From the Chair of the College Senate
All final reports from the College Senate standing committees, presented at the May 8, 2020, College Senate meeting, are now posted on the College Senate Standing Committees web page. Reports given by Vice President Barnum at the May 8 Senate meeting are posted along with the podcast. All reports and podcasts for past Senate meetings are available on the College Senate website. Please contact Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, for more information.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The first meeting of the College Senate for fall 2020 will be held Friday, September 11, at 3:00 p.m. The meeting will be held via Zoom web conferencing if COVID-19 restrictions are still in place. Any changes in location will be announced, and Senate members will be notified. Please contact Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, for more information.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The Committee Interest Form is now available on the College Senate website for those interested in serving on one or more of the eight College Senate standing committees for 2020–2021. The form will be available until Friday, July 31; forms must be submitted by Monday, August 3.

The College Senate Office will forward the names of interested parties to the committee chairs for review and consideration. Committee membership is determined solely at the discretion of committee chairs. The College Senate Office has no involvement in the formation of standing committees. Not all committees may need members.

The Burchfield Penney Art Center wants to help bring art into your classroom. In our new remote environment, the BPAC encourages faculty members to think about how to use the artwork in the exhibitions, and how artwork in the BPAC collection could assist with teaching your curriculum and big ideas.

Buffalo State College faculty members who are interested in finding innovative ways to connect with the BPAC in fall 2020 are encouraged to begin designing now with the museum's staff of educators and curators.

A. Content can be synchronous (in real time). The BPAC can meet your class virtually and livestream during your class time. This might be with a current exhibition or archival objects that connect with your course topics.

B. Content can be asynchronous (not in real time). The BPAC has prerecorded tours, artist interviews, and lectures and can help with finding the right fit for your class lessons.

C. Content can be with images in the museum’s permanent collection. The BPAC can help with selecting artworks for assignments to enhance your class projects.

Please contact Kathy Shiroki, curatorial associate, to start developing plans to integrate art into your fall course curriculum.

Free online summer tutoring though STAR-NY has begun. Summer tutoring sessions in math and writing are available Sunday through Thursday, from 7:00 p.m. to midnight until Tuesday, August 25.

In collaboration with Information Technology and Academic Affairs, the Registrar's Office is excited to announce that the "Leave of Absence/Withdrawal from College Request" form is changing from a fillable PDF to a Qualtrics survey. This change offers a number of advantages:

• Students can access and complete the new Qualtrics form from their phones.
• Formatting and completion errors that were affiliated with the use of Internet browsers have been eliminated.
• There is electronic workflow, so department chairs will receive an e-mail and a link that will allow them to review, acknowledge, and submit the student’s request to the Registrar's Office.
• This methodology allows us to ask for additional information and feedback about a student’s experience, providing us some insights for our retention efforts.
• Students who are withdrawing from college will be called by completion coaches who will ask additional follow-up qualitative survey questions to garner more information about their experience at Buffalo State.

This form is only for undergraduate students. Graduate students will continue to use the “Graduate Leave of Absence/Withdrawal from College” form for the next few months.

The survey link, labeled “UG Leave of Absence/Withdrawal from College," can be found on the “Forms and Services” page of the Registrar's Office.” Step-by-step instructions with screen shots for chairs can also be found on that page.

The Civic and Community Engagement Office is providing information about ways faculty, staff, and students can be active citizens and support our community during the coronavirus pandemic.

Support this year's digital Juneteenth Festival.

Staffed by volunteers, the Juneteenth Festival of Buffalo is an important component of summertime events in the Buffalo Niagara region. The festival's mission is to actively preserve and promote the broad spectrum of African American heritage through educational and cultural activities that will benefit the community as a whole. 

Learn more about Juneteenth and social distancing through this YouTube video or volunteer to help with the digital Juneteenth Festival (PDF, 78 KB).

The Civic and Community Engagement Office is providing information about ways faculty, staff, and students can be active citizens and support our community during the coronavirus pandemic.

Volunteer for Be My Eyes, a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers for visual assistance through a live video call. Be My Eyes provides small acts of kindness with global impact. Every day, sighted volunteers lend their eyes to solve tasks big and small to help blind and low-vision people lead more independent lives.

As a sighted volunteer, you can help by installing the BeMyEyes app to connect with blind or low-vision users who may need help with anything from checking expiration dates, distinguishing colors, reading an instruction, or navigating new surroundings. 

Visit the Be My Eyes website for more information.

To prepare for the possibility of some version of remote instruction in fall 2020, the Teaching and Learning Center has teamed up with Instructional Design and Training to offer the following resources for instructors:

Consultation Sessions
These consultation sessions are designed to answer individualized questions related to teaching strategies, technology, and other learning supports for remote instruction. Please register through the Workshop Registration System.  

Self-Paced Courses
This series of self-paced courses, including certificate programs, is designed to help guide you in the transition to remote instruction. More information on each of the programs can be found on the Teaching and Learning Center website.

If you have questions, concerns, or program suggestions, please contact the Teaching and Learning Center.

Course evaluations will be distributed to all summer 2020 sections via EvaluationKit. School and department target surveys will be deployed and managed by the Institutional Effectiveness Office. Course-specific custom surveys must be deployed by EK admins within the department. The approved course evaluation timeline will be slightly modified to accommodate shorter and more variable sessions. More information and support docs can be found in the IT Knowledge Base. If you have questions or need help, please contact Tiffany Fuzak, research analyst, (716) 725-4090.