Welcome to the College of
Liberal and Applied Arts

Then and Now: Alumna shares her and great-grandmother’s SFA experience.

Determination and the Lumberjack spirit seem to run in the family for Heather Dulin, a 2009 SFA graduate whose great-grandmother, Ibby Inez Fuller, attended during the university’s infancy.

“It’s incredible to think my great-grandmother attended the same university I did 82 years earlier,” Dulin said. “While our lives in Nacogdoches and on campus were different, I know we were in search of the same thing — a formative educational experience centered around learning and growing to be better women. And that’s exactly what we achieved.”

Read more about her story.

Undergraduate Research in English

Jessie Jenkins, Hannah Tumlinson, Abigail Perschall and Alex Sides won the Top Scholars award for the 2018 Undergraduate Research Conference. Their project, "Critical Companion to Bastard Out of Carolina," was sponsored by Dr. Michael Martin, professor of English. The students worked for nine months as a cohesive team to research the intersections of identity for underprivileged and underrepresented white, rural Southerners through Dorothy Allison's “Bastard Out of Carolina.”

RANKING ABOVE THE REST

Alex Medina graduated from Duncanville High School in June 2015 and began attending SFA the following fall semester. Since joining the ROTC program, he has completed Army Air Assault School at Fort Benning in Georgia, and he was awarded the George C. Marshall Award, which is presented to the nation’s top Army ROTC cadets.
 
Medina commissioned as a second lieutenant infantry officer and graduated in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in biology with a focus in cellular and molecular biology and a minor in military science.

WILMA CORDOVA EMPOWERS STUDENTS TO EMPOWER OTHERS.

SFA professor Wilma Cordova believes social work is a calling. She guides her students through rigorous research, fieldwork and role-playing exercises to prepare them for careers as advocates for equality and social justice.

Watch the full story.

What language do bears speak?

As a class project in her invented languages course at SFA, Lindsey Antonini developed a language for bears called Arktosk. Her work garnered a mention in the New York Times article "Create Your Own Language, For Credit."

After graduating from SFA with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a minor in linguistics in 2012, Antonini commenced doctoral studies in linguistics.

Jazz History: From Brazil to America

For his book, "Cuttin’ Up: How Early Jazz Got America’s Ear," SFA faculty member Dr. Court Carney interviewed musicians in Salvador, Brazil, to build upon his research on the intersections of race and music. Dr. Carney’s work incorporating the idea of music, place and memory in Bahia serves as an important addition to his scholarship on these relationships within the United States.

DR. JOYCE JOHNSTON HONORED WITH CIVIL JUSTICE AWARD.

Dr. Johnston received the Texas American Board of Trial Advocates 2018 Champion of Civil Justice award on behalf of her work with SFA’s Pre-Law Academy. The Pre-Law Academy, which Johnston has overseen since 2014, is an innovative summer program that introduces high school students to a career in law.

CROSSING DISCIPLINES

Decades before being named chair of SFA’s Department of Government, Dr. Kwame Antwi-Boasiako began a career in broadcasting that would lead him down a meandering and versatile career path. After attending the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Antwi-Boasiako disc jockeyed and worked as a sports commentator before moving to America and receiving his doctoral degree in public administration. The diversity of his professional and educational background continues to lend itself to the depth of knowledge he shares in the classroom.

LINKING CLASSROOMS: PROFESSOR PUTS RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE

Dr. John C. Pruit, SFA assistant professor of sociology, studies the long-lasting lessons preschool teaches students. Studying education and preschool teachers in particular has influenced Pruit's own teaching style. Through his research, he has realized that preschool teachers both teach and care for their students, which is something he tries to achieve in his own interactions with college students.

Recently, Pruit received the Teaching Excellence Award for being an outstanding faculty member in the College of Liberal and Applied Arts.

Lights. Camera. Lumberjack in Action.

As media operations specialist for KHOU-TV, Devonte Hill preps for the morning news followed by Great Day Houston, a one-hour daily program broadcast live in front of a studio audience. Hill is constantly in motion – preparing sets, moving props and cameras and adjusting lights. He also creates stories for the show, assists in producing segments, writes teasers and cuts voiceover footage.