As the fall semester draws to a close and the holiday season begins, Dr. Neal and Kristi Weaver invite you to a holiday come-and-go reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at the Juanita Curry Boynton House, 505 E. Starr Ave.

Attendees are welcome to bring a guest. Those planning on attending will need to RSVP for themselves and their guest prior to the event.

You’re invited to attend the final Faculty Senate meeting of the semester set for 2:30 p.m. Dec. 4 in the McGee Business Building, Room 133.

This is a great opportunity to hear updates, share insights and connect with colleagues as the fall semester comes to an end.

Those who prefer to meet remotely may join via Zoom.

Meeting ID: 967 5372 6938

Passcode: SENATE

The Office of Admissions is temporarily moving. Starting tomorrow, all admissions staff members will be located in the Cole STEM Building, Room 213.

Campus tours will meet at the Baker Pattillo Student Center Information Desk until further notice. If you have any questions, call ext. 2504.

The 2025 Jack STARS application is now open. Grant awards range from $2,500-$10,000; the total number of awards made will vary based on the applications received.

The Jack STARS internal grant program was established to provide summer funding so that faculty members in non-STEM fields can grow their research, scholarship and/or creative activities.

Applications are due Jan. 10, and award notifications will be sent in late February. The application, including details on eligibility, award limits and allowable expenses, is available on the internal grants portal.

This holiday season, the Dean of Students Office is hosting a Toys for Tots toy drive.

Participants can bring new, unwrapped toys to the Dean of Students Office in the Baker Pattillo Student Center, Room 3.105. Toys will be accepted through noon Dec. 13, and donated items will stay in the Nacogdoches community to help local families have a brighter holiday season.

For more information, email dos@sfasu.edu.

Are you interested in integrating artificial intelligence into your courses? The University of Texas System faculty developers mini-conference series, "Generative AI Across the UT System," can help!

SFA faculty members will share how they’ve integrated AI into their courses and fostered innovation from 1 to 2:15 p.m. Dec. 5 via Zoom.

Join Emily Dodson, Theunis Oliphant, Drs. Heather Olson Beal, Sara Parks, Louise Stoehr and Sara Straub, along with other faculty members from across the UT System, for this exciting discussion.

To attend, complete the meeting registration form. Coffee and Conversation, a follow-up discussion, is set for 2 p.m. Dec. 6, at the Center for Teaching and Learning on the second floor of Steen Library.

SFA’s School of Honors recently hosted its sixth annual Honors Research Symposium to showcase the research efforts of first-year students enrolled in SFAS 1101 "New-Lumberjack Experience." The theme for this year’s symposium focused on key factors influencing student retention at SFA.

Dr. Michael Martin, professor of English, led the class with the assistance of honors student instructor, Katie Friedrichsen.

The posters will be on display in the McKibben Education Building through the spring semester.

We are deeply saddened to share the passing of J.C. Patton, who passed away on Nov. 16. Patton retired from SFA after 41 years of dedicated service in SFA's Physical Plant Department. Throughout his time at SFA, he made a lasting impact on countless SFA community members.

For funeral arrangements, visit the online obituary.

The RAICES faculty co-principal investigator's and project staff published a conceptual framework for their the federally funded National Professional Development Grant, “R.A.I.C.E.S. (Roots): A conceptual framework for community-building that connects linguistic and cultural wealth to support emergent bilinguals” in the TESOL Journal, a peer reviewed international journal.

Authors include Dr. Marisol Diaz, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona; Drs. Chrissy Cross, Heather Olson Beal and Lauren Burrow, faculty in SFA's Department of Education Studies; and RAICES grant staff Carrie Wright-Davis and Darius Tubbs.

The RAICES grant is funded by the Office of English Language Acquisition.