Everything Nac

Following a nationwide search, Stephen F. Austin State University has named Dr. Dustin Knepp dean of the College of Liberal and Applied Arts.

With 17 years of experience working in higher education, Knepp comes to Nacogdoches from California State University, Bakersfield, where he serves as professor and in various leadership roles, including chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures, co-director of the Center for Social Justice, and chair of the Department Chairs Leadership Council.

“I am humbled to be selected to serve as the next dean of the College of Liberal and Applied Arts,” Knepp said. “I am honored to represent the incredible faculty and staff of the college, and I look forward to being on campus as we welcome back our current and new Lumberjacks in the fall. As dean, I will support faculty and staff as we serve our great Lumberjack students and will also work to support our communities, which is one of the great privileges and responsibilities we have at the university.”

Knepp is no stranger to SFA or Nacogdoches. With family roots dating back many generations in East Texas and Western Louisiana, Knepp has a long history with the area. He first visited Nacogdoches as a child when traveling through town to spend time with relatives in Chireno and has had family members who attended SFA.

“I was and am interested in being a part of SFA because of the great impact the university has on the lives of individuals throughout the region,” Knepp said. “I don’t have any superpowers, but I do like working with people. The university, or any institution, is meaningless without people. As a Spanish speaker who has embraced multiculturalism as part of my academic and personal life, I look forward to broadening SFA’s reach to diverse communities. As we look to extend the reach of our campus, we will even better serve East Texas and the broader region.”

Knepp has been chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures since fall 2016. In that time, he has led the transition from a quarter to semester system and prepared a curriculum overhaul, including a restructure of Spanish bachelor’s and master’s programs, created separate paths of study for heritage and nonheritage Spanish speakers, and added five new language offerings. Knepp also secured over $422,000 in funding from internal and external sources.

“I am very excited about Dr. Knepp joining us as he brings a wealth of community engagement experience, in particular through his leadership role at the CSUB Center for Social Justice,” said Dr. Lorenzo Smith, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs. “His fluency in Spanish and experience directing Spanish-language children’s plays highlights multiple synergistic opportunities both within and across college boundaries.”

With an academic focus on Latin American and Latino Studies, Knepp has written numerous peer-reviewed articles and is progressing on his book, “Unwrapping Tradition: Exploring the Cultural Significance of Tamales and Mexican Foodways in Texas.” Knepp has also contributed and narrated a slew of short documentaries and directed student productions in Spanish.

Prior to his time at CSUB, Knepp was an assistant professor and program director of the Latin American and Latino Studies minor at the University of Central Arkansas, as well as adjunct professor in the St. Edward’s University languages department.

Additionally, Knepp served as a visiting lecturer, teaching assistant and graduate assistant at the University of Albany, and teaching assistant at The University of Texas at San Antonio.

A native of West Texas, Knepp took undergraduate coursework at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico before receiving an undergraduate degree from Angelo State University. He earned a master’s degree from The University of Texas at San Antonio and a doctoral degree from the University of Albany. Before getting his doctorate, Knepp did graduate coursework in Guatemala, studying Kaqchikel (Maya) language and culture in 2007.

Knepp and his wife, Jessica, have five children.

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

3D design students in the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University created a large-scale inflatable as a group project. Using plastic and packing tape for the sculpture and a blower fan for inflation, the students also planned and organized a public presentation where they handed out snacks to viewers, explained the process of making the sculpture, and welcomed visitors inside through a zipper door. The project was designed to motivate students to learn about scale, mass, pattern making, group work, public safety, problem solving, critical thinking, communication, advertising and more, according to Professor Lauren Selden. For information about the SFA School of Art, call (936) 468-4804 or visit art.sfasu.edu.

The Texas Purchasing from People with Disabilities program benefited the state’s economy in several multimillion-dollar ways during 2019 and 2020, according to a report compiled by faculty members in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Rusche College of Business. These included adding approximately $300 million to the state’s gross domestic product and about 9,000 jobs during each of those years.

Requested by the Texas Workforce Commission, the report was authored by three Department of Economics and Finance faculty members, including Dr. Rebecca Davis, assistant professor of economics, and Drs. Mikhail Kouliavtsev and Mark Scanlan, professors of economics.

“We’re pleased the TWC reached out to us and glad to contribute this report highlighting the value and economic impact this program has statewide,” said Kouliavtsev. “The program’s benefits extend far beyond helping individuals with disabilities directly; it creates additional jobs, income and output for Texans.”

The TWC oversees the Texas Purchasing from People with Disabilities program, which establishes the processes state agencies use to purchase goods and services from community rehabilitation programs. These CRPs then hire people with disabilities to produce and supply those goods and services.

TWC Executive Director Ed Serna said the program plays a key role “in growing our Texas workforce while enhancing the lives of Texans with disabilities by providing them with employment opportunities and ways to achieve independence. The report highlights the importance and impact of this program — not just for people with disabilities, but for all Texans.”

The report also shows how all areas of the state are significantly, positively impacted by program activities, Serna added.

For example, in the Southeast Region, which includes Nacogdoches and Angelina counties, the program contributed more than $5 million in additional output and led to the creation of nearly 60 new jobs in 2020. For 2019, prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, this impact was even larger: $5.5 million in new output and nearly 70 jobs created.

Statewide during fiscal year 2019, the program:

added approximately $304.4 million of output to Texas’ state gross domestic product
generated roughly $167.3 million of total personal income in the state
created over 9,400 jobs
and generated about $7.5 million in additional state and local sales tax revenues through program spending.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the program continued to benefit the Texas economy in fiscal year 2020 by:

adding approximately $296.6 million to Texas’ state gross domestic product
generating about $162.8 million in total personal income
creating nearly 8,900 total jobs
and generating about $7.3 million in additional state and local sales tax revenues through program spending.

To learn more about the report findings and the department’s research projects, visit sfasu.edu/ecofin/research/projects.

Stephen F. Austin State University economics and finance students received monetary awards and scholarships — many donated by Nacogdoches area financial institutions — during an April 20 ceremony.

Award and scholarship recipients were chosen by faculty members from the SFA Rusche College of Business’s Department of Economics and Finance.

“Students were selected based on their academic achievement in their coursework, engagement in research projects, participation in conferences, and pursuit of their future career goals — whether employment, entrepreneurship or graduate study,” said Dr. Mikhail Kouliavtsev, chair of the Department of Economics and Finance.

Representatives from the donating financial institutions said they are honored to contribute to these students’ college educations and are looking forward to working with them as they start their careers. Many are SFA alumni themselves.

“I am forever grateful for the education I received from SFA,” said Wendy Buchanan, managing director of investments at Buchanan Wealth Management of Trinity Capital Management. “It brings me great joy giving back to the university that made my career possible.”

Buchanan has endowed a finance scholarship, sponsored students each year on international trips, and provided extra scholarships annually to economics and finance students. She also sponsors the Undergraduate Research Mentorship Award for professors and is a member of the Rusche College of Business Executive Advisory Board.

Leah Trascher, finance senior from Tomball, received the Entrepreneurship Award, and Celeste Solis, finance senior from Lufkin, received the Portfolio Management Award — both of which were sponsored by Buchanan Wealth Management.

Other achievement award recipients included Christopher Ranniger, finance senior from Lufkin, who received the Asset Liability Management Award sponsored by Citizens 1st Bank; Linh Le, finance junior from Buon Ma Thuot, Vietnam, who received the Financial Institutions Award sponsored by BancorpSouth; and Emily Peipelman, economics senior from Pearland, who received the Finance Club Award sponsored by Commercial Bank of Texas.

The Economics Reading Group presented Rachel Rucker, data analytics senior of Jersey Village, with the Economic Interest Award and Gentian Kojeli, political science sophomore of Tirana, Albania, the Economic Pursuits Award. Both awards were sponsored by the Charles Koch Foundation.

The High-Ranking Economics Major Award went to Preston Pennington-Sahs, Frisco junior; the High-Ranking Finance Junior and High-Ranking Finance Senior awards, both sponsored by Southside Bank, went to Tristen Adams of Lufkin and Will King of Waxahachie, respectively. Brook Jester, McLeod senior, received the High-Ranking Banking Major Award from SFA’s Chadwick Family Banking Program.

Trascher received the Outstanding Economics/Finance Graduate Award and Rucker received the Undergraduate Scholar Award. Both were sponsored by the ECON 3339 Packet Fund.

A highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of the new Dustin C. Harrison Memorial Scholarship to its first recipient, Richard Frauenberger, finance sophomore from Grapeland. The scholarship benefits finance majors who display upstanding character and maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher.

Harrison graduated summa cum laude from SFA in 2018 with a degree in finance and then worked as an analyst at Ayco Goldman Sachs in Dallas before his death in March 2021. Ronnie and Chloe Canaan-Chapman, both 2018 SFA graduates and friends of Harrison, established the scholarship and presented it to Frauenberger at the ceremony.

Lastly, Dr. Emiliano Giudici, professor of finance, received the Favorite Professor Award from the Finance Club.

For more information on these awards and SFA’s Department of Economics and Finance, visit sfasu.edu/ecofin.