Help celebrate Geography Awareness Week by submitting your best photo in support of this year’s theme, "Geography of Food." Include your name and a title that conveys how your photo relates to the geography of food. Photos must be submitted in digital format and must have been taken by you. Be sure resolution is high enough to allow for enlargement. Limit of one photo per person. Submission of photos allows us unrestricted use.

Submit photo entries to geographyphotocontest@gmail.com. The deadline is Thursday, November 13. Contest winners will be announced at the Geography Awareness Week lunch on Thursday, November 20, during Bengal Pause (12:15–1:30 p.m.) in Classroom Building A209.

Open enrollment for the 2015 NYS Flex Spending Account (FSA) ends today, November 7. The account offers two benefits: the Health Care Spending Account (HCSAccount) and the Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAAccount).

The HCSAccount allows employees to set aside from $100 to $2,500 annually in pretax salary to pay for health-care expenses not reimbursed by health insurance.

The DCAAccount allows employees to set aside up to $5,000 annually in pretax salary for eligible child care, elder care, or disabled dependent care expenses. The DCAAccount employer contribution is available in 2015 for employees who are M/C or represented by CSEA, PEF, UUP, or NYSCOPBA. Pending conclusion of collective bargaining and ratified contracts, the employer contribution may also be available to state employees in other negotiating units. For employer contribution rates, please visit the FSA website.

Participants currently enrolled in the HCSAccount or DCAAccount must re-enroll to continue benefits in 2015.

Paperless enrollment is quick, easy, and secure. For program details or to enroll in the FSA, visit www.flexspend.ny.gov or call the FSA hotline at (800) 358-7202.

The November 7 deadline for 2015 enrollment will be strictly enforced.

Wendell Rivera, senior counselor in the Buffalo State Counseling Center, will present "Issues of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Children's Development" at the first brown-bag lunch presentation offered by the Institute for Community Health Promotion (ICHP) Collaborative Research Initiative (CRI) on Wednesday, December 3, from 12:10 to 1:15 p.m. in Butler Library 210. All faculty and staff members are invited to attend. RSVP to ext. 4853.

Open enrollment for the 2015 NYS Flex Spending Account (FSA) ends Friday, November 7. The account offers two benefits: the Health Care Spending Account (HCSAccount) and the Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAAccount).

The HCSAccount allows employees to set aside from $100 to $2,500 annually in pretax salary to pay for health-care expenses not reimbursed by health insurance.

The DCAAccount allows employees to set aside up to $5,000 annually in pretax salary for eligible child care, elder care, or disabled dependent care expenses. The DCAAccount employer contribution is available in 2015 for employees who are M/C or represented by CSEA, PEF, UUP, or NYSCOPBA. Pending conclusion of collective bargaining and ratified contracts, the employer contribution may also be available to state employees in other negotiating units. For employer contribution rates, please visit the FSA website.

Participants currently enrolled in the HCSAccount or DCAAccount must re-enroll to continue benefits in 2015.

Paperless enrollment is quick, easy, and secure. For program details or to enroll in the FSA, visit www.flexspend.ny.gov or call the FSA hotline at (800) 358-7202.

The November 7 deadline for 2015 enrollment will be strictly enforced.

Take a walk over to Rockwell Hall today to visit the Art Conservation Department's fall open house from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Meet our graduate students and faculty, view works of art undergoing conservation treatment, and learn more about the art conservation graduate program. This is a great opportunity to discover our program and explore the field of art conservation. Questions? Call ext. 5025.

The Art Conservation Department will hold its fall open house tomorrow, November 7, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Come to the second floor of Rockwell Hall to take a look at our graduate program. Our faculty and students will answer questions, and visitors will be able to see artwork undergoing conservation treatment. We rarely open our doors to the public, so don't miss it! This event is free and open to the public.

For more information, visit please visit the Art Conservation Department website.

Questions? Please call the department at ext. 5025.

The Hospitality and Tourism Department hosted a "housewarming" event last Thursday welcoming all majors to their new academic home in Buckham Hall. The department was relocated from Caudell Hall to Buckham Hall during the summer and will operate out of Buckham until returning to a newly renovated Caudell Hall in spring 2017. Majors attending were given an orientation to the hospitality facilities and updated on department activities. The event featured Joe's New York Style pizza, desserts from the hospitality baking class, and cupcakes from Raven Owuzu, a recent hospitality graduate featured as a panelist at the Year of the Innovator grand opening ceremony. School of the Professions interim dean Rita Zientek also gave remarks.

Through National Student Exchange, students have the opportunity to study for a semester or an academic year at one of the 200 participating colleges or universities at affordable tuition rates. Please contact Christine Frezza, ext. 4328, to schedule a class visit. Provide your students with this possibility for enriching their college experience and let them know about the upcoming information sessions on Thursday, November 6, from 12:15 to 1:00 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 219. Thank you.

Please join the Biology Department for the seminar "Bacterial Pathogens: Bacterial Diseases as a Response to Protist Predation," presented by Gerald B. Koudelka, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Buffalo, on Monday, November 10, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Technology Building 160.

All faculty, staff, and students are welcome.

Seminar Abstract
With approximately 10³¹ individuals, bacteriophages (bacterial viruses) are likely the most abundant organism on the planet. Bacteriophages often bear genes encoding exotoxins (e.g., Shiga toxin, diphtheria toxin, cholera toxin, and botulinum toxin), which cause disease in mammals. While these phage-encoded toxins harm mammals, these phages can be prevalent where mammals are not found. Predation by phagocytic predators is a major source of bacterial mortality, a possible explanation for the prevalence of exotoxin-encoding phage and bacteria; i.e., exotoxins are antipredator defense molecules.

Phagocytic protozoan bacterial predators have "prey detection" mechanisms that are similar to those of mammalian phagocytes. Therefore, the evolution and refinement of anti-protozoan strategies apparently selects for traits that also allow bacteria to ward off attack by human phagocytes, meaning the bacterial response to predation is an important driving force in pathogen evolution. Thus, humans may not be the original nor primary "targets" of exotoxins. Moreover, while exotoxins allow bacteria to ward off attack by human phagocytes, humans may be just innocent bystanders in the ongoing evolutionary arms race between bacterivorous protozoan predators and their bacterial prey.

I will discuss our evidence indicating the phage-encoded exotoxins evolved as a bacterial anti-predator defense strategy. I will also describe our work that has uncovered uncanny similarities between the molecular mechanisms of prey recognition by protists and phagocytic mammalian cells, along with novel aspects of how the exotoxins enter the predator and how bacteria and toxin-encoding phage may be evolving together to better target humans.

All Teacher Education Unit (TEU) members are encouraged to attend the Friday, November 14, meeting of the Teacher Education Council (TEC) from 1:00 to 2:30 in Cleveland Hall 418. Your participation is needed as we discuss issues important to teacher education at SUNY Buffalo State and prepare for the 2015 NCATE visit. Please contact Pixita del Prado Hill with any questions. (Note: This meeting will immediately follow the faculty workshop titled "Exploring Advocacy in Education and Community Engagement" from 11:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in Bacon Hall 117.)