November 15, 2005 – Brooke Y. Espinosa

Former SFA president to visit charter school for book reading

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS -Dr. Dan Angel, former Stephen F. Austin State University president, is scheduled to participate at the SFA Charter School's "Meet the Author" event Monday, Nov. 21, to celebrate the release of his newly published children's book, "Candy Bar Surprise."

Angel will share the book and discuss the process of writing a published book with Early Childhood and Charter School students and their parents.

Five dollars of every book sold will be donated to both the Early Childhood Lab and the Charter School, which was started during Angel's presidency at SFA.

Book sales and signing will occur in three stages. Early Childhood students are scheduled to meet with Angel from 8-8:30 a.m. Proceeds from book sales during this time will benefit the Early Childhood Lab. Angel will meet with second- and third-graders from 8:30-9:30 a.m. and with fourth- and fifth-graders from 9:45-10:45 a.m. Proceeds generated during these two meetings will benefit the Charter School.

"We would love to use the proceeds for more books that would entice our young readers and writers," said Lysa Hagan, academic leader for SFA's Charter School.

Writing the book was an enjoyable experience for Angel who completed it during the summer and had it published last month. According to Angel's publishing company, the book is about sibling rivalry and offers a meaningful message of teamwork and acceptance.

"The story is based upon an incident that happened years ago when my son was in little league and his little sister wanted to be. It is a story that I have wanted to write for some time now," Angel said.

Although Angel has gone from university president to writing children's books, he has not lost touch with college students. Angel is Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Marshall University in West Virginia, teaching online courses for the university from which he retired as president at the end of 2004.

Angel began his career at SFA in 1992 by becoming the sixth president of the university. He left in 1999 to assume the presidency of Marshall University.

Before taking the helm of SFA, Angel was president of Austin Community College and is a former state representative of Michigan. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees in education from Wayne State University. He received his doctorate from Purdue University.

Angel is also the biographer of two Michigan governors and has edited two other books and published more than four dozen articles.