SHSU
Update For Week Of Feb. 4
SHSU To Celebrate Mardi Gras
Cajun Style
Sam Houston State and the Huntsville community will have
the opportunity to celebrate Mardi Gras Cajun style with the
university’s Fifth Annual Cajun Mardi Gras Festival
on Feb. 15.
The event will feature the Cajun music band Jambalaya with
guest artist D.L. Menard.
Before the dance kicks off, at 8 p.m. in the Lowman Student
Center Ballroom, Joe Paris will give free Cajun dance lessons
to students and guests from off campus at 7 p.m. in the ballroom.
Menard, Terry Huval, Reggie Matte and other band members will
also participate in a symposium on Cajun Music and Culture
hosted by Terry Thibodeaux, professor and associate dean of
the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is scheduled
for 6 p.m. in Evans Building Room 105.
Thibodeaux said the Mardi Gras celebration allows people to
learn about the culture and also breaks down stereotypes related
to the Cajun people and culture.
“I think a lot of times the Cajun culture is misunderstood
because of some of the images and impressions that are given
from mass media and even in restaurants,” he said. “What
you see labeled as Cajun oftentimes is not authentic at all.”
Drinks will be sold at the dance, which is expected to end
at 10:30 p.m. Admission is $5 with SHSU ID, $10 for non-SHSU
guests, and free for all under the age of 12.
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AAI To Show Dangers In ‘Beer,
Bait, Ammo’ Combo
The Alcohol Abuse Initiative will tell students to "Say
No to Beer, Bait and Ammo" on Tuesday (Feb. 6).
The discussion and demonstration on the dangers of mixing
alcohol with hunting and fishing will be held from 10 a.m.
to 2 p.m. in front of the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum, near
the flagpoles.
The United States Coast Guard reports that 50 percent of all
boating fatalities are alcohol-related and are more likely
to result from leaning out of a boat to pick up a decoy and
falling overboard than from a struggle with an animal.
“We have many avid hunters and fishers at SHSU,”
said Michelle Lovering, health programming coordinator at
the Student Health Center and AAI member. “Most of them
take the sport very seriously and follow all safety precautions,
which include avoiding the consumption of alcohol while hunting
or fishing; however, some routinely gamble with the risky
combination.
“Not only is mixing alcohol and firearms just grossly
irresponsible, but alcohol will certainly decrease the likelihood
of a successful hunt,” she said. “Using a boat
while hunting or boat fishing while drinking is illegal and
can lead to a BWI (boating while intoxicated).”
During the event, the AAI will demonstrate how alcohol can
impair one’s ability while hunting by having students
shoot a paintball gun at a target while wearing beer goggles,
which will “simulate the effect that alcohol would have
on their aim,” according to Lovering.
The paintball guns and targets will be provided and facilitated
by Maj. Chris Wooten from the SHSU Military Science Department
and students from the Army ROTC program.
Students should bring their SWAAT cards to the event.
For more information, contact Lovering at 936.294.4347 or
mlovering@shsu.edu,
or visit the AAI Web site at http://www.shsu.edu/aai.
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MISS To Host Third
Diversity Conference
The Office of Multicultural and International Student Services
will show SHSU students, faculty and staff how "One Generation
Can Change The Nation" during its third annual Diversity
Leadership Conference Feb. 23-25.
The conference, which will be held at various places on campus
and mainly in the Lowman Student Center, “is the first
of its kind in the state of Texas and is a way for students
from around the state to come together and discuss topics,
concerns, and issues that are facing today's youth in regards
to diversity,” said MISS program coordinator Ashley
McDonough.
This year, the DLC will highlight speakers from around the
state, including professors from SHSU and other prominent
universities in Texas, in five facilitated sessions, each
consisting of five different workshops per session.
The purpose of the workshops is to allow students to “actively
participate and learn about ways in which they can better
understand and communicate with others in the diverse world
we live in,” McDonough said.
Regular registration is open for all SHSU students, faculty,
staff, and members of the surrounding community until Feb.
20.
Registration is free for SHSU students who register early
(before Feb. 10) and $20 for regular registration (after that
date). The cost for non-SHSU students is $35 for early registration,
$45 for regular registration (until Feb. 19) and $50 for late
registration (Feb. 20-23).
The cost includes five meals, entertainment, prizes, workshops,
a T-shirt and much more.
For more information on this conference or other events sponsored
by the Office
of MISS, call 936.294.DVST (3878) or e-mail diversity@shsu.edu.
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Nominations Sought For
Service, Distinguished Awards
The SHSU Alumni Association is seeking nominations for Bearkat
graduates who have either made significant contributions to
their communities or have distinguished themselves through
their personal and professional achievements for its annual
service, distinguished alumni and outstanding young alumni
awards.
Nominations for the Service Awards are due by Feb. 16, and
Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni nominations
are due by March 30.
As many as six alumni are eligible to receive the Service
Award, which recognizes SHSU alumni, faculty, staff, administrators
and friends who have “made significant contributions
to Sam Houston State University, exemplifying the university’s
motto, ‘The Measure of Life is its Service,’ according
to the nomination form.
“The highest honor” the association and university
can bestow upon alumni, the Distinguished Alumni award recognizes
graduates or former students who “have made significant
contributions to SHSU and/or society, and thus have brought
honor and distinction to our university,” the nomination
form said.
The Outstanding Young Alumni Award is given to one individual
based on criteria as the Distinguished Alumni Award, except
the recipient must be under 40 years of age.
Any individual or group may submit a nomination for an award.
Nomination forms, with a complete list of award criteria,
are available online at http://alumni.shsu.edu/
and should be returned to the SHSU Office of Alumni Relations,
in the Visitor Center, or by mail to P.O. Box 2022, Huntsville,
Texas 77341-2022.
Nominations received after the deadline will not be considered;
however, the forms will remain on file for consideration the
following year.
For more information, contact the Alumni
Relations Office at 936.294.1841 or alumni@shsu.edu.
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COBA To Teach ‘Dos,’
Don’ts’ Of Resume Writing
The College of Business Administration will give students
the “dos and don’ts for effective resumes and
cover letters,” with two workshops on Tuesday (Feb.
6) and Feb. 12.
The Feb. 6 workshop, conducted by Career Services, will be
held from 2-3 p.m. in the Mafrige Auditorium, located in the
Smith-Hutson Business Building.
“COBA events, such as Business Career Fairs, Meet the
Firms Night, Employer Foyer Showcases, Dress for Success fashion
shows and Resume Writing Workshops, are all ‘extras’
we give our students to help them accomplish their employment
goals, in addition to their academic goals,” said Margaret
Quarles, senior assistant to the dean.
The Feb. 12 workshop, which will be held from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
in the Mafrige Auditorium, will be conducted by management
and marketing professor Charles Capps.
Both workshops are open to all SHSU students and alumni.
For more information, contact Quarles at 936.294.4997 or mquarles@shsu.edu.
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Harvard Physicist To
Give Lecture
Harvard University physicist David Ward will discuss his
research on the field of polaritonics on Thursday (Feb. 8).
The lecture, “Adventures in Light Scattering: From THz
Polaritonics to Resonance Rayleigh Scattering Microscopy and
Spectroscopy of Single Nanoparticles,” will be held
from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Farrington Building Room 209.
Ward received his bachelor’s degree in physics from
the College of Charleston in 1999 and his doctorate in physical
chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in
2005.
Currently, he is working in the field of single molecule spectroscopy
with Sunney Xie at Harvard University and theoretical aspects
of negative refractive materials with Kevin J. Webb at Purdue
University, according to Ward’s Web site.
For more information, contact Barry Friedman, in the physics
department, at phy_baf@shsu.edu
or 936.294.1604.
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Workshop To Bring Mythology,
Fairy Tales To The Opera
SHSU students who are new to the field of opera will tell
“Tall Tales,” performing selections from tragic
and comic works, during the spring Opera Workshop on Friday
and Saturday (Feb. 9-10).
Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall.
“Tall Tales” will include scenes inspired by mythology
and fairy tales, such as Jacques Offenbach’s “Orpheus
in the Underworld,” performed in English; Carl Maria
von Weber’s “Oberon,” performed in Italian;
Henry Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas,” performed
in English; Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Hänsel
und Gretel,” performed in English; and Christoph Willibald
von Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Euridice),”
performed in Italian.
To facilitate the audience’s understanding of the scenes,
especially those in a foreign language, the entire production
will be accompanied by a surtitle presentation. Even the the
scenes in English will have the texts projected above the
screen, according to Dawn Padula, voice faculty member and
opera workshop co-director.
“This just helps the audience to really understand the
full gist of what the singers are saying and helps them to
understand the story all that much more,” she said.
The production by the opera workshop, which includes students
new to the process who learned the basics of stage craft and
movement in the fall, is a culmination of the work those students
did during the second half of the fall semester in not only
learning the craft but creating their own show, Padula said.
“We selected the theme of ‘Tall Tales: An evening
of opera featuring scenes inspired by mythology and fairy
tales’ in that much of the operatic literature that
encompasses this theme lends itself nicely to younger voices,”
she said. “It's also a theme that these students can
really relate to...we've all studied Greek Mythology, and
I know that we've all been told fairy tales.”
Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for non-SHSU students and senior
citizens, and free for SHSU students with a Bearkat identification
card.
For more information, call the School
of Music at 936.294.1360.
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Alumni Scholarship
Deadline Approaching
Scholarship applications for the more than 15 awarded by
the SHSU Alumni Association for the fall 2007 and spring 2008
semesters are due by March 2.
The association awards scholarships annually for a variety
of classifications, majors and extracurricular activities
for currently-enrolled SHSU students, as well as incoming
freshmen.
Some of the scholarships available include the Lee Andrew
Franke scholarship, for elementary education majors; Victoria
Frels Memorial scholarship, for English majors; SHSU Alumni
Legacy, for students with a family member who graduated from
SHSU; and the Dr. Charles A. Schmidt Fine Arts, for a fine
arts major, among many others.
Association scholarships are provided through contributions
from alumni and friends.
Scholarship applications are available on the Alumni Relations
Web site, at http://alumni.shsu.edu/.
Applications and supporting documentation will not be accepted
after March 2 and can be turned in at the Alumni Relations
Office, in the Visitor Center, or by mail to the Sam Houston
State University Alumni Association, Attention: Scholarship
Committee, P.O. Box 2022, Huntsville, Texas, 77341-2022.
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Lutterschmidt, Neudorf Receive
$290,000 Grant
Thirty-two students from across the nation will be the beneficiaries
of a $290,000 grant biological sciences associate professors
Bill Lutterschmidt and Diane Neudorf recently received.
The grant, which was a renewal from the National Science Foundation’s
Research Experiences for Undergraduate program, will allow
eight undergraduates per year, 32 total in the four years
the grant allows for, to visit SHSU and conduct field research
during the summer, according to Neudorf.
“We recruit students from all over the country, though
some come from Sam Houston as well, who are interested in
pursuing careers in research in biology,” Neudorf said.
“The purpose is to encourage students to pursue these
types of careers.”
As part of the program, students spend 10 weeks over the summer
working on a research project with a SHSU faculty mentor at
the university’s Center for Biological Field Studies,
located on Fish Hatchery Road in Huntsville, observing and
collecting animals in their natural habitat.
Students also attend weekly seminars, which discuss things
such as being a professional biologist, ethics in science,
collecting data and statistics, as well as take field trips
to the coast to collect organisms, the zoo and museums.
At the end of the project, students display their research
through a poster presentation in the Lowman Student Center.
In addition, many go on to present their published findings
at national conferences, Neudorf said.
“It’s an excellent program,” Neudorf said.
“It’s very intensive; we keep them busy.”
The grant provides living expenses for the students selected
to participate in the REU project, including room and board
and a paid stipend. Students also get course credit for their
work, which is new this year, and help their faculty mentors
with their own research.
The NSF had previously given Lutterschmidt and Neudorf a three-year
grant for the Research Experiences for Undergraduate program.
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Watts Recognized For Professional
Writing
Richard Watts, director for research and doctoral studies
for counseling education, recently received the 2006 Professional
Writing Award from the Texas Counseling Association.
The award was presented to Watts during the annual TCA Conference
in November, held in San Antonio.
The TCA Professional Professional Writing Award is given to
a TCA member whose writing has helped further the counseling
profession.
Presently in his 13th year as a Counselor Educator and his
second at SHSU, Watts has published over 90 professional publications,
including 70 journal articles and book chapters, and five
books.
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Legal Services Awarded For
Project’s Excellence
For the second time in five years, the SHSU Students’
Legal Services has been named the recipient of the 2007 Award
for Special Project Excellence during the annual University
Student Legal Services Association conference.
The award is based upon a project that must be unique and
exemplary and furthers the mission of Students’ Legal
Services and is given to the project that not only benefits
students in a unique way but also one that goes beyond the
normal evaluated services offered to students within the university
association, according to James W. Gibson, SHSU’s student
legal adviser.
SHSU’s award-winning project was a 24-page compilation
of legal resources available to students that allows them
to pick a law topic and then go immediately to an Internet
site for authoritative Texas law and information that applies
to that specific topic.
“The compilation contains topics from AIDS to wills,
and this large coverage made the project both unique and exemplary,”
Gibson said. “The project was also deemed to further
the mission of Students’ Legal Services by providing
quality, authoritative resources for students with legal problems
24 hours a day and seven days a week.”
The USLSA is made up of 21 universities spanning the western
United States from Texas to Oregon.
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Order Of Omega To Induct
20
Approximately 20 students and staff members will be inducted
into the SHSU chapter of Order of Omega on Thursday (Feb.
8).
Inductees include Carneithia Anthony, Jessica Brash, Kristi
Brown, Elizabeth Escamilla, Kimberly Fregia, Heather Hardee,
Kaitlyn Hartley, Rachel Hurst, Justin Garza, Emilia Kobina,
Lindsay McDougald, Brooke Poston, Jeremy Rogers, Ysabel Sarabia,
Peter Solana and Andrea Trabanino.
In addition, honorary members who will be inducted into the
organization include Angie Burns, Brandon Cooper, Leah Mulligan
and Tiffany Flenoy.
The National Order of Omega is an honorary organization for
members of Greek letter social fraternities and sororities.
The organization, which was reinstalled on the SHSU campus
this spring, includes all Greek Councils, including multicultural
Greek organizations and the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
To qualify for membership, an individual must be of junior
standing, have been an active member of his/her organization
for at least one year, and have a minimun of a 2.5 grade point
average.
In addition, new members are selected based on eight criteria:
character; scholarship; fraternity or sorority activities
and offices; Interfraternity Council, Panhellenic, or Greek
Council activities and offices; campus activities and involvement;
and community service.
Current executive board members are Kristi Brown, president;
Justin Garza, vice president; Rachel Hurst, treasurer; Andrea
Trabanino, secretary; Elizabeth Escamilla, membership chair;
and Jeremy Rogers, public/university relations chair.
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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
Feb. 4, 2007
Please send comments, corrections, news tips to Today@Sam.edu
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