"The measure of a Life is its Service."
The College of Humanities and Social Sciences is celebrating women during the month of March with a number of speakers and other gender-oriented events.
Women’s History Month will kick off on Tuesday (March 2) with a showing of the crime thriller “Bordertown,” starring Jennifer Lopez, Martin Sheen and Antonio Banderas.
The movie, about a journalist investigating a series of murders near American-owned factories on the border of Juarez and El Paso, will be presented at 3:30 p.m. in College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building Room C090.
On Wednesday (March 3), Aisha Durham, an assistant professor of communication at Texas A&M University, will get “At Home with Hip Hop,” discussing the emergence of hip hop feminism through home stories at 6 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Theater.
“She outlines the contours of an embodied intellectual, cultural and political project by fleshing hip hop feminism as a dynamic conversation between real and imagined bodies that recall, remember and represent,” said Sujey Vega, assistant professor of sociology. “Durham addresses the unique contributions of hip hop feminism while anchoring the project within a long, rich tradition of feminist of color creative-intellectual work within women and gender studies.”
Also that evening, CHSS will sponsor a poet’s lounge with works addressing gender and sexuality at 8 p.m. in LSC Room 320.
The Women’s History Month events are designed to “bring awareness to women's history and celebrate the role of women in our everyday lives,” Vega said.
“Personally, this is why I decided to invite Aisha to campus. I felt her work with hip hop would speak to a lot of students who don't listen to hip hop now-a-days and shed light on reading feminism through hip hop,” she said. “Once more, this highlights not just amazing scholarship conducted on women's issues in our region, but also helps us gauge how to examine gender roles in contemporary lived experience.”
Other events for the month will include discussions by author/historian Carroll Parrot Blue and on the legal battles against rape, panels on women's issues and alumni, a research display of CHSS female faculty, and films featuring women around the globe.
For more information, contact Vega at 936.294.4085 or sxv005@shsu.edu.
Haiyan Wang, an assistant professor in Texas A&M University’s electrical and computer engineering department, will discuss her work on nanostructured functional oxide thin films on Wednesday (March 3).
The physics colloquium lecture, “Microstructure and Properties of Nanostructured Functional Oxide Thin Films,” will be held from 3-4 p.m. in Farrington Building Room 209.
The talk focuses on our group’s research efforts on various nanostructured functional oxide thin films for high temperature superconductors, solid oxide fuel cells, transparent conducting oxides and others, according to Wang.
Wang holds a bachelor’s degree from Nanchang University, a master’s degree from the Institute of Metal Research, both in China, and a doctorate from North Carolina State University.
From December 2002 to January 2006, Wang was on the staff of the Los Alamos National Laboratory first as a post-doctoral fellow and then a technical staff member.
She has authored and coauthored over 140 journal articles and 100 conference presentations and is the principal investigator of the Functional Thin Film Processing and Characterization Group at TAMU.
In addition, she has been the recipient of the National Science Foundation Career Award, the Presidential Early Career Award, Office of Naval Research-Young Investigator Award and the Air Force of Scientific Research-Young Investigator Award.
For more information, call the physics department at 936.294.1601.
Lee Bebout, assistant professor English, will kick off the department’s Friday Faculty Forum 2010 Coffee and Colloquium Series with a discussion on his research in Chicano studies on March 5.
"Chicana/o Studies and the Whiteness Problem," will be presented at 2 p.m. in Evans Building Room 417.
Focused on an emerging field, Bebout’s paper calls for the creation of a dialogue between Chicano Studies and Critical Whiteness Studies, looking at how Anglo-Americans have fashioned whiteness through interactions with and imaginings of Chicanos, Mexicanos, and the border; as well as how Chicanos have negotiated, contested, and reconfigured these conceptions of whiteness.
“Over the past 20 years, Critical Whiteness Studies has grown largely out of the field of African American Studies,” Bebout said. “Recognizing the complex, multifaceted nature of whiteness, many have called for a move beyond the black/white binary.
“Making a critical intervention in this area, (critic) Andy Smith has argued that while whiteness does operate through binary relations, there are different sets of binaries which interlock to forge white supremacy,” he said. “In her essay, Smith contends that each pillar has had a disparate impact on specific racialized communities: slavery/capitalism (African Americans); genocide/colonialism (Native Americans); orientalism/war (Asians and Asian Americans). While this paradigm is incredibly useful in understanding the operations of white supremacy, Chicanas/os historically have moved between these interlocking pillars.”
Bebout has taught English at SHSU since 2007.
He earned his doctorate in American studies from Purdue University and his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of North Texas.
All colloquium series talks are open to students and faculty members.
Refreshments will be served.
For more information, contact Drew Lopenzina, assistant professor of English, at 936.294.1434.
When Houston author and financial adviser Jim Bevill began writing the book on the early money of Texas four years ago, it began as an outline of the various forms of paper money and the circumstances that led to their issue during the Republic of Texas era.
As he dug deeper into the inner workings of the early Texas Treasury, Bevill unearthed the dramatic economic story of a young government struggling to survive in the throes of a global credit crisis by issuing a plethora of paper obligations in order to survive.
Bevill will discuss his work on “Financing the Texas Revolution” and sign copies of his resulting book, The Paper Republic: The Struggle for Money, Credit and Independence in the Republic of Texas, on Tuesday (March 2), as part of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum’s celebration of Texas Independence Day and Gen. Sam Houston’s birthday.
The lecture and book signing will be held at 7 p.m. in the Walker Education Center.
The Paper Republic evolved into a powerful financial story on the economic roots of Texas, ranging from the earliest days of Spanish colonization through the war for independence and the massive buildup of debt through the paper money system under Presidents Burnet, Houston, Lamar and Jones, which created a financial house of cards and eventually led to the annexation of Texas by the U.S. in 1845, according to Megan Buro, museum marketing coordinator.
The lecture and signing are free and open to the public.
For more information, contact Buro at 936.294.3839.
Approximately 43 agencies and companies will be on campus talking with potential employees for the Criminal Justice Career Fair on Wednesday (March 3).
The fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Ballroom.
Among the entities scheduled to attend are the 2010 Census, Center for Advanced Legal Studies, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, Harris County Juvenile Probation, the Houston Office of the Attorney General’s Child Support Division, Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, U.S. Secret Service and the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
In addition, a number of police and sherriff’s departments will be in attendance, including Baytown, Belton, Carrollton, College Station, Conroe, Dallas County, Fort Worth and Missouri City.
The event is open to students from all academic backgrounds.
Students who are registered on Jobs 4 Kats can get a jumpstart on finding a job or internship by logging on, at https://www.myinterfase.com/shsu/student/, to find a complete list of participating agencies, as well as descriptions of positions they are hiring for, according to Paige Andrews, job fair and special events coordinator.
For more information, contact Career Services at 936.294.1713 or careerservices@shsu.edu.
The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Initiative will update students on SHSU’s policies and initiatives regarding drinking and the use of other substances on Tuesday (March 2).
"Policies, Programs, and Prevention," part of the Six Weeks of Alcohol Awareness Training program, will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Mall Area.
“Sometimes students don't realize the resources they have here at the university, and if they knew about these resources, maybe they would use them before they go down the wrong path,” said Lisa Joyner, ADAI assistant. “In one short second you can make a life-changing decision that could ruin your time here at Sam, but by using the resources provided and by having a proactive university, a difference can be made.”
The ADAI’s Six Weeks of Alcohol Awareness Training program allows students to earn prizes by attending events that accumulate as students attend more programs.
For more information, contact Rosanne Keathley, ADAI coordinator, at 936.294.1171.
The SHSU department of theatre and dance will present a love story that takes place at a psychiatric institution with its production of Don Nigro’s “The Great Gromboolian Plain,” Tuesday through Saturday (March 2-6).
Show times are at 8 p.m. each evening, with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee in the University Theatre Center’s Showcase Theatre.
The long one-act play tells the story of Dinah, a young woman who believes she can travel through time, and is placed in a psychiatric institution by her sister, April, when she refuses to reveal where their father’s long lost poems are hidden.
Dinah’s struggle is further complicated when she meets a mysterious patient, Magellan, to whom she is instantly attracted.
Directed by senior theatre major Angela Bell, “The Great Gromboolian Plain” stars Teresa Zimmermann as Dinah, Adrian Anderson as April and Jack Ivy as Magellan.
The cast also includes SHSU musical theatre majors Garrett Line and Kelly Peters.
Designers include theatre majors Vilija Tuminas, props and set; Ryan Brazil, sound; Sara Luke, costumes; and Shannon Parker, lights. SHSU theatre major Jeremy Brown is the stage manager.
Tickets are $ 8 for general admission.
The play contains adult language and content; therefore, children under the age of three will not be admitted.
For more information, call the University Theatre Center Box Office at 936.294.1339.
The Sam Houston Memorial Museum will highlight the accomplishments of Wiley College professor Melvin B. Tolson with a presentation of the movie based on his “great debaters” on Thursday (March 4).
The Texas Thursday Movie Night presentation will be held at at 7 p.m. in the Walker Education Center Auditorium.
The movie—set in Marshall, Texas, the home of Wiley College, in the 1930s—follows Tolson, who, inspired by the Harlem Renaissance and his clandestine work as a union organizer, coaches the debate team to a nearly-undefeated season that sees the first debate between U.S. students from white and Negro colleges and ends with an invitation to face Harvard University's national champions, according to the Internet Movie Database.
Directed by and starring Denzel Washington, “The Great Debaters” cast also includes Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett, Denzel Whitaker and Jermaine Williams.
Texas Thursday Movie Night showings are designed to promote museum awareness and educate the public about Texas through film, according to Megan Buro, museum marketing coordinator.
All presentations will have some tie to the state, either made in Texas, have a plotline centered around the state or a native as the director or a main actor, Buro said.
All showings are free and open to the public. Seating in the Education Center Auditorium is limited to 150.
For more information, contact Buro at 936.294.3839.
The SHSU physics department will visit some of the solar systems’ “Extreme Planets” during its planetarium presentation on Friday (March 5).
The series, designed to show attendees which constellations, stars and planets they can expect to see in the upcoming weeks, will be held from 7-8:15 p.m. in the planetarium, in Farrington Building Room 102.
“Extreme Planets” explores what makes a planet "Earth-like" and “take an immersive all-dome tour of several worlds that just might fit the conditions we're looking for,” according to Michael Prokosch, physics department staff laboratory assistant.
This semester, the planetarium series will be broken up into different showings. Another presentation of “Extreme Planets” will be on April 30, and “Ibex: Search for the Edge of the Solar System” will be shown April 16, May 7 and May 14.
For more information on current show times for the planetarium or the observatory, call 936.294.3664 or e-mail Prokosch at mwp007@shsu.edu or visit the Planetarium WikiPage at http://shsu-planetarium.wikispaces.com/.
The SHSU Percussion Ensemble will present an evening of “Atmospheres and Theatrics” on Saturday (March 6), at 6 p.m. in Music Building Room 202.
Among the pieces to be performed are Fredrik Andersson’s “The Lonelyness of Santa Claus,” a meditation on sound and silence for two marimbas, and Maurico Kagel’s “Rrrrrrr...,” “a theatrical piece in six movements, (with) each movement being a separate vignette,” according to Brandon Bell, adjunct percussion instructor.
“In this work, we are taken to the scene of a railway accident, a Swiss village, an alpine meadow—complete with cows—and a German circus, among other stops,” he said.
The concert will also include an arrangement of “Non Nobis, Domine,” from the film adaptation of Henry V, by SHSU student Mark Benavides.
The concert is free, and open to the public.
For more information, call the School of Music at 936.294.1360.
Methods registration for academic studies and secondary education students will be open from March 1 to April 1.
During this time, students can go to Sam Web, log in and then go to student records and click on "methods application" for the fall '10 semester. Students should be sure to note in the comment box whether he/she is requesting to take classes on campus or at the University Center.
“Once they do this, they will put all their information on the screen, and after they hit 'submit' they will get a confirmation that their application was sent," said curriculum and instruction department secretary Susan Hayes.
After submitting an application, the department will check for placement eligibility, Hayes said.
For more information, call Hayes at 936.294.3896.
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.
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SHSU Media Contacts: Bruce Erickson, Julia May, Jennifer Gauntt
Feb. 26, 2010
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
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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."