Misha Rachlevsky, music director of the famed Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, conducts Stephen F. Austin State University orchestral students during a master class.

Misha Rachlevsky, music director of the famed Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, conducts Stephen F. Austin State University orchestral students during a master class.

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Two free music activities for families will be available in the tailgating area prior to the SFA Lumberjacks' last two home football games on Saturday, Oct. 29, and Saturday, Nov. 12.

Music education students from the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will be teaching folk dancing and Japanese Taiko drumming next to the Alumni Association's tent and the playground of the Early Childhood Resource Center.

SFA nursing students attend an autism workshop on Oct. 15 in the Baker Pattillo Student Center.

Stephen F. Austin State University nursing students enrolled in a course titled "Promotion of Mental Wellness" attended an autism workshop on Oct. 15 at the university. The 62 students were supervised by Debbie Ellisor, SFA nursing instructor.

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Vocal and piano faculty of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present "The Complete Songs of Henri Duparc" at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 24, in Cole Concert Hall as part of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

Performers include sopranos Debbie Berry and Charlotte Davis, mezzo-sopranos Deborah Dalton and Nita Hudson, tenors Ric Berry and Bruce Fowler, baritones David Howard and Scott LaGraff, and pianist Ron Petti.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents approved new faculty and staff appointments, changes of status, promotions and retirements at its regular meeting Tuesday.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents approved additional grant awards totaling more than $3.7 million allocable to fiscal years 2011 and 2012 at its quarterly meeting Tuesday.

Grant awards result from extensive faculty research and service engagement across many academic disciplines and include direct federal, federal pass through, state and private awards. To date, the university has received more than $19 million in grant funding for fiscal year 2011 and more than $13 million for fiscal year 2012.

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - After her father succumbed to cancer, playwright Jackie Rosenfeld turned to her craft as a means of coping with the loss. The senior lecturer in theatre at Stephen F. Austin State University chose to focus on the effects of breast cancer, and the resulting "keepingabreast" will open in New York on Friday, Oct. 21.

The Manhattan Theatre Mission's production of the play will be the third time the play has been produced by a professional company.

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present three guest artist recitals during the third week of October as part of the 2011-2012 Cole Performing Arts Series.

All three performances are in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

At 6 p.m. on Monday, Oct.17, three members of the Forth Worth Symphony Orchestra-violinists Eugene Chekasov and Ivo Ivanov and violist Sergey Tsoy-and Texas Christian University piano faculty member Larissa Cherkasov will join SFA faculty cellist Evgeni Raychev in presenting "Brahms and Friends."

Racism, nativist extremism and the white supremacist fringe groups of the neo-Confederate movement are among the topics to be discussed from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom at Stephen F. Austin State University. The event is a presentation of SFA's Wisely Fellow Speaker Series.

Dr. Heidi Beirich, director of research for the Southern Poverty Law Center, will present "American Extremism and the Growing Hate Movement." Beirich earned a doctorate in political science from Purdue University.