Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University has announced it will hold traditional in-person commencement ceremonies for December 2020 graduates with a number of new measures aimed at helping ensure attendee safety.

Additionally, May and August 2020 graduates are invited to participate in the December ceremony. Both of these commencement groups’ graduation ceremonies transitioned to virtual formats after the outbreak of COVID-19 in the spring.

“As an institution of higher education, we know graduation is one of the most important events for the entire campus community,” said Dr. Scott Gordon, SFA president. “It’s the crowning achievement of years of hard work for our students, and a time of particular pride for our faculty and staff. We are so excited to be able to provide an in-person ceremony this December.”

Seating in Johnson Coliseum will be adjusted to help ensure physical-distancing requirements are met, and all attendees will be required to wear face masks.

Graduates and their guests must present tickets to enter Johnson Coliseum. Tickets are free but will help university officials ensure the venue is not overcrowded and that adequate spacing can be maintained during the event. Each graduate will be allotted one ticket for themselves and a maximum of six guest tickets for their respective ceremony. Students must reserve tickets by 5 p.m. Nov. 20.

Graduates may reserve tickets by completing a Commencement Registration Form. Students will receive instructions on how to access the form via email.

May and August graduates who wish to participate in the in-person December ceremonies must notify the Office of the Registrar by Nov. 1. Instructions on notifying the registrar were emailed to eligible students.

The winter 2020 commencement ceremonies will take place Friday and Saturday, Dec. 11 and 12. May and August graduates, as well as candidates from the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, will participate at 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. Candidates from the College of Fine Arts, as well as the College of Liberal and Applied Arts, will participate at 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11.

Three ceremonies will take place Saturday, Dec. 12. The first will begin at 9 a.m. and will honor candidates from the Rusche College of Business and the Department of Human Services and Educational Leadership. The second will begin at noon for candidates in the Department of Education Studies and the Department of Human Sciences. The final ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. and will honor candidates from the College of Sciences and Mathematics, as well as the Department of Kinesiology.

All ceremonies will be streamed live on the SFA Facebook page, facebook.com/sfasu, for guests who are unable to attend for scheduling or health reasons.

For more information about the events, visit sfasu.edu/registrar/455.asp.

Gender roles is the theme for the Stephen F. Austin State University Office of Multicultural Affairs’ upcoming Something to Chew On fall series.

“At this event, participants will identify and challenge the rules and expectations society has placed on individuals due to their gender,” said Lauren Roach, the OMA student ambassador organizing the event. “The theme was inspired by various pop culture personalities who choose to identify themselves outside these gender roles.”

Instead of a speaker, Something to Chew On features a mediator to help lead the discussion. Participants may be asked to complete an individual activity to generate ideas for discussion.

“We recommend everyone come prepared to share their views on this topic, and to be open-minded and respectful to the thoughts and views expressed,” Roach said.

Held once each semester, Something to Chew On is an educational series aimed at creating a safe environment where students, faculty, staff and community members can discuss a preplanned topic. Past topics have covered difficult-to-address areas such as social justice, poverty, mental health and hate speech.

The event is free and open to the public. It will take place at noon Wednesday, Oct. 7, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center, Room 3.101. Light snacks will be served.

Due to COVID-19 guidelines, seating is limited to 10 in the room, but attendees can participate virtually on Instagram Live via OMA’s Instagram page, @omasfa1991.

For more information about OMA’s slate of fall events, visit sfasu.edu/oma.

Saville Harris, assistant director of student engagement and Greek life, is one of four President’s Achievement Award recipients for 2020, as recently announced by Dr. Scott Gordon, SFA president.

In his role as assistant director of student engagement and Greek life, and in the years leading up to his current position, Harris has befriended, inspired and even consoled hundreds of Stephen F. Austin State University undergrads.

The names and faces might change each year, but Harris’ go-to mantra remains the same: “A few simple words can make someone’s day.”

Harris is one of four President’s Achievement Award recipients for 2020, as recently announced by Dr. Scott Gordon, SFA president. Harris, known for his towering height and booming personality, has been winning campus awards since 2012. But this year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps news of the accolade arrived a bit more sweetly than it had in the past.

“I was shocked,” he said. “It made my heart smile.”

Reading through Harris’ résumé takes a few minutes: adjunct professor of kinesiology, author and presenter of scholarly publications, Purple Santa actor, orientation facilitator, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity member, Jack Camp and Spirit Rally host, and lifetime member of the SFA Alumni Association. He also was recently appointed to the committee leading the search for SFA’s next vice president for student affairs.

The question should be, what hasn’t he done? And the simple answer is, earn his PhD. But if you ask him, that just might be the next frontier.

According to the letter of nomination, Harris is “a living, breathing definition of what SFA stands for in our mission statement and goals.” He has definitely earned that characterization, but that’s not why he came here. Harris, then a teenager coming to grips with the fact that his gridiron dreams had been shattered by a serious injury, followed his older brother Robert to Nacogdoches from hometown Livingston in 2006.

After earning his bachelor’s in 2010, he considered leaving. He applied for and received callbacks for a few jobs. But a campus contact convinced him to stay in town for his master’s, and since 2013, he has established himself as a fixture in student engagement. Along the way he fell in love and married wife Ashley, herself an SFA alumna, and had two daughters, ages 1 and 7. In his spare time, he operates a food truck, Big Fella’s BBQ, which in normal times can be found on weekends at Fredonia Brewery or the Nacogdoches Public Library.

By any measure, Harris has a great life, one that started 14 years ago when he headed north on Highway 59.

“Everything that I wasn’t, I found here,” he said.

While that may be true, it’s not the whole story.

His parents, Florida and Sylvester Harris, own and operate a restaurant in Livingston, Florida’s Kitchen. Since Harris is only 32 years old and the restaurant has been around for 35 years, it’s safe to say that Harris grew up in the hospitality industry. And that experience helped shape who he is and what he means to SFA.

“It taught me how to work with people,” he said. “You have to learn how to take the good with the bad, and learn how to make people happy. I learned that at an early age. You can always treat somebody well.”

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