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SHSU Update For Week Of July 7, 2013
- Center To Host Rural ‘Economic Vitality’ Meeting
- STEM Camp Focuses On Female Science Education
- Museum Offers More Hands-On Summer Programming
- Vienne Named Association President
- LEMIT Hosts Constable Leadership College At SHSU
- Bursar Manager Spotlighted For June
- Today@Sam Seeks Summer, Fall Calendar Info
- Submit Update Items Here
Center To Host Rural ‘Economic Vitality’ Meeting
The Center for Rural Studies at Sam Houston State University will host a region-wide meeting on Aug. 1, during which citizens can discuss regional economic development and a new organization devoted to achieving those goals.
The “Economic Vitality in Rural Texas” meeting will be from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building Room 110, on the SHSU campus.
David Terrell, senior adviser in the Office of Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann, will be the featured speaker for the event and will discuss the success of community development programs in Indiana that have proven to be a good model for regional economic development, according to Cheryl Hudec, associate director for the Center for Rural Studies. Terrell also gave a presentation at the February Texas Economic Development Council meeting in Austin, attended by Hudec and Stacey Osborne, cohost of the economic vitality event.
A panel discussion about regional programs in action will follow, including Terrell; Bob Mitchell, from the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership; and Chad Burke, from the Houston Port Region’s Economic Alliance.
The meeting is being co-hosted by a new regional economic development organization that is currently being formed to serve rural communities in central-east Texas.
The organization will initially focus on communities in Walker, Grimes, Madison, Trinity, Polk, Liberty and Leon counties, but will also serve rural communities in the surrounding areas.
Osborne, who is also the new organization’s founder, will provide information about how communities can participate in the group and will seek feedback in four focus areas: advocacy, infrastructure, quality of life and workforce and business development.
There is no charge to attend, but all attendees must pre-register online by July 18 at www.shsu.edu/ruralcenter. Community members who cannot attend but still want to participate are encouraged to request additional information at that website as well.
SHSU’s Center for Rural Studies was created to assist in the building, strengthening, and maintaining of rural Texas communities.
The center aims to address timely and salient issues relating to community and socioeconomic development in rural Texas by providing research services, outreach programs, educational programs, and technical assistance.
For more information on the event or the center, contact the Center for Rural Studies at ruralcenter@shsu.edu or 936.294.4380.
STEM Camp Focuses On Female Science Education
Thirty female high school students from southeast Texas received hands-on lessons in animal and plant science, aerospace engineering, computer-aided design, renewable energy and other science- and mathematic-related areas during the first STEM Camp hosted at Sam Houston State University.
Scenes from STEM Camp |
The one-week, educational, residential camp was hosted by SHSU’s agricultural and industrial sciences department through a Texas Workforce Commission Summer Merit Program grant, which allowed historically underserved and underrepresented students with limited opportunities to participate for free.
Campers participated in activities led by university faculty that include problem solving, research, critical thinking, and communication skills incorporated with biology, chemistry through hands-on activities, experiments and field experiences, according to Kyle Stutts, assistant professor of animal science at SHSU. Activities were held on campus, at the Agriculture Center, the Agricultural Engineering and Technology Center and Gibbs Ranch.
Faculty participating in the camp were Marcy Beverly, Jessica Lucia, Mark Anderson, Stanley Kelley, Joe Muller, Faruk Yildiz, Bobby Lane and Stephen Kane.
“The goal of the camp and the Summer Merit Program is to get students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics)-related fields and ultimately earning a degree and pursuing a career in these fields,” Stutts said. “We targeted females for our camp because they are underrepresented in these fields.”
The camp was held June 10-14, and the high school-aged participants were selected by a committee after a competitive application and interview process. Approximately 60 students applied to participate in this year’s camp, making the acceptance rate half of those who applied.
“The students loved the camp and we got a lot of positive feedback from them,” Stutts said. “We hope to have the opportunity to host it again next year.”
Museum Offers More Hands-On Summer Programming
The Sam Houston Memorial Museum will continue in July its educational programming that introduces the many facets of pioneer life experienced by the museum’s namesake and his family in the 1800s.
The first event, the second part of the “Log Cabin Construction” presentation, will highlight daubing and chinking techniques on Wednesday (July 10). The hands-on activity will allow guests of all ages to daub and chink some of the museum’s aging log cabins from 9 a.m. to noon, beginning at Raven’s Rangers Cabin, on the museum grounds.
Those interested in participating are not required to have attended the first log cabin construction event and are encouraged to wear “grubby” clothes.
On June 17, museum staff will introduce the wide array of tools pioneers used to survive in the frontier, from 9 a.m. to noon at Bear Bend Cabin, on the museum grounds.
The “Frontier Skills Demonstration for Kids and Adults” will also allow participants to practice with tomahawks, shooting black powder guns, starting fires without matches and more.
On July 31, museum visitors can learn the many uses of braiding and plaiting with a demonstration using string, rope, leads, lanyards and even your hair.
The “Braids and Plaiting: Hair and Rope for Kids and Adults” will be from 9 a.m. to noon in the back room of the Wigwam Neosho Museum Store, on the museum grounds.
The “Knots, Knots, Knots!" presentation on Aug. 7 will allow both adults and children to explore various knots used in daily life for thousands of years and museum staff will show attendees how to tie a few.
The hands-on demonstration will be from 9 a.m. to noon in the museum rotunda.
Finally, the museum’s summer educational program presentations will wrap up on Aug. 21 with “Fabric Arts—Crazy Quilting and Quilt Block Demonstration,” from 9 a.m. to noon in the back room of the Wigwam Neosho Museum Store.
Museum staff will help children and adults explore quilting through a hands-on art activity, during which participants can design their own quilt blocks while creating a take home piece of art.
For each of the museum’s summer educational events, a $5 recommended donation per person.
For more information call 936.294.4895 or 936.294.3936, or for more information on any of the museum events, contact Megan Buro, museum marketing coordinator, at 936.294.3839 or visit the museum on Facebook.
Vienne Named Association President
Kristy Vienne, assistant vice president for Student Services, was elected president of the National Association of Campus Card Users in April during the organization’s 20th annual conference.
Vienne was named NACCU president-elect at the group’s 2012 annual meeting, and began serving as president at the 2013 meeting in accordance with the group’s bylaws. She will serve as president through the 2014 annual conference.
Among Vienne’s contributions to the NACCU since she began serving on their board in 2009 are: serving as the conference chair for the 20th annual NACCU Conference in Orlando; as education committee chair, helping to initiate the conference’s new professionals institute and professional development; helping develop the standards assessment guidelines project; and presenting educational sessions and a web conference.
As the assistant vice president for Student Services at SHSU, Vienne oversees Bearkat OneCard Services, Student Money Management Center, research and assessment for Student Services, staff development and serves as technology liaison for her division.
She is actively involved in the educational and research components of the card profession and the area of financial literacy in higher education, having published in both professional and academic journals on both topics. She will also serve as chair of SHSU’s Staff Council for the 2013-14 year.
Vienne received her Bachelor of Arts degree in business administration and her Master of Arts degree in student personnel services from Northwestern State University. She also received her doctoral degree in educational leadership at SHSU.
NACCU is the only association serving the national and international campus card transaction industry. The association is dedicated to high-quality educational programs, resources, services and tools.
Membership is open to all colleges, universities, secondary institutions and companies that are involved with the campus card market.
LEMIT Hosts Constable Leadership College At SHSU
Top-level leaders from 25 constables’ offices across Texas recently completed an intensive Leadership College hosted by the Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State University that covered many aspects of modern law enforcement management techniques, styles and philosophies.
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| The Constables Leadership College Class No. 9 included representatives from 25 offices across the state of Texas. |
The Leadership College, held in three, one-week modules, is modeled after the Leadership Command College, a successful initiative hosted by LEMIT to train upcoming leaders in law enforcement agencies across the state. The constable program emphasizes leadership and general management principles, as well as political, legal and social issues facing contemporary departments.
The program is designed to benefit supervisors with at least five years’ experience.
The ninth Constable Leadership College Class included representatives from precincts in Brazoria, Duval, Ellis, Falls, Harris, Harrison, Liberty, Montgomery, Tarrant, Taylor, Travis, Young and Williamson counties.
“This class represents 23 precincts in the state and 566 years of experience,” David Webb, LEMIT assistant director, told graduates of the program. “This was a challenging and demanding program that exposed you to a wide range of philosophies, theories, programs and techniques. You also benefit by joining this new network, which includes a large number of law enforcement graduates.”
During the classes, participants were exposed to many of the issues faced in the day-to-day operations of the office and the skills needed to lead a policing agency.
The first module included the psychology of police leadership, internal affairs, ethics and intergovernmental relations. The second module covered officer-involved shootings, communications, cultural diversity, legal liability and human resources management. The third module offered professionalism, terrorism, grant writing and incident command.
“By participating in this program, it says a lot about who you are in what you have done as a constable and what you will still do as a constable,” said Victoria County Justice of the Peace Richard Castillo, a former constable who participated in the eighth class. “You are the best of the best. Be proud. There is nothing better than being involved with the constable’s office.”
The three modules were taken in October, January and May and culminated with participants writing a personal leadership statement.
Bursar Manager Spotlighted For June
Lisa Lucas, bursar manager in SHSU’s Bursars Office, is the Staff Council’s spotlight employee for June.
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Lucas, who recently celebrated her 10-year anniversary as an SHSU employee, is also a part-time student at SHSU, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in accounting, which she anticipates completing in December 2014.
She said she loves working at SHSU because it feels like a family and that she truly enjoys interacting with parents and students.
“We care about each other, and it always amazes me how much we all interact,” she said.
In addition, Lucas’s supervisor said Lucas presents an encouraging attitude and set an example for her fellow employees by being a firm believer in the “golden rule” and focusing on the positive by dealing with the negative as optimistically as she can.
“As a supervisor, I would never ask anyone to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself and I continuously try to make myself available to assist them when needed,” Lucas said.
In her personal life, Lucas has been married for three years (in November) and has five children; as well as two granddaughters, ages 2 years and 9 months, and hopes to have a third granddaughter (by marriage) soon.
Today@Sam Seeks Summer, Fall Calendar Info
The university Communications Office is now collecting information on campus events for its summer and fall calendar pages.
Departmental calendars or events can be sent to today@sam.edu or jenniferg@shsu.edu or faxed 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 the Communications Office for news stories and releases.
All information, including story ideas and update items for Today@Sam, should be sent a minimum of a week in advance of the event in order to make necessary contacts and write a story.
To see a full list of the Today@Sam submission guidelines, or to access submission forms for news or feature stories, calendar submissions, or hometown releases, visit /guidelines.html.
For more information, call 936.294.1836.
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
July 3, 2013
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.
