NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Joseph C. Phillips Jr., a music composition graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, has been named one of Princeton University’s Mary Mackall Gwinn Hodder Fellows for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Princeton’s Lewis Center for the Arts recently announced the five newest recipients, which includes artist Kayla E., choreographer Moriah Evans, theater artist Modesto ‘Flako’ Jimenez, conceptual artist Charisse Pearlina Weston and composer Phillips, who studied with composition professor Dr. Stephen Lias while attending SFA.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – A reception to mark the closing of the exhibition “Jennings Tofel: Drawing Genesis” is planned for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present the 2023 Pineywoods Horn Day featuring Dr. Eldon Matlick Saturday, Jan. 21, in Wright Music Building on the SFA campus.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s Office of Multicultural Affairs is encouraging students, faculty, staff and the Nacogdoches community to participate in the 2023 MLK Day of Service. The event honors the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who inspired thousands of people around the United States to make positive impacts in their communities. 

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at Stephen F. Austin State University, will perform works by Russell Wharton, Clark Hubbard, Thomas Kotcheff and other percussion composers in a recital at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Internationally acclaimed pianist Aviram Reichert will perform works of Frédéric Chopin, Paul Ben-Haim and César Franck in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, in Cole Concert Hall on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

The program includes Chopin’s Nocturnes: in B flat Minor Op. 9 no 1; in E flat Major Op. 9 no 2; posthumous in C sharp Minor; in D flat Major Op. 27 no 2; and in E Minor Op. 72 no 1, along with Ballade no 1 op 23. Reichert will also perform Ben-Haim’s Five Pieces for Piano Op. 34 and Franck’s prelude, choral and fugue.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Art students studying three dimensional design with Professor Lauren Selden at Stephen F. Austin State University created a large-scale inflatable Purple Pikachu as a final group project for fall 2022. Using plastic and packing tape for the sculpture and a blower fan for inflation, the art students planned and organized a public presentation and invited SFA Charter School children to draw their own version of the 20-foot inflatable, designed by freshman Christian McClure, while asking questions about the design.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Jan. 12 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building in the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.
 
Ben Miller, director of landscape architecture with Lufkin-based design firm Goodwin-Lasiter-Strong, will present "Everything you wanted to know about pruning and training trees but were afraid to ask."
 

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — The annual Shop with a Cop coordinated by the Stephen F. Austin State University Police Department recently took place at the local Walmart and successfully served more children and garnered more donations than expected.
 
The police department’s goal was to sponsor 20 children at a total cost of $3,000. However, officers were surprised to receive almost $5,000 in donations, enough to sponsor 24 children. Support was so good, in fact, that the department plans to have a second event next year called Christmas in July.
 

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – A collection of posters that commemorate milestones of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is displayed at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House through Jan. 20. Cole Art Center is Stephen F. Austin State University’s historic downtown art gallery.