Austin College

Austin College is the oldest institution of higher learning in the State of Texas.  Established in 1849, Austin Collect is just north of Dallas, sitting on a 100 acre environmentally green campus  in Sherman Texas.  Austin College is a recognized leader in higher education for innovative programs, a strong faculty, and dedicated students.  Since it’s founding by the Brazos Presbytery, Austin College has been associated with the Presbyterian Church.  The covenant relationship the College maintains today with the Presbyterian Church provides a distinctive flavor to the life of the College.

Roo Bound November

BJ Kirkpatrick Austin College
Roo Bound November

Area Children Invited to Free Learning Program at Austin College

Roo Bound NovemberSHERMAN, TEXAS— Area children are invited to participate in Austin College’s ’Roo Bound program Saturday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The program, designed to provide a fun learning experience, is free and open to all children in kindergarten through 5th grade. Advance registration is requested, beginning November 2, so that appropriate volunteers and equipment will be available.

Theme for the November event is Tennis FUNdamentals and will include a tennis clinic with the Austin College tennis team and coach Ryan Dodd, offering an introduction to the game through a variety of drills. Afterward, students will have lunch in the Austin College dining hall in Wright Campus Center, courtesy of the Service Station and Aramark Food Service.

Parents interested in registering their child for the program or who have questions can email servicestation@austincollege.edu with the child’s name and grade level, along with a phone number and email. Parents also can call the Service Station at 903-813-2333 Monday through Friday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

On November 7, students should be signed in at the main entrance to Wright Campus Center, off Brockett Street, between 10:45 and 11 a.m.

In addition to the special learning opportunity for children, ’Roo Bound, coordinated by the Austin College Service Station but involving many students across campus, is designed to expose children to the idea of college in a safe, fun environment. The organizers hope that the program makes college attendance seem accessible to children, particularly those who might be the first in their families to consider college.

The Austin College Service Station is a student-run organization that connects Austin College students available for service with local agencies and groups needing volunteers. Many students do individual service projects in the community; campus organizations often do group projects; others take part in projects such as ’Roo Bound or the College’s annual Great Day of Service, when several hundred students volunteer at more than 40 agencies in the north Texas region.

 

Austin College Presents Hedda Gabler

BJ Kirkpatrick Austin College

Hedda GablerThe Austin College Theatre program will present Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler in Ida Green Communication Center’s Ida Green Theatre October 29 through 31 at 7:30 p.m.  Admission is $8 per person or free with a valid Austin College ID. Tickets may be purchased at the box office before each performance. Note: the production includes simulated gunfire.

Following the performance on Friday, October 30, the Austin College Improv Troupe will offer a short program in its first show of the season. Audience members are welcome to attend Saturday’s Halloween performance in costume.

The character of Hedda Gabler has been described as mean and repulsive but also as one of the most fascinating in theatre. The fascination will continue as Austin College brings its production to life, in a new translation by Anna Jensen. Secured by special arrangement, the Austin College production constitutes this translation’s world premiere.

Kirk Everist, Austin College associate professor of theatre, directs the production, which he says challenges its audience with familiar characters doing unfamiliar things—pursuing their passions just a little farther than normally allowed, putting characters in situations a little more extreme than we would on our own. He explained that Ibsen composed characters with sufficient depth and reality that even Sigmund Freud sometimes mistook them for living people, speaking in alarmingly familiar language about things that everyday people care about.  “And, in the case of this particular play, a set of characters that cover a range of attitudes toward common sense and decency, and who—like real people – often act in ways that are difficult to explain, for reasons that sometimes stay hidden or unknown,” Everist said.

Lindsey Womack of Austin, Texas, leads the cast as Mrs. Hedda Tesman, nee Gabler. Other cast members are Jayden Stumbaugh of Denison, Texas, as Eilert Lovborg; Reed Cook of Owasso, Oklahoma, as Judge Brack; Marissa Wilkinson of Portland, Oregon, as Thea Elvsted; Travis Kannarr of Richardson, Texas, as Jorgen Tesman; Kaitlyn Casmedes of Sherman, Texas, as Berta; and Caitlin Osborne of Wylie, Texas, as Miss Juliene Tesmen.

Stage manager for the production is Caroline Hodge of Carrollton, Texas, with assistant stage managers Jacob Dowell of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Emma Grundy of Wichita Falls, Texas. Technical director is Ida Green Theatre technical coordinator Dan Pucul, an alumnus of the College. Light designer is assistant professor of theatre Liz Banks. Costumes are designed by Johanna Hunter of Whitewright, Texas, with assistance from Audrey Rose of Round Rock, Texas. Props are handled by Marissa Brown of Grayslake, Illinois; sound by Kelvin Lane of Plano, Texas. Tech crew includes Rebekah Urban of Whitesboro, Texas, as a dresser, and Tanner Bierdstedt of Freer, Texas, at set arrangement. House manager is Tabatha Keton of Baytown, Texas.

Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned reputation for excellence in academic preparation, international study, pre-professional foundations, leadership development, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 36 percent of students representing ethnic minorities. A residential student body of 1,250 students and a faculty of more than 100 allow a 12:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. The College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and cultivates and inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. Founded in 1849, the College is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.

Austin College Presents American Cowboy Photography Exhibit

BJ Kirkpatrick Austin College
Austin College Presents American Cowboy Photography Exhibit

American Cowboy Photography ExhibitAustin College | September 29, 2015

The Austin College Art and Art History Department will host the photography exhibition The American Cowboy: GENERATIONS, by photographers Bank and John Langmore, from September 28, 2015, through April 15, 2016, in the Robert and Joyce Johnson Gallery in Wright Campus Center. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, please call 903-813-2048.

Photographs by the father and son team showcase more than 40 years of documenting the American West.

Bank Langmore, who quit a corporate job more than five decades ago to pursue photography, is recognized by artists as one of the leading photographers of the American cowboy. In the 1970s, he traveled some 20,000 miles to photograph cowboys in the United States, touring the western portion of the country. His work was published in The Cowboy, a book that many consider the most influential body of work on the subject.

When Bank’s passion for photography grew, his wife Dorothy, also took up the art and developed a successful photography studio, first in Dallas, then in San Antonio. Obviously, John grew up in a family of photographers, but John took to the art later in life. A corporate attorney, once John’s work moved him to Asia, he quickly developed the same passion for photography that has become his family legacy. Today, his brother Will and sister Marie run the Langmore Photography portrait studio in San Antonio, Texas.

John’s work has been widely published, exhibited, and collected. He was a founding member and president of the Austin Center for Photography, in addition to having completed long-term projects on East Austin and Oaxaca, Mexico.

Austin College, a private national liberal arts college located north of Dallas in Sherman, Texas, has earned a reputation for excellence in academic preparation, international study, pre-professional foundations, leadership development, committed faculty, and hands-on, adventurous learning opportunities. One of 40 schools profiled in Loren Pope’s influential book Colleges That Change Lives, Austin College boasts a welcoming community that embraces diversity and individuality, with more than 36 percent of students representing ethnic minorities. A residential student body of 1,250 students and a faculty of more than 100 allow a 12:1 student-faculty ratio and personalized attention. The College is related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and cultivates an inclusive atmosphere that supports students’ faith journeys regardless of religious tradition. Founded in 1849, the College is the oldest institution of higher education in Texas operating under original name and charter.