The University at Buffalo (UB) will perform an equipment change that will affect Internet access at Buffalo State on Wednesday, September 25, between 5:00 and 7:00 a.m. Five to 15 minutes total downtime is expected during this time frame.

If you want to know when systems are down, please visit the IT Alerts page on the Buffalo State Information Technology page, or download the Buffalo State mobile app and subscribe to the IT Alerts channel. You can download the app from the Google Play store or iTunes store, and sign in.

The Dean of Students collects documentation to send a notification e-mail to faculty for student absences. These absences are for medical emergencies, medical appointments, and deaths in a student's immediate family for periods of less than two weeks. For anything beyond that, our office will direct students to speak with their faculty members and academic advisers. For more information, please contact us at deanofstudents@buffalostate.edu.

Please join us for the Teaching and Learning Center workshop "Easy Ways to Offer Meaningful Feedback" on Monday, September 30, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in Chase Hall 109.

Giving students feedback is essential to the learning process and to student success. When providing students with feedback, instructors and advisers should consider several variables, including timing, amount, mode, audience, and content. This session will offer several tips for providing meaningful feedback to students in efficient ways, including a discussion of campus tools such as Blackboard and the Bengal Success Portal.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please join us for the Teaching and Learning Center workshop "Understanding the Importance of Non-Academic Factors in Students' Academic Success" on Tuesday, September 24, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Chase Hall 109.

Academic preparedness and enhancing students' academic success in the classroom is often thought about uni-dimensionally, as a matter of simply improving students' academic skills. Yet students' ability to learn and their overall success in the classroom are much more complex and are often affected by non-academic factors, such as finances, family support, self-motivation, confidence, and social integration. This workshop will enhance your understanding of non-academic factors that influence student success in the classroom and provide considerations for how to address those factors through advising, mentoring, and teaching. The session will be facilitated by Amy Wilson, chair and associate professor of higher education administration.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Banner 9 Admin Pages will be unavailable between 6:00am and 8:00am on Friday, September 27.

Information Technology will be upgrading the Banner EIS server (used for authentication for Banner 9 Admin Pages) in the Production environment between 6:00am and 8:00am on Friday, September 27.  This will affect access to the login page for Banner 9 Admin Pages only – Banner itself will not be down, and Self-Service Banner (SSB) will NOT be affected.  Users will not be able to log in to Admin Pages during this maintenance window.

We apologize for any inconvenience.

Today is the final opportunity for employees to submit information on significant awards and major grants they have received to be included in the program for the Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony.

Faculty and staff members who received significant awards from academic, professional, or service organizations at the international, national, or state levels, or grants received at the $50,000 level or above from September 1, 2018, through August 31, 2019, are invited to submit their information for print in the annual Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony program. Awards and grants meeting the criteria will be listed in the program distributed at the ceremony. Additionally, new faculty and staff members who received SUNY awards such as the Chancellor's Award for Excellence while previously serving at other SUNY institutions at any time during their careers, may submit that information. The names of newly hired faculty and staff—initially hired September 1, 2018, through August 31, 2019—will be included in the program.

The deadline for submitting information using the online forms is Friday, September 20. The ceremony will be held Thursday, November 7, at 12:15 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall with a reception immediately following. The campus community is invited to attend.

The list of honorees and ceremony information is provided.

Please e-mail Patricia Alessandra in the Academic Affairs Office with questions about submitting award or grant information.

The podcast of the September 13, 2019, College Senate meeting is now available on the College Senate's podcasts web page. Podcasts serve as the official audio record of each College Senate meeting. Senate meeting minutes are also available on the Senate website.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The next meeting of the College Senate for fall 2019 will be held Friday, October 11, at 3:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center 423. Please direct questions to Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, 878-5139.

Congratulations to student senator Chioma Nweke, who was elected 2019–2020 chair of the Student Welfare Committee at the College Senate meeting on September 13. Ms. Nweke will work alongside committee vice chair Steve Macho, associate professor of career and technical education.

And congratulations to USG senator Ryan Hopkins, who was elected to serve as student representative on the Senate Executive Agenda Committee at the September 13 Senate meeting.

Please join us for the professional development workshop "Hiring the Right Candidate: Strategies and Tools for Leading an Effective Search Committee," presented by Jonathan Hulbert, director of leadership and organizational development, on Thursday, October 10, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in Chase Hall 109. 

How do I effectively lead a search committee at Buffalo State College and select the best candidate for the position? This is a question that many of us ask ourselves after becoming the chair of a search committee, but with the right technology tools, strategies, interview questions, and structure, the ideal candidate can be easy to identify. This workshop is for any staff member, faculty member, or administrator who is now leading or may lead a search committee.

As a result of this workshop, participants will be able to

• understand how to structure the search process to minimize cognitive biases that may impede selection of the best candidate;
• identify how to use campus technology tools and a process to improve the efficiency of the search committee's work;
• develop interview questions that improve the accuracy of assessing whether the candidate is the best fit for the position, the college, and the department.

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