From the Chair of the College Senate
The next College Senate meeting for the fall 2017 semester will be held Friday, November 10, at 3:00 p.m. in Butler Library 210. The meeting agenda will be posted on the College Senate website on November 2. Senate meetings are recorded and posted as podcasts on the College Senate website. Please visit the website to catch up on past Senate news, listen to podcasts of past meetings, or review meeting summaries. The College Senate Office is located in Cleveland Hall 211. Please stop by the office, call 878-5139, or e-mail Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, with questions or for general information.

Governor Cuomo's executive orders banning state-funded travel to the states of North Carolina (order issued on March 28, 2016) and Mississippi (order issued on April 5, 2016) remain in effect. The bans include travel funded by the Buffalo State College Foundation and the SUNY Research Foundation.

Please call the Accounts Payable and Travel Services Office at 878-4117 with questions concerning state-funded travel.

Please call the Foundation Accounting Office at 878-5304 with questions concerning Buffalo State College Foundation–funded travel.

Please call Buffalo State Sponsored Program Operations at 878-4114 with questions concerning SUNY Research Foundation–funded travel.

All members of the campus community are invited to attend the following campus presentations by candidates for the position of director of international education. All presentations will be held in Butler Library 208.

Candidate 1
Friday, October 27
1:00 p.m.

Candidate 2
Monday, October 30
1:00 p.m.

Candidate 3 (Canceled)
Thursday, November 2
1:30 p.m.

Candidates will give a 40-minute presentation, followed by a question-and-answer period. Copies of the job description are available by contacting Melissa Conwell, departmental assistant for Global Engagement. Attendees will be asked to provide feedback on the candidates to help inform the search committee’s recommendations.

A letter from David Morrell, SUNY university-wide benefits administrator, was recently mailed to the homes of employees who are enrolled in the SUNY Optional Retirement Program (ORP) or the SUNY 403(b) Voluntary Savings Program announcing a new retirement enrollment and management system called Retirement@Work.

As stated in the letter, beginning November 3, 2017, this easy-to-navigate online system will allow current participants to elect and manage their SUNY’s 403(b) Voluntary Savings Programs, also called the Tax-Deferred Annuity (TDA), and to designate investment providers and learn about plan benefits for both the ORP and the TDA, all from a central website.

Retirement@work will also allow newly eligible United University Professions (UUP) and Management Confidential (M/C) employees to enroll in and designate investment providers for the SUNY ORP.

A temporary freeze will prohibit any changes to TDA accounts from Friday, October 20, to Thursday, November 2, during implementation of the new system. If you wish to make any changes before that time, please have them to the Payroll Office by Friday, October 20, for processing.

More information will be provided over the next few weeks, including sign-on instructions and guidance on how to use the new system. The Benefits Office will notify employees when more information becomes available.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The next College Senate meeting of the fall 2017 semester will be held tomorrow, October 13, at 3:00 p.m. in Butler Library 210. The meeting agenda is posted on the College Senate website. Senate meetings are recorded and posted as podcasts on the College Senate website. Please visit the website to catch up on past Senate news, listen to podcasts of past meetings, or review meeting summaries from past meetings. The College Senate Office is located in Cleveland Hall 211. Please stop by the office, call 878-5139, or e-mail Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, with questions or for general information.

The Buffalo State community is saddened by the death of Ronald Matusiak, instructional support technician in the Engineering Technology Department (retired), who died on September 30, 2017. Funeral services were private.

The enrollment period for the 2018 Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) is October 2–November 6, 2017. PEP allows eligible employees to exchange previously accrued vacation leave for a biweekly credit toward the cost of their New York State Health Insurance. This program is available to eligible CSEA, PEF, and M/C employees. Sick leave credit cannot be exchanged under this program.

To participate, eligible employees must submit an election form to the Employee Benefits Office, Cleveland Hall 410, by Monday, November 6. Participants currently enrolled in PEP must submit a new election form to participate in the 2018 program.

The PEP description, including eligibility requirements and enrollment forms, is available in Cleveland Hall 410 or on the Human Resource Management website. Eligible employees will receive enrollment information through campus mail.

Please call the Employee Benefits Office at 878-4821 with questions or for additional information.

Initial July 1, 2017, Departmental Budget Allocations for state-appropriated accounts are now posted. Please send any account security access questions or requests to IFR and Recharge Accounting. Other questions about initial allocations may be directed to the Budget Office, 878-4312.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The next College Senate meeting of the fall 2017 semester will be held on Friday, October 13, at 3:00 p.m. in Butler Library 210. The meeting agenda is posted on the College Senate website. Senate meetings are recorded and posted as podcasts on the College Senate website. Please visit the website to catch up on past Senate news, listen to podcasts of past meetings, read minutes from past meetings, or review meeting summaries. The College Senate Office is located in Cleveland Hall 211. Please stop by the office, call 878-5139, or e-mail Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, with questions or for general information.

All faculty and staff members are urged to review the Buffalo State College Emergency Response Plan and to evaluate their role in the event of an emergency on campus. The college's Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program helps train people to better prepare to respond to emergency situations on campus. When emergencies happen, CERT members can give critical support to first responders, provide immediate assistance to victims, and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site. CERT members can also help with non-emergency projects that help improve the safety of the campus.

The University Police Department, 878-6333, is the central source for information on personal safety in our workplace. If you would like additional information, please review the resource list with phone numbers on the University Police website.