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NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin State University's Braille and Cane Club will host a Christmas party for area public school students with visual impairments from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, in Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's Baker Pattillo Student Center Regent's Suite B, located on the second floor of the student center.

This annual event will include shopping for holiday gifts, lunch, decorating ornaments and games.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Braille and Cane Club historian Gail Avey said the event's goal is to "spread holiday cheer."

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin State University received the No. 1 ranking from  for having the top-value counseling master's degree in Texas.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The A Cappella Choir at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17, at an Evensong Service at St. Cyprian's Episcopal Church in Lufkin.

Directed by Dr. Tim King, director of choral activities for the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ School of Music, the ensemble will perform music that the choir will record the following day at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston.

St. Cyprian's is located at 919 S. John Redditt Drive.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin State University Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Gardens will host a garden seminar, "Deck the Halls: Using Evergreens to Decorate for the Holidays," from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.

Evergreen branches and garlands once served as symbols of enduring life and a fruitful year to come. Join Dawn Stover, research associate at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Gardens, to learn how to create elegant wreaths and garlands using materials from the garden. 

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Wind Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will present an "Autumn Concert" at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 21, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ campus.

"This concert is the culmination of our fall rehearsals," said Fred J. Allen, director of bands at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ. "It features various styles of music."

Among the featured works will be "Kingfishers Catch Fire" by American composer John Mackey.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin State University Office of Multicultural Affairs is encouraging the campus and Nacogdoches communities to submit community work projects for the seventh annual MLK Day of Service scheduled for Monday, Jan. 16.

The deadline to submit a project is Friday, Dec. 9. Volunteers are needed and can sign up to work now through the morning of the event.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Sampson Brothers, a Native American dance duo, will perform native dances for the Stephen F. Austin State University and Nacogdoches communities twice Wednesday, Nov. 16, first at noon in the plaza outside of the Baker Pattillo Student Center and again at 7 p.m. in the student center Grand Ballroom.

The event was created and will be hosted by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Office of Multicultural Affairs to celebrate and acknowledge Native American tribes, their heritage and their history.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Students who participated in the 2015 and 2016 Barrio Writers workshops at Stephen F. Austin State University are hosting a reading of their published works at 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 14, at the Nacogdoches High School Library, located at 4310 Appleby Sand Road.

"I am looking forward to hearing the participants read their original creative works," said Dr. Heather Olson Beal, Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ associate professor of secondary education, who has coordinated the Barrio Writers program the past two summers.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin State University has been ranked among the top 50 great value colleges for family and consumer sciences degrees in the nation by Great Value Colleges, a website dedicated to helping students discover the best degree and college for them.

Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ's No. 47 ranking among the almost 400 U.S. colleges identified for comparison distinguishes it as one of the most attractive programs for consumer sciences students.

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the Cello Club with Dr. Evgeni Raychev in a recital at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, in Cole Concert Hall on the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ campus.

Cello Club continues its mission to promote cello ensemble playing and to bring cellists together, according to Raychev, instructor of cello in the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ School of Music and director of the ensemble.

The concert, which is part of the Cole Performing Arts Series, will feature original works and arrangements from different time periods.