SFA University
June 6, 2017 Nacogdoches — Have you ever seen a lumberjack use chopsticks?
Recently, Stephen F. Austin State University students in the Rusche College of Business traveled more than 8,000 miles to Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China, for an international study abroad experience through the university’s Wall-to-Wall Business travel program.
For 11 days, 25 SFA students enrolled in MGT 470: Hong Kong Business and Culture: Where East Meets West, visited various companies, historical landmarks and dined like the locals.
Drs. Mikhail Kouliavtsev, chair of SFA’s Department of Economics and Finance, and Matt Lindsey, associate professor in the Department of Management, Marketing and International Business, facilitated the trip.
“International experiences are very important for our students. Experiences like this often reshape the student’s view of the world,” Lindsey said.
The group visited many Hong Kong markets where capitalism is on full display such as the Sham Shum Po District Golden Computer Center and electronics markets, clothing markets and many street markets, including Stanley Market and the Temple Street Night Market.
Students also attended a presentation by Dr. Forrest Yang, a marketing professor at the City University of Hong Kong, who highlighted the importance of building relationships to conduct business, as well as the tax-free port and low-tax structure, which made Hong Kong a key business location for multiple companies.
“Going to Hong Kong made it clear the key to doing business in that region is understanding the culture. In our view of the world, laws shape how we do business. In China, the relationships you have with your business partners trump everything,” Lindsey said. “We also realized our world is much larger than the region we grew up in and that it is possible to work internationally in a location like Hong Kong.”
For many SFA students like Johnathan Liker, a senior management major from Center, this was their first time visiting a country outside the United States.
“What surprised me the most was being a foreigner and learning how to navigate in a different country,” Liker said.
Likewise, Samuel Johnson, an SFA graduate student in the Master of Business Administration program, said this trip opened his eyes to new career opportunities.
“It was an eye-opening experience and made me look at my options,” Johnson said. “I feel more comfortable with the idea of working abroad or venturing out to other places I didn’t consider before.”
Students toured the first microbrewery in Hong Kong, Young Master Microbrewery, and witnessed the production process and discussed product marketing. Additionally, students visited the Tse Sui Luen Jewelry factory, where they watched skilled craftsmen construct custom jewelry.
“I learned there was more behind-the-scenes work for a product than what I thought,” said Braxton Berthot, junior general business major from Douglass. “To see the jewelers cleaning and cutting the stones to perfection so they could be sold was very cool.”
In a backstage tour of the Cantonese Opera, students met with the owner and music director who promotes and preserves the ancient art form.
The group also visited Victoria Peak, which has the highest property values in the world, rode the historic Star Ferry, ate a traditional Chinese dinner at the Jumbo floating restaurant in the Aberdeen Harbor, saw Giant Buddha and visited many temples.
“We were exposed to a more diverse culture than we typically would be in East Texas,” Liker said. “Experiencing this diversity and interacting with a variety of people allowed me to understand how this experience could relate in an international business environment. Knowledge of cultural differences will allow me to establish a connection with a client while meeting organizational goals.”
To help gain a firsthand example of a U.S. company adapting to a different market, the students visited Disney Hong Kong.
“It was interesting to see key attractions like the Haunted Mansion rebranded as the Mystic Manor due to cultural issues about ghosts,” Lindsey said. “Other than seeing squid jerky at concession stands and a variety of different foods, it was easy to forget we were in Hong Kong while at the park.”
Another stop during the trip was Macau, a Special Administrative Region like Hong Kong. Here, students went to the top of the 1,109-foot Macau Tower.
“Macau is the Las Vegas of the Far East and caters to the very wealthy in China,” Lindsey said. “It became obvious that even the top 1 percent of a country of 1.3 billion can provide a huge target market.”
Outside Hong Kong, SFA students traveled to Tai O Fishing Village on the Lantau Island, where people live in stilt houses, and then to Shenzhen, China — one of China’s largest cities.
June 5, 2017 Nacogdoches – Images depicting Nacogdoches’ history, beauty and artistry are now available to share as notecards and postcards through an art scholarship fundraiser organized by the Friends of the Visual Arts at Stephen F. Austin State University.
Local photographers provided the images for the eight different designs featured on the 5-by-4½-inch notecards with envelopes and the 4-by-6-inch postcards that will be available for purchase during the Texas Blueberry Festival on June 10.
“The FVA is grateful to the talented artists and supportive people who generously allowed us to use their artworks to benefit this art scholarship fundraiser,” said Jean Stephens, FVA president.
Available images include:
• “The Messenger” – Sculpture by Joe Barrington (winner of the first Sculpture For All); photograph by Bill Nieberding.
• “Bunny” – Sculpture by Jeffie Brewer.
• “Sunset Sky” – Oil painting by Peter Andrew; from the collection of SFA Regent Scott Coleman.
• Historic Zion Hill Baptist Church window – Photograph by Christopher Talbot.
• Surfin’ Steve, SFA campus – Photograph by Bill Nieberding.
• Downtown Nacogdoches – Photograph by Ryan Russell.
• Thomas J. Rusk monument, Oak Grove Cemetery – Photograph by Stan Bohon.
• “Lighting the Copal” – Dia de los Muertos Fiesta, downtown Nacogdoches; photograph by Bill Nieberding.
Project committee members included Nieberding, Bohon, Stephens, Lily Phou and John Handley, director of SFA art galleries.
Notecards are $3 each, or four for $10 or eight for $20. Postcards are $1 each, or four for $3 or eight for $6.
FVA volunteers will sell the cards during the Blueberry Festival at the organization’s booth located in front of The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House on Main Street. Gumbo, blueberry tea and blueberry muffins will also be sold. All proceeds will benefit scholarships awarded through the SFA School of Art.
Following the festival, the cards can be purchased at Cole Art Center. For additional information, call (936) 468-6557.
May 31, 2017 Nacogdoches — Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8, in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St. Dr. Dennis Werner, horticulture professor in Raleigh, North Carolina, will present “Is Redbud the Next Crape Myrtle?”
Born and raised in York County, Pennsylvania, Werner gardened at an early age and grew up exploring the fields and woodlots of South Central Pennsylvania. These interests led him to complete a bachelor’s degree at Pennsylvania State University and then master’s and doctoral degrees at Michigan State University with an emphasis in plant breeding and genetics.
Werner was hired at North Carolina State University in 1979 to teach and conduct research in peach breeding and genetics. His efforts in this area have led to the development of numerous peach cultivars that are widely grown in the Southeastern U.S. In 1998, his research efforts shifted to ornamental plant breeding and genetics, focusing on Cercis (redbud) and Buddleja (butterfly bush).
In 2013, the American Horticulture Society awarded him the Luther Burbank Award for extraordinary achievement in plant breeding. He has twice received the North Carolina State University Outstanding Teacher Award.
An avid gardener, Werner’s home landscape includes a 2,000-square-foot herbaceous perennial border and a diverse collection of woody shrubs and trees. He has been a long-time friend of the JC Raulston Arboretum and a member of the American Society of Horticultural Science. He was named a fellow of ASHS in 2011.
The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare-plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.
Parking is available at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.
For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.
May 29, 2017 Nacogdoches – A performance by 12-year-old Nacogdoches pianist Antonio “Nio” Ajero will be showcased on an upcoming episode of “From the Top,” the hit National Public Radio program featuring America’s best young classical musicians.
Hosted by acclaimed pianist Christopher O’Riley, the show will air at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 3, on Red River Radio. The episode, available for streaming and podcast at fromthetop.org, was presented by LeTourneau University and Red River Radio and taped before a live audience at LeTourneau’s Belcher Center in March.
Nio is a student of Linda Parr in the Music Preparatory Division of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music. He is also winner of the 2017 Baylor/Waco Solo Piano Competition and a National Gold Medal from The Royal Conservatory for earning the highest score in the United States on their Level 9 Piano Exam.
On the NPR broadcast, Nio performs Caprice à la Scarlatti in G major, Op. 14, No. 3 by Ignacy Jan Paderewski.
A seventh-grade student at Mike Moses Middle School, Nio is the son of Dr. Mario Ajero, professor of piano at SFA, and Gina Ajero.
May 26, 2017 Nacogdoches – Those attending this year’s Texas Blueberry Festival June 10 in Nacogdoches will once again see familiar costumed characters walking the downtown brick streets and have the opportunity to view a film depicting life in Texas’ oldest town in 1938.
Students in the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will be promoting the upcoming SFA SummerStage Festival, while the SFA School of Art will host three screenings of “Found Footage: Rediscovering Nacogdoches” and the George Hooker short promotional film “Nacogdoches: The Oldest Town” at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. inside The Cole Art Center at The Old Opera House.
“Found Footage” features scenes of Nacogdoches people and businesses in 1938 documented on film. The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and Humanities Texas, in association with the Charles and Lois Marie Bright Foundation, championed the effort to restore the forgotten 16mm film, labeled “Nacogdoches 1938.” Discovered at Nacogdoches High School in 1967 but forgotten until a few years ago, the film was digitally restored and viewed in 2014 for the first time in 70 years.
Also throughout the day Saturday outside Cole Art Center, theatre students will appear in costumes portraying popular characters from fairy tales and children’s stories. Children (and adults) will have the opportunity to talk with the students and take photos with them, according to Angela Bacarisse, professor of design and arts management at SFA. The School of Theatre’s trademark dragon character, Schlaftnicht, from the children’s show “Trudi and the Minstrel,” performed the summer of 2005, will make his annual Blueberry Festival appearance. A costumed dinosaur will make its debut at the festival this year.
Theatre students will also promote this year’s SummerStage Festival, which kicks off Tuesday, June 27, and runs through July 15. The family friendly festival will feature the children’s favorite “Ivy + Bean the Musical,” with book, music and lyrics by Scott Elmegreen and based on books by Annie Barrows as illustrated by Sophie Blackall, and the America classic “The Miracle Worker,” a three-act play by William Gibson based on Helen Keller's autobiography, “The Story of My Life.”
Theatre students will also sell crafts and do face painting as a fundraiser for their study abroad trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland in August to produce a student-written play.
The Cole Art Center traditionally serves as an official “oasis” during the festival, according to Lisa Steed, events coordinator for SFA galleries, with tables and chairs set up inside where festival patrons can escape the heat. The art center’s restrooms will also be available to festival-goers.
Volunteers with the Friends of the Visual Arts will man an outside tent where they will sell homemade gumbo, blueberry tea and blueberry baked goods with proceeds going toward funding grants and scholarships the FVA awards annually to students in the School of Art. The FVA will also sell newly available notecards that feature photos of Nacogdoches landmarks as photographed by Christopher Talbot, Bill Nieberding, Ryan Russell, Stanley Bohon and other local photographers.
June 10 is also the final day to view the Texas National exhibition and an exhibition of work by this year’s Texas National juror, Benito Huerta, currently displayed at Cole Art Center.
For performance times and ticketing information for the SummerStage Festival, visit theatre.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS. Performances are in W.M. Turner Auditorium and the Downstage Theatre in the Griffith Fine Arts Building on the SFA campus.
May 26, 2017 Nacogdoches – The Stephen F. Austin State University Campus Recreation Department will host the fifth annual Worsham Bass Tournament on Saturday, June 24, at Jackson Hill Park and Marina on Lake Sam Rayburn in Broaddus.
All proceeds go to the Dr. Raymond Lee Worsham Scholarship, which provides financial assistance to student employees of SFA’s Campus Recreation Department.
Dr. Raymond “Ray” Worsham was SFA intramural department director for 43 years. The scholarship was established through the Alumni Association to honor Worsham’s dedication and lasting impact at the university.
Participants can register for the tournament online at www.sfaalumni.com/event/Bass2017, mail a registration form to the SFA Alumni Association or register at the Jackson Hill Marina boat ramp before the tournament starts.
There will be a 60 percent payout for first, second and third places, as well as a prize package for “Big Bass.” The tournament begins with a shotgun start approximately 30 minutes before sunrise. Entry fee is $150 per boat.
For more information, contact Sarah Kouliavtsev at KouliavtSG@sfasu.edu or the Alumni Association at (936) 468-3407.
May 26, 2017 – The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “Bombs to Birds” at 7 p.m. Friday, June 2, in The Cole Art Center at The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.
A documentary by award-winning photojournalist Richard Michael Pruitt, “Bombs to Birds” explores the rich history of the Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge, 7,000 acres set aside to protect one of the highest quality old-growth bottom land hardwood forests in the southeastern United States and the wildlife that inhabit it, according to information at imdb.com.
Home to a munitions plant from 1941 to 1994, the EPA designated the land as a Superfund site in 1990. The Army's Base Realignment and Closure Division was tasked with cleaning the Refuge's acreage in 2000. Today, little progress has been made to clean the original fouled acres, and they remain closed to the public. Community inquiries about the status of the cleanup and Freedom of Information requests have gone unanswered, the website explains.
Narrated by Texas author and performer Kinky Friedman, the 57-minute documentary was filmed in 2012.
This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, Brad Maule, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal, Richard Orton and Main Street Nacogdoches.
The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.
May 8, 2017 - Dr. Tim Clipson, Stephen F. Austin State University professor in the Department of Business Communication and Legal Studies and SFA 101 Freshman Success coordinator, will offer the commencement address during the university’s spring graduation ceremonies Saturday, May 13.
Clipson has served SFA for 36 years in various roles and was recently named professor emeritus in the Department of Business Communication and Legal Studies. He will retire from SFA May 31.
“Dr. Clipson is one of the best-known and beloved professors on campus. His leadership has helped move the university forward, and his legacy will leave a lasting impact on generations of Lumberjacks,” said Dr. Baker Pattillo, university president.
In 1998, Clipson was named coordinator of the SFA 101 Freshman Success program, which seeks to introduce incoming freshmen to life at SFA in a supportive environment. Within the Rusche College of Business, Clipson teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. During the past decade, the majority of his curriculum has focused on business leadership.
“I often say being a university professor is by far one of the best jobs anyone could ever have. For me, it has allowed me to fulfill what I believe I was called to do,” Clipson said.
Prior to joining the Lumberjack family, Clipson taught at Oklahoma State University for two years and in public school at the junior high and high school levels for seven years. He is president of Leadership Is For Everyone (LIFE!), a professional leadership and communication consulting firm.
Clipson received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern Nazarene University, his Master of Education from the University of North Texas, and his doctoral degree with a specialization in business communication/training and development for business and industry from Oklahoma State University.
In 2016, Clipson was the recipient of the Meada Gibbs Outstanding Teacher-Scholar Award for the Association for Business Communication and received the Outstanding Educator Award for the Federation of Business Disciplines.
Clipson’s additional accolades include: Distinguished Paper Award for Association for Business Communication-Southwestern U.S., Teaching Innovation Award and Marlin C. Young Teaching Excellence Award from the Rusche College of Business, SFA Teaching Excellence Award and Distinguished Professor.
Candidates from SFA's James I. Perkins College of Education and College of Fine Arts will participate in a 9:30 a.m. ceremony. Candidates from the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, the Rusche College of Business, the College of Liberal and Applied Arts, and the College of Sciences and Mathematics will participate in a 2 p.m. ceremony. Both ceremonies will be held in Johnson Coliseum on the university campus.
Approximately 1,496 degrees are expected to be awarded, including 1,166 bachelor's, 320 master's and 10 doctoral degrees. More than 350 students are expected to graduate with honors, including 122 cum laude, 113 magna cum laude and 116 summa cum laude. Also, there will be approximately 78 students graduating with university scholar honors.
Master’s and doctoral candidates will graduate with their respective colleges, and Clipson will provide the commencement address at both ceremonies.
May 4, 2017 Nacogdoches, Texas – Registration is underway for the annual Summer Art Academy offered by the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art for the two-week camp that will meet June 5 through 16 on the SFA campus.
Students going into kindergarten through sixth grade may enroll in classes that include drawing, painting, sculpture and ceramics.
“Art Academy is an exciting opportunity for local youth to work with SFA graduate and undergraduate art students to create original projects using a variety of materials.” said Dr. Cala Coats, SFA art instructor and director of the academy.
Classes will meet from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Art Building on Wilson Drive. An exhibition of the students’ work will be at 5 p.m. Friday, June 16, in the Art Building. Afterward, the students may take their work home.
The registration fee on or before June 1 is $185 and includes all art supplies, exhibition expenses and daily refreshments. Late registration after June 1 is $200. Registration information is available at http://www.art.sfasu.edu/artacademy or in person at the School of Art.
For additional information, contact Coats at (936) 468-4264 or by email at coatsc@sfasu.edu
May 1, 2017 Nacogdoches, Texas – The exhibition “Pollinators of the World” will show May 4 through 20 in The Cole Art Center at The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.
“Pollinators of the World” is curated by Charles Jones, director of the LaNana Creek Press at Stephen F. Austin State University, and Dr. David Kulhavy, Lawrence C. Walker Distinguished Professor in the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, SFA.
International in scope, the exhibition features art from United States, Costa Rica, South Korea, Jamaica, Russia and the Czech Republic. Its purpose is to highlight the role of pollinators around the world.
“The recurring theme of bees, hummingbirds and bats indicate the significance and importance of these pollinators,” according to Kulhavy. “These pollinators play a vital role in our ecosystems by carrying pollen from plant to plant to carry genetic material for reproduction of flowering plants.”
Artists and student-artists of all levels were invited to create works on paper that reflected important pollinators from their area of the world. Among the submissions to the exhibit are images of bees, bats, birds, moths, butterflies, flies, beetles, lemurs, bush babies and geckos.
“The refreshing styles and varied mediums of the works in the exhibit portray the rich color, texture and vibrancy of this part of our environment,” Jones said.
The exhibit contains work by local artists Piero Fenci and Liz Akamatsu, Corinne Jones, Charles Jones, Peter Andrew, Neal Cox and students from the SFA School of Art. Also represented are block prints of butterflies, bush babies and geckos from young artists from Nová Paka, the Czech Republic. From Jamaica, artists portray pollinating butterflies, hummingbirds and bats in mixed media. From Alapaevsk, Sverdlovskaya region, Russia, artists from the P.I. Tchaikovsky Children's Art School present color engravings on cardboard of “The Rustle of Wings,” “Dancing on Flowers,” “Velvet Bees” and “Cities of Butterflies.” From South Korea, students portray bees and butterflies in mixed media. Other works come from students from Holy Trinity School, Dallas, presenting bees, bats, hummingbirds and the monarch butterfly.
Jones and Kulhavy included “Pollinator LIVE,” the text of a song on a woodcut print, and woodcuts and poetry quatrains of the “Monarch Butterfly” and the “Zebra Swallowtail” from “A Forest Insect Alphabet” series, LaNana Creek Press.
Admission is free. The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.
Pages
