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SHSU Update For Week Of May 22
- Museum Offers Free Admission Through Blue Star Program
- Astros Night Signup Deadline Extended To June 3
- SHSU Professor Explores Civilian Police Services
- Spanish Group Inducts ‘Honorable’ Students
- Appeals Court Comes to SHSU Campus
- Today@Sam Seeks Summer, Fall Calendar Info
- Submit Update Items Here
Museum Offers Free Admission Through Blue Star Program
The Sam Houston Memorial Museum is one of more than 1,800 museums across America that will offer free admission to military personnel and their families this summer in collaboration with the National Endowment for the Arts, Blue Star Families and the Department of Defense.
Through the Blue Star Museums program, active duty military personnel and their families can visit the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, and any of the other participating museums, for free from Memorial Day through Labor Day, Sept. 2.
“We participate in Blue Star Museums to give back to those men and women who serve our country,” said Megan Buro, Sam Houston Memorial Museum marketing coordinator. “We will actually start offering the free admission to active duty military personnel and their families that entire Memorial Day Weekend, beginning Saturday, May 25.”
This year’s Blue Star Museums represent not just fine arts museums, but also science museums, history museums, nature centers, and 75 children’s museums in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa.
“Blue Star Museums is something that service members and their families look forward to every year, and we are thrilled with the continued growth of the program,” said Blue Star Families CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet. “Through this distinctive collaboration, service members and their families can connect with our national treasures with this unparalleled opportunity to visit some of the country’s finest museums for free.”
The free admission program is available to any bearer of a Geneva Convention common access card, a DD Form 1173 ID card, or a DD Form 1173-1 ID card, which includes active duty U.S. military—Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps—as well as up to five family members.
The complete list of participating museums is available at arts.gov/bluestarmuseums.
The Sam Houston Memorial Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4:30 p.m.
For more information on the museum’s summer events and exhibits visit samhoustonmemorialmuseum.com or call 936.294.1832.
Astros Night Signup Deadline Extended To June 3
Sam Houston State students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends still have time to catch a Houston Astros game with the Alumni Association, which is hosting its annual SHSU Night at Minute Maid Park on June 5.
The reservation deadline has been extended to June 3 for the event, which will include a pre-game reception at Champions Pavillion, inside the park, beginning at 6 p.m. and the opportunity to watch the Astros take on the Baltimore Orioles beginning at 7:10 p.m.
“SHSU Night at Minute Maid Park is one of the favorite events we host for our alumni and friends each year,” said Alumni Relations director Charlie Vienne. “This event is talked about and anticipated throughout the year. We always receive calls early in the spring from alumni wanting to know when SHSU Night at Minute Maid Park will be.
“It is a lot of fun and a great opportunity to visit with alumni and friends of all ages and backgrounds,” he said.
The Alumni Association will provide chartered transportation to the game departing from the Chemistry and Forensic Science Building parking lot at 4:30 p.m.
A total trip package including transportation, the reception and game ticket is $75. Packages with game tickets and the pre-game reception, or for game tickets and the reception, are also available through the association for $40 per person, or season ticket holders can attend just the reception for $25 each.
Individual game tickets are available online through the Houston Astros website at astros.com/. Various seating options are available.
This year’s SHSU Night at Minute Maid Park is sponsored, in part, by Clint, ’74, and Becky, ’75, Fancher; Carolyn Chipman Faulk, ’70; Walter, ’79, and Jan Fitzgerald; Annanelle Hay, ’64; Chuck, ’81, and Debbie Jones; Robert and Stella, ’71, Koryciak; Ron, ’61, and Donna Koska; Liberty Mutual Insurance; Terry and Ellen Happe, ’82, Phillips; Edgar, ’56, and Carolyn Reeves; and Frank and Mary Ellen, ’64 and ’68, Thornton.
For more information, or to make a reservation for the chartered bus or pre-game reception, contact the Office of Alumni Relations at 936.294.1841 or 800.283.7478.
SHSU Professor Explores Civilian Police Services
Facing deep budget cuts due to the downturn in the economy, many police departments across the country are looking for alternative ways to deliver their services, such as mergers, consolidations and contracts.
William King, associate professor of criminal justice in Sam Houston State University’s College of Criminal Justice, is developing a proposal on how civilians may be used in the process.
King, who is also an associate dean for research and program development, is developing a guide on how to use civilians in police service in collaboration with the Program on Police Consolidation and Shared Services at Michigan State University, which will offer training and support for all forms of consolidation and shared services, including strategies for structure, staffing and asset deploy, pilot projects in communities, best practices and implementation.
“Municipalities in local areas are trying to provide policing services with budget cuts and less money,” King said. “Many are looking at consolidation, mergers and contracting services. We are looking for alternative delivery method for police services, such as civilian employees.”
King’s study will examine different jurisdictions throughout the country that have used civilian employees to develop a guide on the issues and implementation of these programs. The guide will explore funding issues and offer a cost-benefit analysis, as well as examine the challenges and success of programs and discuss the issue for implementation.
The study will be one of the many resources available from PCASS, which is being developed as an independent and objective source for law enforcement, city managers and supervisors to assess what model is best for their community.
The project is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services and is located at policeconsolidation.msu.edu/.
Spanish Group Inducts ‘Honorable’ Students
The Sam Houston State University chapter of the Sigma Delta Pi National Spanish Honor Society inducted 18 students into the organization over the past year based on their achievement in their foreign language classes.
Inducted for the 2012-13 year were Shatika Clark, Alison Douangsavanh, Nancy Garcia, Larissa Hernandez, Lester Hernandez, Laura Lievano, Julio Cesar Medina Lopez, Mayra Munoz, Claudia Neme-Florentin, Meredith Norman, Kara Nicole Police, Anabel Rodriguez, Iveth Salinas, Marlene Sapien, Nohemi Silva, Karla Urbina, Maria Vera and Crystal Wyers.
Membership in Sigma Delta Pi is limited to students who have demonstrated high scholarship in general and excellence in the academic study of Spanish, according to foreign languages department chair Debra Andrist.
Candidates must have completed 18 semester credit hours of college-level Spanish, have a minimal grade point average of 3.0 in all Spanish courses taken, rank in the upper 35 percent of his/her class, and have completed at least three semesters college work.
Sigma Delta Pi officers for 2013-2014 academic year, inducted during the April 18 ceremony, include Encarnación Fuentes, president; Jennifer Góngora, vice president; Nancy Gomez, secretary; and Nohemi Silva, treasurer.
Kay Raymond, associate professor of Spanish and director of undergraduate studies, is the Sigma Delta Pi sponsor.
Appeals Court Comes to SHSU Campus
For the second year in a row, the 10th District Court of Appeals brought real-life cases to the College of Criminal Justice’s Hazel B. Kerper Courtroom to educate students about the criminal and civil justice process in Texas.
The three-member panel, including Chief Justice Tom Gray (BBA ’78) and Justices Rex D. Davis and Al Scoggins, heard oral arguments in four cases involving the death penalty, intoxicated manslaughter, aggravated assault and wrongful death. The panel was sponsored by the Junior Fellows, Sam Houston State University’s political science student organization.
“We have carefully selected cases where the issues are relevant to students and involved in the education process at the university,” Gray said.
The 10th District Court of Appeals hears appeals in criminal and civil cases from an 18 county region in Southeast Texas, which includes Bosque, Brazos, Burleson, Coryell, Ellis, Falls, Freestone, Hamilton, Hill, Johnson, Leon, Limestone, Madison, McLennan, Navarro, Robertson, Somervell and Walker counties. The court is headquartered in Waco, but can sit in any of the counties in its jurisdiction.
During their appearance in Huntsville, hundreds of students in political science and criminal justice filtered through the courtroom to listen to the offerings. To enhance the educational opportunity, the justices allowed the defense and prosecution to provide a three-minute summary of the case to students to help them understand the legal issues at hand.
Among the cases heard by the panel were Stewart v. Texas, wherein Corey Stewart appealed his conviction in his capital murder case; Somers v. Texas, wherein defendant Aaron Zane Somers challenged the relevance and admissibility of an EMIT test used as part of his conviction for intoxication manslaughter for killing Michelle Briggs in an auto accident after leaving a fraternity party; State v. Butler, wherein prosecutors were appealing a pre-trial motion that suppressed defendant Quincy Butler’s statements to a Brazos County grand jury; and The City of College Station v. Kahlden, wherein the court considered a wrongful death claim against the city of College Station based on a fatal motor vehicle accident that occurred after an officer stopped for debris in the road, setting off a chain reaction crash.
“We travel for the education of our audiences rather than just hear cases in Waco,” Gray said. “By getting the factual and procedural background, it makes the educational experience more meaningful to you because you have the background on the cases. We selected cases that can educate you, and cases where they need help with issues.”
The cases can be followed on the 10th Court of Appeals website at 10thcoa.courts.state.tx.us.
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
May 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.
