SFA University
September 28, 2015 - Stephen F. Austin State University’s Culinary Café will host an opening reception for artist and alumnus Jason Daniel from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, October 3, in the Culinary Café.
“We encourage our SFA family and the Nacogdoches community to enjoy a night with us at the Culinary Café,” said Dr. Chay Runnels, SFA’s hospitality administration program coordinator and graduate program coordinator.
The Culinary Café features artwork by various artists each semester, and Daniel’s collection has been selected for display during fall 2015.
A Nacogdoches native, Daniel earned his Bachelor and Master of Fine Arts from SFA. For the past 11 years, he has taught art at Jersey Village High School in Houston. Before teaching high school, Daniel taught studio art at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for eight years.
“Exhibiting my work at SFA is especially important to me because my roots are here at SFA and in East Texas,” Daniel said. “I discovered that I wanted to be an artist my sophomore year. This was a turning point in my life and has determined so much for me. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to exhibit my work at my alma mater.”
As is reflected in his featured artwork at the Culinary Café, Daniel’s primary interest has been landscape painting since the early ’80s. However, he is expanding his creative interests by including a more surrealist approach to drawing and painting.
“In a sense, all the landscapes have an East Texas pineywoods feel to them. I’m fascinated by how design principles used in landscape painting can be put to a range of purposes,” Daniel said. “In some of the more recent work, I’ve used a wider range of imagery. The imagery is discovered in an intuitive way through the process of working. All of the work is mostly unplanned.”
The reception is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served, and the dress is casual.
For more information, contact Runnels at (936) 468-2060 or email runnelsc@sfasu.edu.
September 17, 2015 - Stephen F. Austin State University’s Marleta Chadwick Student Financial Advisors’ benefits are twofold. Not only do the advisors offer students and the community free financial advice and money management tips, but advisors also are practicing skills that will benefit them once they leave the university and begin their careers.
The Nelson Rusche College of Business created the Student Financial Advisors organization in 2014 to emphasize financial literacy and smart money management to help people dealing with financial crises. The advisors assist individuals with budgeting, credit card and debt management, identity theft, and fraud.
Student director and SFA business administration graduate student Brian Cook has been with the program since its inception and is looking forward to the program’s development. “We counsel people financially. We help them make smarter decisions and realize the impact these decisions have on their lives,” Cook said.
Four student assistants work alongside Cook as student advisors. Mi-Kayla Lemon, Clark Taylor and Flo Soto specialize in community efforts, while Corey Belcher and Cook focus on the SFA campus. In addition, Soto handles Web and media projects and Belcher is in charge of the organization’s social media presence. Cook said the increase in student advisors should yield more workshops this semester.
The five-member group shares their financial knowledge through presentations to community and campus organizations, groups, and teams. Women’s and homeless shelters, United Way, and churches are some of the organizations the advisors assist.
The advisors also reach out to students at both SFA and beyond. Lemon explained the organization works with Center High School students to help them prepare for the real world, and at SFA, the advisors talk to SFA 101 freshmen seminar and other students to help educate them on financial issues.
“I feel students have a closer connection with us because we can relate to them,” Lemon said. “It’s a good feeling to see the transformation when students understand their financial situation.”
Recently, the organization moved into a new office on the first floor of the R. E. McGee Building, Room 169. This location has a reception area and private offices for each advisor to counsel individuals on sensitive financial issues.
Cook said the new location also enables advisors to meet with walk-in clients. Walk-ins are welcome from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon Fridays. Visitors also can schedule advising appointments.
“It is an easy process. Clients can come in and fill out a quick form telling us the area they want to focus on,” Lemon said. “It takes less than 20 minutes.”
Cook encourages visitors to partake in this free service and stresses that the advisors have all been in their shoes and know the struggles they may be facing.
“We have people from all walks of life come here. We never talk down to or judge anyone,” Cook said. “We are here to help and genuinely want to meet our clients’ needs.”
Dr. Banker Phares, SFA economics and finance professor and director of the financial banking program, is impressed with the students’ work and dedication. “Their commitment to helping others reassures me that this generation of students is going to make a significant and positive contribution to society,” Phares said.
The office and program’s growth is a result of a recent gift to the university by the Marleta Chadwick Trust. This gift resulted in the naming of the Marleta Chadwick Student Financial Advisors, as well as the Chadwick Family Banking Program within the Nelson Rusche College of Business.
“We are so appreciative of the generosity of the Chadwick Family, as these programs will support hands-on learning experiences that are very beneficial to our students and will be an asset to the entire community,” Dr. Tim Bisping, dean of the Nelson Rusche College of Business, said.
The gift also will support a scholarship program for Center High School graduates who wish to pursue degrees in either SFA’s James I. Perkins College of Education or the Nelson Rusche College of Business.
“We have a great relationship with the Chadwick family and this has opened so many doors,” Cook said. “Having the capital to set long-term budgets, goals and grow the program as needed is great.”
To take advantage of the free services and schedule an appointment, email student.financial.advisors.sfa@gmail.com. Request a presentation by accessing sfastudentfinancialadvisors.wordpress.com and click on the “Request a Presentation” tab.
September 16, 2015 - NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s fashion and interior design student organizations are sponsoring the “Green is the New Black” recyclable fashion show this fall as the community event for the Blue Jeans Go Green Denim Recycling Program.
The show will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom.
The non-refundable entry fee for designers is $20. The top 15 designs will be featured on the runway and others will be displayed on mannequins as an exhibit. Entries are due by Friday, Oct. 9. SFA faculty and staff members, students, and community members are invited to attend.
The cost of admission to the show for individuals is one piece of used denim clothing, and families are asked to donate a minimum of two pieces. There will be denim dropboxes located at the entrance to the Grand Ballroom.
Jamie Cupit, SFA human sciences instructor who is overseeing the fashion show, is looking forward to showcasing the students’ work as well as engaging the community. Cotton Inc. from New York will be on campus to film the show as promotion for Blue Jeans Go Green.
“This is an excellent opportunity to market SFA since we are one of three universities in the country participating,” Cupit said.
Students of all majors are encouraged to enter designs. Designs this year will be Halloween costumes rather than traditional apparel. All entries must be constructed from recyclable materials with one component of the costume being recycled denim. The show will be suitable for all ages, Cupit said.
“There is a dual purpose for this show. One, we want to collect denim for Blue Jeans Go Green. Two, we want to increase awareness of and promote sustainability by encouraging attendees to think ‘outside the box’ this year when planning Halloween costumes,” Cupit said.
The prize for first place is $500, second place is $300 and third place is $200. There will be prizes, giveaways, refreshments and more during intermission.
Cupit said the fashion and interior design student organizations also have invited sustainability clubs and organizations to showcase the work they do on campus by setting up booths around the room. There will be an exhibit featuring head-to-toe recycled denim fashion looks created by Nacogdoches High School students in fashion design classes. One of these students will win $250 based on attendee votes at the show.
For more information, contact Cupit at jrcupit@sfasu.edu.
September 15, 2015 - Stephen F. Austin State University’s hospitality administration program is heating things up with a new outdoor kitchen equipped with two grills, two refrigerators, burners, an outdoor sink and a pizza oven.
All of the outdoor kitchen equipment is transportable and has self-contained preparation and cooking stations. The outdoor kitchen is located behind the Culinary Café on SFA’s campus.
Dr. Chay Runnels, hospitality administration program coordinator and graduate program coordinator, boasts the many opportunities this new equipment will offer students.
“We are really trying to push our students’ comfort level and let them think bigger,” Runnels said. “We are always sitting around dreaming, hoping we can expand our program and reach, and I think this equipment helps us do that.”
The new equipment will enable Chef Todd Barrios, clinical instructor, to teach students new cooking techniques. For example, the iron plate burner set will be used to teach pan searing, blackening and sautéing techniques. The state-of-the-art grills have infrared burners for the rotisserie, which is a technique students may be unfamiliar with. Students also will learn to cook with a convection oven by using the new pizza oven.
“Our main focus is to give SFA students opportunities to learn something different as well as offer additional opportunities for hosting events for our student organizations,” Barrios said.
Runnels said tickets for the Culinary Café sold out in 53 minutes this semester; moreover, the program is looking for additional ways to showcase the students’ abilities to a wider audience with the outdoor kitchen.
“We want to use the space as much as we can, and we have a lot of students who aspire to become event planners and want to be able to utilize their skills,” Runnels said. “The outdoor kitchen is another way for students to learn about equipment they can use in real life.”
For more information, contact Runnels at runnelsc@sfasu.edu.
Cutline: Chef Todd Barrios, Stephen F. Austin State University’s hospitality administration clinical instructor, is looking forward to the opportunities the program’s new outdoor kitchen will provide SFA students who are preparing for careers in the hospitality industry. The outdoor kitchen is equipped with two grills, two refrigerators, burners, an outdoor sink and a pizza oven. The outdoor kitchen is located behind the Culinary Café on SFA’s campus.
September 10, 2015 - NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture in partnership with Nacogdoches Parks and Recreation will host NacogdoTREES, a free, community-wide competition celebrating the natural beauty of the city and campus, through Sunday, Nov. 1.
“The goal of the NacogdoTREES competition is to highlight the importance of urban and community trees, raise awareness of their ecological benefits, introduce the community to the field of forestry and encourage citizens to spend time outdoors,” said Sarah Fuller, outreach coordinator for SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture.
Individual competition categories include: largest tree circumference, largest crown, tallest tree, best shade tree and best tree overall. Competition rules and regulations require participants to obtain accurate measurements such as tree height and crown spread. Faculty members within the college developed videos, which are available on the competition’s Web page, that guide participants through the process of gathering basic forestry measurements.
“Keep in mind that it’s not just all about numbers and measurements,” said Dr. Shelby Laird, assistant professor of forestry at SFA. “The best overall tree may be the tree with the best story, the most fans or just simply the most beautiful. We really hope that NacogdoTREES will encourage people to get out to some of our amazing city parks and recreation areas on campus.”
The competition also will serve as a learning opportunity for beginning forestry students at SFA. Students enrolled in Laird’s careers and competencies in forestry course will execute technical measurements needed to determine the winners of those categories.
Laird said she also hopes the competition will provide insight into what specifically endears individuals to certain trees, as well as provide baseline data for future research.
Trees eligible for submission must be located on the SFA campus or on properties managed by Nacogdoches Parks and Recreation. For competition guidelines and entry form, a list of prizes, as well as area maps and resources, visit forestry.sfasu.edu/nacogdotrees/.
September 9, 2015 - NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Along with the opening of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art Faculty Exhibition on Thursday, Sept. 10, in Cole Art Center will be the opening of a show in memory of two former SFA faculty artists.
“In Memory of Two Former SFA Art Professors: John Daniel & Gary Frields” opens at 6 p.m. in the Reception Gallery in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House. Also opening that night is a show by Shaun Roberts, assistant professor of painting at SFA.
The Daniel show includes digital drawings, prints and mixed media, while the Frields exhibition features digital drawings, traditional drawings and mixed media sculpture. Daniel taught art at SFA for 38 years, and Frields taught for 26.
“The Central theme to Gary’s work was that he had no central theme,” Tamara Robertson, Frield’s widow, said in describing her husband’s work. “He often said he wanted his works to look like a hundred different artists created them, or maybe a mad man, or Bigfoot, or an alien experiencing Earth for the first time.”
In selecting works for the show, Robertson said she primarily tried to find works as different from each other as possible. Frield’s described his own work as: “I begin most works with no attempt to make any particular thing. I proceed relentlessly relying on emotional intuitive reactions while exploring materials, responding as things happen that are not planned. Instinctive discoveries fuel insights while building trust in creating through this working method. This process is suitable to my desire for an unexpected artistic fusion by allowing acquired knowledge and skills to merge with my subconscious as I await whatever might be unveiled.”
“Forms related to Gary’s life would often appear in his work, as he explored the intuitive art-making process,” Robertson said.
Daniel gave the following artist statement in his 2007 catalogue: “I want my art to have the power and appeal of art made by the great primitive societies. I admire the rich vocabulary and the urgency of that art. The objects artists made were of primal importance in people’s everyday life. I want my work to be that intimate. Ideally, the art object would link the viewer to his ancient humanity and to his own personal vulnerability. The art object is a thing, self-contained, finite, but it can be evocative of past feeling and knowledge beyond our comprehension. At the same time, the art object connects the viewer to his own time and space. Sometimes that connecting works best through lightness or humor. Always, it works through what the artist’s hands make.”
These exhibitions and openings are sponsored in part by Friends of the Visual Arts, Nacogdoches Junior Forum and Hampton Inn. Admission is free. All three exhibitions run through Oct. 17. For additional information, call (936) 468-1131.
September 5, 2015 - NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m.Thursday, September 10, in the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches.
SFA Gardens’ horticulturists Dawn Stover and Greg Grant will present “A Plant Preview of the Upcoming Fabulous Fall Festival Plant Sale.” Their combined program will provide important information and images of the various special, popular and unusual plants available at the sale.
The annual fall sale will be held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, October 3, at the SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center. The sale will feature a wide variety of hard-to-find, “Texas-tough” plants, including Texas natives, heirlooms, tropicals, perennials, shrubs, trees and exclusive SFA introductions. Most of the featured plants are produced by staff members and volunteers of the SFA Gardens.
This popular event benefits the SFA Mast Arboretum, Pineywoods Native Plant Center, Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden and Gayla Mize Garden, along with educational programs that are hosted monthly at the gardens.
Parking for the annual fall sale will be available at SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center, and visitors are encouraged to arrive early and bring a wagon for their plants. For more information about the sale, call (936) 468-4404 or visit www.sfagardens.sfasu.edu.
The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month at SFA’s Pineywoods Native Plant Center. A rare plant raffle will be held 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 for the lecture series is available at the nearby Raguet Elementary School, 2428 Raguet St., with continual shuttle service to the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building.
For more information, call (936) 468-1832 or email grantdamon@sfasu.edu.
September 5, 2015 - NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, September 10, in the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St. in Nacogdoches.
SFA Gardens’ horticulturists Dawn Stover and Greg Grant will present “A Plant Preview of the Upcoming Fabulous Fall Festival Plant Sale.” Their combined program will provide important information and images of the various special, popular and unusual plants available at the sale.
The annual fall sale will be held 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, October 3, at the SFA Pineywoods Native Plant Center. The sale will feature a wide variety of hard-to-find, “Texas-tough” plants, including Texas natives, heirlooms, tropicals, perennials, shrubs, trees and exclusive SFA introductions. Most of the featured plants are produced by staff members and volunteers of the SFA Gardens.
This popular event benefits the SFA Mast Arboretum, Pineywoods Native Plant Center, Ruby M. Mize Azalea Garden and Gayla Mize Garden, along with educational programs that are hosted monthly at the gardens.
Parking for the annual fall sale will be available at SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center, and visitors are encouraged to arrive early and bring a wagon for their plants. For more information about the sale, call (936) 468-4404 or visit www.sfagardens.sfasu.edu.
The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month at SFA’s Pineywoods Native Plant Center. A rare plant raffle will be held 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 for the lecture series is available at the nearby Raguet Elementary School, 2428 Raguet St., with continual shuttle service to the Ina Brundrett Conservation Education Building.
For more information, call (936) 468-1832 or email grantdamon@sfasu.edu.
September 4, 2015 - NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and Friends of the Visual Arts have announced that Julie McSwain, who graduated from Center High School this past May, is this year’s recipient of the East Texas Regional High School Art Scholarship.
The SFA Friends of the Visual Arts Board provides an annual scholarship to one deserving high school senior from East Texas who plans to enroll in the SFA School of Art to help them further their educational and professional goals in the field of art. McSwain is currently attending SFA.
“Julie is the type of student I can easily find many positive things to write about,” Center art teacher Ruby Woodward wrote in nominating her for the award last spring. “The quality of her work is the first thing that comes to mind, as she is not one to settle on the first (or easiest) idea. She really dives into her work and is not content until she produces something beautiful.”
In her artist’s statement describing her work, McSwain wrote: “Creating art is one thing that takes my mind off all of the chaos and stress and responsibilities in my life. It can take you to a different world and make hours fly by, yet it only feels like a few minutes have passed. I often times relate my art to music, another thing that helps me escape reality. While most of my life my art has consisted of pencil and paper, the past couple of years I have been fortunate to digitally create art using Illustrator and other programs, and I’ve recently really enjoyed using charcoal and prismacolors and some painting. However, no matter the materials I use, I enjoy creating art not only because it is something that helps pass the time, but it also makes me feel a million times better and impacts my life in so many ways.”
“There has never been a project I’ve assigned that Julie did not deliver something top of the line,” Woodard wrote. “This student is ready for college level work. I was very pleased to hear of her enrollment at SFA. She will be an asset to your art department.”
The SFA Friends of the Visual Arts is made up of community members who support the arts in East Texas and provide monetary assistance to students enrolling in the School of Art by conducting fundraisers, such as the annual 12 x 12 event each July.
September 3, 2015 - The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “Tomato Republic” at 7 p.m. Friday, September 11, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.
In this hour-long film, documentarians Jenna Jackson, Anthony Jackson and Whitney Graham Carter delve into the thoughts and feelings of rural East Texas residents during a heated mayoral race in Jacksonville, Texas, home of the annual Tomato Festival.
Texas Monthly writer Skip Hollandsworth described the film as “a marvel.”
“Unlike any other documentary I have ever seen, it takes its audience straight into the glorious, laugh-out-loud eccentricities of small-town Texas life,” he wrote.
The film website at tomatorepublic.vhx.tv/ has the following synopsis: “A flamboyant restaurateur, a good ol' boy and a political ingénue walk into a small-town political contest and compete head to head to head for the non-paid mayoral seat of the Tomato Republic. What happens next is anyone’s guess.”
“Tomato Republic” premiered last year at the Dallas Film Festival where it was given a special jury prize. It was also screened at the 2015 Nacogdoches Film Festival.
This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Night Film Series and is sponsored in part by the Nacogdoches Film Festival, William Arscott, The Liberty Bell, Nacogdoches Junior Forum, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, Main Street Nacogdoches, David Kulhavy, John and Kristen Heath, Brad Maule, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens and Jim and Mary Neal.
The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.
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