CC Conn has taught lighting and sound design in the School of Theatre since 2005. Prior to joining SFA, her lighting and sound designs were at universities, professional theatres and festivals across the South. Credits at SFA include designs for hundreds of plays, musicals and radio plays through the years.

“I am honored to receive an award that recognizes my level of engagement with my students both in the classroom and in the theatre,” Conn said. “Like my colleagues in theatre, we are dedicated to the art of live performance and have worked tirelessly through the struggles of the COVID-19 years to keep our practice safe and creative. I am grateful to be taking this award and the energy behind it into our new spaces next spring to create live theatre with our future students.”

As a faculty member and mentor, Conn makes every effort to connect classroom learning with real life experiences. She also is community-centered and has created and directed Junior Jacks, a theatre camp for community children in grades three through nine, since 2009. This has provided a service teaching opportunity for the School of Theatre’s teacher certification students.

Conn also is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Nacogdoches Arts Collaborative dedicated to expanding arts opportunities for the community, much like Junior Jacks.

This is one in a series of 2022 Teaching Excellence Award features.

SFA was recently highlighted in an online edition of Facilities Manager for the Culinary Café project in the historic home previously owned by U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Members of SFA’s Physical Plant construction team, including Jessica DeWitt, Debbie Rossler and Shelby Childress, were instrumental in the success of the project.

Read more at apaa.org.

Drs. Elizabeth Spradley and R. Tyler Spradley were awarded article of the year for a co-written research study by the Journal of Communication Pedagogy.

Their article, "Reflexivity and Practice in COVID-19: Qualitative Analysis of Student Responses to Improvisation in Their Research Methods Course," was recognized at the 2022 Central States Communication Association's annual meeting in April.

SFA’s Board of Regents recently named Dr. Stephen Taaffe, professor of history, the 2022-23 Regents Scholar.

The title of Regents Scholar is the highest honor the university can bestow upon a faculty member. The honor is reserved for faculty members who are exemplary role models to the university community. The title is not an academic rank but an honorary title held for the duration of the recipient’s service to the university.

The SFA Faculty Senate will hold its final regular meeting of the academic year at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 27, via Zoom.

Scheduled speakers include Dr. Lorenzo Smith, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs; Judi Kruwell, assistant vice president of finance; and Brandon Stringfield, chief information security officer. The Senate also will hold officer elections and seat new senators.

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

The Veterans Resource Center is celebrating BRATs Day, a day to recognize the base raised and trained children of the military, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow in the VRC, located in the Baker Pattillo Student Center.

The center will provide treats for the children of the military. Staff and faculty are invited to attend and help the children feel welcome. If you know of any military children, invite them as well. Wear purple to honor these children and to show support.

All faculty and staff are invited to attend the Rusche College of Business' inaugural Lumberjack Entrepreneurship Competition at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow in the McGee Business Building, Room 133, or via Zoom.

Based on ABC's popular "Shark Tank" TV show, the competition features six finalists who have created business pitches with help from their mentors who are entrepreneurs in the Nacogdoches area. The competition was open to all SFA students — both individuals and teams — and the finalists are a mix of undergraduate and graduate students representing majors ranging from social work to sports business.

Finalists include CaravellaCreations by Kya Caravella, Lazer Key by Joshua Finklea, Major Decisions by Molly Stanfill, QC B5 Beauty Pageant by Quinton Williams, Play Gov by Ryan Waugh, and Reefvita by Stephan McLawrence.

The winner will receive $5,000, second place will receive $3,000 and third place will receive $1,500. For more information on the competition, email Dr. Raymond Jones, assistant professor of entrepreneurship and strategy, at raymond.jones@sfasu.edu.

SFA’s Early Childhood Laboratory was awarded $650,827 through the 2022 Child Care Relief Fund. The funding will be received in four installments and will be used for professional development, supplies, personnel, equipment, facilities and food services programs.

The funding was designed to help child care centers recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are extremely grateful the Texas Workforce Commission has allocated funds to Texas child care centers and particularly to SFA’s childhood lab,” said Crystal Adams, lab director. “Unfortunately, many child care centers were forced to close their doors during the pandemic.”

SFA’s horticulture program will host the annual Spring Plant Fair from 5 to 8 p.m. today at the SFA Plantery, located at 1924 Wilson Dr.

Plants available for purchase include edibles like tomatoes and peppers, as well as a variety of summer annuals, including begonias, coleus, globe amaranth, summer snapdragons, vinca and more. All plants grow and perform well in East Texas.

The Plantery, a program within the SFA Department of Agriculture, allows students to grow and raise plants in the Sprout microfarm, greenhouses and teaching gardens around the Agriculture Building.

The Rusche College of Business will unveil three newly renovated and named areas on the first floor of the McGee Business Building, including two in honor of SFA donors, at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

In addition to the donors who made these renovations possible, SFA Interim President Dr. Steve Westbrook, members of SFA’s Board of Regents and Dr. Timothy Bisping, dean of the College of Business, will be present to dedicate the Gerald and Candy Schlief Lobby, Jimmy D. Berry Dean’s Suite and Rusche College of Business auditorium.

Faculty, staff and their families are invited to Family Fun Night from 5 to 7 p.m. May 6 at the Student Recreation Center outdoor pool and courtyard.

This free event will provide information about swim lessons, youth summer camp, summer pool memberships and more. The event also will include live music by Tyler Dhone, food and swimming.

For more information, contact Jessica Waguespack, wellness assistant director, at (936) 468-6056.

Baseball

SFA - 13 vs. Grambling State University - 11

SFA - 15 vs. University of Arkansas Pine Bluff - 4

Softball

SFA - 16 vs. Prairie View A&M University - 4

Visit sfajacks.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

The Micky Elliott College of Fine Arts Dean’s Circle at SFA will recognize the newest recipient of the endowed fine arts professorship during the presentation of the 2022 Dean’s Awards.

This year, a distinguished panel of senior fine arts faculty members selected School of Music Professor Dr. Stephen Lias to receive the Dean’s Circle Endowed Professorship for a three-year term. The Dean’s Circle created the award in 2016 to recognize and honor those who embody the qualities of the ideal professor that characterize all SFA fine arts faculty members.

SFA’s Swingin’ Axes and Swingin’ Aces jazz bands will return from performances at the Wichita Jazz Festival on Saturday, April 23, to present their final concert of the academic year at 7:30 that night in Cole Concert Hall.

The night’s performance will also be the “Last Call” for Dr. Deb Scott as director of the Swingin’ Axes. Scott has decided to step down from leading the Axes to focus more on teaching and performing as professor of trombone at SFA.

Directing jazz bands for 30 years, Scott was the first woman in Texas to direct a university jazz band. She arrived at SFA in August 2000 and soon after started SFA’s second jazz band, the Swingin’ Aces, directing it until 2016 when she took over as the director of the first jazz band, the Swingin’ Axes, at which time she also became the director of jazz at the university. Under her leadership, the Swingin’ Axes toured and performed in Houston, Dallas and throughout East Texas as the featured band at jazz festivals and venues such as Saint Arnold’s Brewery. Additionally, the two jazz bands began performing at more local venues including the Fredonia Brewery and Lugnutz. In 2020, SFA’s jazz area also added its first minor in jazz studies.

SFA’s School of Theatre will present the student-directed one-act play “Sing to Me Through Open Windows” at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Regents’ Suite A.

Directed by Baytown senior Ty Carter, Arthur Kopit’s “Sing to Me Through Open Windows” is an absurdist play told through the memory of a young boy, Andrew, who visits his dear magician friend and his butler, the Cynical Clown. With themes of lost childhood and innocence, as well as fear of the uncontrollable, this play is the perfect parallel to our experiences in the world today, according to Carter.

The SFA bands will present the annual Concert in the Park Sunday, April 24, in the wooded area along Vista Drive and in front of the Wright Music Building. The concert begins at 2 p.m. and is free to the public.

All four SFA concert bands will perform, including the Wind Ensemble, directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, director of bands at SFA; the Wind Symphony, directed by Dr. Dan Haddad, associate director of bands; Symphonic Band, directed by Dr. Chris Kaatz, assistant director of bands; and University Band, directed by graduate student conductors Abbigail Ramsey and Christina Colley. The SFA mariachi band, Los Leñadores, will also perform pre-concert music beginning at 1:40 pm.

A meeting of the Lumberjack Band Alumni Association will be held in the Band Hall following the concert.

Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma, honorary band service fraternity and sorority, will sell hamburger plates beginning at 1 p.m. Plates are $5 each and will include a burger, chips and beverage. SFA and band merchandise will also be available for purchase.

Student ensembles in SFA’s Sound Recording Technology program will present concerts Sunday afternoon, April 24, in the Music Recital Hall of Wright Music Building.

The Commercial Music Ensemble will perform music by John Mayer, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and similar artists at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 24, followed by the Popular Music Ensemble performing music by Ed Sheeran, Alicia Keys, Tom Petty and other artists within this genre at 2:30 p.m. Both groups are directed by James Taylor, SRT lecturer in the School of Music.

SFA’s Wind Symphony will present the program “The Road to Now” when the student ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 25, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom.

Directed by Dr. Dan Haddad, associate director of bands, the Wind Symphony will perform “Illumination” by David Maslanka; Variations on “America” by Charles Ives; and “In Living Color” by Katahj Copley, among other wind band standards.

This is the smallest human sculpture in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Jonty Hurwitz created this sculpture by taking a picture of his subject from all angles, using software to combine the images and then using a 3D printer to complete his piece. The structure is created using a technique called Multiphoton Lithography. Quantum physics can now be used to create art.

To get a closer look, visit iliketowastemytime.com.