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SHSU Update For Week Of Jan. 10, 2010

Review Accepting Literary Submissions
Prof’s Article Named ‘Top’ In Five Years
ROTC Commissions Three At Winter Ceremony
Health Center Receives Re-Accreditation
McNair Program Welcomes 11 Scholars
Four Chosen To Be Faces, Voice Of 16th Sammy Awards
Calendar Information Sought For Spring
Send Update Items Here

Review Accepting Literary Submissions

The Sam Houston State Review, the literary journal of SHSU, is accepting submissions for its 2009-10 issue. The review publishes short stories, poetry and essays by SHSU students, alumni, faculty and staff.

“There are storytellers and poets all around the university community, writing in classes and outside of classes, filling notebooks and computer files,” said English assistant professor Scott Kaukonen. “We’d like to give those writers a chance to share their work with more than their Facebook friends and to give them more than 140 characters’ worth of space to do so.”

Submissions are read and evaluated by students in Kaukonen’s English 383 “Practicum in Publishing” course, comprised mostly of English majors and creative writing minors who help determine the best submissions in each genre. Those selected will be published in the review in late April.

“It’s really exciting to read submissions from other students, and I often find myself surprised in a good way,” said senior practicum student Johnna Reynolds.

Writers whose works are accepted for publication are also invited to read at the review’s annual release party, held at the end of the spring semester.

Individual authors may submit one work of fiction and/or one essay and up to five poems, though no more than three poems will be published by any single author. The journal is also seeking artwork for the cover.

“We’re seeking stories, poems, and essays that are fresh and vital and urgent, the kind of literary work we want to push upon our friends,” Kaukonen said. “We want to be able to say, ‘Here, you have to read this.’ The same applies to the cover art. We want something that catches our attention.”

Submissions may be submitted electronically, as Microsoft Word attachments, to shsureview@yahoo.com or mailed to the SHSU Review, c/o The Department of English, PO Box 2146, 1901 University Ave., Huntsville, TX, 77341.

The SHSU Review also has its own Facebook page (SHSU Review).

The submission deadline is Feb. 1.

For more information, contact Kaukonen, review faculty adviser, at 936.294.1407 or kaukonen@shsu.edu; Bonnie-Jean Kalina, at bkk002@shsu.edu; or Johnna Reynolds, at jnr003@shsu.edu.

Prof’s Article Named ‘Top’ In Five Years

An article co-authored by assistant professor of communication studies Shuangyue Zhang was recently awarded as the top interpersonal communication article in the past five years by the National Communication Association.

Zhang and co-author Art Ramirez were recognized with the prestigious 2009 Franklin H. Knower Article Award at the association’s Chicago convention for their article, "When online meets offline: The effect of modality switching on relational communication," published in the 2007 Communication Monographs.

In the article, Zhang and Ramirez compared different conditions for people who met online, such as how long they waited to meet face to face.

“Consistent with predictions, remaining online yielded greater intimacy and social attraction than the other conditions in which face-to-face contact occurred,” Zhang said. “With respect to the computer-mediated communication conditions, modality switching (shifting interactions from one channel to another) modestly enhanced relational outcomes in the ‘early’ switching partnerships but more strongly dampened those of ‘late’ switching ones.

The Franklin H. Knower Article Award represents the most important honors the interpersonal communication division of National Communication Association can bestow on its members, according to Terry Thibodeaux, communications studies professor.

The award acknowledges research that has made, or offers promise of, significant contributions to scholarship in interpersonal communication.

ROTC Commissions Three At Winter Ceremony

commissionees Three SHSU cadets joined the ranks of second lieutenants in the U.S. Army on Dec. 18 during the Bearkat Battalion’s winter commissioning ceremony.

Commissioned during the ceremony were Marlena Murillo-Guerra, Mark J. Richardson and James D. Walston.

Houston native Guerra, who graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in biology, enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 2003 and served in the Army Reserves before coming to SHSU.

As a member of the Simultaneous Membership Program with the 1002nd Quartermaster Company Detachment 1 in Pasadena, Guerra earned the Army Achievement Medal.

She requested and received an active duty commission as a medical service corps officer, and her first duty assignment will be in Korea.

Richardson, from Driftwood, entered SHSU’s ROTC program and received a two-and-a-half year Army ROTC scholarship after successfully completing the Leader’s Training Course at Fort Knox, Ky.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice, with minors in both psychology and military science.

Richardson requested and received an active duty commission and will serve as an Army ordnance corps officer, with his first duty assignment at Fort Lee, Va.

A Spring native, Walston enlisted in the U.S. Army and served on active duty as a medic for almost two years and graduated from basic training and advanced individual training in the top 10 percent of his class.

Walston graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree, majoring in both finance and banking/financial institutions. He also graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate in Military Science.

He requested and received an active duty commission as a finance corps officer and will serve his first duty assignment at Fort Jackson, S.C.

Health Center Receives Re-Accreditation

The Sam Houston State University Student Health Center has been re-accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Care at the highest level of accreditation for the next three years.

"We are very proud of what we do at the Student Health Center,” said Keith Lott, director of the Student Health Center. “Accreditation provides external recognition of the department’s efforts to positively affect the health of our students."

The SHC achieved its initial accreditation in 2006, when it received the highest level of accreditation for a three-year period. In 2009, the department underwent the accreditation process again in order to maintain its accredited status.

This process entailed a review of the department’s policies, procedures, protocols, and quality improvement activities for the past three years as well as an on-site visit to measure the department’s operations against rigorous nationally recognized standards, according to Lott.

Of the 435 applicable standards rated “Substantial Compliance,” “Partial Compliance,” or “Non-Compliance,” the center scored “Substantial Compliance” on 433 standards and “Partial Compliance” on two standards.

Sam Houston State University is one of six public universities in Texas that have accredited health centers. Others include Texas A&M University, Texas State University-San Marcos, Texas Tech, University of Texas at Austin and University of Texas-Pan American.

For more information on the Student Health Center or the services available to students, visit http://www.shsu.edu/~uhc_www/.

McNair Program Welcomes 11 Scholars

Eleven SHSU undergraduates were recently accepted as part of the McNair Scholars Program’s seventh cohort.

Welcomed during a reception on Dec. 5 were English majors Jessica Bowdoin and Jennifer Yepez, psychology major Chanell Fisher, economics major Monica Eaton, history major Trent Jenkins, international business and management major Dustin Johnston, Spanish major Benjamin Montes, biology major Leroy Brooks, horticulture major Lindsay Garza, physics and engineering major Brenden Wiggins and forensic chemistry major Megan Konarik.

The Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program is designed to provide talented low-income, first-generation and ethnic minority undergraduate students with effective preparation for doctoral study. Through the program, participants are provided opportunities to define their goals, engage in research, and develop relationships with faculty through mentorships.

For more information on the McNair program, call 936.294.3279, e-mail mcnair@shsu.edu or visit http://www.shsu.edu/~mcnair/.

Four Chosen To Be Faces, Voice Of 16th Sammy Awards

SHSU junior Monica Eaton, senior Daniel Pawlowski and sophomore Meagan Lee have been selected as emcees for the 16th annual Sammy Awards. The announcer for the event will be sophomore Corey Lazar.

The annual ceremony, SHSU’s official student award program that recognizes students, faculty and staff and organizations, will be held on April 14.

The three emcees were selected from 17 students who auditioned before a panel of judges who based their decisions on various categories, according to Brandon Cooper, Student Activities assistant director.

"Becoming an emcee for the Sammys is truly a great honor. You are given a chance to represent the entire university on the night that it honors its most amazing students,” he said. “These emcees put in a lot of hard work and long hours and are truly acting as the ‘face’ of Sam Houston State University."

Emcees will begin their rehearsals upon returning to class in January and continue until the time of the ceremony, which generally include several two-hour rehearsals each week in the beginning of the semester.

"I was truly honored to be chosen as an emcee for the Sammys,” Eaton said. “I am very excited to have the opportunity to work with such wonderful co-emcees and to honor the student leaders that we have at SHSU."

Eaton and Lee are both first-time emcees this year, while Pawlowski is returning for a third year as emcee. Lazar also has previously served in the position.

"Being an emcee for the Sammys for the past two years has been an amazing opportunity for me,” Pawlowski said. “I am looking forward to a third, and final, year to host this prestigious ceremony and represent SHSU."

Calendar Information Sought For Spring

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.

Send Update Items Here

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
Jan. 8, 2010
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.

SHSU 'In the News'

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."