Recently there has been a lot of chitchat in the security blogs about an Apple iCloud vulnerability, and a ransomware scam set about on multiple web sites to snare iPhone data. It’s been reported that Apple released an iOS upgrade on March 27 to combat this. Please download and install the new upgrade to iOS for phones, tablets, and any other mobile Apple device using iOS. And by the way, change your password!

Instructional Design and Training (IDT) will host an open lab every Friday between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. in Bulger Communication Center 122 during the spring 2017 semester. Faculty and staff members are encouraged to stop for one-on-one consultations with IDT staff members on campus-supported technologies. No appointment is necessary.

One-on one consultations are available for Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Collaborate, Clicker (response systems), Ensemble Video, Office 365, Smartboard, and Turnitin Feedback Studio. We will try to provide assistance with other campus-supported technologies as well.  

For scheduled training sessions on these technologies, please visit the Workshop Registration System.

The Grant Allocation Committee (GAC) requests proposals from individuals, departments, and student clubs and organizations for funding of programs, speakers, and events to take place during the 2017–2018 academic year.

The deadlines for submitting applications under this funding cycle are Friday, April 28, for fall 2017 program proposals; Friday, September 22, for fall 2017 and spring 2018 program proposals; and Friday, November 17, for spring 2018 program proposals. Applications for funding and complete details of requirements may be found on the Student Affairs website. In an effort to cut costs and in keeping with our efforts to go green, all proposals must be submitted electronically to marzolkl@buffalostate.edu, with one hard copy delivered to Cleveland Hall 519.

Questions about the GAC may be addressed to Kathy Marzolf, secretary 2, 878-4704.

Don't forget to read this semester's RITE Report. See what's new with campus technology, and what is coming soon, plus so much more.

Join your colleagues for Butler Library’s and SUNY OER Services’ free workshop, "Unlock Your Course," on Wednesday, April 5, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. in Butler Library 314, the library’s classroom computer lab.

Buffalo State faculty members are breaking ground with initiatives in affordability and open educational resources (OER). OER have numerous benefits, including increasing student engagement and improving affordability for students. At this workshop, you’ll hear from your colleagues at Buffalo State and from the new SUNY OER Services. Learn about best practices in OER adoption, and then receive hands-on support in opening a course of your own. Leave this workshop with practical skills in backward-design and OER adoption that you can bring to your course.

Space is limited; register soon. For more information, please visit the Butler Library website.

The Student Life Office, along with other campus partners, will host Commuter Appreciation Week from April 3–7. This week will be filled with fun activities, giveaways, and other special treats for Buffalo State commuters. For more information about specific events, please visit the Student Life website or e-mail Bailey Hornung, student activities assistant for commuter and class programming.

Participants of the inaugural Fostering Innovation in Teaching with Technology (FITT) Academy will share their project outcomes during the first session of the FITT Spring Symposium on Tuesday, April 4, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Technology Building 160. Kathleen O’Brien, lecturer and Campus House director, will share how she used Blackboard Achievements to design and develop a digital credentialing system to recognize her students' competency in specific skills related to hospitality. And Seth Oyer, assistant professor of communication, will share his project outcomes on online scavenger hunts to enhance interactive experiences for students in communication courses.

The FITT Spring Symposium, a signature event of the FITT Academy, is a series of final presentations by the academy's group of inaugural faculty participants. All presentations are open to faculty, staff, students, and guests.

Please join us for the lecture "Kent State: 1960s Student Dissent as a Working Class Movement," presented by Buffalo historian and longtime union and political activist Thomas Grace, on Wednesday, April 5, at 3:00 p.m. in Technology Building 160. Dr. Grace will discuss the history of student activism at Kent State University in the 1960s and early 1970s, including the killing of four students and wounding of nine others (including himself) by the Ohio National Guard in May 1970. His talk will be based on his recently published and critically acclaimed study, Kent State: Death and Dissent in the Long Sixties (University of Massachusetts Press, 2016).

A screening and panel discussion of the feature film In Search of a Nation, Part II of the "Addressing Othering with Oral History and Storytelling" event series, will be held Saturday, April 22, from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

In Search of a Nation (original title Desh Khojdai Janda) is a suspenseful story about the forgotten refugees from Bhutan and their search for a nation at a refugee camp in eastern Nepal. This movie was produced by Line Cross Movies and was distributed by the Ifacans International Foundation with generous support from Ifacns and its advocates around the world. In Nepali with English subtitles. A panel discussion with the artistic director and members of the local refugee community will follow the screening.

For more information, please visit the Anne Frank Project's People Power page.

The Addressing Othering with Oral History and Storytelling event series is sponsored by Buffalo State's Equity and Campus Diversity Minigrant Program, the Anne Frank Project, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

A screening and panel discussion of the feature film In Search of a Nation, Part II of the "Addressing Othering with Oral History and Storytelling" event series, will be held Saturday, April 22, from 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

In Search of a Nation (original title Desh Khojdai Janda) is a suspenseful story about the forgotten refugees from Bhutan and their search for a nation at a refugee camp in eastern Nepal. This movie was produced by Line Cross Movies and was distributed by the Ifacans International Foundation with generous support from Ifacns and its advocates around the world. In Nepali with English subtitles. A panel discussion with the artistic director and members of the local refugee community will follow the screening.

For more information, please visit the Anne Frank Project's People Power page.

The Addressing Othering with Oral History and Storytelling event series is sponsored by Buffalo State's Equity and Campus Diversity Minigrant Program, the Anne Frank Project, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center.