SHSU
Update For Week Of Sept. 10
Assistant Dean Of Students
To Retire
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After 31 years in education, 29 of which were at Sam Houston
State University, assistant dean of students Mary Ellen Sims
will retire from SHSU on Friday (Sept. 15) to pursue another
career opportunity.
She will begin her position as membership and events coordinator
for the Huntsville-Walker County Chamber of Commerce on Sept.
18.
“One of the things that is important me is the relationship
between the city and the university, and I really feel like
I’ll be in a position to continue to strengthen those
ties,” she said of her position with the chamber. “That’s
important to me.”
Sims came to SHSU in 1977 as a secretary for the Lowman Student
Center, where she worked for a year before transferring to
the University Housing department, now Residence Life. There,
she served as coordinator for the northern area of campus
and student, program and staff development.
In 2001, she accepted her current position in the Dean of
Students’ Office.
A Beaumont native, Sims received her bachelor’s degree
in secondary education from Lamar University and finished
her master’s degree in counseling and guidance from
SHSU while working for the university.
A retirement reception in Sims’ honor will be held on
Sept. 15, from 2-4 p.m. at Austin Hall.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” Sims
said. “I’m very grateful for all of the people
I’ve worked with, the opportunities I’ve had,
and most of all, I have enjoyed working with the students.
“Working with students has been so fulfilling for me;
I think I learned more from them than they learned from me,”
she said. “I’m going to miss that very much.”
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Professor To Address Economics
For Seminar
Professor Nathan S. Balke will present his paper, “Sectoral
Effects of Monetary Shocks,” during the SHSU Economics
Seminar Series on Thursday (Sept. 14).
Balke, professor of economics at Southern Methodist University
in Dallas since 1986, serves as a research associate at Federal
Reserve Bank of Dallas.
He received his doctorate in economics from Northwestern
University, and his major research areas include macroeconomics
and time series analysis.
Balke has published extensively in major economics journals
such as International Economic Review, Journal of Applied
Econometrics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of Money,
Credit and Banking, Journal of Political Economy and Review
of Economics and Statistics.
The seminar will be held at 2:30 p.m. in Smith-Hutson Business
Building Room 139.
Balke's paper is available through the economics department
Web site at http://www.shsu.edu/~eco_www/resources/seminar_fall2006.htm.
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Theatre Group To Perform,
Discuss ‘Black Women’
The Sam Houston Memorial Museum and the Huntsville chapter
of the National Council of Negro Women, Inc., will celebrate
the lives of many prominent black women in history and discuss
the Voting Rights Act during a free workshop and program on
Saturday (Sept. 16).
The Talking Back Theatre Living Theatre group will have several
readings from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Katy and E. Don Walker,
Sr., Education Center for the “Black Women of Texas”
forum that day, according to Naomi Carrier, director of outreach
education for the Sam Houston Memorial Museum and director
of projects for Talking Back Living History Theatre.
“We will also highlight some of the events in the lives
of Corretta Scott King and Rosa Parks because they were at
the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, as was Mary McLeod
Bethune, the organizer of the national council (NCNW),”
Carrier said.
The group will also have an exhibit on display that will focus
on civil rights and the importance of the Voting Rights Act.
“It should be pretty interesting because they debate
whether the Voting Rights Act was really necessary,”
Carrier said. “And one of the women we will spotlight
is Barbara Jordan because of her connection to Lyndon Baines
Johnson, who was the Texas president that signed the Voting
Rights Act, which was just recently renewed by another Texas
president, George Bush.”
The group will also talk about the importance of the local
chapter of NCNW in the community, which sponsors outreach
programs such as mentoring, tutoring and creates education
initiatives; spotlight ways to keep the local chapter alive;
and discuss the possibility of creating a chapter of the organization
on the Sam Houston State University campus.
The workshop is open to the public.
For more information, call the Sam
Houston Memorial Museum at 936.294.1832 or visit
the Talking Back Living History Theatre Web site at http://www.shsu.edu/~smm_www/tblh/index.html.
For more information on the National Council of Negro Women,
Inc., visit its Web site at http://www.ncnw.org/.
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Higher Education Commissioner
To Speak
Raymund A. Paredes, commissioner of higher education for
the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, will field
questions from SHSU students on Wednesday (Sept. 13) at 5
p.m.
The Grassroots lecture will be held in the Academic Building
IV Olson Auditorium.
“Grassroots seeks to bring notable minority leaders
from all over the state to discuss leadership in a diverse
community,” said Bernice Strauss, director of academic
support programs for the Student Advising and Mentoring Center.
“Dr. Paredes has achieved a great deal in his career,
and we believe that he is an excellent role model for our
students.”
A reception where students will have the opportunity to chat
with Paredes will immediately follow the speech in the SAM
Center, in Academic Building IV Suite 210.
Born and raised in El Paso, Paredes received his bachelor’s
degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin,
and after serving for two years in the U.S. Army, he resumed
his education at UT, receiving a doctorate in American civilizations.
Among his previous positions are serving as vice president
for programs at the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, where he was
responsible for scholarship and outreach programs, and director
of creativity and culture for The Rockefeller Foundation,
where he managed a budget of over $20 million and awarded
over 200 grants annually in the arts and humanities to individuals
and organizations around the world.
He also served as associate vice chancellor for academic development
for 10 years at the University of California Los Angeles,
where he was a professor of English.
Paredes’ areas of research and writing have been Mexican
American literature and culture and the impact of demographic
changes on American culture, art and education. He has presented
over 150 lectures at universities, scholarly conferences and
meetings of professional organizations around the country.
The event is sponsored by the academic support programs of
the SAM Center, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority, the Elliott
T. Bowers Honors Program, the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate
Achievement Program and the International Hispanic Association.
For more information, call the SAM
Center at 936.294.4444.
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Library ‘Muses’
Sam Houston In Podcast
Did you know that Sam Houston Normal Institute, SHSU’s
earliest name, was the second institution of higher learning
established by the state of Texas, following Texas A&M
and its Prairie View A&M branch?
However, Texas A&M was not the first university to grant
diplomas to its students, according to Paul Culp, special
collections librarian.
“SHNI had the first class ever to graduate from a state
institution, as Janie Park literally skipped across the stage
to lead off the graduates in Huntsville earlier the same day
that A&M was to present its first degrees, June 16, 1880,”
he said.
These types of facts are what students, faculty, staff and
visitors will find on the first of the Newton Gresham Library’s
new online podcast series “Musings from Sam Houston’s
Stomping Grounds,” found online at http://library.shsu.edu/digitalcommons.php.
“Did You Know,” the first of the series, will
share little known facts about the university for two weeks
before the cast is changed to provide information on a different
topic.
“You don't have to have mp3 or Ipod software to listen,
just click on the blue link ‘Did You Know’ to
hear Paul Culp inform the SHSU community and those on the
World Wide Web about SHSU's bragging rights,” said Ann
Holder, NGL director of library services.
In addition, the page also links to the library’s digital
collection of photographs, SHSU history and LEMIT papers,
and the “Current
Research@SHSU” link provides access to
SHSU dissertation to authorized SHSU students, faculty and
staff.
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PC Celebrates Hispanic
Heritage Month
The Program Council will say “Viva Hispanic America”
with a number of events to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month
beginning on Wednesday (Sept. 13).
At noon on that day, the PC will host a kick-off rally in
the Lowman Student Center Mall Area.
“We will celebrate, salute, and honor the contributions
and the struggle of Hispanic Americans past and present, throughout
the years with the student body,” said PC Hispanic heritage
chair Ebony J. Debrow. “Tres leches and agua fresco
(cake and a fruit drink) will be handed out to students along
with entertainment and other surprises.”
Among the events slated for Hispanic Heritage Month, held
from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, will be “PC Celebrating Our
People: Mexican American Struggle,” which will be held
on Sept. 27 at 1 p.m. in the LSC Theatre.
Co-sponsored by SHSU’s sociology department, the lecture
will feature Jose Guiterrez, one of the founders of several
Hispanic civil rights organizations, and a video presentation
on the Hispanic-Americans’ fight for independence.
For more information on these or other events associated with
the month, call the Program
Council at 936.294.1763.
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Send Update Items Here
Please send information for the SHSU Update to the Office
of Public Relations at SHSU. For electronic access to SHSU
news see the public relations Web page Today@Sam.
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- END -
SHSU Media Contacts: Frank
Krystyniak, Julia May,
Jennifer Gauntt
Sept. 10, 2006
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
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