The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning office (SoTL) continues its series of breakfast conversations focused on general education on Friday, March 4, from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. in Butler Library 181B, with a discussion of the articles “Why Can’t We Teach Students to Love Reading” and “Using E-book Annotations to Develop Deep Reading.” Both can be found on the Zotero website. RSVP to John Draeger, associate professor of philosophy and director of SoTL.

Future conversations will be held on the following dates. All meetings will take place on Fridays from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. in Butler Library 181B.

March 18
April 1
April 15

The Western New York Chapter of the American Meteorological Society will host the first of its spring 2016 seminar series presentations, "Climate Change and Food Security," presented by Subhashni Raj, on Tuesday, March 15, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Science Building 272.

Raj is a Kauffman Fellow pursuing her doctoral studies in urban and regional planning at the University at Buffalo. She came to UB as a Fulbright from Fiji. She holds a master's in urban and regional planning from UB; a postgraduate diploma in sustainable development practices in public policy from TERI University, in Delhi, India; and a bachelor’s degree in microbiology, chemistry, and zoology from Bangalore University. Her research looks at the intersection between climate change and food systems. She is also interested in food sovereignty and issues of justice and ethics in the food system. Raj is active in climate advocacy and has represented the Pacific at climate negotiations, working at the grassroots level to push for change.

In order to keep the Illiad Interlibrary Loan system running smoothly, the staff of Butler Library will be purging old Interlibrary Loan transaction records. Beginning Monday, March 21, completed transactions from 2004 to 2009 will be systematically removed. This means that any finished transactions older than seven years will be deleted. This cleanup will have no impact on current or open transactions. No action is required on the part of Interlibrary Loan users.

If you wish to retain a record of all of your finished transactions dating back to 2004, please log in to Illiad and copy the transaction details:

• Log in to https://buffalostate.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html.
• Click on All Requests.
• Copy the transaction details or entire tables that you wish to preserve, and then paste the text into Microsoft Word or other text file.
• Save the file on your hard drive or other storage device.

If you have questions, please contact Joe Riggie, information systems librarian, 878-6320.

The 18th annual Student Research and Creativity Celebration (SRCC) is scheduled for Friday and Saturday, April 29 and 30. The event is open to both undergraduates and graduate students.

SRCC applications are completed online. Access to the online application will remain open for students through midnight Tuesday, March 15. After this time, students can view their applications but cannot make any changes. Students cannot start applications after March 15.

Faculty mentors identified on SRCC applications will have through midnight Thursday, March 17, to review, edit, and approve applications submitted by their students. Only applications approved by mentors are considered complete; incomplete applications will not be reviewed for inclusion in the SRCC.

For more information, visit the Undergraduate Research website or scan the QR code on the event posters.

Please note: Many resources are available to help students prepare abstracts and artist statements, design posters, and prepare talks. Be sure to plan ahead to take advantage of the Early Bird printing discount. Poster design sessions will be scheduled in advance of the Early Bird printing deadline. Dates and times will be announced in the Daily Bulletin and posted on the Undergraduate Research website.

The Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship (USRF) program supports eight weeks of full-time research, scholarly, and creative activities. The USRF program is open to all Buffalo State undergraduates with a graduation date of December 2016 or later.

Each fellowship provides a student stipend of $3,000, a faculty stipend of $1,000, and $500 for travel, supplies, and/or equipment to support the project. Up to 26 awards will be made for research, scholarly, and creative activities taking place in summer 2016.

To learn more about the program, please visit the Undergraduate Research website.

Do you and your student want to find out more about the USRF program? Attend one of the following information sessions and hear about suggestions for identifying a project, completing the online application, resources for mentors, and program expectations.

Tuesday, March 8, 12:15–1:30 p.m.; Cleveland Hall 205
Wednesday, March 9, noon–12:50 p.m.; Cleveland Hall 205

Learn ways to increase your professional development through research and publishing opportunities in partnership with the Institute for Community Health Promotion (ICHP) Collaborative Research Initiative (CRI) during an information reception on Tuesday, March 1, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 210. Guest speakers will include Melanie Perreault, provost; William Wieczorek, ICHP director; Roswell Park IV, director of Academic Support Programs; and Andrea Nikischer, assistant professor of adult education. All faculty and staff members are invited to attend.

The Great Lakes Center will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Friday, April 15, from 3:30 to 6:00 p.m. at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. In 1966, under the direction of Howard Sengbusch, dean of arts and science, the Great Lakes Center was established along Buffalo's waterfront to conduct research and provide education in water resource management. Today, under the leadership of Alexander Karatayev, the GLC engages scholars, lake management professionals, and students in the study of the Great Lakes. Their work informs and ultimately advances the restoration of our life-sustaining resource: water. The Great Lakes contain over 80 percent of the surface water supply in North America.

The center also participates in the biological monitoring of the lakes to follow their ecosystem health. Karatayev's team includes 12 full-time staff members, several research assistants, undergraduate and graduate students, and collaborators worldwide. In addition to the waterfront location, with its stunning views of the international Peace Bridge and the Canadian shore, the center manages several laboratories on the Buffalo State main campus.

For more information, please contact the Great Lakes Center at 878-4329.

Buffalo State’s Women and Gender Studies Interdisciplinary Unit is excited to announce that Brittney Cooper, assistant professor of women and gender studies and Africana studies at Rutgers University, will present the keynote address "#SayHerName: Police Violence against Black Women and Black Women's Inclusion in Social Movements," on Thursday, March 10, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Classroom Building C122.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Cooper’s talk will turn a public eye toward police violence against black women and black women's contributions to related movements for social change. A short reception will follow her talk, and light refreshments will be offered. This event is free and open to the public.

Cooper is a prominent scholar of black feminist thought as well as a co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective and a writer for the collective’s insightful and influential activist blog. She also writes a weekly column on race and gender politics for the critical arts and culture magazine Salon, and she has regularly written about the Movement for Black Lives, more widely known as #BlackLivesMatter.

Cooper’s scholarly work centers on the black intellectual tradition, racial justice, hip-hop generation feminism, and race and gender representation in popular culture. Her forthcoming book, Race Women: Gender and the Making of a Black Public Intellectual Tradition (University of Illinois Press), examines the long history of black women’s thought leadership in the United States, with a view toward reinvigorating contemporary scholarly and popular conversations about black feminism.

For further information, please visit the event's Facebook page or contact Meg Knowles, associate professor of communication and coordinator of women and gender studies.

The campus community is encouraged to nominate deserving colleagues for the President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Advisement; Advancement of Equity and Campus Diversity; Career Achievement for Faculty; Career Achievement for Professional Staff; Faculty and Staff Mentoring; Graduate Research Mentor; Librarianship; Research, Scholarship, and Creativity; Service to the College; Teaching; or as an Undergraduate Research Mentor. Guidelines can be found on the Academic Affairs website. 

Starting this year, nominations are due electronically. Please submit nominations by Monday, March 7, to facultystaffawards@buffalostate.edu.

TEDx Youth @Buffalo 2016 will be held on Tuesday, April 19, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union Social Hall. Please register online to attend as a member of the audience.

TEDx Youth @Buffalo 2016 will provide youth with an experience they wouldn’t otherwise encounter. The half-day event will expose students to a wide variety of “ideas worth spreading.” Through the incredible energy of the event itself, the global live-stream, and the wide range of ideas, we’re trying to reach as many youth as possible.

Throughout it all, we want to answer the questions, How can youth make a difference now? How, as they continue to grow and develop, can they make a difference later? And how can we broaden their perspectives and open their minds along the way?

Everyone involved—sponsors, volunteers, speakers, attendees, and viewers—will become part of an ongoing conversation. TEDx Youth @Buffalo will serve as a platform for community building, encouraging connections across Western New York, and, through the global live-stream, across the world.