Senior Marketing Communications Specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University