The campus community is invited to attend the 2015 Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony on Thursday, October 8, at 12:15 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall. Please join us as we recognize recipients of President's and Chancellor's Awards for Excellence, welcome new staff members, and celebrate the accomplishments of our colleagues on campus. A light reception will immediately follow the ceremony.

The Small Business Development Center will present “Survive and Thrive: Essentials for Starting Your Own Business,” a workshop covering all the essential information needed to start a business, on Tuesday, October 20, from 8:30 a.m. until noon in the Burchfield Penney Art Center (second floor). Specific topics will include creating a business plan; competition analysis; and tax, legal, and insurance issues. The workshop is free for Buffalo State College faculty, staff, students, and alumni and U.S. military veterans and $20 for all others.

Registration will take place immediately before the workshop, from 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. To register in advance, please call the SBDC at 878-4030.

Peter Yacobucci, associate professor of political science, will present a preview of the U.S. Supreme Court's October 2015 term on Wednesday, October 7, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center West 2. All members of the Buffalo State community are invited to attend. The cases under consideration by the Supreme Court this term include:

• The importance of race or ethnicity in university admissions and financial aid decisions

• The requirement of union dues in employment contracts

• Retroactively applying the court's prohibition on life sentences without parole for juveniles

• The general constitutionality and various applications of the death penalty

• The inherent cruelty of solitary confinement of prisoners

• Warrantless police searches of cell phones and other electronic communication devices

• The limits of voting rights based on race or ethnicity and the equality of voting districts

Please join our campus community to enjoy this interactive and informative presentation.

If your research project involves human participants, but you’re not sure how to proceed, please attend the Institutional Review Board (IRB) workshop on Thursday, October 22, at 12:15 p.m. in Butler Library 181B.

Before the review process, researchers must be sure that their project is, in fact, research with human participants as defined by the federal government. In order to qualify as research with human participants, the following must be true: (1) The participants must be living. Thus, oral history projects fall under the guidelines, but research involving diaries kept in the 1800s does not. (2)  The project is a systematic investigation; that is, it is designed to be a study. For example, instances in classrooms where teachers ask students’ opinions on the material to gauge progress are not research; however, if that same teacher designs a study to evaluate two different methods of teaching the material to see which is more effective, this would be research if the third criterion is met. (3) The project is designed to contribute to the generalized knowledge. To qualify as research, the person conducting the project must intend for it to be disseminated at some level. On our campus, we also review student projects that may not be disseminated but that meet the first two criteria so that our students will learn the process of research with human participants and because we have contracted with the federal government to do so.

Light snacks will be provided. Please register through the CyberQuad Registration Workshop System.

Weigel Health Promotions will host and collaborate with other organizations on a variety of events throughout October in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, National Coming Out Day, Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, which includes Buffalo State's Bengals Against Drunk Driving (BADD) Week. Events this month include a therapy dog workshop with Horizon Health Services, I Love Consent workshops, and much more. We will also have tables in the Campbell Student Union every Monday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Information for specific events will be posted in the Daily Bulletin, events calendar, e-mail, and fliers, as well as on our social media pages. You can also check out our YouTube channel for more information about our office, programs, and events. 

Download our October 2015 Promotional newsletter (PDF) for details. Please visit our website or contact Paula Madrigal, wellness and prevention coordinator, 878-4719, with questions or for more information.

The Professional Development Center will present "All Stressed Up and Nowhere to Go," a practical, down-to-earth guide to dealing with those situations and people that seem to drive you crazy, on Wednesday, December 9, from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. in Butler Library 181B.

Participants will learn a model for becoming more influential in creating their experience of life so that stress stops becoming a problem and instead becomes a valuable signal. Participants will also learn how to

• deal more effectively with stressful situations,
• create a life with less stress in the first place,
• create a purposeful life,
• create more serenity in their lives,
• change the chemical makeup of their bodies to cope with stress,
• choose the energy that drives their choices,
• develop the courage to become the people they want to be.

Lunch will be provided. Please register online through the CyberQuad Workshop Registration System.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Correction: November 19, 2015
The original version of this announcement incorrectly listed the workshop date as December 7. The correct date is December 9.

There are many tips and tricks for working faster in Microsoft Outlook. Uncover those secrets and instantly put more time in your day with this professional development workshop on Monday, December 7, from 10:00 a.m. to noon in Butler Library 316. Presented by Leasa Rochester-Mills

Please register through the CyberQuad Workshop Registration System.

The Professional Development Center will offer the next session in the Teaching Commons series on Friday, December 4, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Butler Library 181B.

Teaching Commons, an ongoing roundtable discussion of twenty-first-century pedagogical practices, offers faculty and staff members the chance to share teaching successes and discuss ways to avoid common challenges. In this session, Bill White, director of faculty development, will lead a discussion on what we have learned during the semester.

Light snacks will be provided. Please register through the CyberQuad Workshop Registration System.

The Professional Development Center will host a StrengthsQuest workshop on Wednesday, November 18, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in Butler Library 181B. StrengthsQuest is a 30-minute online assessment designed to identify your top five talents or strengths (Clifton StrengthsFinder). The underlying principle of StrengthsQuest is that focusing on strengths, rather than concentrating on improving weaknesses, is the key to success.

We are looking for individuals who are interested in discovering their strengths and talents. This offer is limited, so RSVP to Ottilie Woodruff, director of professional staff development, by Wednesday, November 4. You'll receive a StrengthsFinder 2.0 book and a code to take the assessment online before the workshop. You'll find that StrenghtsQuest is a lifelong adventure!

Light snacks will be provided. Please register through the CyberQuad Workshop Registration System.

The Professional Development Center will present the workshop Customer Service in Higher Education on Monday, November 16, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in Butler Libraray 181B. This full-day class will analyze four primary communication styles and how they influence workplace interactions. The workshop will provide strategies for effectively presenting messages and ideas, and for gathering information from those with differing styles of communication.

Snacks will be provided. Please register through the CyberQuad Workshop Registration System.