2013 Annual Faculty/Staff Meeting and Presidential Address
At the beginning of each academic year, the SFA faculty and staff gather in the Grand Ballroom to hear from the president and provost about the highlights of the previous year and the plans for the upcoming year.
Key points from the 2013 address include:
- 90th anniversary preparations
- legislative session items
University Address from Dr. Pattillo and Dr. Berry
Transcript
Baker Pattillo: I would like to welcome each one of you to the 2013-2014 academic school year at Stephen F. Austin State University. This morning I would especially like to welcome the new faculty and staff members we have with us for the first time. Now, for the faculty members, I had the opportunity to meet a number of you on Tuesday this week at the luncheon. Then again last night I had to opportunity to meet a number of you at the reception. And at both of those events as I visited with you individually or as I told you when I spoke last night, we have a very warm and receptive SFA family here. We have approximately 600 faculty members and about 1,000 staff members. And they want to reach out and assist you in any way possible, so if you need assistance with policies, procedures, a workshop or directions or whatever, please ask these people. Look around the room this morning. These are the individuals that I was telling you about last night. This morning we have at least two special guests that I want to introduce to you, and especially for the benefit of our new faculty members that are here. The first person I want to tell you about is Mrs. Peggy Wright. Peggy Wright is a graduate of the SFA Demonstration School. She's also a graduate of SFA. She served on our Board of Regents for 16 years. She served as chair of our Board of Regents for four years. She holds and honorary doctoral degree from SFA. She and her late husband, Tom Wright, have been involved their entire life with this university. Anything good with this university or in Nacogdoches, they were very involved in it. And in fact, the music building on our campus is named the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building. So at this time, I'd like for Peggy Wright to stand, and let's thank her for what she has done for our university. And then I would like to introduce to you Mr. Steve McCarty. Steve McCarty is from Alto. He is also a graduate of SFA. He holds a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from SFA. After graduating from SFA, he went out into the world with high school coaching. And those of you that are at the university already know that he was and is a legend in Texas high school coaching. But we have been fortunate enough that he also came to the university a number of years ago, and he retired this past August 31, 2005, after 21 years at the university and retired as the athletic director. In 2009, Governor Perry named him to our Board of Regents. He is the first retired faculty member or staff member to have ever been named as a regent to our university. And he's already held basically every position on our Board of Regents, and this past April, he assumed the position as chair on the Board of Regents at this university. So Mr. McCarty, will you please stand and let us thank you for the leadership you have.
This morning I would like to make a few comments about the year that has just ended, some of the highlights and especially some of those events that have carried over to affect this year. And then also I will transition over to the new year that we are starting today. A year ago at this time we were talking a great deal about enrollment. Were we going to get 13,000 students? You'll remember, we had just set a new record for enrollment in the preceding year at 12,954. So the question was are we going to hit 13,000? Do you think we will hit 13,000? I truthfully thought we were going to hit 13,000 students, as well as the other people thought so. But, as you know, the enrollment at the university is recorded on the 12th day of the semester. And for the first 12 days, the enrollment is like a roller coaster, up and down like the stock market or perhaps your blood pressure. We enrolled as high as 13,007 students, and I was not on campus that day and I was told that recording had to be provided to us which was that 12th class day. I was notified that the enrollment that day was 12,999. I certainly did not believe it, and I was convinced and I am still convinced that if I was on campus that day, I could've persuaded someone to sign up for a class or taken one myself! We would've hit that 13,000 students. So throughout the years, people have asked us what our enrollment was throughout the years here. If you ask an official in Austin, they would tell you it was 12,999. But if you ask Monique Cossich what our enrollment was, she would tell you 13,000 students, minus one. But when people ask me the enrollment I tell them we enrolled as many as 13,072 for the fall semester. And all three versions were correct. And I know I talk a great deal about being short one student, I've talked about it, I'm sure with all of you if I've had any contact with you, and that we simply have to get that one student. I'm sure I've talked about it a great deal at home, around my family, and one professor took me to heart because he heard so much about us being short that one student. So, we had this one professor and his wife, who had a baby son eight weeks ago, and he enrolled his son in the early childhood lab on Monday of this week. And he told me, if we come up short one student this year we have one student over in that early childhood lab that I'm going to sign up for a class, so I don't have to listen to you all year about how you're short one student. And I guess right now I should tell you who that faculty member was. Dr. Todd Brown, wherever you are, will you stand? I want to thank you for your recruitment effort! And I guess for the benefit of the new faculty members, I should tell you what I would really say, Dr. Brown is the father of my new grandson, Jackson Baker Brown. And we love you and your wife very much for bringing that new SFA member to the SFA family.
I'm going to highlight our Lumberjack marching band this past year. December 28 through January 4, they went to London to march in the New Years Parade. Not only did they march in the new year parade, they led the new year parade in London. Hundreds and thousands of people saw the parade live; millions of people saw it on television. And the people in London in the streets will tell you, there's never been a band from the United States equal to that Lumberjack Marching Band. In addition, they also had a chance to play at the historic Cadogan Performance Hall. And with a number of other bands there that night, there was no question, from the judges there that night, that the Lumberjack Band blew away all the other bands. We are very proud of what our band did for marketing our university.
Then, on February the first, we had three new regents named at this university. Mr. Barry Nelson from Dallas, who is the developer, and he is a graduate of SFA, was named as a regent. Up next, we have Mr. David Alders of Nacogdoches, who is a business man specializing in agriculture, has been named to our Board of Regents. Now Mr. Alders is not a graduate of SFA. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University, but he is closely aligned with SFA. His mother and father both graduated from SFA. His daughter Emily graduated from our School of Music last May, and he was able to give her that degree. And his nephew Nolan graduated from SFA with a degree in mathematics. So, he is very involved with SFA. And then we had one reappointment, Mr. Bob Garrett of Tyler, and we are very fortunate that Mr. Garrett was reappointed to our Board of Regents. He just served two years as our chair of the Board of Regents, and Mr. Garrett is a graduate of SFA. In April we had a new executive board of officers on our Board of regents. You've already met Mr. Steve McCarty, who's your chair of your Board of Regents. We also have Dr. Scott Coleman of Houston, who has been named vice chair of the board. He is also a graduate of SFA. Then there is Regent Brigettee Henderson, who was elected secretary of the board, and she holds two degrees from SFA. Then I want to point out that we were very fortunate that on February the 28th, Governor Perry visited our campus and we were able to place his handprints in concrete on the floor below us in the Spirit Lounge. That now gives us five sets of handprints there in the Spirit Lounge. Senator Phil Gramm, Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, President Bush, Herbert Walker Bush, and President George W. Bush. And now governor Perry's handprints are there.
Also, I would also like to call attention to our intercollegiate athletic program this past year. They have won several southland conference championships this past year, but we are extremely proud of the fact that we had 78 athletes graduate from SFA. And I'm proud to report to you that 44 percent of our athletes now have a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Also, following the basketball season, we had the opportunity to name the new head basketball coach, and his name is Coach Brad Underwood. He came to us from the University of South Carolina, and prior to that, Kansas State University. He was assistant head coach at both universities. He is used to coaching at the highest level. He is a big-time recruiter. He recruited all over the nation, and, for that matter, all over the world. We are looking forward to great things in our Lumberjack basketball program. And I believe that Coach Underwood is here today, so would you please stand and let me introduce you to our faculty. And Coach Underwood, you can relax, I'm not going to say a thing about us expecting us to win 20 games a year and making playoffs.
And then I would also like to make comments that this past year, in May, we had two graduation ceremonies, and, as far as I know, it worked very well. From all the reports I received, everything went very well. Now this summer, we had a smaller graduating class, so we had only one graduation ceremony. We will look at the preliminary numbers as soon as they are released in December, so we can see if we will have one or two graduation ceremonies in December. I think it goes without saying that we will probably have two graduation ceremonies in May from now on because of the size of the graduating class in May.
And then I would like to make a few remarks on the legislative session where we have spent so much time for the last couple of months. As you know, we have been through the 83rd legislative section starting in January, and ending in the end of May. Then we had special session one, special session two and special session three. And yet, the special session one, it was consumed by the abortion issue. And then special session number two, it was consumed by the transportation issue. And special session number three was consumed once again by the transportation issue. But in the third session there was an agreement reached between the House of Representatives and the Senate, and as soon as that agreement was reached, it was declared and no other topic was added to the call. So now I will go back to the normal session, from January to May and comment on a few bills that passed or did not pass and all them have or would've had an impact on SFA. The first one that you heard us discuss probably a year ago, perhaps a year before that at the prior legislative session was the concealed handgun permit issue allowing college students to carry concealed weapons on campus. That was a very, very controversial issue in the session. This session, when it started it, was declared early on, they had the votes, it was going to pass and they didn't really spend that much time even talking about it early in the session because it was a foregone conclusion that it was going to pass. However, as the session went on, things got more and more difficult. Toward the end, there started to be issues about the concealed weapons on campus. And then the issue became we'd need a stand-alone bill or we'd need an amendment to some other bill that was passed. And when it was all said and done, the concealed handgun permit issue topic was not approved, so we will not have to worry about the concealed handguns on campus for at least two more years. Now there's another gun deal passed. And that gun deal was, including students, if they are 21 years of age, and they have a concealed handgun permit, they may store a gun, firearm or ammunition whether they own it personally or whether it's leased. So this law, in all probability, we will have some students that will have weapons on campus in their vehicles. That did pass. Another bill that did pass that will impact us is what's known as fixed tuition. And each university will be required to have what is known as a fixed tuition plan by September 2014. That means that when a student enters a university for the first time, they will have the option to simply pay tuition each year as they go through their career. Or, whether they can lock in their tuition at that first year's rate, and if they make that decision to lock it in after their first semester, they have twelve consecutive semesters to pay that same rate of tuition. Now you understand what universities will do, we will calculate out over the next four years what we anticipate tuition will be, and students will start paying a higher tuition fee initially from the very beginning semester. It's been tried at several universities in Texas in the past. And at those universities it has not been very successful. Students do not want to pay the higher rate initially. So we do not know exactly what will take place. Another bill that is very involved, that's outcome-based finance. You know, at the current time, we are funded on the semester hours we generate. But the state leadership is wanting to go to a system where we are paid on the outcome, on our products that come out on the other end. And there are a number of items that we talked about, but what it translates to, we would be paid on our graduation rates, and it has been very, very controversial. And the state leadership wanted to put in a plan where 25 percent of our funding would come from outcome-based funding. Now I have served on the statewide committee for the past two years on this issue. And our committee agreed, that if, if we had to have such a plan, it'd be only a 10-percent outcome. Let's start at 10 percent and see how it worked. But in the legislative session, it was overruled; it did not pass. So we will not have to worry about outcome-based funding for another two years at least. But it is on the radar, so you can be aware that seems to be the direction we are moving in at the current time. Then I would like to mention a bill that impacts our Board of Regents and the way the Board of Regents meetings are conducted. Under the new bill, which will be effective this January 1, 2014. The agenda of the Board of Regents and any supplemental materials that are provided to the Board of Regents, any things at the regents meeting, has to be posted on our web page as soon as practical before the board meeting. And the board meeting itself will have to be broadcasted on the Internet and it will be archived. So we will not be making that change in the October Board of Regents meeting, but come January, we will be operating under that new system.
Then I would like to comment on two or three items in regard to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. They had their authority reduced in a couple of areas. One: the coordinating board no longer has the authority to approve our new construction projects. Rather, at the university level, we will have the authority to approve our construction projects. We will have to submit our construction plans to the coordinating board, and if they feel as if they do not match up to their standards, they are to notify the leadership of the Texas legislative body. However, they have no authority to approve or reject plans. A second item that was approved was their power to eliminate low-producing programs or to merge low-producing programs was eliminated. The decision about low-producing programs now will be made at the local level by our own Board of Regents. And if our Board of Regents approves to retain a low-producing program, then we will notify the coordinating board. They, in turn, then will send recommendations to the Board of Regents in terms of what they think we should do in regard to that area. But they have no authority in regard to that area. And there was a final area that they were given directions on, and that was that they were given some guidelines and some timelines that when an individual university applies for a new program, they will not be able to hold us on an indefinite period of time. They will have to give us a decision in a very short period of time. And, for instance, we have a proposal in for an engineering degree. We are very optimistic that we are going to get that engineering program approved. So all of these changes that have been made in reducing their power or eliminating their power have been very good for us on the university side.
And then I would also make some comments in regard to the Tuition Revenue Bond issue, and it hurts me to talk about this issue because, as you know, three times we have carried that Tuition Revenue Bond to the Legislature. We have requested $50 million to build a new STEM building - science, technology, engineering and math. And I truly felt like it was going to be approved this time, and the legislators that we deal with felt like it was going to be approved this time. Initially, we were approved for $50 million on our request by the senate, early on. On the house side, they did not move quickly on the Tuition Revenue Bond. They waited late, and when they moved into this area, they had the concept that we should have slimmed it down, at least 20 percent. Which simply meant 80 percent of $50 million they would recommend, and it would be up to us to come up with the difference. A little later, we got a recommendation, to fund us at $42,500,000, then later, had a proposal for $45 million. But the House did not submit their plans to the Senate, until their closing dates of the session. And when they did, they concluded millions of dollars for new projects where they simply did not have the money to cover, and so when that was presented to the Senate in the closing days of the session, the Senate could not approve it. But we were told that when we went into special session, it will be put on the call. That simply meant, once we take care of the abortion issue, and there was a juvenile court area that had to be resolved, they would put us in line with a supreme court ruling and transportation. It will be on the call. It was never placed on the call. I can tell you, our legislators worked on this until the final minute. I can tell you until the day before the third session ended, I was on the telephone with certain individuals and various proposals - would we accept this, or this, and they still thought they were going to pull it off, but they did not. I have been assured. Let me go back and point out one other area, once again, that gun issue keeps coming up over and over, and there at the end, the discussion was the gun control bill, whether they were going to try to put through a gun control bill, that was a stand alone bill, or to make it as an amendment. And then there was much discussion, if you receive tuition revenue bonds we tie an amendment to it including the concealed weapons on campus. It never came to that point, and we never had to make a decision in that area. I have been told by individuals, Senators that work very hard for SFA that the first bill that will be introduced in 2015 will be a Tuition Revenue Bond again. I do believe that in time, we will receive a Tuition Revenue Bond. They were very complimentary of SFA because we requested $50 million initially. And the second time, we requested $50 million, and the third time, we requested $50 million. And they said that it is very apparent that SFA is not playing games with us. When you were rejected you did not go back and lower your figure to try to get funding the next time. You presented what you need, and they were very complimentary of that. So we will simply have to look at what we submit the next time, because what's happening is because of the cost of construction, I don't know how much longer we can hold that number at the $50 million we requested. But I will assure you we will work hard, we will work harder the next session to see if we can bring that in.
Now, I would like to quickly transition over to the new year we are starting today, 2013-2014. The first topic I will mention to you that we will be dealing with, or are already dealing with, is East Starr Avenue and TxDOT. You know, for the last few years, we have been purchasing all the property that becomes available adjacent to the university over on East Starr. If you come down behind Casa Tomas, behind East Starr, on the north side, we have purchased all that property down to the apartment complex. There's an apartment complex left and two houses, and then you come back into university property, which is The Village. At the current time, we don't own the apartment houses or the two houses. Over on the south side, we have the property where we have the film program, which are the two large houses there, and we have the social work building. Now, TxDOT notified us that they raised our process to widen that street. And no one would question that street certainly needs to be widened, with North street, down to Mound street. But, it is going to change the landscape on that street. On the south side where the film area is, and the social work building, that right of way is going to come very, very close to our buildings on that side of the street. And on that other side of the street, especially where we built the new Village, is going to take a lot of our landscape on that side of the street. We are in negotiations with TxDOT now. I don't know how long it will be before we settle the negotiations with them. They are very active about acquiring property on that street. I don't know whether it's going to be another year, two years, three years, before that work is done. But we are in the process of it, and you will hear about it and you will see stakes and markers out on it, and that is what is taking place out on that street.
I would mention next that this is SFA's 90th year; we will be observing our anniversary this year. You perhaps remember our university opened on September 18, 1923, with 158 students. We are going to have a special event, or many special events this year. I appointed Jill Still who is vice president of advancement and a committee to plan the activities for the year. Our first big event will be on September 18, the 90th anniversary. It will be held outside the student center plaza. It will be at 11:30 in the morning. We will probably have our senator here, our representative here, our mayor here, proclamation letter, oldest alum of the university, maybe the youngest alum of our university. We will have all types of people in our program that day while we are celebrating. We will also have cake and purple ice cream. That's the only request I made of the committee, and the reason was I've been told many times by our SFA historian, Dr. Jere Jackson, that back on September 18, 1923, at the end of the first day, that the president, the faculty, the staff and the students all got together and ate cake. And they did not do that because it was the first day of the university's opening day. Rather, they did it because it was Dr. Birdwell's birthday. So as we look at that, it is very apparent that ice cream and cake is in SFA's DNA. So we are going to continue that tradition. There are many activities planned, there will be many signs and many posters, and special events. The students will plan a coin toss, they will ask you to participate in that, where you toss coins into the fountain. The money that is accumulated there will be used to purchase some type of object to commemorate our 90th anniversary. Also, Dr. Adam Peck and the students are planning on doing 90,000 hours of volunteer service for the community of Nacogdoches this year. Then starting on September 18, we will light up the Austin Building at night with purple lights and with the appropriate white banners in front of it, and we will do that for 90 days, representing the decades. It is going to be a big, big program.
As we move forward to the October board meeting, I am going to make a recommendation to the Board of Regents that we raise our admission standards again. As you remember, we just raised our admission standards in 2012, but I feel like we need to raise our standards. We must bring a quality student into this university, and a student where there is a probability, perhaps a high probability, that they will be able to do college work and that they will be able to graduate from SFA. I will carry that recommendation to the board in the October board meeting. In addition, by October, we will be well under way with our initiative in regards to marketing and branding. A year ago, Sid Walker left the university, and I named Jill Still vice president for advancement. One of the first things that had to be done was the search for an executive director for public affairs and marketing, and when that search was complete, Shirley Luna was named as that executive director. Then our Board of Regents hired SimpsonScarborough, a nationally known research firm, to come out and research our university specifically, the public affairs and marketing area, the development area, the alumni area, and to make recommendations. Since then, they have also hired another consultant to work with us in that area. And then at the last board meeting, they hired a design firm that will be involved in branding our university. One of the recommendations we already received would be that we change the name of the Office of Public Affairs and Marketing to Marketing Communications with an emphasis on marketing. And we carried that to the Board of Regents in the July board meeting, and that has been approved. We have also been involved in job search to name a new executive director of development. Just a few days ago I received a recommendation from the committee as well as the vice president, so I announce today that Mr. Trey Turner, who has been one of our gift officers for the past five years, will be named today, effective today, as our new executive director of development, Mr. Trey Turner has a BBA degree from SFA, in marketing and political science. He has a master's of public administration from SFA. In academic terms, he is an ABD, he is down to the dissertation stage of a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, and he should graduate with a Ph.D. sometime this coming year. We are extremely excited to have him as our new executive director. We are also adding gift offers in that area. They will be assigned by college rather than by geographical area. And then in regards to the alumni association, which is a big part of this university, we now have approximately 100,000 living alums at this university. We must involve the alumni association more with the university. We have to be more efficient and more effective. And all of us working together and that we are all presenting the same message. So I am going to announce today where in the past the alumni association has reported directly to the president, I am transferring overview responsibility etc. of the alumni association to the vice president for advancement. That way we will have our executive director of marketing and communication, our executive director of development, and our executive director of alumni reporting to the same vice president. I think this will pay great benefits for us in the marketplace. It will command more attention, it will help us attract the right student, help us attract the right faculty members and help us attract the right investors. That change will be effective today.
I have already been asked when we will have the faculty and staff picnic this fall, the answer is I don't know. When Janice and I host that event over at the President's House, we coordinate that with maybe two or three other events, where we can try to have those events for two or three consecutive nights. So we have to make sure with each one of the groups, that it would fit their schedule. In addition, we have to take a stab at the weather, trying to predict when that's going to cooperate. And we also have to have a backup plan, which means we have to have room in this building in case of inclement weather. So as soon as I know, I will let you know on that. I would also like to make a few comments about the President's Christmas Reception. You know, historically the President's Christmas Reception has been held on a Thursday night, prior to graduation. This year, when we return from Thanksgiving, we will be returning to dead week, and final exam week will be the second week that we are back from Thanksgiving. We are going to have to hold the SFA Gala the same night of graduation. It takes days to prepare this grand ballroom for that event, so the calendar is not working in our favor this year. Also, in regard to the President's Christmas Reception, many, many people attend that event. In fact, the room is so crowded that it is hard to be able to move around or to enjoy the food, or to visit, talk, hold your drink or to talk, etc. So because of the calendar and the way things are working, we are not going to hold the large Christmas event that we have in the past. Rather, we are going to go to two receptions this year. We will hold one reception for the faculty, and we will hold one reception for the staff. And in all probability, both of those receptions are going to be held at approximately 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And in all probability will be held the week we return from Thanksgiving. But once again, as soon as we know the dates, I will let you know on that also. In regard to the January 4 meeting coming up we are going to carry the strategic plan to the Board of Regents. Originally, we were going to carry our new strategic plan over to the Board of Regents in October, but because we have consultants doing the work, and going to make major reports to the Board of Regents in our October board meeting, it appears true that it's simpler to wait and hear those reports because we may want to use some of that in our strategic planning. Dr. Berry and the committee will be working between now and January to make sure we are ready to present that in January. The new strategic plan will cover January 2014 through December of 2018. Also I will mention that we will be involved in two construction projects this year that I would want to mention to you. The first one is the Ina Brundrett Education Conservation Center; this is over at the SFA Native Plant Center. You know, we have about 17,000 students and visitors that come in per year at the current time to participate in our conservation program there. When they arrive over there we have no building or facility for them to go to. No restrooms, no anything. Sometimes it's raining when they arrive; they have to sit on the school busses. So there has been a real effort made, and private donations have been raised, enough to build a new building there. That building is under construction; I have been assured that it will be complete by the end of December. And if that is true, we will have a ribbon cutting, open house dedication on January 27th and 28th 2014 Board of Regents meeting. That will allow us to bring more students and more visitors to SFA and to Nacogdoches. And we will be able to bring them and provide the programs for them regardless of rain or shine. And then, we will be building an addition on the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building this year. There are some colleges, programs, and departments that have a surplus of space, we have other colleges, programs and departments that do not have ample space because they have growing enrollment in their schools. I have been aware for a number of years that we do not have enough music practice rooms over in our school of music. And recently, it has been brought to my attention by an accrediting group that we simply do not have enough practice rooms. So this year we will be starting an addition on the back of that building. We will be adding 20 music practice rooms for that building. And, Mrs. Wright, I hope that will be okay with you when we add that addition, thank you.
And finally I would want to say something about our budget for the year. We invested this year, $2.4 million in wages and benefits for our faculty and our staff. We had a three percent pool of money, which shall be distributed among faculty and staff; your department heads, by your deans, and by your vice presidents. I might mention to you that over the last seven years, we have invested $20,400,000 in our personnel also. I want to say that we have been able to continue to give raises and benefits because we have been able to raise the tuition and fees on our students. We've been able to raise our tuition fees because our rates were lower than our sister institutions. But, we have made some major increases in order to provide increases for our faculty and our staff. We are no longer going to be able to do that because we are up at the level with those other schools. And as you know, many of those have given no raises and they have reduced programs. And as you know in many of our sister states, they have simply reduced colleges and programs, so we are very blessed to be in the situation we are in, in Texas. When I tell you this, I tell you that we have got to raise our enrollment; we have to grow that enrollment in order to bring in more formula funding so we can continue to provide benefits for our employees. I think it is part of my responsibility to help recruit students. I think it is the responsibility of the vice presidents to help recruit and bring in students. I expect the deans to recruit and bring in students. And I think faculty members should help recruit students. That doesn't mean we are out on the road like Monique Cossich, and that executive staff, but we can recruit in different ways. We all have family members that have children. We all have friends that have children, we all visit, we're in hotels, we're in restaurants, people wait on us, they have children, we meet people who wait and serve us; we can talk to them about attending SFA. We all have friends and colleagues out in public schools; we can talk and encourage them to send their students to SFA. Also, I think another way is the way we treat our students. I think it is far more difficult to recruit students than to retain students. So I think just little things like the way we treat students, the way we talk with students, how prompt we are with keeping our appointments, keeping our office hours, responding to phone calls, e-mails, when visitors come to see us, irate parents, that we take the time to work with them. I think little things like that will help us in the big picture grow our enrollment. I also think little things like on a Friday, which is spirit day on our campus, that we can all wear purple, and express our pride in the university because, Friday is a big recruiting day on our campus. It's when many schools bring students to this campus and they see the purple, and purple is contagious.
I would like to conclude my remarks this morning by highlighting one of our faculty members, Bill Arscott. Bill Arscott, if you would be willing, I'd like for you to come up here and take the stage with me. Professor Arscott, I also believe that we have some special guests today that would like to come forward and stand on the podium. I believe I see three daughters, one son
Bill Arscott: And one granddaughter here, all SFA graduates.
Baker Pattillo: Each year in April we have an awards ceremony for our faculty, and we honor faculty members who are retiring. And this past April, we honored about 25 faculty members who were retiring. Then we present a 10-year service pin, 20-year service pin, a 30-year service pin, and a 40-year service pin. This year, for the first time ever, we presented a 50-year service pin. Bill Arscott is the first professor to have taught at SFA for 50 years. Bill Arscott has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, a Master of Arts degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Michigan State University. He came to SFA in 1963 as an instructor. In 1974-75 he was named full professor. In 1984-85 he was named as a Regents Professor. Bill Arscott has been a legend at SFA for many years. I have heard about him and known about him throughout all the years, and especially in those early years because of his art appreciation course he was known for the passion he had for his discipline, the way he taught the courses in that area. And I've heard so many stories, but we don't have the time to share them. I would say that Susan Williams, who is my assistant and has been with me for 33 years, had him as a faculty member, and she still talks about him and what an impression he made as a professor. Many of you know my wife, Janice, and Janice was a professor of elementary education, early childhood and department head of elementary education. And for years, she did everything she could for everyone in elementary education to take Bill Arscott's class. She simply did not believe that a person could teach elementary school if they had not had class with Bill Arscott. And so one day she came in and she told me, she said, "I am going to take Bill Arscott's class myself. I have heard so much about him from my students for so long." And so she did, and then what I heard basically, every other day, was telling me about the class, what he covered using the big screen making music, making costumes, the passion he had for his discipline. And then the eyes would flash, the anger would come on and then she was telling me how there were students in the class that were having books in their lap and reading books. Some were actually sleeping, might've even been reading the newspaper. Now you understand, Bill was teaching in the Kennedy Auditorium, teaching three, and four, and five hundred students at a time, and she felt like I should suspend all of those students and never allow them to come back! So professor Arscott, we appreciate you, and I appreciate your stinging sense of humor. I might tell you in recent years he has been directing our film division. He has hundreds and hundreds of students who are out all over this nation, all successful because they have trained under Bill Arscott. This past year or so, he was producing a play during the summer, over on East Starr Avenue. He had a scene where he wanted to use a shotgun, a real shot gun, and he wanted to fire that shotgun out in the street as they were filming one night. So, he sent the request to the president's office. I ran into professor Arscott and I said, "you know, I have your request, and I've been thinking about it, you know, the president's house is not very far from your house and you will be shooting in my direction!" He said, "Oh Baker, don't worry about it. We are just going to use a 28 gauge, we're going to use a bird shot, and if it hits you it'll just sting you it won't kill you." I want you to know, Professor Arscott, I don't have time right now to take your class and classes, but in a few years, I am going to have Susan arrange my schedule and I am going to take a class from you. Now I know, throughout your career you always used the big screen a great deal, so today, I want to use a big screen to make a point.
Video Announcer: Whereas, in 1963, William P. Arscott, began a career at Stephen F. Austin State University as an instructor of paintings, ceramics, and sculpture, taking lumps of clay and molding them into pieces of art; and
whereas, early in his career at SFA, he became renowned for teaching art appreciation classes using innovative methods to captivate countless university students; and
whereas, beginning in about 1980, he created a cinematography program that is now highly respected throughout the industry; and
whereas, for many years, he has directed the School of Art's renowned filmmaking program, teaching, mentoring, and influencing the lives, education, and careers of hundreds of SFA students; and
whereas, William E. Arscott has received professional accolades including being honored with a resolution in the Texas Senate, being named a distinguished professor by the SFA Alumni Association and being appointed Regents Professor by the SFA Board of Regents in the academic year 1985-85, and
whereas, William E. Arscott in his 50th year at SFA, holds the distinction of being the longest tenured faculty member at the university; and
whereas, in his loyal dedication to Stephen F. Austin State University, his students, his love of art and the Nacogdoches community, he has set an example for others;
NOW, THEREFORE, LET IT BE KNOWN that I, Baker Pattillo, as president of Stephen F. Austin State University, express my admiration, gratitude, and high regard from William E. Arscott by proclaiming August 22, 2013 as William E. Arscott Day.
Dr. Baker Pattillo: Professor Arscott, I look forward to presenting to you your 60-year pin in 10 years.
I mentioned a couple of times that this is our 90th anniversary. For the past two, three, perhaps four years, we have not taken a picture after this meeting because of the heat being so intense outside we've had discussions this year about we need to have a picture made because of historical purposes because of this being the 90th year. I know the preference of the marketing area is that we do it on the steps of the Austin Building for tradition. But I think for the degree of the temperature, most of you will be agreeable to take that picture here in the atrium today where it is much cooler. So, I am going to ask Dr. Berry to come forth and make his comments, and as soon as he concludes, we will move to the atrium and we will take our picture for our 90th anniversary. Thank all of you, and I wish the very best for you this school year.
Dr. Richard Berry: I'd like to add my congratulations to professor Arscott. What a great achievement, and what a great example, and along that line, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome our 50 some new faculty members and ask for you to look to Professor Arscott as a pretty good example. Would you please stand if you are a new faculty member? So in, let's see if my math is right, in 2063, it won't be me, but somebody will be presenting to you your 50-year pin. We are truly glad to have you with us, and we look forward to working with you in the years to come. I would like to recognize some new department chairs and school directors, and I'm going to ask them to stand and remain standing so we can recognize them all at the same time. In the School of Accountancy, we have a new interim director of the school, Dr. George Hunt. Dr. Hunt would you stand? In the Department of Secondary Education and Educational Leadership, our new chair, Dr. Scott Slough. In the department of Kinesiology and Health Science, interim department chair, Dr. Deborah Buswell. In the School of Music, a new director of the School of Music, Dr. Manny Brand. In the Department of Psychology, our new department chair, Dr. Scott Hutchens. The School of Nursing, the interim director for our school of nursing, Dr. Sara Bishop. And I would like, although they're not new, I would like to ask two other interim chairs that will be continuing this year to stand. In the Department of Geology, Dr. Ken Farrish still serving as interim chair, and for the Department of Biology, Dr. John Moore, serving as interim chair. Would you join me in thanking all of them? In addition, I'd like to recognize the continuing interim dean for the Nelson Rusche College of Business, Dr. Geralyn Franklin as interim dean. I would like to tell you, as well, that we will launch a national search to fill the position of dean for the Nelson Rusche College of Business and that will begin sometime in the fall semester. I've been asked to announce, we have a very active faculty senate as you know, and of course the best people around have served on the faculty senate. The senate has a big calendar already under way for the coming year. I want to tell you that on Sept.11, their guest will be State Representative Travis Clardy. For the October meeting, October 9, the guest will be Dr. Stacey Silverman who is a member of the staff of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. She started serving as an interim assistant for academic affairs and research. And for the November 13 meeting, senator Robert Nichols has agreed to be a guest. So I would encourage all faculty to attend these open meetings of the faculty senate. As you know, many of you have been involved in the revision of the core curriculum and as for assessing that core curriculum it has been an arduous process, and we are nearly at the end of this process and we will be submitting our proposal to the coordinating board for its approval in November. I want to thank you for the work you have done in that area. It's a task that every university in the state has been going through, and I'm glad to know that the planning process of that is nearly under way. We will be presenting, as Dr. Pattillo said, the strategic plan for the Board of Regents' approval in January. The fact that we are celebrating our 90th year makes me think back a little bit. And I realized that not too long ago, I told the new faculty the other day that it was probably 40 years ago to the day that I sat over in the Fine Arts auditorium, we called it then, and had Ralph Busby take me through transfer student orientation, as I came to SFA, 40 years ago today. And the experience I had here in those three years of finishing a bachelor's and a master's prepared me in a way I could've never have imagined for any success I've ever had in my life, in the opera house, the concert hall or the teaching studio. The experience here really changed my life, and the reason is because of your counterparts in 1973. This is the time of David Jones and Al Paige, of Clayton and Robert Maxwell, and Lawrence Walker, Ted Callsome, and William Turner, and Ralph Steen. These are the giants on whose shoulders we stand. But, you know, I also got to thinking a minute ago, it was also the time of Bill Arscott and it was the time of Ron Anderson, Bill Clark, and Jere Jackson, Carolyn Hardy and Baker Pattillo. The giants we still have with us on whose shoulders we stand. This is the great thing about the beginning of the year like this, when we have 50-something new faculty come in and we can combine the benefit of the wisdom, the experience, the energy and enthusiasm of our retaining giants; and we can combine that with the benefit of the youth and the new perspectives and new ideas and the energy and enthusiasm of our new faculty members. We can share in our dedication to the institution, to our discipline, to our research and creative activity, our research that we render, but most importantly to our students, and to the teaching and learning that we know will go on. And to that, I dedicate myself too in terms of making things happen on this campus. I want to wish you a great year, and on your way to having a great year, don't forget to go to the atrium for our historic photo. Thank you very much.