Richard Mason will discuss his debut book, The Red Scarf, which went on sale October 19. The Red Scarf is a humorous and touching coming-of-age story set in the rural South during WWII about an elusive quest to buy a red scarf for the prettiest girl in school. In the book, Mason weaves tales of an adventurous childhood –chasing skunks, bobcats, and robbers–with a poignant friendship with an old black man.

Autographed copies of The Red Scarf will be available after the talk. Refreshments will be served.
For more information, contact Gaye Calhoun at 870-235-5068 or slcalhoun@saumag.edu.

Dr. Kim Bloss, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Southern Arkansas University, discusses class offerings with a prospective student Friday, May 4, at the SAU Graduate Studies Open House at their Texarkana location in the Landmark Buildling in downtown Texarkana. SAU has the entire second floor of the building.

A tour of the spacious second floor of the Landmark Building. Only a few of the rooms are currently being utilized, so the Graduate Studies program has plenty of room to expand.

SAU Graduate Studies advisors speak to prospective students about the various programs offered.

Children of an incoming graduate student in Texarkana get a piece of cake.

The School of Graduate Studies at Southern Arkansas University, Magnolia, will sponsor an open house from 12 to 6 p.m. on Friday, May 4, to discuss programs and classes it will offer in Texarkana beginning in the fall of 2007.

The open house will be held at the Landmark Building, located at the corner of State Line Avenue and Broad Street, in Texarkana. All classes offered in Texarkana will be held on the second floor of the Landmark Building.

Interested students will learn about weekend, once-a-month, and on-line classes. Advisors from the various graduate school programs will be available to answer questions, and representatives from the Office of Financial Aid will also be present.
Door prizes will be given away every 30 minutes, and there will be food served.

Programs offered by the School of Graduate Studies include a Master of Education in Elementary or Secondary Education, the online Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction, Master of Science in Counseling, Master of Education in School Counseling, Master of Education in College Student Affairs, Master of Education in Educational Leadership, Master of Education in Library and Media Information Specialist, Master of Science in Kinesiology, Master of Arts in Teaching, Executive Master of Public Administration, and Master of Science in Computer and Information Science.

If you are unable to attend but are still interested in the graduate programs offered at SAU, please send a representative to pick up the materials.

For more information call the School of Graduate Studies at 870-235-4150.

Jacoway will discuss her new book, “Turn Away Thy Son: Little Rock, the Crisis That Shocked the Nation,” which is about the Little Rock Central High crisis and its legacy.

Attendees of the discussion will learn what fears created the hysteria and forever shaped Arkansas’ capitol city. Memory, documented history, and oral history are combined in Jacoway’s interpretation of the trauma at Central High School.

A native of Little Rock, Jacoway attended Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1966. She received her Ph.D. in American history at the University of North Carolina in 1974. She taught history at the college level for eight years at the University of Florida, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and Arkansas College. Jacoway has served several times as a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Humanities, and she has reviewed manuscripts for many academic presses and scholarly journals.

A book sale and signing will follow the talk.

The discussion is free and open to the public.

For more information call Peggy Walters at 870-235-4171.

Sponsored by Magale Library, tickets are available for $8 and will be available through Monday, March 19.

Harris is a New York Times’ bestselling author and Anthony Award winner. She is the author of more than 20 books including the Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, Sookie Stackhouse, and Harper Connelly series.

Her Sookie Stackhouse vampire series is being developed for a series, “True Blood,” by “Six Feet Under” creator Alan Ball and will air soon on HBO.
Harris’s first book, “Sweet and Deadly,” long out of print, is being republished and will be available for purchase, along with several other titles, at the book signing following the luncheon.

The author lives in Magnolia with her husband, three children, three dogs, and duck. She is an avid reader, a mild cinemaphile, and an occasional weightlifter. Her favorite pastime is cheering on her children in various activities. You may visit her website at www.charlaineharris.com.

To purchase a ticket or for more information, call Gaye Calhoun at 870-235-5068.

Magale Library will mark the occasion with a display of some of the books that have been banned or threatened throughout history, from the Bible, to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, to the Harry Potter books.

Observed since 1982, the annual event is a celebration of the freedom to read and reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Banned Books: It’s Your Freedom We’re Talking About.”

For more information on challenged and banned books, please visit Magale Library to view the exhibit from Sept. 23 through Oct. 7, or visit the American Library Association website, www.ala.org.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, the Association of American Publishers, and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book of the Library of Congress.

For more information call Julie Metro at 870-235-4174.

Natalie Ann Hill, a senior accounting and business administration-finance double major from El Dorado, received a $1,000 scholarship; George Wong, a senior accounting major from El Dorado, received a $500 scholarship; and Daniel Angelov, a senior accounting major from Gabrovo, Bulgaria, received a $500 scholarship.

“We are very proud of these students for receiving these scholarships,” said Shane Warrick, instructor of accounting at SAU.

According to Warrick, only 18 scholarships were awarded throughout the state.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must be accounting majors and be classified as a junior, must have a 3.5 grade point average in accounting classes, must be pursuing an undergraduate accounting degree, and must certify they are pursuing the requirements to sit for the CPA exam and intend to pursue the CPA professional certification.

Each accounting department from an Arkansas four-year college or university offering an accounting degree were allowed to submit one scholarship application for each qualifying faculty member who is a regular member in good standing of the Arkansas Society of CPAs.

“We would like to thank the Arkansas Society of CPAs for this honor,” said Hill.

Applicants were required to provide an official transcript, a current resume that includes educational and employment history, a letter of recommendation from accounting faculty on school letterhead, and a letter of recommendation from a friend or co-worker.

The purpose of the Student Education Fund Scholarship Program is to provide support and encouragement to accounting majors at four-year Arkansas colleges and universities who intend to become CPAs; to encourage the involvement of faculty at those institutions in the Arkansas Society of CPAs; and provide access to the profession for scholarship winners by awarding student memberships in the Arkansas Society of CPAs.