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SHSU Update For Week Of March 16
- Starbucks ‘Investigator,’ Secret Service Agent To Give ‘Real Talk’
- Lecturer To Share ‘Lessons Learned’ On Firearm Initiatives
- Encore Presentation To Revisit ‘Loving Couple’
- Teacher Job Fair Attracts Over 100 Schools, Agencies
- Satellite Gallery To Open With Student Exhibition
- Faculty Chamber Recital To Span Musical Eras
- Faculty ‘Trio’ To Present Concert With International Flair
- Theatre To Capture Complexity Of Autism With ‘Lucy’
- Submit Update Items Here
Starbucks ‘Investigator,’ Secret Service Agent To Give ‘Real Talk’
The College of Criminal Justice’s “Real Talk w/CJ” series will offer a double feature on Thursday (March 20) when alumni Steven Wood, senior manager of corporate investigations and channel development at Starbucks, and Terry Biehunko, a former U.S. Secret Service agent, return to their alma mater.
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| Alumni Steven Wood (above) and Terry Biehunko will discuss their careers in CJ-related fields on March 20. —Submitted photos |
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The two will discuss their career paths and experiences in their fields beginning at 2 p.m. in the CJ Center’s Hazel B. Kerper Courtoom.
After building a private security career in retail, insurance, cargo shipping, and the oil and gas industry, Wood was recruited by the Starbucks Coffee Company as head of corporate investigations and analytics.
His responsibilities have led him into the world of copyright infringement, cybercrime, embezzlement, and external fraud. His duties also include protecting employees and customers at Starbucks sites around the world.
Wood credits his graduate education in criminal justice at SHSU, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1990 and his master’s degree in 1993, with helping him balance the role between law enforcement and theory, allowing him to identify with corporate America and find success through supporting goals and objectives of the business.
Biehunko has said his criminal justice degree in 1973 helped open many doors in his career in state and federal agencies and in private security.
As a Secret Service agent, Biehunko protected the lives of American presidents and families, including Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, Lady Bird Johnson and foreign dignitaries such as Egypt President Anwar Sadat, Jordan King Hussein bin Talal, Nicaragua President Anastasio Somoza, China Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, and New Zealand Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.
Biehunko also conducted investigations concerning forgery and counterfeiting and performed intelligence functions with regard to threats against the people he was in charge of protecting.
After leaving the Secret Service, Biehunko and several colleagues lived and traveled internationally throughout Europe and the Middle East performing private executive protection functions for high profile individuals.
Biehunko also served as president of a security company in Dallas.
He currently works with the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special investigator performing contract investigations for adjudicative review by federal executives who make critical appointment, access and government employment decisions.
He is required to maintain a top-secret security clearance through the FBI in order to perform these investigations.
Lecturer To Share ‘Lessons Learned’ On Firearm Initiatives
Ed McGarrell, professor and director of the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University, will present “Lessons Learned from 20 Years of Federal Initiatives to Address Firearms Violence” on Friday (March 21) as part of the Beto Lecture Series.
The presentation, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Criminal Justice Center’s Hazel B. Kerper Courtoom, will draw on his Project Safe Neighborhoods research, focusing on how to increase the successful implementation of multi-agency, data-driven interventions intended to reduce crime and violence.
McGarrell led the team that served as the national research partner for Project Safe Neighborhoods, a nationwide effort funded by the National Institute of Justice to reduce gun and gang crime in the United States by networking local programs and providing additional tools to help them succeed.
McGarrell’s projects included research on gun, gang and drug-related crimes, as well as research-based training and technical assistance for task forces around the country.
He has continued his focus on communities and crime and the development of evidence- based strategies to reduce violence.
In addition to Project Safe Neighborhoods, he worked on Operation Ceasefire in Detroit, on the Youth Violence Prevention Center in Flint, Michigan, with the Michigan State Police, and with the Indiana Violence Reduction Partnership.
His research also examines the impact of restorative justice conferences on juvenile justice processes.
McGarrell is the author of “Juvenile Correctional Reform: Two Decades of Policy and Procedural Change” and served as co-editor of several books on related topics. He also frequently publishes articles in prestigious peer-reviewed academic journals.
In 2011, McGarrell was named one of the most influential people in security by Security Magazine, was named a Academy of Experimental Criminology fellow in 2009, and was ranked among the top 10 scholars based on federal research dollars in an article in the Journal of Criminal Justice Education in 2009.
Before joining Michigan State University, McGarrell served as the chair of Indiana University’s criminal justice department; director of the Crime Control Policy Center, a partnership between Hudson Institute and Indiana University; and as co-director of the Washington State Institute for Community Oriented Policing.
McGarrell earned his Master of Arts and doctoral degrees from the State University of New York at Albany and he was named a distinguished alumnus of the institution in 1991.
The presentation will be carried live online at cjcenter.org/live.
Encore Presentation To Revisit ‘Loving Couple’
As more and more states have begun overturning bans on same-sex marriage, the Newton Gresham Library will return to a case that has been used as precedent in current courts with an encore showing of the “Created Equal” series presentation of “The Loving Story” on Thursday (March 20).
The screening of the HBO Documentary film and discussion facilitated by associate professor of history Jeffrey Littlejohn will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Academic Building IV’s Olson Auditorium.
"‘The Loving Story’—Breaking the Law for Love" revisits what it calls “a Supreme Court ruling that changed the course of history”—Loving v. Virginia—a case that fought Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, which was created in 1924 to prevent miscegenation, or the interracial coupling and producing of children.
Richard Loving, a white man, and his wife Mildred, an African American woman, from whom the case originated, were sentenced to one year in prison after marrying in 1958.
When the Supreme Court ruled in their favor, all race-based legal restrictions on marriage came to an end.
Littlejohn said the film provides many avenues of discussion, from the legal techniques the Lovings pursued to why the Racial Integrity Act was created.
“I’m interested in the students and community becoming familiar with what is probably a lesser-known case and a case that a lot of people know very little about but it is one of the key mechanisms by which members of the white elite who ran the government kept whites and blacks from interacting, by legally barring them from marrying,” he said. “I think that will spar some interesting discussion.”
In the recent announcement by Virginia attorney general Mark Herring, wherein he asked a federal court to invalidate the state’s same-sex marriage ban, Herring referenced the Loving case, according to Littlejohn.
“The two cases are legally similar, I think; obviously, there are a lot of differences, but they are both cases of discrimination,” he said.
For more information, contact Erin Cassidy, NGL web services librarian and “Created Equal” grant coordinator at SHSU, at 936.294.4567.
Teacher Job Fair Attracts Over 100 Schools, Agencies
Future educators can return from Spring Break and jump right into the job search, with well over 100 potential employers coming to campus for Career Services’ Spring Teacher Job fair on Wednesday (March 19).
Schools and school districts will be talking to potential educators from 9 a.m. to noon in the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
Representatives from 110 districts across the state, as well as a few private schools and other agencies, will visit with students or alumni who may be interested in a position.
Among the schools slated to attend are those from many Houston-area districts, as well as those from Bryan, Conroe, Killeen, Lufkin, Mansfield, Mesquite, Texas City, Tyler and Willis ISDs, among many others.
In addition to school districts, agencies such as the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston Catholic Schools Office, Academy for Urban School Leadership, Arrow Academy, Bob Hope School, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, KiDVENTURE, Life School, Lone Star College System, Sylvan of The Woodlands and the Teacher Job Network, as well as several Education Service Center regions are scheduled to be available to discuss other employment possibilities.
“The SHSU Spring Teacher Job Fair provides students an excellent opportunity to network with and find employment with school districts throughout Texas and neighboring states,” said Mitch Parker, Career Services marketing and events coordinator. “The interest in the quality teachers that Sam Houston produces is evident through registration for this year’s event, which is the highest it’s been in several years.”
Students who are registered on JOBS for KATS can get a jumpstart on finding a job or internship by logging on, at JobsforKats.com, to find a complete list of participating agencies, as well as descriptions of positions being sought.
Participants are encouraged to bring copies of résumés and dress professionally.
For more information, contact Career Services at 936.294.1713 or careerservices@shsu.edu.
Satellite Gallery To Open With Student Exhibition
Months of hard work by students in the Sam Houston State University Department of Art will officially come to fruition on Thursday (March 20), when the department debuts its first exhibit in the new Student Satellite Gallery.
“Zeitgeist,” an annual survey of works created by art students and curated by associate professor Michael Henderson's “Museum and Gallery Practices” class, will be the first exhibit on display as the Satellite Gallery officially opens its doors that day.
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| Among the art students who have been working to bring the Satellite Gallery to fruition are (from left): Jack Weidman, Katelyn Newman, Laura Pregeant, Amber Eggleton, Emelia Bates, Kailey Smith and Luke Ikard. The gallery is located at located at 1216 University Ave., in downtown Huntsville —Submitted photo |
The grand opening and exhibit reception will be from 5-7 p.m. at the gallery, located at 1216 University Ave.
The exhibition will be on display March 20-29.
For “Zeitgeist,” student artists submitted artworks in all media that represent “the spirit of the times.” Works represented in the exhibit were selected by students in the “Museum and Gallery Practice” course, providing “a snapshot of teaching and student expression in the department of art,” according to Henderson.
Among the artists whose work will be featured in the exhibit are Jack Weidman, Misty Dawn Haney, Sergio Barraza, Sara Murff, Jackie Schroeder, Elise Weber, Colton Clifford, Lindsey Whitfield, Theresa Hamel, Justin Casias, Luke Ikard, Katelyn Newman, Chris Fisher, Kevin Shelton, and Jerry Garner.
Exhibit curators include Ikard, Newman, Shelton, Erika Aguirre, Krissty Batres, Amber Eggleton, Chris Fisher, Liz Gonzales, Laurie Grawl, Ashton Leath, Krystal Murray, Laura Pregeant, Jacquelyn Schroeder, and Kailey Smith.
The Satellite Gallery is the first off-campus gallery, a 1,450-square-foot space sponsored by the art department to serve as an extension of the on-campus Gaddis Geeslin Gallery.
The “Museum and Gallery Practice” students, along with members of the Student Art Association, participated in the renovation of the gallery space under the direction of assistant art professor Annie Strader.
“The Satellite Gallery aims to increase the visibility of student exhibits and enhance and contribute to the local art community through providing opportunities for engagement, enrichment, learning, and outreach through visual art and dialogue,” Strader said.
For more information, contact Henderson at mhenderson@shsu.edu or Strader at srs033@shsu.edu.
Faculty Chamber Recital To Span Musical Eras
SHSU music faculty will “join forces” with guests and colleagues for a chamber recital featuring “unconventional” pieces on Monday (March 17).
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| Mas Sugihara and Jennifer Brimson Cooper formed the Awea Duo in 2012 for the purpose of artistic development and as a means for educational outreach. In the first two seasons, they presented more than 30 performances in the United States and South America. —Submitted photo |
The flute, saxophone and voice chamber recital, featuring two faculty members and a guest artist, will begin at 6 p.m. in the Gaertner Performing Arts Center Recital Hall.
The concert will feature adjunct voice instructor Bronwen Forbay and the Awea Duo, comprising assistant professor of saxophone Masahito Sugihara and Morehead State University flutist Jennifer Brimson Cooper. The three also will be accompanied by staff pianist Kaju Lee.
The performance will include works that combine the musicians’ instruments in various ways: pieces for a flute and sax duo; voice and piano; flute and sax; and flute, voice and piano.
The program will include 13 pieces from composers such as Marc Mellits, Felix Mendelssohn, Benjamin Britten, Johann Sebastian Bach, and many others. Among those works will be an aria from “Lucia di Lammermoor,” the title role of which Forbay performed with the Cape Town Opera, and an Afrikaans art song from Forbay’s doctoral research.
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| Bronwen Forbay, a soprano vocalist, has performed for the late Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II. |
“This recital is like an assortment of bite-size candies; we cover music from Renaissance to 21st Century,” Sugihara said. “The audience will be able to get a taste of almost the entire history of western classical music.
“The flute and saxophone duo is not a conventional chamber music instrumentation, but they blend surprisingly well,” he said. “Because of its unusualness, there are limited compositions for this combination, and I made many transcriptions—adopting music written for other instruments—and all the pieces for the duo in this recital are arranged by me.”
Forbay, who has performed for the late Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II, said that the concert, with its “eclectic, exciting,” repertoire that is rarely performed, demonstrates “the wonderfully positive collaborative energy present in the School of Music.”
Together, they represent four countries spanning the world, with Sugihara originally from Japan, Cooper from America, Lee from South Korea, and Forbay from South Africa.
“They are wonderful colleagues, and I am looking forward to performing with them,” Forbay said.
Admission is free.
For more information, call the School of Music at 936.294.1360.
Faculty ‘Trio’ To Present Concert With International Flair
School of Music faculty musicians Nathan Koch, Serena Rowe and Ilonka Rus will highlight music from around the world during a performance on Thursday (March 20).
Koch’s faculty bassoon recital will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Gaertner Performing Arts Center Recital Hall.
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Nathan Koch |
The “trio” will highlight their instruments—Koch’s bassoon, Rowe’s oboe and Rus’s piano—in “loosely connected” pieces that mix European and Brazilian music, according to Koch.
The first half will feature music composed and influenced by the Italian opera composer Gioacchino Rossini, including a concerto and piece based on his opera “The Italian in Algiers,” for oboe and bassoon.
The second half will feature music by the 20th-century Brazilian composer Francisco Mignone, who was “incredibly popular and influential in his home country,” said Koch, an assistant professor of bassoon at SHSU.
“He (Mignone) studied composition in Europe for a bit and chose to return home for the majority of his professional life,” Koch said. “He was beloved and celebrated for his use of popular Brazilian folk music within the Western classical music genre, and he helped highlight the many different indigenous musical styles that were present in the Brazilian culture.
“All of his bassoon pieces were written for his good friend Nöel Devos, a French bassoonist living in Brazil.”
Koch said he is “incredibly excited” to present these works, as many are rarely heard in performance.
“Mignone, through his studies in Italy, was able to successfully synthesize the elements of the flashy, operatic composition styles made popular by Rossini and his contemporaries with the sultry, dance-like rhythms found in much Brazilian and other Latin American cultures,” Koch said. “His pieces are definitely in a category of their own, and I know that the audience will leave whistling many of his catchy melodies.”
Admission is free.
For more information, call the School of Music at 936.294.1360.
Theatre To Capture Complexity Of Autism With ‘Lucy’
The Sam Houston State University Department of Theatre and Musical Theatre will showcase the emotional hardship of a family coping with autism and the behaviors that define the disorder through Damien Atkins’s story of “Lucy.”
“Lucy” will be presented Wednesday (March 19) through Saturday (March 22), at 8 p.m. each evening, with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee, in the University Theatre Center’s Showcase Theatre.
In “Lucy,” a world-renowned and much-respected anthropologist, Vivian, is most comfortable in her world of quiet solitude, balking at the idea of interaction with the outside world.
Her life is abruptly changed when her ex-husband shows up and asks Vivian to take their 13-year-old autistic daughter Lucy.
Throughout the play Atkins takes audiences on a journey into the minds of both mother and daughter in a way that challenges common perceptions and definitions of disabilities, both from scientific and social perspectives, according to Charles Michael Daniels, a senior theatre major who is directing the production.
The play was written as a result of character research Atkins did for a role he was portraying, and he consulted with experts and families dealing with autistic children to create “Lucy.”
"Autistic behavior magnifies or reduces the qualities that we all share as human beings,” Atkins has said. “It gave me a way to look at the interconnections between the characters, to draw links between the autistic Lucy and the others, whose behavior most people would consider normal.”
SHSU’s production of “Lucy” stars includes Connor Lyon, Viktoria Kareva, Gage Parker, Crystal Stampes, and Michel Mora.
Tickets are $10 and are available by phone at 936.294.1339.
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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