The Skyline Newspaper

Theatre of the Big Bend Announces 43rd Summer Season

The Theatre of the Big Bend Summer Repertory is proud to announce its 43rd summer season.

Last year’s successful three-show season featuring the musical “Always… Patsy Cline,” the bilingual hit “Petra’s Pecado,” by Austin playwright Rupert Reyes, Jr., and the popular “Greater Tuna,” paved the way for this summer to be even bigger. The Theatre of the Big Bend will offer seven weekends of “boot stompin’ entertainment,” all performed at the Kokernot Outdoor Theatre.

The 43rd season will continue the new tradition of presenting plays that highlight our unique and remarkable region and its history. This year, The Theatre of the Big Bend will feature the musical, “Cowgirls,” by Betsy Howie and Mary Murfitt, the second play in Rupert Reyes, Jr.’s popular bilingual series, “Petra’s Cuento,” and “Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede,” by Eric Coble. All three shows offer fun and entertainment for all ages and audiences.

“Cowgirls,” directed by Dona W. Roman, is a country versus classical music mash up about a famous country-western saloon in jeopardy of foreclosure. The women of the saloon mistakenly hire a classical music trio in hopes to save the saloon. The misunderstanding leads to laughs, song and dance, and the coming together of two very different groups. Justin Badgerow will offer musical direction with vocal direction by Donald Callen Freed.

The second show of the season, “Petra’s Cuento,” directed by Liz Castillo, continues the story of the lovable, superstitious and somewhat meddlesome Petra as she tries to reconnect with her daughter and grandchildren after a worrisome visit to the doctor. “This bilingual comedy serves up the wonderfully warm and loving characters we met in Petra’s Pecado, and introduces us to more of Petra’s scattered familia.”

The final show of the season, “Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede,” directed by Dr. Keith West, is a larger than life, Pecos Bill tall-tale production that the whole family will enjoy. Packed from beginning to end with action, laughs, and the world’s largest prairie dog, “Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede” is a show for the cowboy in all of us.

“Cowgirls” runs three weekends, June 27-July 13. “Petra’s Cuento” runs three weekends, July 18-August 3, and “Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede” runs our final weekend, August 8-10. Curtain time for all shows is 8:15 p.m. For more information, call (432) 837-8218 or (888) 722-SRSU.

Regents Approve Land Lease Negotiations; Note $386,000 in Gifts

Approval to negotiate a long-term lease of surplus Sul Ross State University property was approved by the Board of Regents of the Texas State University System.

The Regents, meeting in Beaumont Feb. 21-22, also acknowledged over $386,000 in gifts and donations among Sul Ross agenda items.

Regents granted authority for Sul Ross to negotiate and sign, with appropriate System Office approvals, a long-term lease with Brown-Miller Management Inc., Beeville, on approximately eight acres of land on the south side of East Highway 90. Brown-Miller Management proposes to build a 60-unit franchise hotel on the site. Negotiations are still in progress, and no formal lease has yet been signed.

In July 2007, Sul Ross sold surplus duplex housing units located on the site. The surplus buildings, empty since the construction of the Lobo Village Residential Living Complex, were removed by the buyer. The university determined it had no planned use for the land due to its separation from the main campus.

Gifts exceeding $386,000 were acknowledged by the Regents. Donations include:

*$5,000 from the Beryl L. Rice and John W. Rice Foundation, Fowlerton, to the Museum of the Big Bend education program.

*$7,5000 from the Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston, to the Brown Foundation Surface Geology Studies Fund and the Brown Foundation Rodeo Trailer Maintenance Fund.

*$10,000 from Dr. Barbara Hazlewood, Alpine, to the General Scholarship Endowment.

*$5,000 from Big Bend Ranch Rodeo, Alpine, to the Big Bend Ranch Rodeo Scholarship Fund.

*$115,000 from Mr. And Mrs. Robert Eaves, McCamey, to the Robert P. (Robo) Cross Memorial Scholarship Endowment, Robert P. Amacker Memorial Geology, Chemstry and Mathematics Scholarship Endowment, Geology Excellence Fund, General Scholarship Endowment, Alumni Association Endowment and Laura A. Eaves Scholarship Endowment.

*$30,000 from Ms. Mayme B. Brotherton,  Dryden, to the History Endowment and History Excellence Fund.

*$10,000 from Michael L. Klein, Midland, to the Trans Pecos Archaeological Program for the Pinto Canyon Ranch archaeological study.

*Ten photographs, valued at $8,500, from William “Bill” Wright, Jr., Abilene, to the Museum of the Big Bend Endowment.

*$50,000 from the AT&T Foundation, San Antonio, to the Museum of the Big Bend education program and renewal campaign.

*$5,000 from Don and Romona Munsell of Ramona Munsell and Associates Consulting, Inc., Bella Vista, Ark., to the Endowment for Excellence, with funds designated as a Gear-UP Scholarship match.

*$10,000 from Alvin A. and Roberta T. Klein Trust, Klein, to create the Klein Trust Botanical Research project.

*$25,200 from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Educational Fund to fund graduate research assistantships.

*$10,000 from Dan Allen Hughes, Jr., Beeville, to further an ongoing research project studying mule deer habitats.

*$5,000 from Robert and Richard Nunley, Sabinal, to further an ongoing research project studying mule deer habitats.

*$5,000 from John B. Poindexter, Houston, to the Borderlands Research Institute Fund.

*$5,000 from Col. and Mrs. Richard Beck, San Antonio, to the Richard W. Beck and Elsie R. Beck Scholarship Endowment.

*$50,000 from John Franklin Fort, Houston, to the Friends of the Center for Big Bend Studies.

The Regents also approved a four percent increase in meal plan rates and seven percent increase in room rates, effective fall semester 2008.

During fall and spring semesters, the seven-day, 20-meal plan with $70 Lobo Bucks would rise from $1,195 to $1,240 per semester; the seven-day, 16-meal plan with $95 Lobo Bucks would increase from $1,175 to $1,230; and the seven-day, 12-meal plan with $120 Lobo Bucks would go from $1,135 to $1,180.

Summer semester plans of 7/20 with $35 Lobo Bucks would rise from $430 to $450; 7/16 with $48 Lobo Bucks from $420 to $440; and 7/12 with $60 Lobo Bucks from $405 to $425. Increases were requested by ARAMARK, the university’s food service provider, as an inflation adjustment to address added costs of operations.

Increased room rates were requested due to increased costs of operation of the new apartment-style facilities, including wear and tear and utilities.

Effective fall semester 2008, rates in Lobo Village Residence Halls will rise from $1,735 to $1,855 in the fall and spring semesters and from $595 to $635 during summer semesters.

Lobo Village efficiency apartment rates will increase from $415 to $445 per month and family apartment rates will rise from $450 to $480 per month.

Other Sul Ross agenda items included:

*12th day class reports, that showed 1,683 students enrolled at the Alpine Campus and 936 at Rio Grande College. Semester credit hours totaled 17,899 at Alpine and 7,341 at RGC.

*Approval of small class reports at Alpine and RGC and curriculum changes.

*Approval of an out-of-country study course, May 19-June 5, in Spain, France and Italy. A total of six semester credit hours will be offered, with three art courses and an intercultural communication course to be taught by Kristi Hext, Dr. Esther Rumsey and Carol Fairlie.

*Approval of operating budget and related adjustments and personnel changes.

Student Dies in Traffic Accident

Services will be held Friday, Feb. 29, in Dallas for Sul Ross State University student Ashley Tiara Stern, who died as a result of a one-vehicle rollover Feb. 22.

Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday at Peaceful Rest Funeral Home, 3302 East Illinois, Dallas. Visitation will be from 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

A passenger, Chantil Lacey Stapp, Junction, also a Sul Ross student, was airlifted from the scene to Odessa, where she was treated and released.

According to the Department of Public Safety, the accident occurred about 6:00 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, on Highway 67, about 12 miles south of I-10. 

Faculty Attend International Conference

Five members of the Sul Ross faculty participated in the 41st annual conference of the Southwest Council of Latin American Studies held recently in El Paso.

Dr. Mark Saad Saka, associate professor of history, presided as president over the conference, a position that he has held since 2006.

Dr. Jesus Tafoya associate professor of  Spanish, presented a paper, “Comida festiva del norte de Mexico: La tradicion culinaria chihuahuense”.

Dr. Rafael Azuaje, assistant professor of computer information systems, presented a paper,  “Bridging the E-Commerce Gap in Latin America.”

Dr. Jim Case, professor of political science and dean of the School of Arts and Sciences chaired the panel,  “Politics and the Economy in the Borderlands and Latin America.”

Dr. Justin Badgerow , assistant professor of music, presented a recital of the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera’s “Doce Preludios Americanos” in a night celebrating the Latin American Musical and composing Tradition.

After having served as president for two years, Saka turned the presidency over to Janet Adamski of the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Saka will remain on the executive board as presidential advisor for a two year appointment.

In addition, Tafoya has accepted the chair of the Awards Committee for a three-year appointment.

The Southwest Council of Latin American Studies is the largest regional Latin American conference in the United States and is held annually.  It incorporates Latin American scholars from the United States, Mexico, and Central America. 

The conference rotates its location and is held one year in Latin America and then in the United States. Last year’s conference was held in Merida, Yucatan and next year’s conference will be held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Its membership includes scholars from a wide range of interdisciplinary fields including history, languages and literature, political science, anthropology, gender studies, and sociology.

For more information, contact Saka, (432) 837-8304 or msaka@sulross.edu