Shelby County Today

December 13, 2019 - Stephen F. Austin State University will honor several prominent donors during the 31st annual SFA Gala Saturday, Dec. 14, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom.

This year’s honorees include the late Marilyn Cranford, Linda and the late Roy Bush, and Mike and Jackie Harbordt.

"The selflessness of this year's Gala honorees, both through generous contributions and years of service, has established a lasting impact on the lives of students and the campus community," said Jill Still, SFA vice president for university advancement. "We are pleased to be able to recognize their generosity, as well as faculty members whose dedication to teaching and research continues to enrich our university."

The Gala cocktail reception begins at 6 p.m.and will be followed by dinner at 7 p.m.Entertainment will be provided by Royal Dukes of Houston, a high-energy band playing music from pop, rock and jazz to rhythm and blues, funk, and Motown.

Tickets are $175 for orchestra seating and $125 for ballroom seating. For more information or to purchase tickets, call April Smith, associate director of development, at (936) 468-5406.

Marilyn Cranford

The late Marilyn Cranford is slated to be inducted into the Stephen F. Austin Society.

Cranford was born and raised in Sacul, Texas. She completed her high school education at the Stephen F. Austin State College Finishing School. She remained a steadfast friend of the university through the years, with her primary areas of support being the School of Art and the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.

More than 30 years ago, Cranford established the Melba Cranford Memorial Art Scholarship in memory of her sister, who was an SFA alumnus of the class of 1940. In 1998, she endowed the Arkan E. and Bonnie G. Cranford Scholarship to support students in the fields of forestry and horticulture.

Throughout the years, she lent her generous support to academic research efforts at SFA, most notably toward the groundbreaking work conducted by the National Center for Pharmaceutical Crops.

Cranford spent most of her adult life in Dallas, Texas, where she was employed as an X-ray technician. She returned to Sacul in 1979, where she remained until 2008. The last 10 years of her life were spent in Jacksonville, Texas. 

SFA proudly recognizes Cranford for her support of the university.

Roy and Linda Bush

Roy was born in 1931 in Amarillo, though he grew up in Childress, spending his childhood helping raise chickens, cows, turkeys and mules.

Roy was a star football player in high school and was affectionately known as “Hollywood” due to his taste for expensive clothing, nice cars and fine footwear, according to his obituary. 

He earned a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from SFA in 1957 and put to use the knowledge and skills he cultivated at the university while serving in the U.S. Navy and throughout his career.

In January 1965, Roy married Houston native Linda Stone before enjoying a 25-year career with Conoco, managing drilling operations in Louisiana and Italy, and eventually serving as vice president of Conoco Egypt.

Linda received her accounting degree from Louisiana State University and then began a career in the oil and gas industry. She later transitioned into the real estate field, working in New Orleans, Houston and Austin.

Roy and Linda Bush will be inducted into the Stephen F. Austin Society.

Following Roy’s death in 2018, Linda honored her late husband’s legacy by endowing the Roy E. and Linda Bush Fund, supporting the College of Sciences and Mathematics.

In April 2019, the SFA Board of Regents approved the university’s math building to be named the Roy E. and Linda Bush Mathematical Sciences Building in honor of the couple’s continual support of higher education and SFA.

The endowment’s distribution supports all areas within SFA’s College of Sciences and Mathematics.

Mike and Jackie Harbordt

The relationship Mike and Jackie Harbordt have with SFA has been one of immense service. 

In fact, service is at the heart of most personal and professional endeavors the Harbordts have undertaken. They’ve been involved with the First United Methodist churches of Lufkin and Nacogdoches, the Diboll Jaycees, Rotary International, Deep East Texas Council of Government’s Health Services Committee and United Way. 

The couple has supported a number of environmental nonprofits, which goes along with Mike’s educational and professional background engaging in environmental conservation and outreach. He graduated from SFA in 1963 with a Bachelor of Science then went on to receive a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University and ultimately a doctoral degree from Texas A&M University.

Mike worked with Texaco Inc. before joining Temple-Inland Inc. in 1971, where he was tasked with building an environmental department and company-wide environmental program. Mike worked with that company for more than 30 years.

Jackie and Mike are sustaining life members of the SFA Alumni Association; major supporters of the former SFA Varsity Club, now named the Purple Lights Fund; and have endowed several scholarships in support of areas across campus.

Endowments include the Mike and Jackie Harbordt Ladyjack Basketball Scholarship, Harbordt-Ward STEM Scholarship, Harbordt-Shumard STEM Scholarship, Katherine Harbordt Studer Scholarship in Criminal Justice, and the Julie Harbordt Whipple Scholarship in Elementary Education.

Since 2002, Mike has served in various positions on the SFA Alumni Association board, including president. He also has served on the SFASU Foundation board and SFA’s former Alumni Foundation as chair.

In 1994, Mike was named a Distinguished Alumnus and, just this year, he was named SFA Alumni Association director emeritus.

Jackie co-chaired SFA’s Hoops for Scholars Campaign for several years, raising approximately $100,000 for the program.

The Harbordts will be inducted into the Fredonia Society.

Dr. Michara Delaney-Fields, center, was recently hired to head Stephen F. Austin State University’s newly restructured Office of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. She brings with her more than a decade of experience in secondary and higher education. Photo by Hardy Meredith

December 4, 2019 Nacogdoches — As a kindergartener at an elementary school in southeast Houston, Dr. Michara Delaney-Fields fell in love with the world of education and aspired to hold an important position within it one day.

Her dream has since come true several times over, most recently when she was selected to serve as Stephen F. Austin State University’s new assistant dean of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

“In this role, it is my goal to create a network of caring responses to our diverse student body,” Delaney-Fields said. “This would be enacted by ensuring critical services and programs are accessible to all students, as well as increasing their knowledge of the resources available to them.”

The office houses a number of student service-based areas on campus, including, Counseling Services, Disability Services, Veterans Resource Center and Health Services.

“We want to ensure that we are meeting the students where they are, that we are providing our students with the skills necessary for this global society and equipping them with the ability to be culturally responsive and sensitive through our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.”

Delaney-Fields received a bachelor’s degree in health studies and two master’s degrees, one in health education and the other in human performance and kinesiology, from Texas Southern University. During her formative years in higher education, she saw what was once a passion grow into a future.

“The biggest educational transformation for me was the observation and teachings of my department head as a young professional,” Delaney-Fields said. “I watched her have a daily effect on students and administrators. It was then that I decided my goal, despite previous leanings and plans, was to obtain my doctorate in higher education.”

To that end, Delaney-Fields was successful, going on to receive a doctoral degree in educational leadership from Prairie View A&M University.

For more than 11 years, Delaney-Fields has served in various capacities as an educator, advisor and mentor. She began her professional career as a teacher in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, teaching in the K-12 public school system for two years before transitioning to higher education.

“I have formed an unbreakable bond with this career,” Delaney-Fields said. “Although it is challenging, it is far more rewarding. I fell in love with being able to connect with students, faculty, staff and others in ways that enhance, develop and encourage a positive experience. Education has always been my passion, but it is humbling when it becomes your purpose.”

In 2017, Delaney-Fields and her family, moved to Albany, Georgia, where she served as interim dean of students, interim vice president for student affairs, and assistant vice president for student affairs and student engagement at Albany State University. This also is where she met her husband, John Fields Jr., SFA’s new chief of police.

“Dr. Fields comes to us with Texas roots and senior-level leadership in the field of student affairs,” said Dr. Adam Peck, SFA’s dean of student affairs. “We had an impressive field of candidates, but she really stood out among this group. In addition to her remarkable qualifications, she also has the personal qualities that are going to assist her in our mission.”

Creation of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion officially puts a name to a long-held university mission that considers the student body’s ethnic, ability-centered, racial and background diversity first in all ways possible.

“This can include students who are in crisis, struggling with counseling issues, injured on or off campus, or who are part of our underrepresented populations,” Delaney-Fields said. “The intent of this position is to foster an open and welcoming environment where our students, faculty and staff of all backgrounds can learn, work and serve while embracing all human differences and building on the commonalities.”

SFA’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is a revamped version of the university’s former Office of Student Support Services. As part of the office’s internal restructuring, it now houses the Office of Multicultural Affairs and no longer includes the direct responsibility of coordinating Title IX office operations.

However, regardless of the name’s alteration, “equity, diversity and inclusion have always been a part of the mission of areas like Disability Services, community standards, Counseling Services and other areas this position oversees,” Peck said.

“Though Dr. Fields has only been at SFA a short time, we've already had broad conversations about our short- and long-term goals for this position,” Peck added. “Our first priority is to help her meet and interact with as many members of our community as possible. Ultimately, our ‘north star’ is to make the experiences of all of our students better. We want to play a role in attracting diverse students, faculty and staff and ensuring that they feel well supported at SFA.”

Delaney-Fields is glad to be back in her home state and says she is already in love with Nacogdoches’ friendly community. She also is excited to help shape the restructured office in campus-wide, positive ways.

“Diversity is a call toward action,” Delaney-Fields said. “To enact diversity, we must be inclusive. To be inclusive, we must be equitable. Diversity and inclusion should not make a majority of our students feel intruded upon or a minority of our students feel neglected. It should be natural and business as usual. This position will create this network of caring responses for all of our students through the SFA Way, which highlights the five principles of respect, caring, responsibility, unity and integrity.”

November 18, 2019 - A Stephen F. Austin State University art student will compete in an episode of “Forged in Fire” that will air between 9 and 10 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, on the History Channel.

Nacogdoches junior Kevin Burgess is an art metals student studying with Lauren Selden, professor of metalworking and jewelry in the School of Art.

Produced by Outpost Entertainment, “Forged in Fire” is a competition in which four bladesmiths compete in timed elimination rounds to forge bladed weapons for a chance to win a $10,000 prize and be named a “Forged in Fire” champion. In its seventh season, the competition, which is judged by experts in weapon history and use, tests some of the best in the industry as they attempt to re-create historic weapons.

The road to the reality series competition began in the summer of 2018 when Burgess, at the urging of a friend and fellow bladesmith, signed up online as a contestant. After an initial  screening process, Burgess was required to complete a form where he outlined his experience and described the bladesmith equipment he used and the longest blade he had forged.

“They required you to have forged at least a 15-inch blade at some time in your career, and at that point, I had forged a blade only about 13 inches long,” he said. “I had a big chunk of material left over from another project, so I went crazy and forged a full 32-inch arming sword.”

Burgess was then contacted by show officials for a Skype interview where he displayed some of his creations. From that point on, it was a waiting game until this past summer when he was contacted again for a final interview to determine if he would actually compete. In early August, he flew to the forge location where filming began.

The results of the competition will be aired Wednesday night.

Burgess first became interested in bladesmithing about four years ago after watching “Man at Arms: Reforged” YouTube videos where skilled bladesmiths recreate weapons from TV shows and video games. He is currently a member in and an apprentice with the American Bladesmith Society, hoping to eventually pursue journeyman distinction.

He started his college career at SFA studying computer science but soon changed his major to art where he could follow his passion. Following graduation, he plans to earn a master’s degree with the hope of teaching bladesmithing at the college level.

“Bladesmithing is something I am really passionate about,” he said, “and I’d like to pass that on to the next generation.”

Cutline: SFA art student Kevin Burgess of Nacogdoches will compete on the reality show “Forged in Fire” at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, on the History Channel.

Photo courtesy of Maj. James Attaway.

November 7, 2019 Nacogdoches — History has been made for Stephen F. Austin State University’s Army ROTC program with the Ranger Challenge team placing second at the Apache Brigade Head-to-Head Ranger Competition at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma.

“Winning the competition put SFA on the map,” said Maj. James Attaway, SFA professor of military science. “Some of the other universities had not heard of us, but halfway through the competition, it was apparent they were noticing the preparedness of our cadets. By the end of the competition, everyone knew us.”

The achievement advances the team to the Sandhurst Military Skills competition, which will be held in April at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Among 274 ROTC programs nationwide, only 16 teams advanced to compete at the Sandhurst competition.

By Emily Brown, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.