Elementary and secondary education faculty members, please share the following information with your undergraduate and graduate students:

Applications are available for the Joseph S. Sperrazza Scholarship, which provides an annual award to students working toward a degree in elementary or secondary education at Buffalo State. This endowed scholarship honors the memory of alumnus Joseph Sperrazza, a revered teacher and administrator with the Buffalo Board of Education. The deadline to submit applications is Friday, March 27.

For details or applications, please visit the Center for Excellence in Urban and Rural Education in Chase Hall 201 or e-mail Diane Mercuri, CEURE staff assistant.

Are you questioning what the strategy is in marketing Buffalo State to potential students and the community? How we are getting the word out about the stories and attributes that make this college a special place? Tim Walsh, associate vice president for college relations, will host a series of campus presentations this semester to provide an overview of the college’s marketing strategies, communication standards and policies, and available services provided by the College Relations team. Come to a Bengal Pause presentation to listen and provide your feedback and thoughts. Students, faculty, and staff members are encouraged to attend.

Presentations will be held from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 210 on the following dates:

Thursday, February 19
Tuesday, February 24
Thursday, February 26

Please encourage your students to take part in a one-question poll this week issued by the Student Philanthropy Council (SPC): What would you want for Buffalo State if you had $5,000-plus to spend on campus? Determine how funds raised from this year's 2015 Student Giving Campaign will be spent. Take the poll today!

For more information about the SPC and this poll, please visit the Giving website.

Thank you.

SPC Development Ambassadors

The Buffalo State Change Leadership Collaborative (CLC) will offer a three-part training program, "How to Become an Agent of Change," over three consecutive Saturday mornings, starting March 7. Participants will learn effective civic leadership strategies, including how to evaluate their leadership strengths, build and sustain a team, and plan and execute an effective strategy. Conducted by Eric Walker, community organizer and co-founder of PUSH Buffalo, the training is open to the community. Buffalo State students, faculty, staff, and alumni may attend at a reduced rate. The training will take place March 7, 14, and 21 from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Rockwell Hall 204.

Please register online. For more information, please contact Marnie Letzelter, assistant to the dean of the Graduate School, ext. 5609.

An informational meeting concerning the proposed 2015–2016 Intercollegiate Athletics budget will be held on Tuesday, February 24, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center West. Campus community members with a vested interest are encouraged to attend.

The Graduate School will hold a meeting of the graduate faculty on Friday, February 27, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Butler Library 210. All graduate faculty members are invited; chairs and coordinators of graduate programs are especially encouraged to attend.

The Buffalo-Lille Association Inc. is delighted to invite the campus community to attend the presentation "Picasso: Genius or Monster?" by Bonnie Flickinger on Tuesday, February 24, at 7:30 p.m. in Butler Library 210. This event is free and open to the public.

Please join the Idea Lab for its next meeting on Friday, February 20, from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. in Rockwell Hall 204. The Idea Lab's mission is to constructively share ideas, insights, and experiences that will facilitate the Buffalo State mission and advance creativity, collaboration, and research within our campus community and beyond.

Exceptional and innovative work is being conducted by faculty and staff members at Buffalo State. We believe that by getting together monthly for facilitated but informal conversations about the work we’re doing, our interests, and our projects—planned or under way—we will create a more innovative, interactive, and constructive campus environment. The Idea Lab is a grassroots project designed to strengthen our institutional capacity and create a platform for new collaborations and unexpected outcomes.

Everyone is welcome. For more information, please contact Sue McCartney, director of the Small Business Development Center, ext. 4030.

If you open a window, please remember to close it. Open windows are the direct cause of freezing and rupturing pipes. The resulting water damage can be extensive and expensive. Again, please close all windows before you leave for the night and especially before you leave for a weekend.

The Volunteer and Service-Learning Center (VSLC) has rescheduled its interactive session for faculty and staff members new to service-learning pedagogy and the practice of incorporating a community-based project into a course. Please join us on Friday, March 13, from 1:00 to 4:30 p.m. in Butler Library 208. Topics will include an overview of the theory and practice of service learning, support for converting a course to include a community-based project, and discussion of effective methods of incorporating student reflection to connect the service and course learning. Anyone interested in learning more about service learning is encouraged to attend.

Workshop leaders are Gary Welborn, faculty coordinator for service learning and associate professor of sociology, and Laura Hill Rao, VSLC coordinator. RSVP to ext. 5811 or vslc@buffalostate.edu.