"The measure of a Life is its Service."
SHSU assistant professor of paleobiology Patrick Lewis will discuss the work he is doing in northwestern Botswana, Africa, on Thursday (Dec. 10).
"Of Mice and Men: An Integrated Approach to Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction," the Biological Science Department Seminar Series lecture, will be held from 4-5 p.m. in Lee Drain Building Room 214.
“I will be talking about a small animal fossil fauna from northwestern Botswana. The fossils date the Pleistocene, which is basically the last two million years,” Lewis said. “We are trying to reconstruct what the environment was like during this time using the small animal fossils from the site.”
Lewis has taught at SHSU since 2006.
He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, in anthropology and interdisciplinary studies, respectively, from Texas Tech University and his doctorate in biological anthropology and anatomy from Duke University.
He is also a 2009 recipient of a nearly $46,000 National Science Foundation grant for a study on his work in Botswana.
Held each Thursday, the seminar series is intended for the public and addresses current research being conducted by a guest professor in a way that the general public can understand.
For more information, contact Chad Hargrave, assistant professor of biological sciences, at 936.294.1543.
The foreign languages department will wish faculty, staff and students a “Feliz Navidad,” “Frohe Weihnachten” and “Joyeux Noël” through the singing of holiday carols on Monday (Dec. 7).
The third annual multi-lingual caroling and reception will be held from noon to 1 p.m. outside of Academic Buidling IV.
International carols, as well as translations of traditional American carols, will be sung in French, Spanish, German, Arabic, American Sign Language, Japanese and Chinese. Translations will be provided for the audience.
These include traditional French carols such as "Viens, peuple fidèle;" the German “Ein kleiner weißer Schneemann,” sung to the melody of “Jingle Bells;” and translations of holiday favorites such as “Jingle Bells,” “Silent Night” and “O Christmas Tree,” sung in all of the languages offered by SHSU’s foreign languages department.
Christmas cookies and cocoa will also be served.
In the event of inclement weather, the caroling and reception will be held inside AB IV.
For more information, call the foreign languages department at 936.294.1441.
The School of Music will end the semester with faculty and student concerts beginning Monday (Dec. 7).
The Kolonneh String Quartet will be held at 7:30 p.m. that day in the Recital Hall.
The recital, which will include masterworks by Brahms and Shostakovich, will feature faculty members Javier Pinell and Naomi Gjevre, violins; Alicia Valoti, viola; Daniel Saenz, cello; and guest performer Sergio Ruiz, piano.
On Wednesday (Dec. 9), violin students will perform a wide range of works from such composers as Bach, Mozart, Bartok, Schubert, Wieniawski and Bloch.
The Violin Studio Recital will be held from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in Music Building Room 202.
“This is an opportunity for students to perform the pieces they have worked on during the semester,” said Pinell, who is an assistant professor of violin.
Admission is free for both concerts.
For more information, call the School of Music at 936.294.1360.
Dance students will present 11 diverse dances during “Shine,” the graduating senior dance majors’ concert, on Dec. 15-16.
Performances will begin at 7 p.m. in the Academic Building III Dance Theatre.
“Shine” will include dances choreographed by Alison Mackley, Brooke Doyle, Morgan Eddy, Denisee Imwalle, Lindsay Lunsmann, Kyle Januszewski, Brittaney Bleikamp, Crystal Ovalle, Tristin Ferguson, Brittney Thetford and Brynae Love.
“The array of dances on the concert is startling,” said Cindy Gratz, faculty adviser for the group.
The concert will include choreography motivated by Frieda Kahlo and the 1960 Stonewall riots in New York City, an Irish-inspired dance and a “poignant solo composed and performed by Ferguson,” according to Gratz.
“Brooke Doyle’s investigation of falling is marvelous and a bit scary,” Gratz said. “Thetford is masterful in her ingenious uses of different lengths of elastic bands that she created for the dance. Lunsmann has her dancers performing while hanging from a chandelier; and Eddy and Bleikamp have created compelling, new movement concepts.”
“Nothing’s Ever Good Enough,” by Love, is an expression of love gone wrong.
“Her dancers swoosh through space to the music of Lauren Hill’s ‘The Sweetest Thing’ and ‘Ex-Factor,’” Gratz said. “The dancing is brilliant.”
“She has devoted herself to this project and the resulting concert has a wonderful range of powerful choreography.”
Many SHSU dancers featured in the concert have worked long, late-night and weekend hours for their final contribution to SHSU, Gratz said.
Admission is free.
For more information, contact the dance department at 936.294.1875.
Dance students will demonstrate what they’ve learned throughout this semester with non-majors and majors concerts Tuesday and Wednesday (Dec. 8-9).
The non-major workshops, for any student enrolled in dance classes, will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in the Academic Building III Dance Theater.
The show will include presentations by students in beginning ballet, modern, jazz, and tap, which are choreographed by the instructors of the classes.
On Wednesday, program majors will perform student-choreographed dances, including folk and social dance and graduate students' choreography.
The concert will also be held at 7 p.m. in the AB III Dance Theater.
“The workshops serve as final exams for many of our classes, and opportunities for students to perform for an audience,” said Jennifer Pontius, dance program coordinator.
Both performances are free and open to the public. Seating is limited in the theater and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more information, call the dance program at 936.294.1875.
Approximately 26 graduating art students will showcase their works in the Gaddis Geeslin Gallery Dec. 14-19.
The exhibit will feature a variety of work from the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree candidates, according to Debbie Harper, art department audio/visual librarian.
A closing reception will be held immediately following the graduation ceremony on Dec. 19 for the graduates and their family and friends, as well as the public. Refreshments will be served beginning at around 3:30 p.m.
The Gaddis Geeslin Gallery, located in Art Building F, is open Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m.
For more information, call the art department at 936.294.1317 or visit http://www.shsu.edu/~gallery/.
The University Communications Office is currently collecting information on campus events for its spring calendar pages.
Send your departmental calendars or events to today@sam.edu or jenniferg@shsu.edu, or by fax to 294.1834. Please include the date, location and time of the event, as well as a brief description and a contact person.
Information collected for the Today@Sam calendar pages, at /calendars/, is used by various media outlets, as well as our own office for news stories and releases.
It is requested that information be sent to the office (to Julia, Jennifer or through the e-mail link on Today@Sam) a minimum of a full week in advance in order to make necessary contacts and write a story.
For more information, call 936.294.1836.
Information for the SHSU Update can be sent to the Office of Communications electronically at Today@Sam.edu or to any of the media contacts listed below.
Please include the date, location and time of the event, as well as a brief description and a contact person.
All information for news stories should be sent to the office at least a week in advance to give the staff ample time to make necessary contacts and write the story.
For electronic access to SHSU news see the Communications Web page Today@Sam.
- END -
SHSU Media Contacts: Bruce Erickson, Julia May, Jennifer Gauntt
Dec. 4, 2009
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
This page maintained by SHSU's Communications Office
Director: Bruce Erickson
Assistant Director: Julia May
Writer: Jennifer Gauntt
Located in the 115 Administration Building
Telephone: 936.294.1836; Fax: 936.294.1834
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu.
Brian Domitrovic, assistant professor of history, appeared on Book TV (C-SPAN) May 1-2, speaking about his recent book "Econoclasts: The Rebels Sparked the Supply Side Revolution and Restored American Prosperity" (www.econoclasts.net).
Houston Chronicle education writer Jeannie Kever recently turned to Regents Professor of English Paul Ruffin for his views on university presses moving toward "digital books" as opposed to traditional ink-on-paper."We're fulfilling the ancient role of the university press, and that is to produce books," said Paul Ruffin, the Texas poet laureate for 2009 and director of the Texas Review Press at Sam Houston State University. "I don't want to give up the book because it is an art."
Monday, May 3
Tuesday, May 4
"The measure of a Life is its Service."