A grant from Google has been awarded to faculty members Sarbani Banerjee, Neal Mazur, and Ramona Santa Maria of the Computer Information Systems Department to host a four-day CS4HS (Computer Science for High School) workshop June 27–30 for in-service teachers from Western New York high schools. With the goal of broadening participation in computing, participating teachers will learn various concepts of computer science and strategies for attracting students to computing. If you know of any in-service high school mathematics, science, or technology teachers who might be interested in attending, please encourage them to visit the CS4HS website and register for the 2017 workshop.

Weigel Health Center will offer ambulatory blood pressure monitors to interested faculty and staff members during the months of June and July. Nearly one in five people has high blood pressure, or hypertension, but is unaware of it. Almost 75 million people in the United States have high blood pressure, and 90 percent of adults ages 45–64 will develop hypertension. Hypertension increases the risk for heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States, and stroke, the third leading cause of death in the United States. Take an active role in your health and get your blood pressure checked regularly. Know your numbers!

Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring is a technique used to estimate true blood pressure over a 24-hour period. The monitor can be worn on a belt or in a pouch, but the blood pressure cuff must be worn on the participant's non-dominant arm for a full 24 hours. The monitor is programmed to take readings every 20 minutes when the wearer is awake and every 60 minutes when the wearer is asleep. While wearing the cuff, participants must keep their arms relatively still each time the cuff is inflating. Participants are also unable to shower or exercise while wearing the monitor. At the end of testing, results are downloaded and printed for the participant. The readings are very reliable, accurate to within 5 mmHg of readings taken with a manual blood pressure cuff.

Weigel Health Center is not responsible for treatment or follow-through on results but asks participants to follow up with their doctors accordingly. Weigel Health will not use the results of any tests performed for any purpose.

If you are interested in ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, please call Rita Sumers, registered nurse in the Weigel Health Center, at 878-6711. Please wear loose-fitting clothing the day of your appointment. The cuff will be placed on your nondominant arm.

We look forward to seeing you and answering any questions you may have.

If you missed a Senate meeting and want to catch up, podcasts of each meeting are now posted to the Senate's podcast web page. Senate meeting minutes and summaries are also posted to the website and distributed to Senate members with the monthly Senate packet.

The New York State Teachers’ Retirement System will hold its summer 2017 Pension and Retirement Education Program (PREP) seminars on Wednesday, July 12, and Tuesday, August 1, at the Holiday Inn Buffalo Airport.

The seminars will include information on NYSTRS benefits; financial planning; Social Security; estate planning; retirement: a new beginning; and the retirement process.

Seminars run from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.; check-in begins at 8:00 a.m. PREP seminars are free, and spouses and partners may also attend, but advance registration is required. Seminars fill up quickly, so book early. Visit NYSTRS.org using your My NYSTRS account ("my tools" tab) or call (800) 348-7298, ext. 6180, to register. When calling, you must provide your Employee ID or Social Security number, e-mail address, and phone number. 

Please note: Seminars are not designed for one-on-one retirement counseling. Individual benefits consultations may be scheduled year-round online or by phone through NYSTRS.

The Graduate School will host a recruitment table at Larkin Square's Food Truck Tuesdays on May 23 and July 25 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Consider stopping by to enjoy food from dozens of local food trucks and say hello.

A special thank-you to College Council member Leslie Zemsky for offering this opportunity for the Graduate School to gain greater exposure in the community.

The following Blackboard professional development workshops will be offered in June:

Blackboard: Collaborate Ultra
Blackboard Learn 9.1: Introduction
Blackboard Learn 9.1:Assessments
Blackboard Learn 9.1: Grade Center
Blackboard Learn 9.1: Collaboration Tools
Blackboard Learn 9.1: Rubrics

Detailed descriptions of each training session (PDF, 66 KB) are available on the RITE website. All sessions will be held in Bulger Communication Center 122 or in an online webinar format. Workshops can be taken independently or as part of the Blackboard Specialization Certificate Series.You have the opportunity to earn the certificate over the course of three weeks.

All workshops are suitable for instructors teaching face-to-face, hybrid, or online courses. All workshop presentations will be one hour and are limited to 10 participants. The instructor will be available for an additional 30 minutes after the workshop for questions and discussions (optional).

Please register online for the Blackboard Learn 9.1 workshops or for Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. 

Please join us to celebrate Buffalo State Day at Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York, on Wednesday, June 21, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Observe the students in the 2017 Buffalo State Archaeological Field School as they excavate a portion of a Revolutionary War soldiers' barracks. Tour the French Castle, enjoy the grounds, and see the Visitor Center. Historical demonstrations run from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Buffalo State students, faculty, staff, and their families can visit free of charge with a valid Buffalo State ID card.

Guo-Qiang Yang, vice president of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), will present "Fluorescent Probes: Molecular Design and Application in Cells" on Tuesday, May 23, from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 161. Dr. Yang is a research professor in the Institute of Chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and secretary general of the Chinese Chemical Society.

The main focus of Dr. Yang’s research team is to study the design, synthesis, properties, and mechanism of action of organic photochromic compounds, including the effects of molecular structure, supramolecular structure, and aggregation structure on the luminescent properties and nonlinear optical properties under high-pressure conditions, as well as the luminescent properties and electronic structure of the impact of its mechanism. They also study the new fluorescent probe system design and analytical performance. In addition, they also study the extreme ultraviolet photoresist and its applications.

In support of a statewide flag retirement initiative, Buffalo State’s University Police Department (UPD) will collect worn and tattered flags at the Chase Hall dispatch desk from Thursday, May 18, to Wednesday, May 24. The collected flags will be properly retired with respect and honor as part of the Memorial Day Watchfire, hosted by the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 103, on Sunday, May 28, at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York. All flags collected will be properly folded prior to disposal.

"This year, across New York, we are offering drop-off locations statewide to ensure that old, worn American flags can be retired with respect and honor," said New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo. "If you or any of your friends or neighbors are in possession of a tattered flag, I encourage you to visit one of our various drop-off locations across the state to allow the flag to be properly disposed of."

All collected flags will be delivered by UPD to the Senator Walter J. Mahoney State Office Building, 65 Court Street in Buffalo, for transport to the Memorial Watchfire.

Questions about this undertaking may be e-mailed to police@buffalostate.edu.

Three hundred twenty-one individuals have completed training, and 27 are in progress, but 236 have not yet started training! Please complete your training. Completion reports will be shared with vice presidents and deans. Thank you.