Austin Hall Renovations Receive Commendation

Today@Sam reports Austin Hall was honored by the Victorian Society in America with a commendation for the building’s recent exterior restoration.  The award was presented at society's annual meeting in Florida on April 27, 2013.

May 2013 Regents Report

Today@Sam has their report on the quarterly meeting of the Texas State University System Board of Regents:

[T]he regents authorized SHSU to add a College of Health Sciences; rename the Department of Nursing to the School of Nursing; move the School of Nursing in the College of Science to the College of Health Sciences; and move the Department of Health and Kinesiology from the College of Education to the College of Health Sciences.

"Full implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2014 will drive the need for an expanded health professions workforce," Gibson said. "One estimate indicates a need for 400,000 new health professional in Texas during this decade in addition to replacing a rapidly aging health professions workforce that accounts for at least 10 percent of Texas jobs.

"Furthermore, recent data from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation shows that adjacent counties east and northeast of Sam Houston State University are considered the least healthiest in Texas," she said.

"SHSU currently offers only a small number of health sciences degree programs, yet there are currently 1,348 students actively enrolled in pre-nursing or other pre-professional programs, most of whom will be denied admission to the Bachelor of Science Nursing program or other programs due to limited capacity," Gibson said.

"New degree programs in the College of Health Sciences will provide expanded access to health sciences education and careers for SHSU students, especially those from adjacent counties east and northeast of Huntsville," she said.

In other business, SHSU was granted permission to add a swimming pool to the University Camp Phase 2 Project.

Active Shooter Drills On SHSU Campus Today

From the Huntsville Item:

Today at 1 p.m., Walker County law enforcement agencies along with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Office of Inspector General will participate in the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training (ALERRT) on the SHSU campus.

Members of the Walker County Sheriff’s Office, Huntsville and Sam Houston State police departments and the OIG will receive training on how to respond to a number of active shooter situations through simulated, live-action drills.

The ALERRT Center at Texas State University-San Marcos was established in 2002 following the deadly mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, where two teenagers murdered 12 of their fellow students and one teacher in 1999.

The program’s curriculum has become the standard that law enforcement agencies around the country use to train for active shooter emergencies.

For the past 11 years, ALERRT has used more than $27 million in state and federal grant funding to train more than 40,000 law enforcement officers.

Today’s training session will be taught by veteran Special Weapons and Tactics team specialists with experience in active shooter situations and training.

The drills will be conducted at the Smith-Hutson Building and the Spivey House Residence Hall on the SHSU campus.

New Videoboard Coming to Sanders Stadium

GoBearkats.com announces the addition of a new video/score board at Don Sanders Stadium (which they note is the university's "modern baseball facility"):

Bud Haney and Don Sanders, both Bearkat alums, have teamed to donate $240,000 towards the $300,000 cost of the video board. Installation of the top-of-the-line board by Daktronics is set to begin this summer to be ready for the 2014 Bearkat baseball season.

Dimensions for the new board will be 31 feet, 10.4 inches tall by 36 feet wide. The board will feature a 20mm video display with 198 lines of resolution by 360 columns of resolution.

The board also will feature four sponsor advertising opportunities to provide additional revenue for the Bearkat athletic program.