Published: March 02, 2008 10:26 pm      

SHSU Updates: March 2

Fellows To Guide Immigrants To Citizenship

SHSU’s Political Science Junior Fellows and the Huntsville Public Library will help bring immigrants “A Step Closer to the American Dream” with a free citizenship training program beginning March 19.

The five-week program, designed to guide United States’ immigrants along the path of citizenship, will be held through April 16 and will covers topics such as eligibility, paperwork, tests and interviews.

Presentations will be made by fellows adviser Mike YawnYawn and Richard Lane, the Huntsville Public Library’s literacy director, and the Political Science Junior Fellows will lead guided activities and breakout sessions in each class.

The program is designed for immigrants with an intermediate or advanced knowledge of the English language.

“As an immigrant, I feel particularly obligated to facilitate the citizenship process,” said junior fellow Tania Hernandez. “This country has offered me many opportunities, and I would like others to have the same opportunities I have had.”

Space is limited and the deadline to sign up is March 12.

For more information, or to sign up, contact Yawn at (936) 294-1456 or at mike.yawn@shsu.edu.



Center To Screen Students For Eating Disorders

National statistics show that approximately 0.5 to 1 percent of females in late adolescence to early adulthood have full criteria for anorexia nervosa and approximately 1-3 percent of females in this age group have full criteria for bulimia nervosa.

Because more than 90 percent of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25, according to a 2003 report by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Counseling Center is offering free eating disorder screenings Tuesday through Thursday.

Part of National Eating Disorder Screening Day, the 5-10 minute screenings will be held from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1-3 p.m. each day at the Counseling Center, in the Lee Drain Building’s North Annex.

During the past year, the Counseling Center has seen approximately 30 students who have indicated that an eating disorder was one of their areas of concern, according to said Bill Metcalfe, director for SHSU’s Counseling Center.

“We are not always able to work with these students because of the often specialized nature of treatment for this disorder, in some cases requiring residential or intensive outpatient treatment, but we can try to refer those students to the appropriate treatment venue,” he said.

As many as 20 percent of those with an eating disorder die, giving the disease the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, according to the Eating Disorder Coalition.

Students who know someone who may be afflicted with an eating disorder are also encouraged to visit the Counseling Center on those days.

For more information, call (936) 294-1720.



Team To Unveil Three Potential Campus Plans

JJR of Ann Arbor, Mich., SHSU’s campus planning team, will present three alternatives for the university’s 2010 Master Plan for public consideration on Wednesday.

The meeting will be held from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Theater.

In addition to the 45-minute presentation on the progress of SHSU’s Master Plan, which will include three potential concepts for how the campus could be developed in the future, the open forum will include 45 minutes of interactive dialogue, during which participants will be asked to give feedback and vote on alternative aspects.

The input received will aid the consultant team in identifying a preferred direction for the next steps of the master planning process.

For more information, call (936).294.1912 or e-mail masterplan@shsu.edu.



Theatre Prof To Discuss ‘Real’ Shakespeare

SHSU theatre professor and Kennedy Center award-winning playwright Ron Song Destro will offer a free visual presentation entitled "Who Was the Real William Shakespeare?" on Wednesday.

The talk, based upon a series of lectures Destro has given at such places as Harvard University and Chautauqua Institution, will be held at 5 p.m. in Newton Gresham Library in Room 155.

Siding with many of the world's greatest authors, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walt Whitman, Henry James and Mark Twain, Destro sets out to disprove the traditional theory that the plays and poems attributed to William Shakespeare came from the pen of the humble man from Stratford-upon-Avon.

Instead, he proposes a different author, one who used the name "Will Shake Spear" as a clever pseudonym.

In addition to well-known writers, proponents of this theory include world-renowned theatre people such as Orson Welles, Leslie Howard, John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi and Michael York, as well as three U. S. Supreme Court Justices.

The presentation is free and open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

For more information, call the Newton Gresham Library at (936) 294-1613 or Destro at (936) 294-1338.



Economics Professor To Expose Lame Ducks

Per Fredriksson, tenured associate professor of economics at the University of Louisville, will discuss “Lame Duck Governors and Vertical Tax Externalities” on Wednesday.

The lecture, part of the Economics Spring 2008 Seminar Series, will be held from 3:30-5 p.m. in Smith-Hutson Building Room 139.

For more information, contact Nath or the economics and international business department at 936.294.1265.



Presentation To Show ‘Dirty,’ ‘Pretty’ Sides Of Immigration

The American Democracy Project will give a “thrilling” and realistic look at the lives of illegal immigrants during its next “Burning Issue” film, “Dirty Pretty Things,” on March 8.

The Academy Award-nominated thriller will be shown at 7 p.m. at the Katy and E. Don Walker Sr. Education Center.

“Dirty Pretty Things” tells the story of Okwe, an African-in-exile, who drives a cab during the day and works as a desk clerk in a good hotel at night in London.

In four or five frantic days, he tries to save another illegal immigrant, Senay, from the clutches of the cheerfully sinister manager of the hotel in which they both work during which time they are offered forged passports in return for a kidney or some other organ that can be sold on the black market.

“However harried, Okwe, a great chess player, has to see every move in advance as he defends himself and his friends from the treachery on all sides,” said David Denby in a review on Amazon.com.

Not a “violent thriller,” “Dirty Pretty Things” is rated “R” for sexual content, disturbing images and language.

The movie will also be shown at 3:30 p.m. on March 11-12 in the Lowman Student Center Theater.

All three "Burning Issues Film" series showings are free and open to both the SHSU and Huntsville communities.

For more information, contact Newbold at 936.294.1274.



Tour To Explore ‘Winter Sky’ Through ‘Hubble Vision’

The physics department will give a public tour of “what’s currently up in the winter night sky” and information on the Hubble Space Telescope during its planetarium series program on March 7.

The planetarium series program, which shows attendees which constellations, stars and planets they can expect to see in the upcoming weeks, will be held at 7 p.m. in the planetarium, located in Farrington Building Room F102.

The show will last approximately one hour and will visit the constellations visible during the long, cold months of the winter season, according to Michael Prokosch, staff aide for the physics department.

The planetarium seats up to 29 visitors and includes a dome that is approximately 18 feet in diameter and more than 20 feet high in the center, according to Prokosch. Admission is free.

Other show dates for the semester include March 17, April 11, April 25, May 9 and May 3.

For more information, call (936) 294-3664 or e-mail Prokosch at vis_mwp@shsu.edu.



Annual HUB Show To Be Held March 11

Sam Houston State University, along with several other local entities, will host the 12th Annual Vendor HUB Show on March 11.

Vendor booths for Historically Underutilized Businesses will be set up in the Lowman Student Center Ballroom from 9 a.m. to noon that day showcasing products and services available to departments, as well as displaying opportunities in which departments can increase SHSU’s HUB participation.

All faculty and staff are encouraged to attend.

For more information, call the Purchasing Department at 936.294.1894.



Exhibit To Show ‘First’ Faces Of Women

The Office of Multicultural and International Student Services will be “Celebrating Women Throughout History” with a art exhibit in the Lowman Student Center Gallery beginning Sunday and continuing through March 7.

The exhibit, held in honor of Women’s History Month, in March, will include poems; historical documents, including “fascinating” cartoons, posters, and books related to the women's suffrage movement; and “photographs of not only significant women in history, but also women who continue to make a difference in society today,” said MISS program coordinator Ashley McDonough.

All of the documents and photographs in the gallery were collected and researched by the Student Activities’ staff from library resources.

For more information, call the Office of MISS at 936.294.3588.