SUNY Fredonia will host the Western SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference (SURC West) on Saturday, April 22. SURC is a multidisciplinary event, hosted each spring semester by a different SUNY institution, that brings together undergraduate student researchers and faculty mentors from across the SUNY system for activities. Sessions will include several formats: oral, performance, artistic displays, and posters. All academic disciplines are encouraged to apply and participate.

The application deadline for SURC West is Friday, February 17.

Detailed information about the SURC West conference can be found on the SUNY Fredonia website.

The Buffalo State Undergraduate Research Office will support conference participation for SURC West. Please contact Jill Singer, director of undergraduate research, if you plan to have one or more of your students participate in SURC West.

Buffalo State employees may now view and print their W-2 Wage and Tax Statements from any computer or smartphone through NYS Payroll Online. (Printed W-2 statements will continue to be delivered to home addresses via U.S. Mail.)

1. Log in to www.suny.edu/hrportal.
2. Click on the SUNY HR Self Service icon and verify your date of birth to obtain your nine-digit NYS Employee ID, which is required for initial log-in, at the top right of the screen. This number is also printed on your pay stub or direct deposit advice statement.
3. Click on the "Home" link at the top left of the screen.
4. Click on the NYS Payroll Online icon.
5. Complete the verification processes the first time you log in. You will need the nine-digit NYS Employee ID obtained from SUNY HR Self Service or from your pay stub.

Pay stubs can also be viewed and printed from any computer or smart phone. While you are logged in to NYS Payroll Online, you can also opt out of receiving paper direct deposit deposit statements.

Please note: You may need to enable pop-ups to view paychecks and W-2s.

Please call the Payroll Office with questions: 878-4124

Have your financial aid questions answered and be part of this campuswide dialogue, "Financial Aid Implications When Advising Students," on Wednesday, February 8, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in Butler Library 181B.

Each semester, roughly 1,000 Buffalo State students are notified that either they have lost or are at risk of losing their financial aid eligibility if their academic standing does not improve. Faculty and staff members who advise students can help guide them toward smart academic choices to keep them on track to retain or regain financial aid eligibility, which is vital for increasing student persistence to graduation. This workshop will address the relationship between academics and financial aid and how those who advise students can help them maintain their financial aid eligibility.

At this workshop, you will learn

• what information to consider before advising a student to add, drop, or repeat a course or increase or decrease a course load to ensure that his or her financial aid eligibility is not at risk;
• how and when Buffalo State reviews academic progress and determines financial aid eligibility.

Please note: The policy on Satisfactory Academic Progress for Financial Aid Eligibility is different from other academic policies on campus that govern a student's eligibility to continue taking courses. A student may be eligible to take courses at Buffalo State (e.g., as an academic recovery student or as a probationary student) but still be ineligible to receive financial aid. For additional information on the Financial Aid Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), please visit the Financial Aid website.

This workshop will be presented by Leasa Rochester-Mills, senior staff assistant for academic intervention and cocurricular activities; Linda Rainforth, associate director of financial aid; and Susan Wright, director of student accounts.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please join us for a two-part professional development workshop, "Reflecting-In-Action: Creating Caring Learning Spaces for Ourselves as Professionals," to help us examine the dialogues we have with colleagues on Tuesday, February 7, from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. (Part 1) and Tuesday, February 14, from 10:00 a.m. to noon (Part 2) in Butler Library 181B.*

With rapidly changing demographics in postsecondary settings and the country's evolving polarized social climate, it is more important than ever to deconstruct professional dialogue through a social justice lens. Students and professionals must have safe spaces to critically reflect and be conscious of how our own oppression can hinder the progress of becoming social agents. Embracing dialogue that we may define as “messy” and uncomfortable can help us to truly engage with people who are different from us in order to move from understanding notions of social justice to working as agents of social change. Please join us for this two-part workshop as we participate in exercises that help us examine dialogues we have with colleagues and become more authentic, caring professionals.

This workshop will be presented by Kimberly Kline, professor and chair of the Higher Education Administration Department. Light refreshments will be provided.

Register for Part 1 on February 7.

Register for Part 2 on February 14.

*Please note: Participants are strongly encouraged to attend both sessions.

What is phishing? Phishing is a social engineering (PDF, 408 KB) tactic used by nefarious human beings to trick you into providing your personal information. Once they gather it, phishers use your personal information for a variety of activities. These activities may include using your identity and credit to make purchases; using your computer to get into other computers or onto a network, where they can harvest the personal information of thousands of people in addition to yours; manipulating you to send them money; installing malicious software (malware) on your computer; or hijacking your files and requiring you to pay ransom to regain access to them. Rather than try to get past security systems designed to protect networks, phishers go after you, the human. We humans are the weakest link in the chain.

Please take a moment to watch this video about phishing. Being aware of phishing techniques and being mindful when opening and reading e-mail will help keep you, your family, and the campus safe.

Please advise seniors who are graduating in May 2017 that the deadline to submit applications for May graduation is Friday, February 3. Students may download the form (PDF, 1.5 MB) or complete the form at the Registrar's Office in Moot Hall. The minimum number of credits for an undergraduate degree is 120; some majors require more. Students should contact their advisers with questions.

Please join faculty and teacher candidates visiting from Universidad Mayor in Santiago, Chile, for a presentation discussing Chile's education system on Thursday, February 9, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Bacon Hall 117. This event is sponsored by the International Professional Development Schools program.

Butler Library is offering a series of workshops for faculty members on such topics as using citation managers and understanding scholarly impact. Discover more about what the library has to offer and how librarians can help you in your research and in your classroom. Each workshop will run for one hour and will be held in the Professional Development Center, Butler Library 181B.

The full workshop schedule:

Library Engagement Workshop for Faculty
Tuesday, January 31; 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, February 23; 10:00 a.m.
Monday, March 13; 2:00 p.m.

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Understanding Scholarly Impact
Thursday, March 2; 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 4; 12:30 p.m.

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Using Citation Managers in Your Research
Wednesday, April 12; 2:00 p.m.

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Introduction to U.S. Census Data Tools
Tuesday, February 7; 12:30 p.m.

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For more information or to register, please visit the Workshop Registration System. Please call the Butler Library Reference Desk at 878-6300 with questions.

Buffalo State’s Undergraduate Research Office recently introduced two new opportunities for student and mentor collaboration—the Early Undergraduate Research Opportunity (EURO) Program and the Second-Year Undergraduate Research (SYUR) Program.

The EURO program provides Buffalo State students with an early undergraduate research, scholarly, or creative experience by serving as an assistant. Recruited students support more advanced students (undergraduate and graduate) or a faculty member's research, scholarly, or creative activities. The program strives to broaden participation and support the college's efforts to engage early-career students and increase retention, especially of those who have demonstrated strong performance in their coursework at Buffalo State.

Proposals that strongly align with these goals are encouraged and will be more competitive for available funding. For the spring 2017 pilot round of this program, we anticipate supporting 25 early undergraduate research assistants. Support for the student is limited to $1,000 (based on 100 hours at $10/hour) with an additional $200 per student available to support supplies for the student assistant's project. Faculty members from all academic programs are encouraged to apply. Review of applications started January 15, 2017, and applications will be accepted until all available funding has been allocated.

The SYUR program provides students with opportunities to learn about the research process and conduct course-based research early in their academic experience. The program reflects the college's efforts to engage early-career students and increase retention. Proposals that strongly align with these goals are encouraged and will be more competitive for available funding. For the fall 2017 pilot round of this program, we anticipate supporting up to eight special sections of courses typically offered in the second year. Participating faculty would receive a $1,000 stipend and a student assistant to help with the oversight of projects. The number of assigned student assistants would increase depending on the course enrollment.

Applications are being accepted for both programs. More information and the online application are available on the Undergraduate Research website.

Waitlists for spring 2017 will be turned off at the end of the second day of classes (11:59 p.m. Tuesday, January 24). However, students who are already on a waitlist will continue to have the opportunity to register for the class if a seat becomes available before the end of the drop/add deadline (11:59 p.m. Sunday, January 29). Additional information on waitlisting can be found on the Register's Office website.