Burrow published “Teacher Candidates Create Digital Escape Rooms for Mathematics Application in Virtual Classrooms” in Texas Mathematics Teacher. The practitioner piece is based on virtual-service learning completed by teacher candidates in her elementary education writing course during the COVID-19 phase of online learning.

Skidmore, Student Success Center director, and Childress, Student Success Center coordinator, delivered the session “Leading First-Generation Students to Success” at the Texas Conference on Student Success in College Station in October.

In the session, Skidmore and Childress discussed the challenges and barriers that first-generation college students face, how academic advisors can better serve this unique student population, and program initiatives that have proven successful for the Generation Jacks program at SFA.

The pair also shared trends observed in findings from the First-Generation Needs Assessment, a research project they conducted with Dr. Emmerentie Oliphant, professor in the School of Social Work, and how they plan to expand first-generation resources to the general student population.

Osborne will present at the Online Learning Consortium Accelerate 2022 conference in Orlando, Florida, this week. She will present her research, "Instructor Presence Online: Being Supportive, Active, and Consistent While Working Smarter, Not Harder." The session will focus on how to design and facilitate an online course with effective instructor presence, without burning out.

Osborne provides training and support to faculty and staff using Brightspace and related technologies in courses.

The School of Honors will host the annual SFAS 1101 Honors Research Symposium from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. today in the Honors Suite on the third floor of the McKibben Education Building.

This year, with the help of Steen librarian Christopher Cotton, freshman honors students from every college accessed primary sources in the East Texas Research Center to examine SFA’s history. The students created research posters similar to those that would be presented at an academic conference. They will present their work and be available to discuss their findings at the symposium.

This project was supervised by SFAS 1101 Honors professor Dr. Michael Martin and his supplemental instructor, Erin Schuster. 

All are welcome to attend. Contact Sarah Key, secretary in the School of Honors, with questions at honors@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-2813.

SFA’s fall Registration Rally runs until 3 p.m. today in the Library Information Network Center on the first floor of Steen Library.

Faculty and staff are encouraged to tell students about the all-day event, which is intended to offer students an opportunity to receive help clearing holds and to register for the spring semester.

Representatives from the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, Student Business Services, Office of the Registrar, and the Student Success Center, among others, will be stationed and ready to offer one-on-one assistance.

Faculty and staff are invited to a virtual discussion with Dr. John A. List, author of “The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale,” at 5:30 p.m. today in the McGee Business Building, Room 133, and via Zoom. The Economics Reading Group in the Rusche College of Business is hosting the event.

“It is an honor to get to hear from John,” said Dr. Ryan Phelps, associate professor of economics and finance and faculty advisor for the Economics Reading Group. “His consulting experience – including clients like Uber, Lyft and Walmart – is impressive.”

“The Voltage Effect” explores how scaling good ideas can drive change in a variety of arenas, including schools, workplaces, communities and society at large.

For more information, email Phelps at phelpsrt@sfasu.edu.

Dr. Steve Westbrook and wife, Dayna Westbrook, have postponed the Faculty and Staff Picnic planned for Friday, Nov. 18, to the spring semester due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Keep an eye on your email for a rescheduled date.

The Center for Research Advancing Identities and Student Experiences will host Drs. Kevin Thomas and Karen Archambault from 6 to 8 p.m. tomorrow. The past leaders from the board of the National Academic Advising Association will discuss enrollment management, university retention and academic advising. Those interested can join the conversation via Zoom.

As the MLK Day of Service approaches, the Office of Multicultural Affairs invites faculty and staff to volunteer as a site mentor. Designed to honor and celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the event will be held Jan. 16, 2023. Students who register for this event will be matched with a local need in the Nacogdoches community and provided with tools and instructions to make a lasting impact while dedicating three hours of service to others.

Faculty, staff and Nacogdoches community members are invited to serve as site mentors and work with the students to complete the project while giving advice on leadership skills and educating them about the Nacogdoches community. Service project requests for the Nacogdoches community are also needed.

The event starts at 8:30 a.m. in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom, and students will begin working on their designated projects at their assigned locations at 10 a.m. All site mentors are asked to arrive at their assigned locations at 9:30 a.m. and plan to stay there until about 2 p.m. or when the task is finished. A meeting will be held for site mentors with more specific information in the future. The deadline to sign up is Dec. 2.

If you are interested in serving as a site mentor, fill out the form.

The Cayuse system is experiencing an ongoing glitch that prevents the routing of internal grants. The glitch does not allow the export control and research material answers to be saved, so chairs and deans cannot approve faculty members’ proposals. To advance proposals through the system, the Office of Research and Graduate Studies established a workaround via email with the following steps.

1. Faculty members should email their chairs to approve or deny their proposals after faculty members have entered their information in the Cayuse system. Faculty members should include their Cayuse proposal numbers in their emails.
2. Chairs should then approve or deny their faculty members’ proposals by replying to the emails from their faculty members. If the chairs approve their faculty members’ proposals, the chairs should forward those approval emails to their deans.
3. Deans should approve or deny the faculty member proposals in the emails sent to them by their chairs. If the deans approve the proposals, they should forward the emails with those approved proposals to Leslie Cecil at cecillg@sfasu.edu. Those emails should include both the chair’s approval and the dean’s approval.
4. ORGS will upload the approval emails in the attachments and notify the University Research Council that faculty members’ approvals are complete so they can move forward with their work.

The Texas Forestry Association presented Khan with the 2022 Project Learning Tree Outstanding Educator Award during its annual meeting held Oct. 26-28 at the Texas A&M Hotel and Convention Center in College Station. 

“Dr. Khan currently teaches courses in middle level education and science methods at Stephen F. Austin State University, but her connection with Project Learning Tree began in 2012,” said Chris Adams, chair of the TFA Outreach and Education Committee. “Little did we know what an incredible legacy was beginning at that time.”

To mark National Women’s Small Business Month in October, SFA's Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship in the Rusche College of Business recently sponsored “Women in Entrepreneurship,” a panel discussion for students, faculty and staff featuring three local female business owners.

The panelists for the discussion were Wendy Buchanan, SFA alumna and owner of Buchanan Wealth Management in Nacogdoches; Sarah Atkinson, owner of Atkinson Candy Company in Lufkin; and Dr. Amy Mehaffey, owner of Small Town Socials boutique social media agency in Nacogdoches and lecturer of management and marketing at SFA. Jamie Derrick, lecturer of management and marketing at SFA, moderated the panel.

Larry Cain, former director of the Angelina College Small Business Development Center, has been named director of the Small Business Resource Hub, part of the Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship in SFA's Rusche College of Business.

“Small businesses are experiencing unique challenges after two years of COVID-19, and they are now facing a severe shortage of employees,” said Cain, who earned his Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences from SFA in 1999. “They need all the help they can get, especially when it’s available at no cost to them.”

SFA’s SBRH services include loan proposals, marketing, retailing, advertising, budgeting, business planning and personnel management.

Human Resources has created a toolkit for hiring managers that walks through the hiring process from start to finish, including new steps and new forms. Updates include resources for developing selection matrices, interview questions and hiring files. The toolkit and form templates are available on the HR website.

Jonathan Shuskey has been busy since retiring from the military two years ago. The 20-year Army veteran just finished his first fall season with SFA golf after transferring from Christian Brothers University. The Lumberjacks played well, but there is plenty to work on ahead of the spring season.

“I think we got some young guys and I count myself in that when I say young guys even though I'm 40 years old,” Shuskey said.

Football

SFA - 7 vs. University of Central Arkansas - 34

Men's Basketball

SFA - 86 vs. Gardner-Webb University - 71

Women's Basketball

SFA - 77 vs. Rice University - 89

SFA - 100 vs. Texas Southern University - 63

Women’s Volleyball

SFA - 3 vs. Southern Utah University - 1

SFA - 3 vs. Utah Tech University - 0

Bowling

SFA finished fourth at the Motiv Ladyjack Classic in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

SFA bands will present their fourth annual “Kaleidoscope” concert at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Cole Concert Hall. The program will feature all three concert bands along with student chamber ensembles in a “kaleidoscope event” with no breaks between performances, according to Dr. Tamey Anglley, director of bands.

The concert will open with the Symphonic Band, conducted by Dr. Chris Kaatz, assistant director of bands, performing selected movements from Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”

Voice students in the School of Music will present “Opera Scenes of Fate, Love and Tragedy” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, in Cole Concert Hall.

A culmination of the semester’s Fall Opera Workshop, the performance is under the direction of Nita Hudson, stage and musical director; Dr. Thomas Nixon, primary collaborative pianist; and Hyo Jeong Ham and Tate Ashby, student collaborative pianists. Works by Mozart, Verdi, Gilbert and Sullivan, and others are on the program.

The Contemporary Ensemble will broadcast its fall semester concert at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, on the SFA School of Music YouTube Channel.

Directed by James Adams, the Contemporary Ensemble is one of three student performance groups in the Sound Recording Technology program in the School of Music.

The concert will incorporate collaborative performances with members of the Symphony Orchestra and School of Theatre and Dance.

Among the works to be performed are “Enemy” by Imagine Dragons; “The Less I Know the Better” by Tame Impala featuring SFA theatre/dance senior Joy Crissmon from Cypress; “Guillotine” by Jon Bellion; “Coward” by SRT junior Drew Williams from Fairfield; two Disney songs, and some holiday favorites.

Abstract and expressionistic drawings by American artist Jennings Tofel are featured in an exhibition showing Nov. 22 through Jan. 20 in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.

“Jennings Tofel: Drawing Genesis,” curated by Dr. David A. Lewis, professor of art history, will be shown in the upstairs Reavley Gallery of the art center, located at 329 E. Main Street.

An endowment honoring the late Pat Barnett has been established at SFA by her son, Barry Barnett, to recognize the many contributions she made to the university’s Music Preparatory Division in the School of Music.

The Patricia A. Barnett Fund commemorates her service as director of Music Prep from 1999 through 2019, during which time a number of advancements were made to the program’s mission, including moving into what is now known as the Music Prep House and creating new educational opportunities for young musicians.

You've heard of getting a book from a library, but what about a bike? Public libraries in Madison, Wisconsin, are helping its residents get free access to bikes to fill a transportation gap. All they need is a library card to access this amenity. Read more about the bike lending program, an equity initiative that gives people the chance to rent a bike if they haven’t ridden one in a while, as well as the chance to choose a bike over a taxi or an Uber.