Names in the news

STATE TEACHER             OF YEAR AWARD
>> ALPINE Mazie Will, Sul Ross State University associate professor of Business, has been named State Collegiate Business Teacher of the Year by the Texas Business and Technology Educators Association.
Will, who has taught at Sul Ross since 1979, will be honored in July during the TBTEA Professional Development Conference in Dallas. The award is given to a collegiate educator who has made a significant contribution in preparing students for business careers and/or teaching business education. The TBTEA will also make Teacher of the Year presentations to secondary and post-secondary (community college) recipients.
"I am extremely honored to receive this award," Will said. "My reward for teaching is being able to have contact with former students and alumni and to know they are being successful in their careers. I consider them my colleagues at this point."
Many of Will's former students are active as business education teachers in Texas, and many more graduates hold positions in business and government positions across the state.
Will received her bachelor's (1972) and master's (1977) degrees in Business Education from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. She has since completed additional graduate study at the University of North Texas, Denton, and Sul Ross.
She belongs to a number of professional societies and has authored several publications. She holds the Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) and Certified Administrative Professional (CAP) titles. She was named Region 19 Business Teacher of the Year by the Texas Business Education Association. In 2007, she was recognized for 15 years as adviser to the Sul Ross chapter of Delta Mu Delta, the international business administration honor society. Recently, she served on the Hospitality Committee for the National Business Education Association conference held in San Antonio.
Will has developed and taught numerous classes to help her students acquire marketable skills for their chosen careers and has implemented the new Bachelor of Arts degree in Administrative Systems & Business Technology. Her courses have evolved to meet changing needs of the workplace. Recently, she developed a course focusing on blogs, podcasts and other social networking skills.

CHINA EDUCATION FORUM
>> ALPINE Avinash Rangra, Sul Ross State University professor of Chemistry, has been invited to be a member of a U.S.-China Education Forum Science Delegation to China in November.
Rangra was invited as part of the People to People Ambassador Programs, established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. As a member of the Education Forum, Rangra will represent his profession while advancing the ideals of People to People International, a non-political, private-sector organization dedicated to promoting international understanding.
Discussion topics may include: organizing and managing innovative science teaching and learning; science literacy across the curriculum through thematic teaching; curriculum reform as related to current science standards; informal science opportunities and community partnerships; assessment methodologies and teacher training; and technology use in science education.
"I am grateful for the People to People invitation and look forward to this opportunity," said Rangra, who joined the Sul Ross faculty in 1967. "This will be my first experience going outside the United States on an educational exchange."
A native of India, Rangra received his bachelor's (Hon's, 1959) and master's (Hon's, 1960) degrees in chemistry from Panjab University, HoshiarPur, Panjab, and his Ph.D (1967) from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater.

PAPER PRESENTATION
>> ALPINE Keith Sternes, Sul Ross State University professor of Biology, and seven students will present papers at the American Society for Microbiology general meeting June 1-5 in Boston, Mass.
Sternes and Sul Ross student Emmalee Sternes of Alpine will present "Survey of Pathogenic Bacteria in Restrooms Along Insterstate Highways in the Southwest United States."
Students Jackie Haynes of Alpine, Raquel Acosta of Big Bend National Park, Sajag Bhattari, Lainchour of Kathmandu and Lucia De La Rosa of San Antonio will assist in the presentation.
Sul Ros microbiology lab manager Karen Little will present a second paper, "Bacterial Pathogens in the Rio Grande Basin," authored by Sternes, Little and David Sauerzopf. Acosta, Haynes and Bhattari will assist with the presentation.
Also attending the ASM general meeting will be Sul Ross student Aldo Carrasco of Presidio. Carrasco and DeLaRosa are McNair Program Scholars.
>> HOBBS, N.M. Barbara J. McGrath, professor of English at College of the Southwest, has accepted an invitation to present in July a summary of a paper at the Oxford Round Table at Harris Manchester College, Oxford England.
The Round Table was founded as a colloquium for small groups of governmental leaders and academics to engage in discussions of public policy.  This summer's session will explore divergent views of the hereafter and perceptions of God.  Presenters will address the overall theme Allusions to God in British and American Prose and Poetry Since 1700:  Pursuing Global Religious Accord. 
McGrath's paper is entitled "The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-19 and the Questioning of Faith: Allusion, Metaphor and Distortion of God's Word and Works in Poet Ellen Bryant Voigt's Kyrie."  McGrath explores Voigt's use of metaphors and distortions of Biblical passages to impart the anguish experienced by a fictional Southern U.S. community struggling to survive the Influenza Pandemic against the backdrop of the Great War.
McGrath is the second CSW professor to attend the Oxford Round Table. William Sumruld, professor of history, participated in the Oxford Round Table in 2006.

SGA OFFICERS NAMED
>> ALPINE Monte Piper, Houston, will serve as Sul Ross State University's Student Government Association (SGA) president.
Piper succeeds Jaime Rios, Roma. New officers were named during the SGA awards banquet, held May 1. Juan Garcia, San Antonio, was elected vice president for 2008-09. Stephanie Marshall, Kermit, was elected secretary and Kenzi Miller, Lamesa, treasurer.

STUDENT PUBLICATIONS ADVISER
>> ALPINE Jose Aguayo of Alpine has been named Student Publications adviser at Sul Ross State University.
Aguayo, a former reporter for Forbes Magazine and an editor in energy publications, began his new duties May 8. He will supervise publication of The Brand yearbook and The Skyline student newspaper and oversee Photography Services for the Department of News and Publications.
He replaces Barbara Richerson, who retired in August 2007. During the past academic year, Drs. Laura and Brad Butler served as co-advisers on an interim basis.
Aguayo, a native of Cuyutlan, Colima, Mexico, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. He served as deputy director of the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) Secretariat in Mexico City and later worked as a reporter for The Mexico City Times. He later joined Forbes Magazine in Houston, then worked as a senior editor for Platts Oilgram Price Report in New York City, producing daily price assessments and market commentaries and writing about oil prices and trading in the U.S. and Latin America.
Later, he founded Templum, LLC in New Jersey, publishing a technical analysis report focused on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Aguayo worked as an associate editor for United Communications Group, Rockville, Md., before moving to Alpine.