Health Center pharmacy reopens
With the addition of pharmacist Lauren Hoban, the Student Health Center pharmacy is now reopened and serving students.
Open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m., the pharmacy can fill any prescription written by a medical practitioner licensed to practice in the state of Texas.
“The pharmacy’s convenient location makes the pharmacy easily accessible for all students,” said SHC programming coordinator Sarah Hanel.
“The pharmacy is able to purchase certain medications at a substantial discount and pass the savings on to the students,” she said. “In some cases, medications are available for less than an insurance co-payment.”
Because the pharmacy stocks only certain medications, students are advised to call for availability.
The pharmacy was closed for several months due to the previous pharmacist moving. Hoban, a PharmD, moved to Texas several weeks ago from Cleveland, Ohio.
For more information, or to check the availability of a medication, call the SHC pharmacy at (936) 294-1803.
St. Thomas professor to discuss Mestizo culture
John Francis Burke, professor of political science at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, will present “The Three Paradigms of Mestizo Politics: Purity, Resistance, & Lateral Engagement” on Tuesday.
The lecture, sponsored by the foreign languages department, will be held from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in Lowman Student Center Room 315.
Mestizaje refers to the mixing of the African, European and Indigenous Tribes cultures, especially in Latin America and the U.S. Southwest that was initiated in the Spanish conquest of the Americas, according to Burke.
“I will show that whereas south of the Rio Grande/Bravo mestizaje tends to be interpreted as the European heritage purifying the black and Indian heritages, north of the Rio Grande/Bravo, mestizaje tends to be interpreted, especially in Chicano studies, as an identification with the subjugated Indian in resistance to the European conquerors,” he said.
Burke’s book, “Mestizo Democracy,” placed second in both the “Religion and Politics” and the “Race, Ethnicity and Politics” sections’ “Outstanding Book of the Year” awards in 2007 at the American Political Science Association Convention.
“It’s very unusual for a text to place so high in two separate sections,” said Debra Andrist, foreign languages department chair.
The event is free and open to the public.
For more information, call the department of foreign languages at (936) 294-1414.
Counselor to address mental issues for history month
Elizabeth Charrier, Counseling Center psychologist, will discuss the role gender has played in the development of mental illness categories and its treatment on Wednesday.
“Women’s Issues,” sponsored by the Office of Multicultural and International Student Services, will be held at 3 p.m. in Lowman Student Center Room 304.
“The intent is to educate the audience further about the development of mental health problems and how as a society we contribute to that, particularly as it plays out for gender stereotypes, ‘rules’ and expectations,” Charrier said. “Audience members should also come away with a sense of how to respond with compassion and greater understanding to others in whom they identify mental health problems.”
An example of this, Charrier said, is that women are more often diagnosed with depression than men.
“One reason for this might be that anger is a less acceptable emotion for women to express in our culture and sometimes when one cannot express themselves to others, those emotions get focused inward,” she said. “The result is often depression.
“Understanding the societal factors, such as our expectations for what is acceptable behavior for women, influences what we see as pathology/bad/negative/ ‘crazy’ in our society,” she said. “We, then, as members of the society have the power to redefine things.”
The lecture is being held in honor of National Women’s History Month in an effort to raise awareness and greater acceptance of people with mental health issues, particularly as pertaining to gender.
“The social and cultural issues that affect women sometimes go unnoticed or unmentioned,” said Ashley McDonough, program coordinator. “I think that this program will be a unique opportunity for students, faculty, and staff to get a better understanding of why we celebrate women during National Women’s History Month, as well as the unique societal issues that women deal with on a daily basis.”
For more information, contact McDonough at (936) 294-3588 or diversity@shsu.edu.
Rice prof to ‘Look For Planets’ during lecture
Christopher Johns-Krull, associate professor in Rice University’s department of physics and astronomy, will discuss “Looking for Planets in the First Three Million Years” on Thursday.
The physics colloquium lecture will be held from 3:30-4:30 p.m. in Farrington Building Room 101.
Krull has taught at Rice since 2001. He previously worked in researching at the University of California and taught as a visiting professor for one semester at San Francisco State University.
He also completed postdoctoral research and a fellowship with the University of Colorado and the University of Texas at Austin, respectively.
His current research interests include studying T Tauri stars, which are low mass, young stars that have only recently emerged from their natal molecular cloud cores to become optically visible, according to his Web site.
He earned bachelor’s degrees in math and physics from the University of Texas at Austin, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in astronomy from the University of California – Berkeley.
For more information, call the physics department at (936) 294-1601.
Haven training workshop to be held March 19
SHSU’s Haven committee, the safe zone and support channel for homosexual students, will recruit faculty and staff participants during a training workshop on March 19.
The session will be held from 5-8 p.m. in Lowman Student Center Room 302.
The workshop will cover such things as vocabulary, slang terms, the coming out process and describe sexual/gender identity, heterosexism and the concept of privilege.
“The workshops are very interactive and discussion is highly encouraged,” said Chuck Collins, Program Council coordinator and Haven co-chair. “By undergoing a workshop, we hope to educate, clarify misconceptions, and provide participants an environment in which they can ask any question they desire.”
Attending the workshop does not commit a faculty or staff member to become a Haven volunteer; they can decide afterward.
To participate as a “safe zone,” faculty and staff members volunteer to simply serve as a presence for the university’s gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning community. After the initial training, “maintenance is very minimal,” Collins said.
“A safe zone program operates as an open-door policy initiative,” he said. “By identifying a location as a safe zone, the person seeking the safe zone location will know that they are approaching an individual who is accepting and empathetic—literally, they enter a safe zone, a place they will be fully accepted without fear of reproach.”
Faculty or staff members’ participation as a “haven” will be identified through a placard placed outside of his/her office, as well as through the Haven Web site.
Workshops are limited to 20 and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
While the training program is currently open to only faculty and staff, it will eventually open up for graduate and teaching assistants, resident assistants, and possibly select undergraduates as well.
The final Haven training session for the spring semester will be held on April 16. Other sessions will be scheduled at a later date.
For more information on Haven, or to sign up for a workshop, e-mail haven@shsu.edu.
Rodeo team asks if fear is factor for bull riding event
The SHSU Rodeo Team will give students the opportunity to participate in one of the most dangerous sports in the world and prove that “fear is the factor” on Thursday.
The fifth annual “Fear is the Factor Bull Riding” will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Agriculture Complex.
For the event, rodeo team members recruit non-affiliated students, both men and women, to compete by attempting to ride a bull for the traditional eight seconds. The winner will receive a “beautiful” customized champion fear factor buckle, according to rodeo team coach Bubba Miller.
Recruitment will be held in the Lowman Student Center Mall Area on Tuesday, during which time a mechanical bull will be set up for students to get a feel for bull riding.
Participants must be enrolled at SHSU and must sign a liability waiver.
“Safety gear, a helmet and a vest, will be provided for the student to wear, but there cannot be any safety guarantee,” Miller said. “We’re going to give them easiest bulls we can find, but that’s a relative term. They’re still going to be full-grown.
“Students must be informed that this is one of the most dangerous sports in the world.”
The team will also sell T-shirts the week of the event and at the event.
The entry fee to participate is $30, which must be paid by Wednesday (March 3). Admission is $5, with all proceeds benefitting the rodeo team and its annual rodeo, which will be held March 13-14 at the Walker County Fairgrounds.
Doors open at 6 p.m.
The Indoor Ag Complex is located on the corner of Avenue M and Interstate Highway 45, directly across the interstate from the Raven Nest Golf Course.
For more information on sign up and tickets, contact Miller at (936) 264-3867 or elm014@shsu.edu.
Office to prepare students for ‘Destination Graduation’
The Registrar’s Office will give upcoming graduates a one-stop ‘destination’ where all their questions can be answered on Monday.
“Destination Graduation” will be held from 2-4 p.m. in the Lowman Student Center Ballroom.
Departments from across campus will be on hand to answer such questions as “Where do I go for the ceremony,” “Is there anything else I need to do,” or “What do I do after graduating?”
“We just want to offer students a way to find out what is going on so that there are no surprises at the end of graduation,” said Maria Busby, assistant registrar.
The event is open to all students who have applied for May 2009 graduation, including all bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs.
For more information, contact the Registrar’s Office at ask.regstaff@shsu.edu.
