A veteran administrator with nearly 30 years of experience, Karyn Hall, director of Institutional Research, knows how to handle mountains of data, bring order to chaos, and can do so with patience and grace.

Hall, at SFA for 28 years, was jointly nominated for the President’s Achievement Award by Dr. Marc Guidry, associate provost; Alisha Collins, a budget analyst in Academic Affairs; and Amy Camacho, a senior analyst with Institutional Research.

Hall was instrumental in the creation of a revised budget process that incentivizes increased semester-credit-hour production at the academic level. She provided awareness of key metrics across campus, and helped create a full-time faculty dashboard to assure compliance with The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges standard on maintaining an adequate number of full-time faculty to support SFA’s mission statement.

Working with others, Hall also helped create a process which gives the university the tools it needs to do annual, five-year, and ten-year academic programs.

“Karyn constantly goes above and beyond for not only her office and employees, but for SFA in general,” said Camacho. “Her dedication to providing accurate information in a timely manner is something that benefits everyone from the president’s level to the Nacogdoches community.”

This award includes a plaque and $500.

Roy's co-authored article, "Decolonizing Open Science: Southern Interventions," was published in Journal of Communication, the topmost journal of her field. Her article argued for attention to Southern practices of openness that radically disrupt the whiteness of the hegemonic open science practiced in the knowledge production regimes of the West and the North.

We will share active COVID-19 cases regularly to keep the SFA community apprised of current totals.

Remember, wearing a face mask, social distancing and getting vaccinated can help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

For more information, visit sfasu.edu/covid19/cases. Case numbers are updated daily.

Bob Sitton ’60, the longtime SFA Alumni Association director who helped endow hundreds of scholarships that generated millions of dollars, is being honored with a golf tournament in his name.

Sitton, who led the association from 1972 to 1998, will be the namesake of the Bob Sitton Classic at Homecoming, the annual golf tournament at Piney Woods Country Club. The Alumni Association approved the name change for the event formerly known as the annual SFA Alumni Homecoming Golf Tournament.

“This is a nice nod to Bob and his years of service to SFA,” said Craig Turnage ’00 and ’05, the Alumni Association’s executive director. “He bleeds purple and loves golf. We wanted to bring it all together.”

The Bob Sitton Classic takes place on Oct. 29 at Piney Woods Country Club at 3001 U.S. Highway 59 South in Nacogdoches and will feature food trucks, a bourbon tasting and a mobile cigar lounge. The deadline for registration is Oct. 20. For more details visit the Bob Sitton Classic at Homecoming.

A visit by 11 Tunisian students culminated at a packed presentation in late September at the Baker Pattillo Student Center. Dressed in traditional clothing, the students went through an interactive telling of a history and culture that date back to the Phoenicians and includes influences from the Ottoman and French empires.

The Tunisian students arrived in July, staying in the residence halls until they returned home in late August. They took a variety of courses, including psychology, architecture and computer science, and met American students throughout their stay.

“It’s wonderful having them on campus,” said Heather Catton, director of the Office of International Programs. “They give new perspectives in classes and allow students who may have never met someone from a faraway place the opportunity to interact on a personal level. The Tunisian students really gave a jump start to the international program and helped establish some normalcy.”

SFA staff members recently elected representatives for its inaugural Staff Council.

Elected representatives include Leiah Allen, Meredith Baily, Veronica Beavers, Brittany Beck, Sharon Brewer, Ryan Brown-Moreno, Heather Catton, Surry Consford, Jennifer Crenshaw, Jessica DeWitt, Denise Douglas, Rebecca Galatas, Becky Garrett, Angela Harless, Stina Herrera, Veronica Herrera, Amanda Kennedy, Trina Menefee, Agatha Moreland, Caleb Perkins, Alison Reed, Grace Saldana, Alan Scott, Richard Stobart, Lissy Turner, Tierney Twigg, Megan Weatherly and Mindy Wolbert.

The council also elected Megan Weatherly as chair and Alison Reed as chair-elect for the 2021-22 academic year. The council will begin its work and will hold elections for the remaining officer positions in the coming weeks.

The Staff Council will serve in an advisory capacity to the president and other university leaders, ensuring the effective contribution of staff expertise toward university goals and acting as the liaison between the president and staff. The council will promote and enhance the status of university staff, advocating for staff and representing the interest of staff. The Staff Council representatives share a commitment to informing their constituents about the work of the council, listening to their concerns, suggestions and questions, and communicating those effectively to the council.

The SFA Cheer Team is hosting a Kid's Clinic for children in kindergarten through eighth grade from 9 a.m. to noon Sept. 25. For more information email spirit@sfasu.edu or call the Spirit Office at (936) 468-1604.

The Steen Library is hosting the Library Convocation from Sept. 20 to Oct. 8. This year, the event is fully online. For more information, email Nancy Breen at breennl@sfasu.edu.

The University Research Council and the Office of Research and Graduate Studies are announcing the internal FY22 Research Enhancement grant competitions.

The deadline for both the Research Grant Development and Research Pilot Studies grants are Oct. 11, and the deadline for Research/Creative Activity grants is Nov. 1.

FY22 applications also are being accepted for all internal mini-grant programs.

Faculty members should contact their respective chairs and deans concerning any internal departmental deadlines. They also should contact their respective college URC members, ORGS or the URC chair with any questions.

For more details, visit the ORGS website.

Fall semester ticket sales for SFA's student-run Culinary Café and Lumberjack Express mobile food lab are now available. Service on Tuesdays and Thursdays begins Sept. 28. Click here for tickets.

For more details, call (936) 468-2244 or email Carrie Durrett at cdurrett@sfasu.edu.

The first regularly scheduled meeting of SFA's Faculty Senate for the 2021-22 academic year is planned for 2:30 p.m. today via Zoom. Visitors may attend at the beginning of the meeting; however, the business portion after the break is open only to faculty members.

President Scott Gordon and Dr. Lorenzo Smith, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, are expected to provide updates. In addition to regular committee reports, the Senate will begin to outline committee work to address items of interest that have arisen over the summer and the beginning of the semester.

For more information, contact your senator or Dr. Brian Uriegas, Senate chair, at uriegasb@sfasu.edu.

Soccer

SFA - 1 vs. University of Arkansas - 6

When researching destinations for your next vacation, those first image search results can make any place look particularly tempting.

However, even though places like the Taj Mahal or Mount Rushmore might look stunning in pictures, the reality is often much different from what you imagine.

Here are a few tourist traps you might want to avoid.