NACOGDOCHES, Texas — The Stephen F. Austin State University Alumni Association announced that Zachary McSwain of Spring and Morgan Pulliam of Dallas have been selected as recipients of the 2017 Mr. and Miss SFA Award.

The Mr. SFA Award was established in honor of the late Stan McKewen, a 1934 SFA graduate. The Arnodean Covin Miss SFA Award honors the late alumna who was named Miss SFA in 1940, 1941 and 1942.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The history of Stephen F. Austin State University’s timbersports team, the Sylvans, is inexorably linked to the university’s forestry program. While the university mascot may be the Lumberjack — homage to the region’s rich natural resources and forest-based economy — the Forestry Building may be the only location on campus where one might see a student wielding a chainsaw, ax or crosscut saw and not blink an eye.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University alumna Janet Brenner Hoover has always had a passion for education, and now she has been given the opportunity to leave her educational mark on the world in a big way.

Recently, Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District announced it is naming a new elementary school in Hoover’s honor. The Janet Brenner Hoover Elementary School will serve pre-K through second grade students.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas – In celebration of the holiday season, The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House will host a display of antique Christmas ornaments throughout December.

“The Art of Christmas Past” is provided courtesy of two private collectors and features a variety of ornaments, many of which are 100 years old or older, according to John Handley, director of galleries for the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Stephen F. Austin State University’s Jacks Council on Family Relations has surpassed its goal by serving more than 120 families through its annual Thanksgiving Homebound project.

Since October, the student-led group has asked members of the Nacogdoches and SFA communities to donate Thanksgiving meals to families in its adopted organizations, which include the Solid Foundation, GETCAP Head Start and The Family Crisis Center of East Texas.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — SFA Gardens at Stephen F. Austin State University will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8, in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, 2900 Raguet St., in Nacogdoches. Dr. David Creech, SFA Gardens director, will present “SFA Gardens: Is this Garden Adventure Out of Control or Is there a Well Thought Out Plan?”

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - A packed house greeted former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush this past week as he addressed Stephen F. Austin State University students, faculty and staff, and community members during the inaugural Nelson Rusche Distinguished Lecture Series on the university's campus.

SFA's Rusche College of Business established the lecture series this year as a biennial event designed to bring scholars and business leaders to the SFA campus to discuss timely issues.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas — Members of the Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents will host a public groundbreaking of the Ed and Gwen Cole STEM Building at 1 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7.

The ceremony will follow a regular meeting of the board.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The husband-and-wife piano duo of Matthew and Katarina Loudermilk will present a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, in Cole Concert Hall in the Wright Music Building on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

The concert is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music and is a feature of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

The duo will perform works by Franz Schubert, including the Fantasia in F minor for piano four-hands, D 940. Works by Sergei Rachmaninoff will be performed in the second half of the concert.

The subtle whir of an unmanned aircraft system, commonly known as a drone, may not be the first thing one expects to hear when visiting a forested tract of land managed by Stephen F. Austin State University's Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, but the use of such technology in natural resource management is becoming more commonplace.