Shelby County Today

July 22, 2020 - A station completely free of seven major food allergens is one of several new features in an extensive, ongoing renovation to Stephen F. Austin State University’s Baker Pattillo Student Center dining hall.

Other major features include a dedicated “plant-forward” produce station to replace the former salad bar, a redesigned bakery allowing for confectionary pickup orders, a meat carvery station that will focus on lean meats, and the implementation of various physical distancing and health safety measures.

Construction began in April and is scheduled to be complete before the start of the fall semester.

“Because there are millions of people with food allergies, we knew we needed to better serve our students by having a more inclusive concept in the dining hall,” explained Carrie Charley, SFA’s director of auxiliary services. “In a commercial kitchen, it is nearly impossible to prevent cross-contamination. At this new allergen-aware station, all ingredients are kept separate from other dining hall menu items from the moment they arrive on the student center’s back dock until the moment the dish is served.”

The innovative meals offered through the station will be free of seven of the eight most common food allergens: milk, egg, peanut, tree nut, soy, wheat and shellfish. The eighth allergen, finfish, was kept to provide sufficient protein variety, Charley said.

“For the past several years, we’ve been tracking how many students have dietary restrictions, and that number has increased,” said Jill Hamilton, an Aramark senior specialist registered dietitian. “The allergen awareness station was added to make it easier for those with restrictions to identify offerings. Even if someone doesn’t have an allergy, I think they will still enjoy the station.”

While some dietary restrictions are based on a diner’s personal preferences, food allergies are not, and exposure to certain food products can be potentially dangerous to students with those allergies. Allergen-aware staff members will prepare dishes using dedicated kitchenware and utensils that have been thoroughly washed and sanitized between uses.

SFA has, for years, utilized allergen and nutritional information cards, which are placed near each dish at dining hall stations. The new dedicated station is the next step toward ensuring increased levels of student health awareness and dietary flexibility.

While universities nationwide are expanding their allergen-aware accommodations, SFA “might be one of the first to also use this new space as a teaching kitchen,” Charley said. “Once we are able to safely do so, we hope to host teaching tutorials and cooking competitions from this space in the evenings and during special events. We have special seating designed around the area that is movable and customizable for small groups.”

The concept of plant-forward offerings, which emphasizes “healthy plants at the center of the plate with a proportionally small quantity of animal protein,” Hamilton explained, is not a new one. SFA began adding plant-forward dishes two years ago, including such offerings as lentil “meat” loaf, grilled veggie skewers and cauliflower wings.

Several other stations in the dining hall also offer plant-forward dishes, but the newly revamped and expanded plant-forward produce station will provide a dedicated space for and expansion of these offerings. It also provides more flexible and diverse options for vegan and vegetarian diets, although every station also includes a vegan dish.

“I am super excited about the new produce station,” Charley said. “According to Dataessential, nearly 40% of Americans say they are eating less red meat and are seeking more vegetables. This trend is called ‘plant forward,’ putting plants (fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, beans) at the center of your plate. This renovation bursts open the doors to new possibilities for dining on our campus with a fresh perspective, fresh ingredients and a bright new landscape to enjoy meals together.”

Aside from expanding food options, the student center dining hall renovation also has updated food service procedures and modernized seating and dining aesthetics.

“The entrance to the dining hall has been expanded by 16 feet and provides a more open view into the entire facility,” Charley said. “There are three self-check-in stations and also pre-packaged to-go meals available.”

With the outbreak of COVID-19, additional safety and distancing measures were added to the renovation project, including the design of 25%, 50% and 75% capacity seating plans by architects Tipton Associates, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“With those plans, we will be able to adjust as needed before it is time to load the furniture in,” Charley said. “Most of the crowd control and occupancy management will be handled by the dining team, with the cooperation of our guests. The new check-in stations are self-swipe, and the dining team will serve food rather than having self-service, keeping things as contactless as possible. We now also have outdoor seating available facing the beautiful view down Vista Drive.”

Visual cues will be implemented throughout the hall to keep diners at a safe distance from each other. Sneeze guards have been a standard fixture in all dining halls, but extra guards were added to fill gaps.

“Face masks are required to be worn while in line and walking from station to station,” Charley added. “You also will see staff members in masks and frequently cleaning throughout the day. You might see that a station is temporarily closed during 15-minute intervals for deep cleaning and utensil replacement.”

For more information on fall 2020 dining options and updates, visit the “Dining” section on sfasu.edu/fall2020.

A digital rendering of Stephen F. Austin State University’s Baker Pattillo Student Center dining hall renovation project provides a glimpse of the facility’s modernized look. The project is scheduled to be complete before the start of the fall semester and includes plans for social distancing and increased student safety.

By Christine Broussard, marketing communications coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Contact: University Marketing Communications (936) 468-2605

J.R. Florez, an employee with Stephen F. Austin State University’s Residence Life Department, mists a room in Steen Hall with a hypochlorous acid, a disinfecting compound the custodial staff says is safer and more effective than bleach. All residence hall rooms have been treated with the disinfectant and will have been treated twice when students return to campus in the fall.

July 3, 2020 Nacogdoches — Residence halls at Stephen F. Austin State University will open to students for the fall 2020 semester but with a sea change of new safety measures that will be continually evaluated as the global pandemic evolves.

Residence Life Department staff members have implemented extreme alterations to traditional housing upkeep in an effort to provide the safest possible college residential experience for returning students this August. These alterations include a wide array of increased sanitation measures at the 11 housing facilities available to students for the fall.

Housing also continues to be offered during the summer term, which has allowed SFA employees to evaluate and update sanitization effectiveness and communication best practices. Residence Life is currently taking applications for summer II housing.

“We are excited to welcome our students back home,” said Shea Roll, assistant director of SFA’s Residence Life. “We are connecting with students through virtual programming and social distancing events. Last week, we had an event with water balloons filled with soap, water and washable paint that the students who are on campus this summer loved! More than ever, community and connection is important to us in our halls.”

Key highlights of the new safety measurements include:

• Each residence hall will have its own full-time custodial staff members who will clean common restrooms and other high-traffic common areas during the day and at night Monday through Friday. A limited number of full-time custodians will disinfect common restrooms and high-traffic areas and clean where needed on weekends.
• A full-time staff member is available seven days a week from 4 p.m. to midnight to provide assistance when requested through the University Police Department.
• Seating will be reduced in all Residence Hall common spaces, and use of community areas like kitchens will be limited.
• Residence halls are not open to the public. Visitation privileges have been amended to allow no more than two additional people in a room or suite at any given time. In addition, both roommates have to agree to this visitation policy before guests may visit.
• All student and professional staff members are required to wear masks. Hand sanitizer stations will be set up, and staff member desks have plastic protectors so they may safely answer resident questions.
• Each hall has a unique 24/7 phone number residents may call if they need anything, from accidentally locking themselves out of their room to reporting signs of illness. They will always have access to a student and professional staff member on call.
• Roommate agreements are amended to include questions about physical distancing in the rooms, sharing items, visitors and wearing masks. Residence Life staff members want to ensure students are communicating their needs to each other on day one, so these agreements help set the tone for expectations within their shared space.
• The university also will offer single bedrooms as they become available to those currently on a waitlist for these rooms.
• A plan also has been formed for students who might become sick, with an immediate protocol for isolation, testing and contact tracing.

Residence Hall sanitization has increased in frequency and potency. Staff members use a GenEon cleaning and disinfecting system containing a hypochlorous solution, a powerhouse cleaning system SFA makes on site at the rate of five gallons per hour.

“This solution, unlike bleach and harsh disinfectants, is safe and a non-irritant. If it gets on your skin or in your eyes, it does not burn,” explained Frank Ronzello, SFA custodial supervisor III. “Even if it is accidently ingested, it is completely harmless. It requires no PPE. It is 70 to 80 times more efficient at killing microbial pathogens than bleach.”

Hypochlorous acid also is used on food and in food service sanitation, as well as in wound care and eye care products, he added.

“We purchased the hypochlorous acid system two years ago to treat buildings if there was a flu outbreak or any other type of airborne illnesses and to treat areas with mold or mildew issues,” Roll said. “The ability to produce hypochlorous acid is something completely unique to SFA and really shows our commitment to safety. While other universities were busy purchasing hypochlorous acid, we were already producing our own.”

Custodial staff members have been using the cleaning compound in all housing facilities since the outbreak of COVID-19 to treat all high-touch-point areas before and after students come to campus.

“We also have treated every vacant room prior to our custodial employees entering the rooms to perform their summer cleaning and disinfecting,” Roll said. “We also will treat rooms after any camps and summer school and use it to treat all high-point-touch areas when students return in the fall.”

The university also announced it would be lifting the on-campus living requirement that stated incoming freshman or underclassmen with less than 60 credit hours must live in campus residence halls.

Additionally, the contract cancellation deadline was extended to midnight July 12.  Any cancellations received by that time will be refunded.

“We recognize that in this time, students may be more comfortable not living in a residence hall environment, so we want to be as considerate and as flexible as possible,” Roll said.

While prevention and regular cleaning are key, SFA employees have established staunch protocols should a case of COVID-19 be reported on campus.

“We have worked closely with SFA’s Health Services and have a plan for students who might become sick, with an immediate protocol for isolation, testing and contact tracing. We also would deliver meals to their door. A Residence Life staff member would personally call them twice daily to check on how they are doing, and the Health Clinic would hold Zoom appointments,” Roll said. “We offer Zoom counseling services to these students as well, because at no point do we want them to feel disconnected from their SFA community during isolation. The rooms we have set aside have goody bags with Gatorade, snacks and get well notes along with campus resource numbers. Our goal is to make them as comfortable as possible.”

The current move-in calendar for the fall semester is Aug. 13 through 23. Students must sign up for a two-hour move-in slot and are allowed to bring two individuals to help them with the move.

Students can access the move-in sign up through my mySFA Residence Life tab. Move-in sign up will open at noon July 9 and will remain open through Aug. 23. Students must have two emergency contacts listed in Banner prior to signing up, which can be completed through mySFA by selecting “Update Emergency Contact” on the Home tab.

“They also can change their move-in time up to 24 hours before it occurs to allow as much flexibility as possible; however, we are limiting the number of students allowed to sign up per hall, per shift to allow for social distancing,” Roll said. “When they arrive, they will receive a check-in packet with their key, student ID, helpful tips on how to stay safe on campus and instructions on how to complete an online inspection of their room so we can address any concerns they have right away.

“This one-stop move in will allow for flexibility and social distancing beginning as soon as they walk in the door,” she added. “They also will meet their community assistant, who is an upperclassmen mentor living on their floor to help them with whatever they need and to connect them with the SFA community.”

First-year students attending Jack Camp Orientation, which will be held on campus Aug. 16 through 19, will be given priority to pick move-in shifts.

Currently, approximately 3,500 students have committed to living on campus in the fall.

June 30, 2020 - The Wildlife Society, an international professional organization of leaders in wildlife science, named the Stephen F. Austin State University student chapter as its national 2020 Student Chapter of the Year.

The annual award recognizes exceptional achievements by student chapters in the promotion of professional standards, outreach and education, as well as advocacy for conservation policy decisions.
 
“To be recognized across the nation is a huge compliment to our officers and students,” said Jake Hill, forest wildlife management major and president of the SFA student chapter of The Wildlife Society. “It’s a testament to the quality of our college, our forest wildlife program and the university itself.”
 
Earlier this year the chapter received statewide recognition when it was named Student Chapter of the Year by the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society.
 
Hill said during the past year the student chapter focused on developing its student membership as active wildlife professionals.
 
One of the chapter’s most public initiatives was the development of a policy program to advocate for the bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act, which would make supplemental funds available to states for the management of wildlife most in need of conservation. These efforts included writing letters and conducting education campaigns, communicating with state representatives and partnering with other conservation organizations to advance the bill.
 
In addition, the chapter amplified partnerships with other conservation organizations, such as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the National Wild Turkey Federation and other smaller nongovernmental organizations.
 
This spring, the chapter completed a wetland restoration project with Conservation Equity Partners, a local SFA alumni-owned environmental consulting firm. Through this partnership, the chapter planted more than 5,000 trees and gave away approximately 10,000 trees to the public.
 
“The students involved with the SFA student chapter of The Wildlife Society are outstanding ambassadors for SFA and are well known for their willingness to serve the profession and the community,” said Dr. Hans Williams, dean of SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.
 
The SFA chapter also donated a portion of its annual fundraising proceeds to assist a newly formed student chapter of The Wildlife Society at another Texas university.
 
“This award recognizes the hard work of the highly motivated and professional students we have in our program,” said Dr. Daniel Scognamillo, associate professor of forest wildlife management and faculty advisor for the SFA student chapter of The Wildlife Society.
 
Winning chapters receive a plaque, as well as a $1,000 travel grant to attend the annual Wildlife Society Conference. The name of the chapter also will be added to a permanent plaque on display at The Wildlife Society’s headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. The SFA student chapter will be recognized at the national conference held virtually in September. 
 
To learn more about the SFA student chapter of The Wildlife Society, its mission and current initiatives, email sfasuthewildlifesociety@gmail.com.

Story by Sarah Fuller, outreach coordinator for Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture. Contact information: (936) 468-1185 or fullersa@sfasu.edu.

 
The Wildlife Society, an international professional organization of leaders in wildlife science, named the Stephen F. Austin State University student chapter of The Wildlife Society as its national 2020 Student Chapter of the Year. The annual award recognizes exceptional achievements by student chapters in the promotion of professional standards, outreach and education, as well as advocacy for conservation policy decisions. Pictured is the SFA student chapter at the statewide Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society meeting held earlier this year in Corpus Christi. The SFA student chapter also was named Student Chapter of the Year by the Texas Chapter of The Wildlife Society.
 

June 25,2020 - Like all universities and public and private school systems across the globe, Stephen F. Austin State University found itself in mid-March suddenly shifting from delivering all in-person classroom instruction to online.

Some courses adapt to remote instruction easier than others. Scott Shattuck, associate dean of the SFA College of Fine Arts, was especially curious to learn how faculty members in the schools of art, music and theatre would teach performance skills and studio art technique courses through remote delivery.

“I heard a couple of especially interesting accounts from students and colleagues who had unexpectedly found themselves in this experimental mode,” Shattuck said, “and it made me think: ‘I’ll bet others would be just as fascinated as I am to learn about the creativity our faculty employed to meet these challenges.”’

Shattuck, along with media specialist Michael Tubbs, initiated a series of videos, “The Creative Challenge,” that features fine arts instructors who have developed some unique virtual teaching strategies to try and ensure that students continue to learn and pursue their work as artists. These can be viewed at finearts.sfasu.edu/creative.

In addition to making these creative teaching ideas available for other educators to incorporate in their virtual classrooms, Shattuck hopes the podcast shows students, prospective students and their families “just how brilliant our College of Fine Arts teachers really are,” he said.

“And, if members of our alumni who are now teaching art, music or theatre, or other faculty members around the country, can take advantage of some of the wonderful ideas described in the podcast interviews, that’s an additional benefit to emerging artists everywhere,” he added. “I hope these interviews make it vividly clear that there’s no stopping creativity. Teaching, learning, and creating art were practically uninterrupted when the pandemic turned our world upside down.”

On social media platforms, the College of Fine Arts has been using the hashtag #ArtsKeepUsGoing, “because everyone has been sustained over the past few months by the songs, movies, books and other creative expressions that keep us connected in such important ways even when we’re physically distanced from one another,” Shattuck said. “We’ve also asserted that #ArtsWillLeadUsBack, because it’s creativity that will fuel the research, the economic revival and the community spirit we’ll need to restore the health and vitality of our society.”

As an educator, Shattuck said he is both humbled and inspired by the resourcefulness and resilience that he’s been fortunate to witness in SFA fine arts faculty.

“The only course I was teaching in the spring was already online and, honestly, I don’t know what I’d have done to keep the teaching, learning and creating going if I’d been teaching a face-to-face technique class,” he said. “These colleagues have given me ideas but, more importantly, they’ve given me hope.”