Are you trying to transfer content to your new section or make your course available and you just can't remember how? All you need to get ready for the new semester in Blackboard is available on the Instructional Resources website.

Please visit these links for answers to the three most frequently asked questions:

• Make Your Course Available in Blackboard
• Move Content between Courses
• Merge Course Rosters

If you need further assistance, please contact Michael J. DiFonzo, Blackboard trainer, ext. 3036.

Alice Pennisi, associate professor of art education, will present “Feeling Most at Home while Traveling” on Thursday, April 23, at 12:20 p.m. in Upton Hall 230. The final talk in the spring 2015 series “Artists on the Road: Travel as a Source of Inspiration,” her lecture will feature her extended travel to the Netherlands, Singapore, and Indonesia.

Pennisi said she “often feels most at home when in the place where she is packing to leave.” She will also touch on a few other places she has visited, particularly experiences and events she's witnessed that have affected her as an educator and artist. Please attend and encourage your students to attend as well.

This event is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by the Design Department and the International and Exchange Programs Office.

The Burchfield Penney Art Center announces a call for entries for Art in Craft Media 2015, on view Saturday, October 10, 2015, through Sunday, January 24, 2016, at the Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State College. Presented by the Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment for Fine Art in Craft Media, the 13th juried biennial exhibition celebrates and explores the contemporary work of fine artists of the region working with glass, wood, fiber, clay, and metal. Wayne Higby, artist and professor of ceramics at Alfred University, will select the works for the 2015 exhibition.

Eligibility
Artists must be current or past residents of Western New York state (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Genesee, Monroe, Niagara, Orleans, and Wyoming counties).

Works in clay, fiber, glass, metal, or wood that have been completed in the past two years will be considered.

Entry Guidelines
There is no entry fee. All entries must be submitted through Slideroom. Up to four works may be submitted, represented by one or two images for each.

Submissions should be in the format of digital images, 300 dpi at 4 x 6 inches (minimum), in either .tif or .jpg formats, uploaded via Slideroom. Each image must be clearly identified with the artist’s name and the work's title, date, medium, and size in inches (height x width x depth).

The artist's résumé should include the following: year of birth, education, selected recent exhibitions (include date, exhibition title, site, city, and state), collections, awards or honors, publications, and connection to Western New York.

Résumés and images from accepted artists will be filed in the Burchfield Penney archives.

Entries must be received by 5:00 p.m. Friday, May 29. Late or incomplete entries will not be considered.

Selection Process
Both traditional and contemporary works will be selected on the basis of quality, uniqueness, originality, and aesthetic integrity. All selections will be made by the 2015 juror, and all decisions are final. The Burchfield Penney curatorial staff has the right to remove any work that is not in proper presentable condition or is not as represented in the submission. Selected works must be available for the duration of the exhibition. Artists may not provide a substitute for a selected work.

2015 Juror
The juror for Art in Craft Media 2015 is ceramic artist and educator Wayne Higby, whose unique vision of the American landscape and its manifestation in work ranging from vessel form to tile, sculpture, and architectural installation has brought him international recognition. His work is held in the collections of numerous art museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London; and the National Museum of Modern Art, in Tokyo. He is professor and Robert C. Turner Chair of Ceramic Art at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, where he has also served as chair of the Division of Ceramic Art.

Purchase Award
One or more works will be selected for the permanent collection of the Burchfield Penney Art Center; up to $3,000 in purchase awards will be made. Artists whose works are purchased must transfer full title for the awarded work to the Burchfield Penney. One artist will be awarded the Langley Kenzie Prize, which includes a solo exhibition in the Sylvia L. Rosen Gallery at the Burchfield Penney in 2016.

The Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment
Sylvia L. Rosen is a respected potter and educator who taught ceramics at SUNY Buffalo State, the University at Buffalo, and Amherst Senior High School. In 1987, she and her husband, Nathan, created the Sylvia L. Rosen Endowment for Fine Art in Craft Media at the Burchfield Penney Art Center, which has made possible juried biennial craft art exhibitions with purchase awards, alternating with biennial craft art lectures by field specialists. The first exhibition took place in 1988. Since then, these events have been a major force in the advancement and recognition of craft media in Western New York.

For more information about the exhibition or submitting work, please contact Robert Cutrona, Burchfield Penney registrar.

The Burchfield Penney will host its third annual Spring Artists Sale on Friday, May 1, from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, May 2, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The sale will feature the work of more than 35 artisans as well as specials in the Museum Store. And who knows what Jerry will cook up in Burchfield's Café!

This event brings together more than 35 invited artists and artisans for a unique gift sale, which also serves as a fundraiser for the Burchfield Penney Art Center. All artists will donate a percentage of their sales to support the ongoing mission of the museum.

A wide variety of functional and decorative art and artisan goods will be available for sale including textiles, pottery, jewelry, handmade journals, wreaths, glassware, purses, art prints, bath and body products, photography, and note cards.

Featured artists include Amy's Felted Vessels, Aremel Soaps, Art FX Glass, Avalon, Dayna Banka-Slone, Sarah Blackman Jewelry Design, Blessings by Nature, Buffalo Gal Organics, Buffalo History Buff, C Designs & Illustrations, Patty Cancilla Art, Rosanna Cappelino, Christine's Wild Imagination, Gretchen Cole Jewelry, Creekside Art & Pottery, Cristales del Mar, Eileen Graetz, Goldhawk Pottery, Illusions 3rd Eye, Alison E Kurek, Leatherbarrow Glass, Little Wood People by Barbara Hart, Lumpy Buttons, Junko McGee, Dulcie Miller, Ronna Mink, Raveloe Fibers, roadkiln by Shaun Silverwood, Simplesong Studio, Steps & Stones, Western New York Book Arts Center, Wishes & Dreams LLC, and Zen Joy.

More information is available on the Burchfield Penney website. RSVP on Facebook and invite your friends.

The following Blackboard training sessions and workshops will be held this week. Please register online. All sessions will be held in Bulger Communication Center 104.

Blackboard Learn 9.1: Open Lab
This lab is an open forum devoted to answering questions and solving problems that faculty members may have about navigating Blackboard Learn 9.1. Bring your course-specific questions and have them answered here.
Tuesday, April 21; 10:00–11:00 a.m.

Blackboard Learn 9.1: Enterprise Surveys
Enterprise Surveys is a system tool that provides a way to collect feedback from specified groups of people. Surveys can be sent to any selection of courses or departments or the entire institution. Surveys can also be sent to e-mail addresses outside the system. This training will focus on how to create a survey in Blackboard, how to deploy it in the most efficient manner, and how to create a report to analyze the results.
Wednesday, April 22; 1:00–2:00 p.m.

Blackboard Learn 9.1: Retention Center
Blackboard’s Retention Center is an early alert and monitoring system that provides an easy way for you to quickly identify which students in your course are at risk. You can communicate with struggling students and help them take immediate action for improvement. You can also keep track of patterns over time. This training will focus on using Blackboard's Retention Center, creating Grade Center grading color codes to identify specified criteria, and producing Smart Views. Smart Views are focused views of the Grade Center. Any number of Smart Views can be created based on a variety of criteria, including grading periods, categories, and performance.
Wednesday, April 22; 10:00 a.m.–noon
Thursday, April 23; 10:00 a.m.–noon
Friday, April 24; 10:00 a.m.–noon

A complete schedule of upcoming Blackboard training sessions and workshops is also available. Please register online.

Greg McLaughlin, senior research scientist at Albany Molecular Research Inc., will present "Forensic Method Development and the Raman Spectroscopic Analysis of Body Fluids" at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 23, in Science Building 272. This seminar series is sponsored by the Faculty-Student Association. An abstract of his talk appears below.

Abstract
Several recent discoveries demonstrate that Raman spectroscopy has a unique capability to characterize body fluid traces in a forensic capacity. This approach has thus garnered interest in the forensic community since 2008, when a proof of concept experiment established that blood, semen, vaginal fluid, sweat, and saliva are easily differentiable through their Raman spectra. This analytical approach provides several desirable traits for the field of forensic science. Raman spectroscopy is nondestructive and confirmatory by nature, and has the potential to be rapid and field applicable. The previous work on the forensic analysis of body fluids with Raman spectroscopy has primarily performed under best-case conditions. The research here focuses on exploring the practical capabilities and limitations of Raman spectroscopy as a tool to identify body fluids. In particular, species differentiation and the effect of substrate interference and laser power are explored. The applied methodology and resulting discoveries have foundational importance and applications beyond a forensic context.

Please join the Biology Department for the seminar "Design of Catalytic Function in Proteins," presented by Elizabeth Raymond, Ph.D. candidate from the Department of Chemistry at Syracuse University, on Tuesday, April 21, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Technology Building 160.

All faculty, staff, and students are welcome.

Seminar Abstract
Metalloproteins are an essential component of cellular processes. These diverse cellular processes are carried out with a relatively limited number of metal-containing cofactors that allow for different functionalities based on their interaction with the protein scaffold. Changes in protein tertiary and secondary structure as a result of allosteric ligand binding leads to modifications of the cofactor environment, which then drastically alters protein function. Producing novel catalytic function(s) in proteins that can be allosterically regulated has intrinsic practical utility and provides further insight on enzymatic processes found in nature. We have designed an allosterically controlled Kemp eliminase and retro-aldolase with minimal computational efforts. This allows for greater understanding of the interactions between protein scaffolds and metal cofactors that control changes in protein functionality. Such knowledge will have important medicinal, environmental, and energy applications.

Jason Bird of MetLife will conduct the workshop Tax Strategies on Thursday, April 23, from noon to 1:00 p.m. in Cleveland Hall 418.

This workshop will cover the following:

• The importance of tax diversification
• Maintaining accurate records
• Making the most of tax-deferred programs
• The difference between federal, state, and local taxes
• Rules for home sales, charitable contributions, and child-care tax credits

Register online (enter “SUNY Buffalo State”) or call (866) 801-3547. Space is limited. Lunch will be provided.

Faculty and staff members are invited to attend a free SUNY Faculty Development Community of Practice workshop on Friday, May 1, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Participants will attend the meeting at one of eight regional sites (listed below) to network face-to-face with other faculty developers in their region.

The meeting will feature a webinar presentation, "The Learning Brain" by Ed Bowen, director of consulting for Dallas Learning Solutions, part of the R. Jan LeCroy Center for Educational Telecommunications, a campus of the Dallas County Community College District. The center is home to the National University Technology Network, of which SUNY is an active member.

This event will bring together those who support teaching and learning and faculty and staff development efforts. It is designed for faculty developers; faculty or staff members associated with centers for teaching, learning, and technology; and librarians, instructional designers, or other staff members who are involved with supporting faculty in their instructional development.

Presentation Description
How reputable is brain-based education? Harvard University now has both a master’s and a doctoral degree in this field, known as the “Mind, Brain, and Education” program. There’s also a peer-reviewed scientific journal on brain-based education, which features research reports, conceptual papers, reviews, debates, and dialogue. But how do we translate these theoretical findings into practical guides? In this session, we will look at 14 ways to bring these findings into students’ learning environments.

Locations
University at Buffalo
Corning Community College
The College at Brockport MetroCenter Campus (Rochester)
SUNY Center for Professional Development (Syracuse)
SUNY Plattsburgh
University at Albany
SUNY Purchase
Suffolk Community College

For more information or to register, please visit the event website.

The Buffalo State chapter of the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association (NSSLHA) and the Speech-Language Pathology Department will host their fourth annual 5K Walk-Run fundraiser on Sunday, April 19, at 11:00 a.m. on Coyer Field; registration begins at 10:00 a.m. Proceeds will benefit Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo and the Buffalo State Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic. The registration fee of $20 goes entirely to the fundraiser, and the event is open to the public. For more information or to register, please download the 5K registration form (PDF).