The President's Certificate of Recognition for Community Engagement is an honor given to students who have had extended engagement with the community. The certificate serves to represent the student's commitment to social responsibility and community participation, all while meeting the demands of course load and work obligations. Faculty members are encouraged to share this opportunity with December 2017 graduates, who should apply before they graduate.

There are three levels of recognition that students can apply for:

• Community Supporter - At least 200 hours of service
• Neighborhood Advocate - At least 400 hours of service
• Active Citizen - At least 1,000 hours of service

Details and applications can be found on the Civic and Community Engagement website.

The Civic and Community Engagement Office wants to recognize and thank the tremendous number of faculty and staff members who have incorporated service-learning and community-engagement efforts in their courses this semester. Fifty-two faculty members are engaging 1,447 students in community-based learning experiences this semester alone through 74 courses (38 of which have been approved as meeting the College Senate's criteria for service-learning and are so designated in Banner). This is a remarkable 26 percent increase in courses that engage students in meeting community-identified needs in collaboration with community partners since fall 2016. The full list of courses is posted on the CCE website. For information on civic and community engagement, please contact cce@buffalostate.edu.

Buffalo State College nominates one student annually for the highly renowned national Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellowship, which recognizes and supports community-committed students who have demonstrated an investment in finding solutions for challenges facing communities throughout the country.

Throughout the one-year fellowship, Campus Compact provides learning opportunities that focus on the skills fellows need to serve as effective agents of change in addressing public problems and building equitable communities.

Please review the Buffalo State process for nominating a student for the Newman Civic Fellowship. Internal nominations will be reviewed by a campus committee and are due Friday, December 15.

The annual NYS Employee Health Benefits Fair, featuring representatives from Blue Cross Blue Shield of WNY, the Empire Plan, and Independent Health, will be held on Thursday, December 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 210. Health insurance representatives will be available to answer any questions you may have regarding your current health insurance plan or changes in coverage for 2018.

Staff members from the Employee Benefits Office will also be present to assist employees in making changes to health insurance coverage.

Information on dental and vision benefits will also be available. Attendees can have their blood pressure and cholesterol checked, find out their body mass and pulse index, learn the benefits of and sample massage therapy, and consult with specialists on smoking cessation and weight loss, all free of charge.

Meet the EAP coordinators and obtain helpful information regarding the Employee Assistance Program. Call Human Resource Management at 878-2421 with questions, and please stop by the Benefits Fair on December 7.

The Artists on the Road presentation "Handmade in Oaxaca: Function Plus Beauty" by Dawne Hoeg, scheduled for Thursday, November 16, has been canceled. Her presentation will be rescheduled during the spring 2018 semester.

Please join the Chemistry and Physics departments for the seminar "Cocaine Detection and Quantification: From the Field to the Lab," presented by Dominique Boscarino, candidate for the master of science degree in forensic science at Buffalo State, on Thursday, November 16, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Science and Math Complex 169. All students, faculty, and staff are welcome.

Abstract
In the United States, cocaine is the second most popular illegal recreational drug. Cocaine can be encountered in multiple forms, including the salt and freebase or “crack” form. Often, cocaine is “cut” with other substances to increase the amount of the drug or even to increase the effects. When law enforcement suspects that a substance in question may be cocaine, preliminary tests are often done in the field to determine a drug's presence. The Scott test, or cobalt thiocyanate test, is the most popular field test to determine the presence of cocaine. This test is performed in three steps, and a specific color change sequence indicates the presence of cocaine. This test is convenient for law enforcement officers, with all the materials often packaged in a single packet; however, there are many concerns about the specificity of the Scott test. Chemists have reported many false positives and false negatives with the current Scott test.

Given the questionable specificity of the Scott test, confirmatory testing using analytical methods is crucial for cocaine determination and quantification. Because both drug samples and human samples can be found in many forms (blood, urine, saliva, hair), multiple instrumental techniques can be used to determine whether a seized sample is cocaine or if an individual used cocaine.

Cocaine can be profiled using the fingerprint region of an FTIR spectrum. This technique can also be used to identify if any adulterants were added to the cocaine. FTIR may also be helpful in distinguishing between the salt form and base form of the cocaine sample.

Additionally, techniques such as liquid phase microextraction (LPME) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) can be used to identify cocaine samples in human samples, specifically cocaine in hair. Hair is a common source used for drug testing, especially to determine chronic exposure. Unlike the Scott test, analytical techniques such as FTIR and GC-MS will give unquestionable results as to whether a sample contains cocaine, without false positives or false negatives.

Eligible adult children of NYSHIP enrollees may enroll in the Young Adult Option, and current Young Adult Option enrollees may switch plans, during the Option Transfer Period November 9–December 15, 2017. The Young Adult Option allows unmarried, young adult children under the age of 30 to purchase their own NYSHIP coverage at the full-cost individual rate. Coverage applies only to medical benefits. Enrollment in the NYS dental and vision plan is not available through this benefit.

For additional information on the Young Adult Option, please visit www.cs.ny.gov/yao or call the Employee Benefits Division at (800) 833-4344.

Please note: Young adult children of NYSHIP enrollees are eligible to continue coverage as dependents under the enrollees’ family coverage up to age 26.

Kathy Kelly, coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, will speak on Tuesday, November 14, at 7:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center South 2.

This event is sponsored by the Communication Department in conjunction with the Western New York Peace Center.

Office 2016 for Mac and PC has been available for campus-owned computers for some time, yet few have availed themselves of the upgrade. We recommend you make time to upgrade your campus-owned computer (desktop or laptop) to the latest version of Office 2016. While Office 2013 is still supported by Microsoft with security patches, it won’t be for long. Our students use Office 2016, and Office 2016 is installed in campus labs. 

How Do I Upgrade My Campus-Owned Computer to Office 2016?
Instructions for PC Users
Instructions for Mac Users

Office 2016 applications offer some great new features, including many new automations in Excel. Additional information on how to get started with MSOffice 2016 is available on the RITE Support website.

Office 2016 for Mac and PC has been available for campus-owned computers for some time, yet few have availed themselves of the upgrade. We recommend you make time to upgrade your campus-owned computer (desktop or laptop) to the latest version of Office 2016. While Office 2013 is still supported by Microsoft with security patches, it won’t be for long. Our students use Office 2016, and Office 2016 is installed in campus labs. 

How Do I Upgrade My Campus-Owned Computer to Office 2016?
Instructions for PC Users
Instructions for Mac Users

Office 2016 applications offer some great new features, including many new automations in Excel. Additional information on how to get started with MSOffice 2016 is available on the RITE Support website.