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SHSU Update For Week Of April 1
- ‘Miss Representation’ To Examine ‘Powerful Women’
- Cadets To Present Primer On Chinese Policing
- Distinguished Lecturer To Discuss Climate Wednesday
- Faculty, Student Concerts To Blow Audiences Away
- ‘Hybrid’ Exhibit Creates ‘Monster’ From Plants, Art
- Literacy Methods, Special Ed Blocks Open Monday
- Lawyers Discuss Practice For Career Week
- Submit Update Items Here
‘Miss Representation’ To Examine ‘Powerful Women’
What does it mean to be a powerful woman? Does the mainstream media get it right?
On Thursday (April 5) Sam Houston State University’s mass communication department will host a free screening of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival film “Miss Representation,” which asks these questions and provides startling answers. The presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Gaertner Performing Arts Center Recital Hall. Doors will open at 6 p.m.
Written, directed and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, “Miss Representation” explores the under-representation of women in positions of influence in America and challenges the media's limited portrayal of what it means to be a powerful woman.
“Working with the students, we thought the film highlights some important issues that many college-aged students, especially women, face: the poor representation of strong female role models, the perception that looks are more important than character, and issues with body dissatisfaction that many college aged women wrestle with,” said organizer LaChrystal Ricke Radcliffe, an assistant professor in the mass communication department.
The film weaves together stories from teenage girls and provocative interviews with politicians, journalists, entertainers, activists and academics, including Condoleezza Rice, Nancy Pelosi, Katie Couric, Rachel Maddow, Margaret Cho, Rosario Dawson and Gloria Steinem to provide an inside look at the media and its message.
A fashion show and panel discussion will follow the screening.
“The ways that women dress on television, especially popular shows with this age group, are not how they will be expected to present themselves in the work force,” Radcliffe said.
Hosted by the SHSU Fashion Club, the show will attempt to combat those images by highlighting how to dress appropriately but stylishly for the workplace on a budget.
To wrap it all up, participants will be encouraged to join in the conversation with a panel discussion hosted by SHSU faculty members from the mass communication and sociology departments.
For more information on the filmmaker, visit www.jennifersiebel.com and for more about the film and how to take action, visit www.missrepresentation.org.
Cadets To Present Primer On Chinese Policing
In the spirit of cooperation and communication, students from Zhejiang Police College in China will introduce Sam Houston State students to policing in their native land.
Eight students from the 2011-2012 cohort will present “Introduction to the Chinese Police System” on Tuesday (April 3) and Thursday (April 5), from 2-3 p.m. in Criminal Justice Center Room A201. The program will cover basic information on Chinese police, surveillance, an integrated police command system, crime prevention, intermediation practices and investigating techniques.
“China is very different. It has a large population, and the laws are different,” said Yulu (Crystal) Ye, a Chinese police cadet who is organizing the presentation. “Students will find similarities and differences and they might be inspired by some of those differences.
“China has police and Americans don’t understand Chinese policing,” she said. “In the last few decades, China has made huge progress.”
Ye will discuss the integrated police command system in her country, which combines dispatch, civilian surveillance and information analysis in one center. To reach police in the event of an emergency, citizens in China dial 1-1-0 instead of 9-1-1. To monitor the large population, China has surveillance cameras on the street, which are used in combination with crime analysis to keep offenses in check.
“Because of this sort of practice, the crime rate is reduced,” Ye said.
Another major difference between China and the United States is that citizens may not own guns. In addition, the use of cameras is less controversial among its residents, Ye said.
For the last three years, 16 police cadets from Zhejiang Police College have spent their junior year at SHSU, and SHSU criminal justice professors have traveled to China to teach at ZPC.
The program is designed to provide basic information about the American criminal justice system and teach English to prepare students for their experience at SHSU. During their stay in the United States, Alvin and League City Police Departments provide a five-day internship for police cadets from China.
During the second year of the program, the Chinese cadets reached out to American students through a Chinese movie night to introduce their culture. After the internship, this cohort wanted to clear up some misconceptions about Chinese police.
“We just want to share ideas,” Ye said. “We had a chance to experience American policing. Now we feel it is necessary to introduce Chinese policing. It is necessary for good communications and cooperation.”
Among the other Zhejiang Police cadets scheduled to present are Qilong Yuan (Charles), Chiyun Zhang (Sally), Yuanyi Zhao (Kira), Rusong Xu (Daniel), Bin Zhang (Sam), Qi Ye (Michelle) and Feibai Huang (Helen).
Distinguished Lecturer To Discuss Climate Wednesday
Donald A. Wilhite, director of the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, has been selected as the speaker for Sam Houston State University’s 2012 Faculty Distinguished Lecturer Series.
Wilhite will discuss “Managing Drought In A Changing Climate” on Wednesday (April 4), at 11 a.m. in the Ron Mafrige Auditorium of the Smith-Hutson Business Building.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Prior to being named director of the School of Natural Resources, Wilhite was the founding director of the National Drought Mitigation Center and the International Drought Information Center, also at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
He has worked with numerous state and federal agencies, foreign governments, and regional and international organizations on climate- and drought-related issues.
His research and outreach activities have focused on issues of drought monitoring, planning, mitigation, and policy and use of climate information in decision-making.
Wilhite has authored or co-authored more than 130 journal articles, monographs, book chapters and technical reports. He is the editor or co-editor of numerous books on drought and drought management, including a book series on Drought and Water Crises.
He is the recipient or co-recipient of more than $20 million in grants, and he has collaborated with global entities on drought policy and planning issues. He has also conducted many workshops on drought planning in the United States and internationally.
Wilhite recently co-organized an international workshop on drought early warning systems under the sponsorship of the World Meteorological Organization and co-edited the proceedings of WMO expert meetings on Agricultural Drought Indices and Towards a Compendium on National Drought Policy.
He also serves as the co-chair of a technical committee on the Integrated Drought Management Program currently being launched by WMO and the Global Water Partnership and is co-chair of the International Organizing Committee on National Drought Policy currently being initiated by WMO and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.
Faculty, Student Concerts To Blow Audiences Away
SHSU student and faculty performers will showcase their talents in a variety of concerts beginning Monday (April 2) with a Faculty Brass Ensemble concert.
The concert, featuring six School of Music professors and a graduate student, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Gaertner Performing Arts Center Recital Hall.
The program will include music from the Glories of Baroque period, a motet (vocal composition) originally written for voices that has been transcribed for brass, by Gabrieli; and the organ work by JS Bach “Contrapunctus IX,” a “warhorse in the brass repertoire,” according to Peggy DeMers, professor of horn.
“We will perform a transcription of the Impressionistic composer Debussy ‘The Girl with the Flaxen hair’ illustrating the fluid lines and dovetailing of phrases that is a hallmark of the ballet world,” she said. “Our final transcription on the program will be the ‘Florentiner March,’ a stately German march which has been performed by the German brass group of both music and comedy fame from YouTube, ‘Mnozil.’”
In addition, two works written for the SHSU Brass Quintet will be performed, including “Sonatine” by French composer E. Bozza, and Sam Houston’s acclaimed faculty member Fisher Tull’s “Sketches for Five Brass.”
The Faculty Brass Ensemble includes Randy Adams, Steve Warkentin and graduate student Jonathon Gregory, playing trumpet; DeMers, playing horn; Ben Osborne and Henry Howey, playing trombone; and Robert Daniel, playing tuba.
The SHSU Trombone Choir will perform a brief concert under the direction of trombone professor Ben Osborne on Wednesday (April 4).
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the GPAC Concert Hall.
The student ensemble will play arrangements such as "The Olympic Fanfare" by John Williams and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody."
The performance is free.
For more information, call the School of Music at 936.294.1360.
‘Hybrid’ Exhibit Creates ‘Monster’ From Plants, Art
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| A mobile "PlantBot" is part of the "Monsantra" exhibit that will take over campus next week April 3-5. |
Artistic team Wendy DesChene and Jeff Schmuki will bring their latest collaboration “Monsantra,” a hybrid of imagination, possibility, and reality, to the Sam Houston State University Art Department Tuesday through Thursday (April 3-5).
Named after the Monsanto Corporation, one of the largest suppliers and producers of genetically modified seed in the world, “Monsantra” was created using seeds from the Monsanto Corporation.
The edible plants were grafted onto robotic, or remote controlled, bases to become an organism with no clear heritage and no clear future, according to the artists.
“This poetic GMO plant-robot hybrid begs the question what will it all become as we can only guess what will happen to the food supply with subsequent generations of genetically modified plants?” the artists said.
“Monsantra” is designed to get people to think about their food, where it comes from, and where it may be going.
“Through our mobile PlantBot Art Lab and remote control, our robotic plants take to the streets to get the conversation started,” the two said. “The goal is to get people to question the food they eat and how it got there in an entertaining and artistic way.”
DesChene, a Canadian artist, and Schmuki, an American artist, began practicing as a team in 2008.
Both artists have personal exhibition experience and awards as solo artists. Their first award as a team was a residency award at the American Academy in Rome as visiting artists.
The collaborative team will give a public lecture on Tuesday (April 3), at 5 p.m. in Art Building E Room 108.
While on campus the two will work with art professor Tony Shipp’s “Advanced Sculpture” students to create new “PlantBots” that will be let loose on campus on April 5.
Their solar-driven, off-grid PlantBot ArtLab trailer will be parked on Avenue I, between the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Lee Drain buildings on Thursday (April 5) from 12:30-3:30 p.m.
For more information on the “Monsantra” project, visit http://www.monsantra.com/ or contact Debbie Harper, audio/visual librarian for the art department, at 936.294.1317 or art_dld@shsu.edu.
Literacy Methods, Special Ed Blocks Open Monday
Literacy methods and special education block applications for interdisciplinary studies students will be open from April 2-20 for the fall semester.
“Students should apply even if they are pending eligibility; however they will not be placed until they have met all the educator preparation program admission criteria,” said language, literacy and special populations department secretary Randi Clower.
Students should check their educator preparation program status on their Tk20 homepage and complete any lacking requirements prior to placement.
Qualifications and instructions for applying in Tk20 are available on the LLSP website at http://www.shsu.edu/~edu_lls/literacyblock.html.
For more information, contact Clower at 936.294.1108 or elc_rxc@shsu.edu, and for questions concerning Tk20 accounts, contact Jean Hubbartt, in the College of Education’s Office of Field Experience, at 936.294.1045.
Lawyers Discuss Practice For Career Week
Five lawyers serving in public agencies and private practices in Texas talked about the trials and tribulations of their profession during Career Week at the Criminal Justice Center.
“There has been nothing more rewarding in my life than being a prosecuting attorney for the state of Texas,” said William Lee Hon, a 1987 SHSU graduate and criminal district attorney for Polk County. “It’s the ability to feel a sense of self worth in making a difference in the community. It’s a great thing to represent the voice of the victim and the voice of child abuse victims.”
Hon presented the case for the prosecution, while other speakers offered the defense view of the bar or other types of practices available, such as bankruptcy, immigration law and civil commitments.
Adam Wyatt Dietrich spent five years working with a Conroe criminal defense attorney, with the first six months dedicated to a death penalty case, before going to law school. Now he is in private practice handling family law, including divorce, custody and Child Protective Service cases.
“Working on CPS cases is rewarding, but you don’t do it for the money,” Dietrich said.
Audrey Biggar said she has found a way to balance career and family in her job as an immigration lawyer. Most of her work is done over the phone with clients in this country or others.
Huntsville attorney Andrew Bolton said he living proof that you don’t always have to be at the top of your class to get into law school. In high school, Bolton got low grades because he failed to apply himself and he later did a stint in the Army. He applied to Brigham Young University through a now defunct open enrollment program by joining a mission trip.
After working hard and excelling in law school in earning his degree, he opened a law practice in Tomball, later moving to Huntsville, where he operates a private practice specializing in bankruptcy.
The attorneys described law school alternatively as “some of the most fun times ” and “very intense.” They also agree that the three-day bar exam is among the toughest experiences in their lives.
To get through law school, Rebecca Fleming recommends joining a study group, reading intensely, getting a mentor, talking to professors and being brave. Fleming is a 1999 SHSU graduate who now works for the State Counsel for Offenders, which represents sex offenders at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in civil commitment hearings.
“I knew I wasn’t going to breeze through law school,” said Fleming. “It was intellectually stimulating. It is very intensive, but it prepares you for what you will be doing later.”
Dietrich said experience in the legal field helped him prepare for the rigors of study. “You have to learn to apply the law to the facts,” Dietrich said.
Rhonda Vickers Beassie, attorney and director of Student Legal Services at SHSU, said her door is open to students who want to learn more about law school or the legal profession. Her office is located in the Lowman Student Center Room 330.
Submit Update Items Here
In order to assist members of the Sam Houston State University community in publicizing events, the SHSU Communications Office (Today@Sam) is now requesting that students, faculty and staff submit information about events, accomplishments or ideas for feature stories online.
Submission criteria and guidelines, including deadlines, have now been placed online, at /guidelines.html. This information is also accessible through the “Submissions” link in the right-hand navigation on Today@Sam.
From there, those submitting ideas can access forms that will allow them to provide detailed information about their idea, as well as attach event calendars, vitas/resumes or photos, depending on the type of submission.
Ideas submitted to the SHSU Communications Office are directly utilized in several ways: as news stories, “slider” or SHSU home page stories, hometown releases, and on the Today@Sam calendar.
If your submission qualifies for distribution, we will either contact you for more detailed information, or we will edit the information using SHSU/journalistic style and forward the final release to the appropriate media.
All information is verified before release, so please provide complete, accurate and timely information. Please type all responses in appropriate upper and lower cases.
For more information, contact the Communications Office at 936.294.1836 or today@sam.edu.
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SHSU Media Contacts: Julia May, Jennifer Gauntt
March 30, 2012
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
This page maintained by SHSU's Communications Office
Associate Director: Julia May
Manager: 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.
