The Graduate School will host its annual Spring Open House on Wednesday, March 11, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union. The open house allows prospective graduate students to learn more about academic degree and certificate programs, as well as admission requirements and the application process. Guests will have an opportunity to explore financial aid options, meet our faculty, and hear from current students.

For more information or to register, please visit the Graduate School Open House web page.

Buffalo State College undergraduates are cordially invited to submit proposals to participate in the sixth annual multidisciplinary SUNY/CUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC), an all-day event with luncheon and keynote speaker. SURC-Upstate will be held on the campus of the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse on Saturday, April 4. An alternative date is available for SURC-Downstate at SUNY Old Westbury on Friday, April 24. Student proposals for research poster sessions, oral presentations, and performances of creative work are welcome. The deadline for online submission of proposal abstracts has been extended to Friday, March 13. For further information, please visit the SURC application web page.

Connect with M&T professionals in this first Diversity Dialogue of the semester today, February 11, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union Assembly Hall. This event will provide an opportunity to meet with M&T representatives from the Latino Resource Group (HOLA!) and African American Resource Group (AARG) and ask questions. Additionally you will have the opportunity to interact with an Alumni Diversity Panel and network with M&T employees representing various perspectives of diversity, inclusion, and belonging to obtain guidance on navigating your career. Refreshments provided.

This event was made possible by collaboration with the Equity and Campus Diversity Office, M&T Bank, the Career Development Center, and the Educational Opportunity Program.

Please join us for a screening and panel discussion of It’s “Just” Anxiety, a documentary film that aims to destigmatize a mental health issue affecting more than 40 million Americans, on Wednesday, March 4, at 5:00 p.m. in the LoRusso Alumni and Visitor Center’s Zemsky Presentation Room.

The stigma surrounding mental health has been a growing concern not just on our campus but in our community in general. Every year we see the number of people who seek treatment for mental health grow, and our student population has not been untouched by this statistic.

Conversations on our campus among students, staff, and faculty members have shown that the stigma surrounding mental health has stunted our ability as individuals to have a conversation about how mental health affects the world around us. We must break this stigma by speaking freely about what mental health is and the many ways it can manifest in our everyday lives: personally, socially, and academically.

It’s “Just” Anxiety shows specifically what the fastest-growing mental health concern—anxiety—is like for over a dozen people from diverse backgrounds. Their symptoms are wide-ranging, from excessive worry, uneasiness, and fear to more extreme symptoms such as compulsive behavior, post-traumatic stress disorder, phobias, and panic attacks. The film explores the under-publicized fact that anxiety is the most treatable form of mental illness and demonstrates how sufferers can get on the path to recovery via various therapies.

After the viewing, we will have a panel discussion featuring a current Buffalo State student and a member of the Buffalo community who will share their stories surrounding anxiety. Panelists will be presented with a number of questions designed to foster a safe environment in which all attendees can engage openly. Audience members will be afforded the opportunity to interact with panel members, providing space for difficult but necessary conversations to take place.

Through this meaningful sharing of stories and events, we hope attendees will continue the conversation surrounding mental health with their friends, residence halls, offices, classrooms, and departments and share what they have learned about this highly treatable condition. Additionally, we hope to raise awareness of the resources and support networks available on campus and in our communities.

Watch the trailer.

Buffalo State College will induct its inaugural class of the Epsilon Chi chapter of the Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society on Friday, March 6, at 3:00 p.m. in the LoRusso Alumni and Visitor Center's Zemsky Family Presentation Room. The ceremony is by invitation only.

Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society was founded in 2004 to recognize the academic accomplishments of students with disabilities. In addition to recognizing academic achievement, Delta Alpha Pi seeks to lessen and eventually eliminate the stigma and negative stereotyping that have been associated historically with disability. The members of Delta Alpha Pi challenge society to view disability as an aspect of diversity, existing on a continuum throughout an individual’s lifespan, and encourage the implementation of universal design, so that the environment (learning, physical, attitudinal), not the individual, adjusts to provide access to all individuals.

Students who become members of Delta Alpha Pi identify themselves as honor students who have a disability. By their open acknowledgment of their disability status, they serve as role models for other students with disabilities and advance the goals of Delta Alpha Pi on their campuses and in the community.

The Buffalo State ceremony will recognize student academic accomplishments by honoring and acknowledging their determination and perseverance. Students will receive a Delta Alpha Pi lapel pin and certificate of initiation.

Please visit the Student Accessibility Services website for a continually updated list of students who wish to be recognized.

Please join us for the Professional Development workshop "Dealing with the Difficult," presented by Lori E. Miller, president and owner of Developing Professionals, on Wednesday, February 26, from 9:00 a.m. to noon in Chase Hall 109.  

Irate customers are an unfortunate fact of life. Whether you work in a business, in a government office, in a school, or as an independent contractor, sooner or later you will have to deal with an angry or upset customer. When this happens, it is important to be prepared. This program covers specific skills along with “breakthrough techniques” that can be used in extreme cases to help you calm the situation and resolve the customer’s issue.

Participants will learn

• about individual triggers and reactionary behaviors,
• how to use more productive responses during conflict,
• how to connect more effectively with others by using effective verbal and nonverbal methods,
• how to ask effective questions to focus on a solution,
• how to apply the five steps for dealing with difficult people.

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

United University Professions will hold a workshop for contingent employees to review terms and conditions of employment and union benefits on Tuesday, February 11, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. in Cleveland Hall 205. Lunch will be provided.

Interim provost James Mayrose will be in attendance. This will be the only meeting for contingents held this semester.

Please register online. For more information, please contact Ramona Santa Maria, associate professor of computer information systems and part-time concerns representative.

Remember to set strong passwords and passphrases. Read this article, with examples, in the IT Knowledge Base. Please share it with your students.

The Teacher Education Council provides an outstanding forum for teacher education programs across campus. The first meeting for the spring 2020 semester will be held Friday, February 14, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in the Grande Conference Room, Cleveland Hall 418. Please join us. Share your achievements and learn about relevant and timely educational issues on campus.

Please join the Chemistry and Physics departments for the seminar "Experimental Realization of Topological Insulator and Beyond," presented by Madhab Neupane, assistant professor of physics at the University of Central Florida, on Thursday, February 13, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 176.

Abstract
A three-dimensional (3-D) topological insulator (TI) is a crystalline solid, which is an insulator in the bulk but features spin-polarized Dirac electron states on its surface. In 2007, the first 3-D TI was discovered in a bismuth-based compound. The discovery of the first TI tremendously accelerated research into phases of matter characterized by nontrivial topological invariants. Not only did the 3-D TI itself attract great research interest, but it also inspired the prediction of a range of new topological phases of matter. The primary examples are the topological Kondo insulator, the topological 3-D Dirac, Weyl and nodal-line semimetals, the topological crystalline insulator, and the topological superconductor. Each of these phases was predicted to exhibit surface states with unique properties protected by a non-trivial topological invariant. In this talk, I will discuss the experimental realization of these new phases of topological quantum matter in real materials through momentum-, spin-, and time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The unusual properties of the protected topological surface states can lead to future applications in spintronics and quantum computation.