Thank you to all those who donated to Milligan's Food Pantry. We wouldn't be able to assist our students without your help!

This week, we are requesting canned tuna, canned chicken, canned fruit, applesauce, and peanut butter. 

As a friendly reminder, Milligan's Food Pantry is unable to accept any opened or expired products. 

Thank you again!

The Faculty-Student Association (FSA) is now accepting applications for the 2020 grant cycle. FSA grants are awarded by the FSA board of directors to fund programs that will promote and cultivate educational and extracurricular activities on the SUNY Buffalo State campus. All student groups and faculty are welcome to apply. Please visit the FSA website for the application and guidelines.

The application deadline for the 2020 grant cycle is Sunday, December 1. For further information, please contact Hope Dunbar, executive director of the FSA.

A Teacher Education Unit (TEU) Program Improvement Retreat will be held Wednesday, January 22, 2020, from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. in the LoRusso Alumni and Visitor Center.

This retreat is for all TEU faculty members involved in the preparation of educators at Buffalo State. As part of our quality assurance system, we gather annually to dig deep into program and unit-level data, and to calibrate and develop appropriate actions leading to program improvement. 

Please arrive a few minutes early to check in and enjoy breakfast before a prompt start time at 9:00 a.m.

RSVP.

Please contact Shannon Budin, professor of exceptional education, for more information.

The 2019–2020 “Conversations in and out of the Disciplines” series kicks off this Friday, October 25, as Heather Maldonado, assistant provost for academic success and visiting associate professor of higher education administration, presents “Moving toward Equity in Higher Education: Perspectives for Faculty, Staff, and Students to Challenge Norms and Encourage Change.” 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 talk of the fall semester, when Leigh Duffy, assistant professor of philosophy, will present “Is Anything Possible? No! But It Doesn't Matter” at 3:00 p.m. Friday, November 22, in Ketchum Hall 320.

Finally, stay tuned for more information about our upcoming talks this spring, which will include presentations by Fiona Beckett, assistant professor of art conservation; 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; and Kristen Pastore-Capuana, assistant professor of English.

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.

The Buffalo State Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offers WW workshops on campus every Wednesday from noon to 12:45 p.m. in Cleveland Hall 205. The workshops are open to faculty, staff, and students.

If you want to know more before joining, stop by and get inspiration from the success of a WW workshop leader and from your peers. Attend our open house on Wednesday, October 23, from noon to 12:45 p.m. in Cleveland Hall 205. There will be giveaways during the open house.

If you are currently attending these workshops, keep up the great work and get ready to welcome some new members! If you have been thinking about joining, now is the best time to join.

If you have any questions, please contact Gina Game, campus coordinator.

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has directed that flags on all state government buildings be flown at half-staff in honor of Congressman Elijah Cummings, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Maryland's 7th congressional district, who died October 17. Flags will remain at half-staff from October 18 until interment.

"Congressman Cummings was the real deal," Governor Cuomo said. "He was passionate and eloquent, accomplishing so much in Washington. I am thankful to have seen his energy in action during our time together in Washington. We lost him too soon, but his memory and contributions to our great country and the State of Maryland will be forever remembered."

Please join us for the webinar "A Crash Course in Creative Commons" on Wednesday, November 6, at noon. Bring your lunch to Butler Library 314, where we can watch together, or watch online via Zoom. And bring a friend! 

Did you know that over 1 billion works have been licensed with a Creative Commons (CC) license? Though widely adopted, these continually updated, legally enforceable tools continue to remain a mystery to educators. Many instructors are unaware of the permissions afforded to them through the CC licenses, and many are unaware of permissions afforded to users when instructors choose to apply a CC license to their original course materials. By the end of this session, attendees will be able to understand how copyright and the CC licenses work in concert to protect author rights while communicating additional permissions to learners and instructors, identify and interpret each of the six CC licenses, determine how CC-licensed materials may or may not be used without permission in instructional settings, and locate CC-licensed materials for educational purposes.

Please register through the SUNY Center for Professional Development website.

Come and join the conversation during this Teaching and Learning Center workshop, "Understanding and Dealing Effectively with the Impact of Psychological Distress on Student Learning," on Monday, October 21, from 9:00 a.m. to noon in Chase Hall 109.

There has been a noticeable increase in the number of students on campus experiencing various forms of psychological distress. These issues can undermine a student's ability to learn and can pose challenges for those trying to help students learn. This session will take a case-study approach to a conversation about understanding student mental health and its impact on academic functioning, and is offered in collaboration with the Counseling Center and the Weigel Wellness Center.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Thank you to everyone who supported our annual chili sale on October 8. With your help, the junior class of the dietitian education program raised $600 for the Massachusetts Avenue Project. Thank you!

Information Technology will permanently shut down the old on-premise SharePoint server on Friday, November 15. If your department or committee still has a site on that server, please be sure to move any files that are still needed to another location (secure network share or O365, as appropriate). Please see the Data Risk Classification Policy and associated Guidelines for Storing and Transmitting College Data for recommendations regarding where to store different classifications of data.

If you have questions, or if you need support in moving your files off the SharePoint server, please open a ticket in the IT self-service portal, using the “Web Page Issue” type for this request.