"The measure of a Life is its Service."
Four alumnae will help close out the College of Humanities and Social Sciences’ Women’s History Month celebration by sharing their personal stories as part of a panel on Tuesday (March 30).
The panel and closing ceremony will be held at 3:30 p.m. in CHSS Building Room 110.
During the event, the four, all contributors and leaders in their chosen fields, will each have 15 minutes to share her personal story—SHSU experience, career journey, and final destination—with an additional 30 minutes at the close of the presentations for a question and answer session, according to Dawn Caplinger, SHSU English lecturer.
The presenters include Linda Byrd-Cook (’76 B.A. and ’77 M.A.), SHSU associate professor of English; Pamela Williams (’81 B.A.), the first African American woman to hold the position of deputy director of support operations for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice; Janet Mullings (’90 B.S., ’94 M.A. and ’97 Ph.D.), professor, chair, and associate dean of the SHSU College of Criminal Justice; and Summer Sanford (’02 B.A. and ’09 M.B.A.), vice president for Capital One Bank.
“The purpose of the panel is to provide female students with an opportunity to hear the stories of and have a conversation with female alumnae who can provide insight into the answer to the question that each female student will eventually ask herself: "Where does one go after SHSU?" Caplinger said.
Finally, rounding out the history month will be the Office of Multicultural and International Student Services’ presentation of “Precious” on Wednesday (March 31).
The showing will be from 6-9 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Theater.
Based on the novel Push, by Sapphire, “Precious” tells the story of an overweight, illiterate teen living in Harlem, who is invited to enroll in an alternative school in hopes that her life can head in a new direction.
The movie stars Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd and Lenny Kravitz.
For more information, contact Caplinger at 936.294.1428 or dcaplinger@shsu.edu or the Office of MISS at 936.294.3588.
Two SHSU alumnae who now work for the Fort Bend County Community Supervision and Corrections Department will return to their alma mater to discuss their career paths on Tuesday (March 30).
The College of Criminal Justice’s "Real Talk with CJ" series lecture, featuring Patricia Pecina Wosnitzky and Laura Purcell, will be held at 2 p.m. at CJava, located in the Criminal Justice Center.
Wosnitzky, who earned her Bachelor of Science degree in law enforcement police science in 1987, is a senior community supervision officer.
She has worked with the department since November 1993, serving in several capacities, including supervising a Spanish-speaking caseload, as the first drug court coordinator and was instrumental in developing and implementing the CARD program (a volunteer, court intervention program for people with addictions).
Wosnitzky is certified to conduct substance abuse evaluations as well as in-house training and is also assigned to County Court at Law No. 1 as a liaison officer, in addition to being in a rotated assignment for the associate judge who serves the district courts in the county.
Purcell began work with the Fort Bend County Community Supervision and Corrections Department immediately after earning her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, with a minor in psychology, from SHSU.
She was assigned to supervise a misdemeanor caseload, consisting of approximately 120 probationers who typically received six months to two years probation.
In November, she was selected to serve as a special sanctions court officer, for which she assesses each case that is placed on felony probation, monitoring defendants’ substance abuse and referring them to the proper treatment program when needed.
The “Real Talk With CJ” lecture is sponsored by Alpha Phi Sigma.
For more information, contact Candice Williams, College of Criminal Justice undergraduate coordinator/adviser, at 936.294.1702.
Dorothy Caram, the daughter of two of the first Hispanic-issue activists in Houston and Hispanic historian, will provide “A Hispanic Look at Houston's History” on Tuesday (March 30).
The lecture will be held from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the PACE Conference Room, located in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building.
Caram received her Bachelor of Arts degree in romance languages and her master’s degree in Spanish from Rice University in 1955 and 1974, respectively, as well as a doctorate in educational leadership at the University of Houston in 1982.
A former teacher, she retired in 1995 after serving five years as assistant to the president and director of affirmative action at UH.
Caram also has devoted most of her life to volunteer work, serving as an active member on committees, boards and commissions and helping found a number of Hispanic- and education-related organizations in the Houston area.
Her interest in the history of Hispanics in Houston and the Gulf Coast region of Texas led her to chair a Texas bicentennial celebration event in 1986, during which she documented the 80 oral presentations at that event which were printed as a book “The History of Hispanics in Houston, Harris County, 1519-1986.”
For more information, contact the foreign languages department at 936.294.1441.
The Political Science Junior Fellows will give Huntsville a look back at how the town has changed during the past 150 years during the third annual “Huntsville: Then and Now” photographic exhibit.
The exhibit of more than 300 photographs of Sam Houston Avenue and intersecting streets will be held through April 30 in the Katy and E. Don Walker, Sr., Education Center.
“Sam Houston Avenue is one of the community’s most travelled thoroughfares, and almost everyone has memories of the avenue’s churches, businesses, downtown area, homes, and university buildings,” said junior fellows president Daniel North.
A reception for the exhibit will be held on Tuesday (March 30), from 5:30-7:30 p.m., during which time a representative from Congressman Kevin Brady’s office will present the designation of Walker County as a “Preserve America Community.”
The designation is bestowed by First Lady Michelle Obama, the Advisory Council on History Preservation and numerous federal agencies as a recognition of the emphasis on historical education and preservation plays in Walker County.
“By strengthening your community, you are strengthening our country. You are showing that each of us has a role to play in shaping a better future, and we can do it by honoring our past,” Obama said in a letter to Walker County judge Danny Pierce, who will accept the designation for the county.
Refreshments will be provided at the come-and-go reception.
The Political Science Junior Fellows is a civic-minded organization that promotes public service, education, and professionalism.
For more information on the event or the organization, contact Mike Yawn, junior fellows adviser, at 936.294.1456 or mike.yawn@shsu.edu or visit www.shsu.edu/org_psjf.
Students in the PGA golf management program will help local golfers with their pitching, chipping, putting and swing on April 2 “fore” their “Free Lesson Friday” at Raven Nest Golf Club.
Lessons will be provided from 2-5 p.m.
“We are offering these lessons because one of our goals is to promote and grow the game of golf while showing our appreciation to the Huntsville community,” said Rich Ballinger, director of the PGA golf management program and golf course operations.
At least five students will be on the range at all times, giving lessons for about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on whether there is a waiting line, according to Ballinger.
“We have given lessons on pitching, chipping, putting, and full swing lessons,” he said. “We are happy to help people with whatever aspect of their game they feel needs some help.
“People have been coming to us with a particular area they would like to work on,” Ballinger said.
Golfers who want assistance are not required to make appointments in order to participate.
For more information, call the Raven Nest Golf Club at 936.438.8588 or Ballinger at 936.294.4810.
The School of Music will showcase its faculty during percussion and brass concerts beginning Monday (March 29).
The Faculty Percussion Recital, featuring SHSU assistant professor of percussion John Lane and University of North Texas associate professor of creative writing Ann McCutchan, will be at 7:30 p.m. on that day in Music Building Room 202.
“‘Musically Speaking’ celebrates the art of combining spoken word and music in performance,” Lane said.
The program features works by John Cage, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Carlos Stasi and Mariano Castelnuovo Tedesco, as well as two by Lane and McCutchan.
Program highlights include Lane's arrangement of Cage's seminal work “27'10.554," with recorded readings spoken by Cage; an original essay by McCutchan, inspired by Cage; and the premiere of “Five Places West,” a new composition by Lane and McCutchan.
On Wednesday (March 31), the Faculty Brass Ensemble will perform a range of works, from Renaissance to contemporary pieces at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall.
The Faculty Brass Ensemble includes Randy Adams and Steve Warkentin, playing trumpets; Peggy DeMers, playing horn; Allen Barnhill, Aric Schneller and Henry Howey, playing trombone; Henry Howey, playing euphonium; and Robert Daniel, playing tuba.
The program will include Renaissance and Baroque pieces, transcribed by Howey; Bach’s “Contrapunctus XII A,” performed by the faculty trombone choir; a work by former SHSU music chair Fisher Tull for brass quintet; and a late Romantic work by the German composer Oskar Bohme for brass sextet.
Admission is free for both concerts.
For more information, call the School of Music at 936.294.1360.
The SHSU dance program will present “Inevitably,” a concert featuring dance works created by seven graduate students Wednesday (March 31) and Thursday (April 1), at 8 p.m. both days, in the Academic Building III Dance Theatre.
The concert features artistic works that range from “quirky, energetic, and entertaining to intense, intimate and sensual” by Matthew Harr, Crystal Lewis, Stephani Herzog, Marian Hart, Amy Llanes, Brittany Thetford and Jamie Zahradnik, according to Zahradnik.
Works featured in the concert will include, “Slow Tango,” a “simple but steamy tango-inspired contemporary pointe piece” choreographed by Lewis and performed by Joe Shepherd and Lewis.
“The piece depicts the emotional and physical relationship between a man and woman in the process of playing with the idea of breaking boundaries that are inevitably crossed,” Zahradnik said.
Zahradnik’s “Thaw” is a “visceral and subtly vulnerable solo,” which is “inspired by self-discovery of the link between human emotion and sensation,” she said.
Hart creates an homage to tap dance in its heyday in “On the Corner,” which “depicts the days when hoofers like Bill Bojangles would carry portable wooden planks and dance on the street corners,” Zahradnik said.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. for both performances, and admission is free.
For more information, contact Hart at 832.260.4623 or mth006@shsu.edu.
The SHSU Trumpet Ensemble blew away a number of notable music schools when they won fifth place in the final round at the National Trumpet Competition in Fairfax, Va., on March 11.
The ensemble was among only 32 groups from across the nation that were invited to perform at the live event, and only nine of those were passed on to the final round. SHSU placed above such notable music schools as Peabody Conservatory, Indiana University, the University of Texas, Virginia Tech, Eastman School of Music and Baylor University
“The Sam Houston Trumpet Ensemble was the only group in finals made up totally of undergraduates, and one of the members, Eric Walley, is a freshman,” said assistant professor of trumpet Randy Adams, who noted that the Julliard School of Music won first place. “Final round competition at this national event is predominantly made up of graduate students working on performance degrees.
“Considering the level of competition at NTC, it is even more impressive to know that these students performed on the SHSU Wind Ensemble Concert, went on tour performing at five North Houston/Woodlands area high schools, played at the SHSU Jazz Festival and served in the Bearkat Basketball Band for playoff games all in the same week,” he said.
NTC competitors were invited based on performance recordings each group submitted last December.
Ensemble member Kyle Cameron said he felt wonder and awe in sharing the stage with Julliard and at having a “legitimate chance to win NTC.”
“It was also really cool looking around the packed auditorium and seeing all these trumpet players, some of them famous, that were very interested in hearing us,” Cameron said. “It was also awesome just to achieve the goal that we set back in January, and that was to make finals.
“Nothing is more rewarding than to achieve a goal that you put so much work and effort into everyday for three months,” he said.
This is the second time in the past five years a Sam Houston Trumpet group has made finals at NTC.
Members of the ensemble include David Hernandez, Eric Walley, Travis Cottle, Nicholas Alaggio and Cameron. All five are students of Adams and Steve Warkentin in the SHSU Trumpet Studio and received additional coaching from Matthew McInturf, SHSU director of bands.
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
March 26, 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.
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."