Nominations will be accepted through Friday, February 7, for the 2019–2020 Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Classified Service. This SUNY system-level award recognizes classified service employees for excellence and superior service to students and the community at large. Members of the Buffalo State community are encouraged to submit nominations for deserving colleagues.

The nomination form and award guidelines are available online. Thank you.

Buffalo State College will host the American Mock Trial Association 2020 Great Lakes Regional Tournament on Saturday and Sunday, February 8 and 9. This is our 10th year hosting the competition. The college will accommodate nearly 300 guests representing 22 teams from 16 colleges and universities throughout the Northeast. Faculty and staff members who are familiar with the mock trial experience and those with a solid background in evaluating oral presentations are encouraged to volunteer as scoring judges for a session. There are two trial sessions each day (morning and afternoon), with local attorneys presiding as judges. We are happy to provide breakfast and lunch! All activities will be held in the Science and Mathematics Complex. Please contact Jon Lines, lecturer in the Political Science Department, or Kelly Boos, executive assistant to the dean of the School of Natural and Social Sciences, to volunteer or for more details.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The first meeting of the College Senate for the spring 2020 semester will be held Friday, February 14, at 3:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center 217. All information pertaining to the College Senate is available on the Senate website, including all meeting podcasts, reports, and minutes, as well as the complete Senate roster and spring meeting schedule. Please contact Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, 878-5139, with questions.

Lot I-32 off Iroquois Drive, which served as the construction staging area for the Academic Commons project, is scheduled to reopen Monday, January 27. The accessible parking and other designated spaces will be reinstalled as they were before the interruption, and those spaces that had been moved to nearby lots will be removed.

Questions about this undertaking can be directed to vpfm@buffalostate.edu. Your patience and understanding have been greatly appreciated during this key campus project.

Buffalo State College parking map (PDF, 4 MB)

The Buffalo State College community is saddened by the death of Frank E. Sharkey, professor emeritus of industrial arts and vocational education, who died January 13, 2020. Mr. Sharkey joined the college in 1966 and retired in 1992. He is survived by three children, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Services will be private. More information is available online.

The spring 2020 “Conversations in and out of the Disciplines” series kicks off Friday, February 28, as Fiona Beckett, assistant professor of art conservation, presents “A Closer Look at School of Rembrandt’s Portrait of a Young Man in an Armchair at the Memorial Art Gallery.” The talk, followed by a brief Q&A, will begin at 3:00 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 320. A short wine and cheese reception will follow. Everyone is welcome.

Please also mark your calendars for the second and third talks of the spring semester. Kristen Pastore-Capuana, assistant professor of English, will present “Crossing Boundaries: Educators and Students as Community Change Agents” on Friday, April 24; and Jevon Hunter, Woods-Beals Endowed Chair in Urban Education in the School of Education, and interim chair of the Social and Psychological Foundations of Education and Adult Education departments, will present “#BlackBoyJoy...All Day, E’erday: Learning from the Literate Lives of Buffalo’s African-American Adolescent Males—with Appreciation, Gratitude, and Love” on Friday, May 1. Both will be held at 3:00 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 320.

The “Conversations” series was started over a decade ago by Ann Colley, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emerita of English, to “celebrate and draw attention to the research being done in various departments at Buffalo State College.” Over the last decade, colleagues from Anthropology, Art Conservation, Art History, Biology, Chemistry, English, History, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, and Secondary Education, among others, have shared their work with the Buffalo State and Buffalo communities.

Members of the campus community who are traveling to or from China or other Asian countries should be advised of the travel recommendations made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the coronavirus in those areas. Please review the CDC's recommendations and follow the necessary precautions.

Calling all Buffalo State singers: we want you to sing in a Buffalo State choir this semester. Choral auditions take place Monday, January 27; Tuesday, January 28; and Wednesday, January 29. Sign up for your choral audition online.

Rehearsals begin Thursday, January 30. Classes are as follows:

Chorale
Tuesdays and Thursdays
1:40–2:55 p.m.

Chamber Choir
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Noon–1:00 p.m.

It isn't too early to think about the 2020–2021 academic year! Fall 2020 scholarship applications are available in the Campus Application Portal for Scholarships (CAPS). Students may apply for fall 2020 scholarships until Friday, April 10.

The aging stand-alone parking meters in Lot I-30 (immediately west of Rockwell Hall) have been replaced with a pay-and-display station that accommodates payments by coin or credit card. The old meters will be removed, and signage related to the new pay station will be installed to assist users with the transition. This installation will improve consistency across the campus, as pay-and-display parking stations are currently in use in Lots R-3 and R-4, near the Burchfield Penney Art Center and Cleveland Hall, respectively.

A new pay-and-display parking station has also been installed in Lot G-24 (north of the Student Apartment Complex and facing Grant Street) to accommodate visitors to campus. This pay-and-display station allows users to purchase up to a full-day parking permit for use in student lots. Lot G-24 is easy to access and located near most of the student parking lots. The new station helps eliminate the burden of campus visitors having to stop at the Parking Services Office in Moot Hall to obtain a permit and then driving to the parking area. It also accommodates evening and weekend users of facilities on campus.

Temporary and visitor parking permits may still be requested through Parking Services. Student and staff permits will continue to be valid in Lot G-24 and all other designated lots for the respective category; only the visitor permit process is changing.

Parking arrangements for athletic events will not change. The practice of suspending ticketing for large athletic events will continue when requested and approved. Teams using sports venues for full semesters may continue to have temporary permits issued at the request of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The addition of the Lot G-24 pay-and-display station for the individual daily use of athletic facilities is expected to significantly improve the ease of parking by eliminating the need to stop at Moot Hall.

Funds generated from the new pay-and-display stations will continue to be used to support security and parking needs and initiatives.

Buffalo State College parking map (PDF, 4 MB)