From the Chair of the College Senate
The next meeting of the College Senate for spring 2020 will be held Friday, March 13, at 3:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center 217. The meeting agenda is now posted on the College Senate website. All information pertaining to the College Senate is available on the website, including the complete Senate roster and spring meeting schedule as well as all meeting podcasts, reports, and minutes. Please contact Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, 878-5139, with questions.

Buffalo State College will host an Easter gift drive to benefit None Like You/We Care Family Education Community Outreach, a nonprofit organization based on Buffalo's East Side. A long-standing partner of Buffalo State, None Like You will offer egg coloring, face painting, an Easter egg hunt, and free hot dogs, candy, and haircuts. Donations of candy, stuffed animals, and other toys to give away at the event may be dropped off in the Civic and Community Engagement Office, South Wing 130, by Tuesday, March 31.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED

The Buffalo State Child Care Center will sponsor an electronics recycling event on Monday, March 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on campus in lot R-13 (next to Buckham Hall). This event is open to the campus community for personal residential electronics* disposal only.

Acceptable Items
Computers, monitors, TVs, laptops, modems, servers, microwaves, cell phones, fax machines, copiers, CD players, IT equipment, peripherals, audiovisual equipment, telecommunications equipment, GPS units

Unacceptable Items
Light bulbs or fixtures, freon-containing items (refrigerators, air conditioners), household appliances

Suggested donation of $5 per item.

Monetary donations will be graciously accepted and used for funding the Buffalo State Child Care Center.

*Please note that state equipment should not be disposed of at this event. This event is for personal equipment only. Any state equipment is required to be surplused through Property Control using a surplus form.

Thank you!

All Buffalo State students are invited to attend this semester's Student Open Forum, hosted by President Katherine Conway-Turner, on Tuesday, March 10, during Bengal Pause (12:15–1:30 p.m.) in the Campbell Student Union Assembly Hall. This event empowers students to share their opinions, ask questions, and engage with President Conway-Turner and her cabinet. 

Students who have questions prepared are encouraged to submit them online ahead of time. We look forward to seeing you there!

For more information, please e-mail deanofstudents@buffalostate.edu.

Come and celebrate the First Friday of each month at 8:00 a.m. in the Newman Center Chapel. We will gather for Mass and start the month with a renewed perspective. Stay for a cup of coffee afterward or take a cup to go. Our next celebration will take place tomorrow, March 6. All are welcome.

The Newman Center is located at 1219 Elmwood Avenue, across from the Burchfield Penney Art Center. For more information, please call us at 882-1080.

Students can now log in to Banner to

• view the summer 2020 master schedule,
• view the fall 2020 master schedule,
• view their registration time ticket assignment for summer and fall 2020 registration, and
• review any holds (if applicable).

Registration for summer and fall 2020 semesters begins Wednesday, April 8.

Students are strongly encouraged to use Schedule Planner to plan their ideal schedule. They can keep their schedule in their shopping cart until their assigned registration date then click Submit to register. Schedule Planner is also the only place that students can isolate their search for Open Classes Only (classes that have available seats).

Please join us for the professional development workshop “Leading Change through Your Habits,” presented by Mike Cardus, owner of and consultant for Organizational Development by Mike Cardus, on Thursday, March 19, from 10:00 a.m. to noon in Chase Hall 109.

This workshop will focus on identifying what you would like to change, as well as where that change is already happening and not happening, and then developing an accountability practice of daily habits to make progress on the change.

You will leave this workshop with

• a focused change you are accountable for as a leader;
• knowledge of whether the change is simple, complicated, complex, or chaotic;
• ideas for how to change your leadership approach to best match the context of the change;
• a series of daily habits or actions you can take that will support your progress to make a useful change.

Light snacks will be provided. Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please join the Chemistry and Physics departments for the seminar "Metal-Mediated NOxchemistry: Relevance to the Global N-cycle," presented by Erwin Abucayon, postdoctoral research fellow in the University of Oklahoma's Richter-Addo research group, on Thursday, March 19, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 176.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are employed in biology to serve several functions that are significant to human health. These species are also involved as important intermediates in the global N-cycle. Most of their functions stem from their interactions with metalloproteins. For example, nitric oxide (NO), the simplest form of NOx species, interacts with heme proteins to elicit its function as a vasodilator. Its related sibling molecule HNO is a promising drug candidate for cardiac muscle relaxation and constriction. Importantly, heme-HNO species are involved as key intermediates in the NO detoxification by fungal cyt P450 NO reductase en route to nitrous oxide (N2O) formation. The conversion of NO-to-N2O is an integral component of denitrification. This transformation is not only important as a significant component of the global N-cycle but is also relevant to climate change, as N2O is a more potent greenhouse gas than the well-known CO2. N2O is generated in biology via the N?N bond coupling of two NO molecules mediated by monoheme and heme/non-heme deFe-active sites of nitric oxide reductases (NORs) in fungal and bacterial denitrification, respectively. 

This talk will highlight some of our findings on the generation of heme model-HNO/RNO compounds and their involvement in N?N bond formation reactions to generate N2O as part of the global N-cycle. We show that with appropriate choice of synthetic models, critical intermediates along both the fungal and bacterial pathways can be obtained and studied, yielding long-sought-after information regarding how metal active sites in the NOR proteins can enable the critical N–N bond formation step to generate N2O. 

My planned research at Buffalo State College will involve metal-based reactivity of SOx/SR2compounds with N2O and related NOxspecies as oxidants.

From the Chair of the College Senate Bylaws and Elections Committee
Two at-large College Senate positions, one University Faculty Senate position, and one University Faculty Senate alternate position will become vacant on August 31, 2020. All full-time faculty and professional staff members are eligible to run for these seats provided they meet other eligibility requirements (see below).

At-large senators represent the entirety of the college. University Faculty senators are senators within both the Buffalo State College Senate and the SUNY University Faculty Senate. The alternate attends SUNY University Faculty Senate meetings only in the absence of the university faculty senator.

A call for nominations and information about candidates’ statements will be posted on the College Senate website. The call for nominations begins at 12:01 a.m. Monday, April 13, and continues through 5:00 p.m. Friday, April 17. Elections for these positions will run from 12:01 a.m. Monday, April 20, to 11:59 p.m. Friday, April 24.

Senate elections conducted by the schools of Arts and Humanities, Education, Natural and Social Sciences, and the Professions as well as the Professional Staff Caucus (PSC) should be concluded before the College Senate election cycle (April 20).

Eligibility: Current College Senate members who are completing two consecutive terms in their respective positions are not eligible for reelection. For additional information on eligibility requirements, please consult the College Senate bylaws.

Campaigning: The College Senate Elections and Bylaws Committee strongly discourages using college e-mail services for campaigning. Please limit campaigning to the candidate statement posted on the College Senate website, available to the college community on Monday, April 20.

Please note: Individuals running for a senator position in another election may not also run for at-large senator or university faculty senator positions while the other election is being conducted. If the other election concludes during the period when nominations for at-large or university faculty senator are still being accepted, eligible individuals may self-nominate for either position.

If you are interested in being a candidate, please contact Vince Masci, assistant to the College Senate, 878-5139. We look forward to your participation in the vital process of campus governance.

CORRECTION APPENDED
Buffalo State’s Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship (USRF) program will continue in 2020 with modifications as necessary in response to COVID-19 concerns. USRF supports eight weeks of full-time research, scholarly, and creative activities. USRF applications are welcome from Buffalo State undergraduates in all disciplines with a graduation date of December 2020 or later. Each fellowship provides a student stipend of $3,000, a faculty mentor stipend of $1,000, and $500 for supplies or equipment to support the project.

Student project proposals for USRF 2020 must reflect the president’s announcements on college-funded travel restrictions and density limitations, and the interim provost's directive suspending all in-person human subjects research until further notice. To learn more about the program and access the online application portal, please visit the USRF program page on the Undergraduate Research Office website. The deadline for student applications has been extended to 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 15; mandatory faculty mentor approval will be due by 10:00 p.m. Friday, April 17.

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Correction: March 31, 2020
The original version of this announcement, published March 31, contained incorrect information. The copy has been amended.