Chaviers has served SFA since the beginning of lab testing operations and is a key reason students receive clinical test results during their appointment, rather than later. When students arrive for an appointment, they often interact with a nurse or the provider, but little acknowledgement is given to those behind the scenes performing tests. Chaviers should be acknowledged for her dedication to accuracy, thoroughness and efficiency.

Chaviers worked tirelessly in 2020 to bring COVID-19 testing — both rapid molecular testing and polymerase chain reaction testing — to campus.

“She has truly been on the front lines of SFA student healthcare,” said Ashley Ward, medical laboratory scientist.

Hall has led the institutional effectiveness team on many endeavors, including designing and implementing a comprehensive system to keep faculty credentials up-to-date; helping create strategic initiatives and academic unit performance dashboards; providing budget overview development and support; integrating the new Academic Performance Solutions software with Banner; and providing increased communication and awareness on key metrics across campus, among other projects.

“Institutional effectiveness is one of the hardest working, most efficient and most capable units at SFA," said Marc Guidry, associate provost. “Karyn has worked tirelessly for many years with a small staff to meet increasing Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges reporting requirements with little fanfare or recognition. I would like to recognize her many years of dedication, as well as her consistent improvement and innovation of IR operations, and highlight how she has made a major difference in our ability to prepare and write for reaffirmation of our SACSCOC accreditation. We would not have been successful in that effort without her.”

McDaniel helps manage a very busy department at SFA, and she handles challenges every day with grace and humor.

She receives perfect marks from the state on payroll information submissions and rarely makes mistakes. Consultants who have evaluated SFA’s processes have asked for McDaniel’s in-house checklists to use in place of their own.

“Renea is deserving of this acknowledgement because she handles a big job with a lot of moving parts and goes the extra mile for everyone, no matter their title or number of issues,” said Dannette Sales, controller.

To nominate an SFA employee for a Leading Lumberjacks feature, click here.

Diaz was recently the keynote speaker at the 20th annual Region 5 Texas Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education virtual conference.

Her presentation, "Critical race theory: Politicization and the power of truth," shared a deeply personal story and critical examination of the current controversy on critical race theory.

Jeffery received the Texas Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education award for outstanding teaching at the university level during its 20th annual conference.

The award recognizes Jeffery for her incorporation of social justice standards in her classroom and her intentional approach to ensuring student work extends to external audiences as publications and conference presentations.

Straub recently received a research award presented by the Texas Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education.

The award is granted to an individual who has provided significant scholarly contributions to the field of multicultural education or closely related area of study. Straub was recognized for her contributions to empowering preservice teachers with research that has an impact, including critical auto-ethnographical studies on implicit bias, practitioner research on disrupting hegemonic narratives in elementary social studies and case study research for advocacy in bilingual education.

A mandatory furlough day is scheduled for Friday, July 2. Monday, July 5, is not a holiday.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Center for Teaching and Learning's Camp CTL.

The camp is planned for Aug. 10 through 12 and will feature a combination of livestream, in-person and hybrid sessions.

A full schedule and details will be posted to the CTL website in the coming weeks.

SFA’s DeWitt School of Nursing was recently ranked No. 8 in Texas by RN Careers, an online program guide.

RN Careers ranks programs based on tuition costs and national licensure exam pass rates, among other criteria.

The DeWitt School of Nursing received a 97% first-time pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination in 2020 and prepares students for success with personal attention from faculty.

“Our nursing faculty are engaged and focused on student success,” said Dr. Tamara Harris, director of the School of Nursing. “We have testing procedures that mimic the NCLEX testing and faculty that accompany students to clinicals for the purpose of reinforcing concepts from lecture content.”

To learn more about the School of Nursing, visit sfasu.edu/nursing.

SFA’s University Police Department and Parking Services Office encourage employees to order a parking permit for the 2021-22 academic year before Aug. 1.

You may order a permit via the Parking Portal on mySFA. Payment will be by payroll deduction starting Sept. 1. Permits ordered before Aug. 1 will be mailed to your department’s P.O. Box.

Permits ordered after July 31 may be picked up at the Parking Services Office located at 1925 Wilson Drive, first floor of the Wilson Parking Garage. You must bring a photo I.D. to receive your permit.

If you have questions, contact the Parking Services Office at (936) 468-7275 or sfaparking@sfasu.edu.

SFA’s School of Theatre will take audience members along on a wild adventure when it presents the play “Men On Boats” by Jaclyn Backhaus as part of the SummerStage Festival.

Directed by Jackie Rosenfeld, senior lecturer in the School of Theatre, “Men On Boats” is the hilarious and true(ish) 21st century mash-up of the original voyage. Ten actors, none of whom are cisgendered male, embody these explorers as they suffer loss of boat and supplies, brave dangerous rapids, name mountains after themselves, and get on each other’s nerves.

Although it is not a musical, “Men On Boats” features several “short ditties” throughout the play that are sung around a campfire at night.

“Men On Boats” will be presented at 7 p.m. tonight and July 1, 6, 8 and 9; and at 2 p.m. July 7 and 8. For more information including ticket prices, click "Read More."

SFA's School of Theatre is presenting “Stuart Little” in the style of a 1940s radio play with student actors not only delivering their characters’ lines but also creating their own sound effects live on stage.

The play will be presented at 10 a.m. tomorrow and Tuesday, July 6; and at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 7. All performances will be presented virtually or in person at Kennedy Auditorium. For more information, including ticket prices, click "Read More."

Did you know if you use all lowercase letters in a hashtag, screen readers may make it one amalgamated word?

To ensure a hashtag is accessible, use a method called camel case. Using camel case, the first letter of each word is capitalized, like #PurplePride, #LumberjackSpiritFriday or #AxeEm. Screen readers insert a space after each word that is in camel case, making the overall meaning easier to understand.

We hope you enjoyed this "hump day" lesson.

The fundamentals of modern architecture are clean and simple: design with form that follows function.

Most modern designs feature crisp lines, a simple color palette and the use of materials, including metal, glass, steel and wood, to show off the industrial structure.

To view photos of modern architecture across Texas, check out @modTEXAS on Instagram. You may spot a few buildings in Nacogdoches.