SHSU
Update For Week Of Dec. 2
Syracuse Prof To Lecture
On Middle East’s ‘Turn’
David Tal, the Schusterman visiting professor of international
relations at Syracuse University, will discuss how “it
is a crucial moment in the history of the Middle East”
on Wednesday (Dec. 5).
The 4th Annual Joan Coffey Symposium lecture, "Israel
in the Middle East – an Historian Point of View,"
will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Academic Building IV’s
Olson Auditorium.
Tal will address Israel's place in the Middle East, “the
world’s most volatile area;” Israel's notion of
peace, and past issues in Arab-Israeli relations, as well
as present issues and future concerns, according to David
Mayes, SHSU assistant professor of history.
“Those things have taken a turn for the very interesting
over the past couple weeks because the two sides- the Palestinians
and the Israelis - have outspokenly agreed to map out a Palestinian
state,” Mayes said. “If things go forward as planned,
a Palestinian state will be in place in about two years.”
These meetings, including significant leaders from other Arab
countries throughout the Middle East are unusual because they
are countries that don’t normally talk to the Israelis,
Mayes said.
“Everyone was united, saying peace, two states, and
Palestinian and Israeli states living side by side,”
he said.
The Joan Coffey Symposium was established in honor of Coffey,
a faculty member of the history department for about 12 years
until her death in 2003 after a long battle with cancer.
The first three symposiums covered the topics of the death
penalty, Islam in southeast Asia, and the Houston Riot of
1917.
“Ideally, the symposium is designed to draw attention
to issues and subjects pertaining not only to the U.S. but
also to the wider world so that SHSU students and faculty
and the broader Huntsville community are attuned to them and
informed about them,” Mayes said.
For more information, call the history
department at 936.294.1475.
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Department To Celebrate
Holidays Internationally
The foreign languages department will wish faculty, staff
and students a “Feliz Navidad,” “Frohe Weihnachten”
and “Joyeux Noël” during its multicultural
holiday celebration on Monday (Dec. 3).
Cookies and punch will be served during the event, which will
be held from 12:30-1:30 p.m. on the third floor of the Evans
Building.
In addition, faculty, staff and students will lead anyone
who wants to participate in multilingual seasonal carols.
“We will have written versions of the lyrics in the
various languages (French, German and Spanish) and will choose
well-known tunes,” said Debra Andrist, foreign languages
chair.
For more information, call the foreign
languages department at 936.294.1441.
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Banquet Ticket Deadline
Is Monday
The deadline for buying tickets for the first Hall of Honor
banquet honoring both men and women former athletes at Sam
Houston State University is 5 p.m. Monday (Dec. 3).
The event is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 7 in the Lowman
Student Center Ballroom.
Tickets are $30 per person or $50 per couple, and may be purchased
from Jan McPike by calling 936.294.4205 or e-mailing mcpike@shsu.edu.
The athletes being honored and their sports include David
Amaya, basketball; Jeff Bellnap, golf; Megan Burnham, tennis;
Chris Burton, baseball; Wendy Gray, golf; Scott Horstman,
basketball; Cathy Nelson, track; Julie Thomas, basketball/softball;
and Julie Franzen, volleyball.
Administrator and coach Rebecca Bilsing, who died in 1986,
will also be honored.
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Baseball Camps To
Swing Students Into Season
SHSU head baseball coach Mark Johnson will lead off the
baseball season with two baseball camps for players of all
ages on Jan. 12-13.
The “Collegiate Showcase and Instructional Camp,”
for players in ninth through 12th grades will be held from
9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with check-in from 8-8:45 a.m., on Jan.
12 at Don Sanders Stadium.
Participants will receive hands-on instruction and teaching
from SHSU’s coaches and will be evaluated on batting,
running and defensive skills through ‘pro’-style
defensive tests. Pitchers will also be evaluated by mechanics
and radar gun times, and a special segment will be devoted
to the recruiting process.
The cost is $90 per camper, which includes lunch.
The first “Parent-Son Baseball Instructional Camp,”
for players in kindergarten through eighth grade, will be
held from 1-4 p.m., with a noon to 12:45 p.m. check-in, on
Jan. 13, also at Don Sanders Stadium.
The clinic will allow parents to act as their child’s
partner and coach, covering the fundamentals of hitting, throwing,
fielding and base-running.
“This is a great way for parents to play an active role
in the development of their child,” Johnson said.
The cost is $75, which includes one adult and one child, and
$30 for each additional child.
All campers must have a signed parental consent, doctor’s
permission and physician’s statement form along with
the application, available online at http://www.shsu.edu/~exl_www/summer_camps.html.
A former player for the New York Mets, Johnson became SHSU’s
sixth baseball head coach in July 2006.
In his first season at SHSU, the Bearkats had one of the three
best turn-around seasons in NCAA Division I baseball in 2007,
rolling up a 40-24 record, the most wins by the Bearkats since
1987.
For more information, contact assistant coach Philip Miller
at 936.294.4435 or philipmiller31@yahoo.com.
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‘MoonDreams,’
‘Autumn Sky’ To Take Final Tour Dec. 7
The physics department will give its final public tour of
“what’s currently up in the autumn night sky”
and information on the Geminid Meteor Shower on Friday (Dec.
7).
The planetarium series program, which shows attendees which
constellations, stars and planets they can expect to see in
the upcoming weeks, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Planetarium,
located in Farrington Building Room F102.
Physics department staff aide Michael Prokosch will discuss
the annual Geminid Meteor Shower, which can best be viewed
at 10 p.m. on Dec. 13, and why it is unique compared to other
meteor showers, he said.
The program will also include "MoonDreams," the
story of Perseus and Andromeda that “talks about our
moon and where it comes from, as well as introduces other
moons in the solar system,” and a discussion about this
year’s Dec. 24 Mars Opposition and the "Mars Hoax,"
an e-mail that circulates every August making exaggerated
claims about the planet's visibility from Earth, Prokosch
said.
The show will last approximately one hour.
The Planetarium seats up to 29 visitors and includes a dome
that is approximately 18 feet in diameter and more than 20
feet high in the center, according to Prokosch.
Admission is free.
For more information on current show times for the Planetarium
or the Observatory, call 936.294.3664 or e-mail
Prokosch at vis_mwp@shsu.edu.
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Theatre To
'Experiment' With Original Scripts
The department of theatre and dance and Alpha Psi Omega will
get ‘experimental’ on Friday and Saturday (Dec.
7-8).
“Experimental Theatre,” at 8 p.m. each night in
the University Theatre Center’s Showcase Theatre, will
include original works and “decidedly unique performances,”
according to Alpha Psi Omega president Scott McCarrey.
The pieces, written by students, faculty and staff, are rehearsed
by the playwrights in collaboration with student directors,
actors and designers.
This year’s showcase features short plays by students
Glen Philip, Erik Holm and McCarrey, as well as by theatre
professor Ron Song Destro.
Admission is free, though donations will be accepted. All
proceeds will benefit theatre scholarships.
“Experimental Theatre” contains adult content
and language; therefore, children under the age of three will
not be admitted.
For more information, contact McCarrey at 210.269.0075 or
scott_mccarrey@mac.com.
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Music Concerts Bow Out Semester
The School of Music will pay homage to the holiday and winter
spirits with two concerts beginning Monday (Dec. 3).
The SHSU Choirs and Festival Orchestra will present Handel’s
“Messiah” on that day, at 7:30 p.m. at the First
Baptist Church of Huntsville.
“Messiah,” which features the “Hallelujah”
chorus, is probably the most popular oratorio of all time,
according to director of choral activities Allen Hightower.
Frequently performed at both Easter and Christmas, the oratorio,
a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra and soloists, is
frequently based upon biblical characters and stories.
“It is a bit like a sacred opera, but without people
moving around the stage,” Hightower said. “It
is more of a ‘concert piece’ than drama, but it
does tell a story.”
The SHSU Symphonic Choir is comprised of 120 SHSU choir members,
including “both music majors and students from across
campus who enjoy singing great classical music.”
Tickets are $10 for adults and non-SHSU students, $5 for SHSU
students and senior citizens and free for children under the
age of 6.
On Tuesday (Dec. 4), the Sam Houston Society of Composers
will premiere eight new works by student composition majors
for "Winterreise—A Winter's Journey through the
World of New Music in America."
The concert, featuring both undergraduates and graduate students,
as well as two faculty members, will be held at 7:30 p.m.
in the Recital Hall.
Composition students also will perform three of the most famous
experimental compositions of American 20th century by Steve
Reich and John Cage, and faculty composers Trent Hanna and
Kyle Kindred will play their original works.
The concert is free and open to the public.
For more information, call the School
of Music at 936.294.1360.
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Dance Students To Give End-Of-Year
Performances
Dance students will demonstrate what they’ve learned
throughout this semester with three concerts beginning Monday
(Dec. 3).
The non-major workshops, for any student enrolled in dance
classes, will be held at 7 p.m. on both Monday and Tuesday
in the Academic Building 3 Dance Theater.
The shows will consist of beginning ballet, beginning modern,
Latin dance, swing dance, tap dance and other genres, which
are performed as the students’ final examinations.
On Wednesday, program majors will perform a variety of dances,
including contemporary modern, ballet and jazz, as well as
other student submissions.
The concert will also be held at 7 p.m. in the Academic Building
3 Dance Theater.
All three workshops are free and open to the public. Seating
is limited in the theater, so attendees are encouraged to
arrive early.
For more information, call the dance
program at 936.294.1875.
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SAM Center Reaches
Out To Hispanic Students
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Huntsville students learned about
pre-admission tests, preparing for the SAT and ACT tests
and CLEP tests from Testing Center coordinator Terri
Harvey as part of the SAM Center's mentoring program.
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Huntsville High School students have spent the semester getting
acquainted with the college life thanks to a mentoring program
coordinated through SHSU’s Student Advising and Mentoring
Center.
The eight-week program allowed HHS Hispanic students to learn
from one of 10 SHSU mentors about the application process
and the benefits of higher education, as well as career assessments,
financial aid and pre-admissions tests.
In addition, HHS students were allowed to “scope out
the campus, talk about self esteem and work on a project the
student will need to present on the last class day of the
program,” said Margaret Ferguson, SAM Center staff associate
and mentoring program coordinator.
“The program initially reached out to particular groups
that were the most at risk but the program is open to all
students wanting to find out more about higher education and
what is involved in moving forward after high school,”
Ferguson said.
This is the third year of the “El Siguiente Paso”
(“The Next Step”) program, sponsored in the fall
for ESP1 students and in the spring for ESP1 and 2 students.
SHSU mentors are “university students in good academic
standing and have a strong desire to serve as mentors to students
needing help with finding out more about higher education,”
Ferguson said.
This semester’s mentors include Travis Baker, Nicole
Gonzalez, Ryan Pope, Mark Guevarra, Megan Konarik, Mauricio
Lopez, Maritza Martinez, Paz Medina, Edgard Sanchez, Erica
Thomas.
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Send Update Items Here
Information for the SHSU Update can be sent to the Office
of Public Relations electronically at Today@Sam.edu
or to any of the media contacts listed below.
Please include the date, location and time of the event,
as well as a brief description and a contact person.
All information for news stories should be sent to the office
at least a week in advance to give the PR staff ample time
to make necessary contacts and write the story.
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
Nov. 30, 2007
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
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