Faculty members will enter their J-Term 2019 grades using Banner. In preparation, faculty members are encouraged to log on to Banner to ensure that all their courses are listed under their accounts. Detailed documentation for entering grades (PDF, 191 KB) is available on the Banner website.

Additional assistance is available by calling the IT Help Desk at 878-4357 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you have questions about grading, please call the Registrar's Office at 878-4811.

The J-Term 2019 grading window opens Thursday, January 17, at 9:00 a.m and closes Sunday, February 3, at 9:00 p.m.

Student view access to J-Term 2019 grades will be available in Banner starting Thursday, January 17, at 9:00 a.m.

An upgrade of Banner to version 9 is underway. In Phase 1 of the project, Banner 8 INB will be replaced by Banner 9 Admin Pages, providing a cleaner, more modernized look and feel for Banner administrative users. The login method is also changing for Admin Pages: users will log in using their campus network username and password. Functionality of the Banner administrative forms will remain the same under Banner 9. Please note that phase 1 does not include Banner self-service pages (SSB), so students and faculty members will not be affected by this initial phase of the project.

The target date for the changeover from Banner 8 INB to Banner 9 Admin Pages is Tuesday, February 19, 2019. Training was held throughout December for current INB users, covering changes to the look and navigation of the new pages. Additional training sessions will be held in January if there is demand.

The Banner 9 Upgrade Information page contains information about phase 1 of the Banner upgrade project, including a link to the training instance of Banner 9 Admin Pages, documentation, and a video about the changes to navigation. If you are a current INB user who is interested in attending a training session before the changeover to Banner 9 on February 19, please go to the Information page and click on the link to “indicate your interest” in a January training session.

The SUNY provost has announced the 2019 call for proposals for round 8 of the SUNY Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (PDF, 354 KB). The proposal deadline is Sunday, March 3; however proposals and budgets must be reviewed internally before their submission to SUNY (see below). 

Faculty members who are interested in submitting a proposal should contact John Draeger, director of the Buffalo State Teaching and Learning Center, and Meghan Pereira, director of instructional design and training.

All proposals, including budgets, must be submitted to Melissa Miszkiewicz, technology communications officer, by Thursday, February 28, for review by Jacquelyn Malcolm, CIO and vice president for enrollment, marketing, and communications. Dr. Malcolm will provide a letter of support from the campus once the proposal is approved.

Proposals that require the purchase of technology must follow the Information Technology Purchases/Acquisitions Policy (PDF, 126 KB).

From the Chair of the College Senate
Reports to the College Senate are posted on the College Senate website. The most recent reports are from the December 14, 2018, Senate meeting.

Podcasts serve as the official audio record of each College Senate meeting. If you missed a Senate meeting and want to catch up, podcasts are posted to the Senate's podcasts web page. Senate meeting summaries are also posted to the website after they are presented to the Senate.

From the Chair of the College Senate
College Senate meetings for the spring 2019 semester will be held on the following dates. All meetings will be held on Fridays at 3:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center 215 unless otherwise noted.

February 8
March 8
April 12
May 10

The meeting schedule for the spring 2019 semester and all past agendas are available on the College Senate website. The College Senate Office is located in Cleveland Hall 211. Joseph Marren, professor of communication, serves as chair of the College Senate for the 2018–2019 academic year. Please stop by the office, call 878-5139, or e-mail Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, with questions or for general information.

The College Senate wishes everyone a happy, healthy, and safe holiday season and a very happy new year in 2019!

Blackboard LMS will be unavailable from 3:00 to 7:00 a.m. Wednesday, December 26. This is one additional hour on the front end of the normal maintenance window. Should you experience problems after the maintenance window, please contact Open SUNY Support Services. You may also contact Open SUNY at (844) 673-6786 or via e-mail at OpenSUNYHelp@suny.edu. Thank you.

Winterim provides a variety of activities to support the intellectual, personal, and professional growth of the Buffalo State community. Winterim will be held January 15–18 and is a great opportunity to connect with colleagues and learn from one another. Sessions this year include learning about conflict resolution solutions, managing emotions through essential oils, rock painting, cheese tastings, and technology tips. Register for sessions soon; they will fill up quickly!

Information Technology will begin upgrading campus computers from Office 2013 to Office 2016 (i.e., Outlook, Word, Excel) starting the week of December 24. Devices that are already running 2016 will be skipped. The upgrades will continue throughout January until they are complete.
 
Anyone who wishes to upgrade to Office 2016 now can do so by following these instructions:

• Install Office 2016 on your PC  (look for Office 2016 when you get to step 3)
• Install Office 2016 on your Mac (look for Office 2016 when you get to step 5)

Please contact the IT Help Desk, 878-4357, with questions.

Effective January 1, 2019, the Paid Family Leave program (PFL) will be implemented for SUNY MC and UUP-represented employees.

PFL provides job-protected paid leave for eligible employees to bond with a new child or care for a loved one with a serious health condition. PFL also assists with relieving family pressures when a loved one is called to active military service abroad.

The program is funded through contributions taken as payroll deductions. The 2019 contribution is 0.153 percent of gross wages each pay period, up to and not to exceed an annual maximum employee contribution of $107.97. For SUNY MC and UUP-represented employees, payroll deductions will be biweekly and will begin no sooner than January 1, 2019.

For 2019, employees who are on the payroll and have met eligibility requirements will be able to use 10 weeks of Paid Family Leave benefits and will receive 55 percent of their average weekly wage, capped at 55 percent of the statewide average weekly wage.

For more information about Paid Family Leave, please visit the New York State website.

The Sophos Naked Security blog has published this year's list of the worst passwords. These are passwords you should not use. Remember to create a passphrase. Review the Information Technology knowledge base article for tips on how to create a strong password or passphrase.