The Division of University Advancement invites you to give during the fifth annual SFA Giving Day, set for Sept. 18.

We hope you will help us reach our goal of 3,500 donors. Your donation will help continue our legacy of excellence and make an impact for future Lumberjacks. Funds raised will benefit all areas, from our student success initiatives and scholarships to resource assistance for faculty and athletic programs.

To make a donation, visit the SFA Giving Day 2025 website.

Recent results from the National Survey of Student Engagement, or NSSE, show that SFA students rate their experiences in student engagement, academic advising, and mental health and well-being support more positively than peers at both state and national levels.

Details are available in the "Student Perceptions" section of the SFA Office of Strategic Analytics and Institutional Research reports website.

Faculty and staff are invited to serve as success coaches for the more than 130 students participating in the Generation Jacks academic learning community in the Cole Student Success Center.

GenJacks participants are first-generation students, meaning their parents or guardians did not graduate with a bachelor’s degree. You are not required to be a first-gen student yourself to serve as a success coach.

Success coaches are asked to meet with their GenJacks students once a month throughout the students' first year at SFA to help them transition into college life and strengthen their first-year experience. This coaching model helps GenJacks students consistently achieve higher GPAs and retention rates than the overall first-generation student population at SFA.

The program provides optional training, a monthly discussion topic and a simple meeting summary form. To serve as a success coach during the 2025-26 academic year, complete this form by Wednesday, Sept. 17. For more information, contact Abby Coker at abby.coker@sfasu.edu or ext. 3809.

New Student Orientation and Family Programs is offering colleges, departments and offices an opportunity to host their own open houses during this fall's Family Day from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 27.

Help students and their families learn about your team, space and all you do to serve SFA students and the campus community. If your area is interested in hosting an open house, complete this form by Wednesday, Sept. 17.

For more information, contact Sydnee Seeton at sydnee.seeton@sfasu.edu or ext. 6641.

Residence Life has moved from Lumberjack Village to Lumberjack Landing, Suite 139.

You can still reach Res Life at reslife@sfasu.edu or ext. 2601.

Faculty, staff, students and Nacogdoches community members are invited to the following Office of International Programs' Global Gateway presentations at 3 p.m. in Steen Library, Room 103, on their respective dates:

• South Korea, today

• South Africa, Sept. 25

• Malaysia, Oct. 8

• Kenya, Oct. 23

• China, Nov. 6

• Nigeria, Nov. 12

SFA international students will introduce attendees to their countries, traditions and lifestyle and answer questions during a Q&A session after their presentations.

For more information, contact Enrique Venegas at enrique.venegas@sfasu.edu or ext. 6604.

Want to learn how SFA keeps you safe? Join the newly formed safety collaboration group, SHIELD team, for a dynamic safety training from 6 to 8 p.m. today in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Theater.

Open to all students, faculty and staff, this training will cover everything from preventing risks and responding to incidents to educating and empowering the campus community. Snacks and drinks will be provided.

Faculty members are invited to semimonthly meetings to discuss topics impacting faculty welfare, academic affairs and policy.

The Ale in Favor? Faculty Discussion Group is an open discussion space for faculty to talk about topics impacting them. Meetings will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. at Fredonia Brewery, 138 North Mound St.

Those who cannot make it in person can join on Google Meet.

Dates for the fall are today, Sept. 24, Oct. 8, Oct. 22 and Nov. 12.

Lumberjack football season is here, and that means the return of Ol’ Cotton, the SFA cannon fired proudly at home games since 1972. At 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, members of the SFA ROTC program will conduct a test firing of Ol’ Cotton at Homer Bryce Stadium.

This scheduled test is part of the annual sound-level readings conducted by SFA's Environmental Health, Safety and Risk Management Department to ensure safety standards are met prior to home game kickoff. The test firing will be brief and will generate loud noise. Members of the campus community and surrounding area should be aware this is a planned activity and not a cause for concern.

For more information, email the Safety Department at safety@sfasu.edu.

The horticulture program and the SFA Horticulture Club will host Plants and Pancakes from 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 4 at the SFA Plantery, located at 1924 Wilson Drive. Plants available for purchase include a variety of annuals, native perennials, houseplants and succulents. Pancakes will be free with a donation encouraged.

For more information, contact Dr. Jared Barnes, associate professor of horticulture and steward of the Plantery, at barnesj@sfasu.edu.

Faculty and staff are asked to encourage undergraduate and graduate students who have conducted research related to gender or women’s studies to submit their projects for the annual Women’s and Gender Studies Research Symposium scheduled from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 17 in Steen Library's Wyatt Room.

Presentation formats include papers, panels, roundtable discussions, scholarly posters, performances and visual art. The interdisciplinary symposium welcomes submissions from all majors and fields.

Students should submit their presentations for consideration by Oct. 1 using this form. For more information, email Dr. Jessica Gordon at jessica.gordon@sfasu.edu.

Kwiatkowski collaborated with biologists from around the country to investigate how environmental variables affect the movement patterns of Gila monsters, Heloderma suspectum. Their findings were published recently in the journal Herpetologica.

Gila monsters are one of a handful of lizards considered dangerously venomous. The study found that they adjust their home range size in response to precipitation and temperature, variables that heavily influence resource availability.

Faculty and staff receive free tickets to the first home football game of the season against Sul Ross State University at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, in Homer Bryce Stadium. Claim your tickets in advance using this form; you can request multiple tickets to multiple athletics events. Completing the form ensures the fastest entry because you will already have your tickets. If you do not fill out the form prior to game day, you can still get tickets with your faculty/staff ID at the ticket booth. SFA Athletics recommends taking your faculty/staff ID to all events.

In addition, be aware that Lot 42 must be cleared by 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 12, to make room for student pregame tailgating on game day. Also, the Pineywoods Dining Hall will remain open with normal hours. For schedules and updates, visit Gameday Central.

The Alumni Corner Tailgate, which has moved to the Pineywoods Dining Hall Pavilion, begins at 4 p.m. Entry is free for Alumni Association members and $30 for nonmembers. To learn more about the Alumni Corner Tailgate, visit the SFA Alumni Association website.