From the Dean of the Graduate School
An information and planning meeting to form a Conflict Analysis and Resolution Interdisciplinary Unit will be held Monday, November 20, at 2:00 p.m. in Butler Library 208.

The purpose of the unit will be to develop curriculum for a master’s degree and certificate in conflict analysis and resolution. A master's degree program in conflict analysis and resolution is not currently offered in Western New York or by any other SUNY campus, and because of its interdisciplinary nature and the wide range of disciplines from which participating faculty will be drawn, it is believed it will best be done through an interdisciplinary unit. RSVP to Marnie Letzelter, assistant to the dean of the Graduate School, if you plan to attend.

The Advanced Online Course Development Certificate Series prepares instructors to design, teach, and enhance online or hybrid courses using best practices of online teaching and learning. Learn how to strengthen your online and hybrid skills to enhance course design and increase student engagement.

Workshop Information
For the fall 2017 semester, the Advanced Online Course Development Series will be offered in an online asynchronous format. All learning and instructional activities will occur in Blackboard. This series is composed of the following four modules:

• Creating Interactive Content for Your Course
• Authentic Assessment
• Universal Design for Learning
• Open SUNY COTE Quality Review (OSCQR) Rubric

This online asynchronous series will begin on Wednesday, November 1, and end on Thursday, December 14.

For more information about the Online Course Development Certificates, please visit the?Instructional Design and Training website. 

If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Brooke Winckelmann, instructional designer.

Register for the online asynchronous Online Course Development Series.

An introductory workshop on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) review process and ethics training requirement will be held on Tuesday, November 7, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Buckham Hall B-145.

Before the review process, researchers must be sure that their project is, in fact, research with human participants as defined by the federal government. To qualify as research with human participants, the following must be true: (1) The participants must be living. Thus, oral history projects fall under the guidelines, but research involving diaries kept in the 1800s does not. (2) The project is a systematic investigation; that is, it is designed to be a study. For example, instances in classrooms where teachers ask students’ opinions on the material to gauge progress are not research; however, if that same teacher designs a study to evaluate two methods of teaching the material to see which is more effective, this would be research if the third criterion is met. (3) The project is designed to contribute to the generalized knowledge. To qualify as research, the person conducting the project must intend for it to be disseminated at some level.

On our campus, we also review student projects that may not be disseminated but that meet the first two criteria so that our students will learn the process of research with human participants and because we have contracted with the federal government to do so.

We introduced the SUNY RF PACS modular system in January, and IRB was the first component to be activated at Buffalo State College. The IRB module provides a streamlined way for researchers to create and submit protocols for studies involving human subjects. It provides support for initial submissions, modifications, reportable new information, and continuing reviews.

RSVP to Gina Game, IRB administrator, by Thursday, November 2.

Buffalo State College’s Engineering Technology Department hosted more than 100 members of the Buffalo Niagara Manufacturing Alliance and the WNY Workforce Training Center’s Advisory Committee on October 17. Attendees learned more about Buffalo State’s manufacturing, engineering, and technology programs while receiving student-guided tours of the Technology Building and the department's laboratories.

The WTC, located at 683 Northland Avenue, will co-locate two training facilities—an Advanced Manufacturing Training Center and a Utility of the Future and Clean Energy Training Center—that are expected to train 300 to 400 students yearly in manufacturing and energy jobs.

“This tour provides an excellent opportunity to showcase the strengths of our students, programs, and faculty," said Mohan Devgun, professor and chair of the Engineering Technology Department. "It's also a great opportunity for our students to interact with regional manufacturing industry executives. The department is very appreciative to the BNMA executive director, Mr. Peter Coleman, for reaching out to Buffalo State.”

The Engineering Technology Department offers three undergraduate degree programs—electrical engineering technology, mechanical engineering technology, and industrial technology—along with a master's in industrial technology.

Please join us for the professional development workshop "Polarity Management: Overcoming Paradoxical Challenges at Work and in Life," presented by Melissa J. Miszkiewicz, director of RITE strategic partnerships, on Thursday, November 16, from 12:15 to 1:45 p.m. in Butler Library 181B. Lunch will be provided, sponsored by the Buffalo State chapter of United University Professions (UUP).

What if the problem you are trying to solve is really a polarity? Polarities are dilemmas or paradoxes that have two or more right answers, which are interdependent. For example, if you were told that a campus program needs to be structured and flexible rather than employing traditional problem-solving techniques to identify an “either-or” solution, you can use polarity management strategies to identify how to successfully make the program both structured and flexible.

Participants in this session will learn to distinguish a manageable polarity from a solvable problem, identify polarities, select a polarity, and, using Barry Johnson’s framework, map the polarity to a long-term resolution. Polarity management provides a new lens for framing and overcoming challenges in life and in the workplace.?

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Students are now able to view their registration start date or time ticket under "Registration Status" in Banner. The registration start date for continuing undergraduate freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors is based on earned credit hours only. Students should not count the "in progress" credit hours for which they are currently registered for fall 2017. Registration begins at 6:00 a.m. on the assigned date and is then continuous. Registration start dates will be from November 1 to 13 inclusive.

Students can also view any holds they may have. Holds should be resolved at least two business days before the student intends to register. Additional hold information is available on the Registrar's Office Registration web page, including Hold Codes and Who to Contact.

Students can also search for January Term and spring 2018 courses. Students can see course listings by searching directly in Banner under "Look Up Classes."

Both the J-Term and Spring 2018 master schedules are now available online on the Registrar's Office Courses web page. Hover your cursor over the advising codes in the online listings to see a window with the code definitions for that section.

Continuing students registered for fall 2017 are expected to register for spring 2018 during the registration start dates November 1–13 or within two weeks thereafter. Please be sure to encourage students you are working with to register early to secure their desired schedules.

All students are encouraged to meet with an adviser to review the courses they need to take to stay on track for graduation. Department contact information can be found online. All undergraduate students are encouraged to register for at least 15 credit hours each semester to stay on track to graduate in four years.

Composition courses College Writing I and College Writing II are listed as CWP 101 and CWP 102 respectively. To find them in Banner, go to "Look Up Classes" and under "Subject" select "College Writing Program." In the online listing of courses, go to the undergraduate department listing "University College" and scroll down to the CWP listings.

Students are encouraged to use Schedule Planner, an easy-to-use online tool that makes schedule planning and registration easier.

Please bookmark the Registrar's Office Registration Tool Kit web page for quick access to this and other registration information.

Since fall 2016, all reports to the College Senate have been posted on the College Senate website. The most recent reports are from the October 13, 2017, Senate meeting.

Podcasts are now 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 podcast web page. Senate meeting summaries are also posted to the website after they are presented to the Senate.

Visual artist Fraser Stables, associate professor of art and associate chair of the Art Department at Smith College, will share stories about his work in photography, film, video, design, and architecture on Thursday, October 26, at 4:30 p.m. in the Czurles-Nelson Gallery atrium in Upton Hall. Mr. Stables is the co-founder of Atopia Projects. His work is represented by Georgia Scherman Projects in Toronto.

The CEP schedule for fall 2017 with Block Exam details has been posted online. Please be sure to bookmark for reference.

Both the J-Term and Spring 2018 master schedule links are now available online.