Registered Commencement marchers should have received confirmation e-mails in the past few days, detailing registered ceremony times and reporting instructions. Please contact Patricia Alessandra with any amendments to your registration. Marcher information and reporting instructions are provided on the Commencement marchers web page. The Commencement Committee thanks all Commencement marchers and volunteer ushers for their dedication in honoring the Class of 2014.

An authoritative web presence for every area on campus is critical to the success of Buffalo State’s enrollment, retention, advancement, and overall communication efforts.

To remain competitive, the college has moved to Drupal, a robust, open-source content management system. The College Relations Office has created multiple Drupal website designs that are accessible, feature-rich, and responsive (work on all devices). In addition, Drupal is much easier to use than Ingeniux, and maintenance can be performed via any web-enabled device.

All academic departments and schools and many high-profile offices have already been transferred into Drupal. The College Relations Office is now working with remaining offices, centers, and programs that need to move into the new system.

Timeline
The Ingeniux server (www1) will shut down effective December 30, 2014. At that time, Ingeniux sites will no longer be accessible. If you have an existing Ingeniux site that should be migrated over to Drupal, please contact Melissa Meehan, director of web administration.

Migration Exceptions
The following sites will not be migrated into Drupal:

• Very low traffic sites or sites that were established for short-run, event-specific purposes, and completed initiatives
• Sites that have not been updated since January 2010

If you have any questions or are ready to migrate your site, please contact Melissa Meehan.

Please join us for our final student presentation of the semester, "Julien Offray de La Mettrie: L'Homme et L'Homme Machine," a philosophy honors thesis presented by Troy Caruana, philosophy and French dual major and 2013–2014 George T. Hole Scholar, on Thursday, May 15, at 11:30 a.m. in Bishop Hall 242. Caruana received the 2013–2014 Dean's Award for Excellence in Philosophy. His thesis director was Kimberly Blessing, department chair and professor.

A group of teaching and learning center leaders from eight SUNY campuses have joined efforts to create a certificate program in teaching and learning that will assist faculty members and instructors in planning a well-articulated, systematized path for professional development. The program aims to create a standard curriculum for faculty that will raise the level of teaching throughout SUNY in a consistent and reliable manner.

In the spirit of collaboration across the SUNY system, we would like to tap into our collective expertise for the development and delivery of program courses. We are currently looking for assistance in developing and teaching the following core course offerings:

• Essential Communication Skills for Teaching
• Learning Theories and Effective Teaching Practices
• Academic Policies, Laws, and Resources
• Evaluation and Assessment

For detailed information, or to submit a proposal of interest, please visit the Cvent website. Compensation will be provided through the extra service process. Submissions will be accepted through Saturday, May 31.

Questions? Contact Lisa Raposo, assistant director and academic programs coordinator, SUNY Center for Professional Development, (315) 214-2426.

Watercolor artists Jed Jackson and Valia Oliver will present "Creating Color and Light-Opaque and Transparent Pigment in Watercolor" on Friday, May 23, from noon to 2:00 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center board room.

Join the artists at noon for lunch, catered by the Burchfield’s Café, followed by the presentations. Jackson will talk about his gouache technique, emphasizing picture building (layering, crosshatching) and the relative advantages and disadvantages of gouache as an opaque waterborne pigment application system. Oliver will show recent watercolors that explore novel figure-ground relations using transparent watercolor technique and advanced materials.

The cost is $12 for members and $20 for not-yet members and includes lunch, drink, and dessert. RSVP to Kathy G. Shiroki, ext. 3549, by Monday, May 19.

Learning how to talk about expectations in a way that solves problems requires accountability. We will explore the dynamics on a different level in this workshop on Thursday, May 22, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Bacon Hall 115. Research data show that when people see accountability as "someone else's job," they waste time, resources, and morale. How are your conversations going in the workplace? Are you using the Crucial Conversation model? Let’s get back to basics.

Lunch sponsored by United University Professions (UUP). Please register online through the Workshop Registration System. This session is part of the 2014 Pedagogical Institute.

The Small Business Development Center presents "Survive and Thrive: Essentials for Starting Your Own Business," a workshop covering all the essential information needed to start a business, on Wednesday,
May 21, 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 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 ext. 4030. For further information, please visit the SBDC website.

The list of raffle winners from Buffalo State’s Mexican Fiesta on Friday, May 9, is now available. Please call Melissa Slisz, staff assistant in the President's Office, at ext. 4102 to claim your gift. Congratulations to our raffle winners, and thanks to everyone who came out for this great event!

Come to E. H. Butler Library today to de-stress with these finals week events:

Buddy the Therapy Dog
Monday, May 12
2:00–4:00 p.m.
Buddy, a licensed therapy golden retriever, will teach you to relax when he comes to the E. H. Butler Library lobby to perform tricks and accept head-rubs. Buddy’s owner, Daphne Finnegan, brings her therapy dog to area residents through her practice, My Buddy and Me.

Peak Performance Chiropractic
Monday and Tuesday, May 12 and 13
10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m.
Peak Performance Chiropractic will provide posture adjustments, rapid release therapy, soft tissue muscle work, samples, and more in E. H. Butler Library. The table will be set up near the StudyQuad computer lab both days. Take a break from your work to realign and rejuvenate your body. Your brain will thank you.

When issuing a student a non-passing grade, such as E, F, U, I, or N, you must also report the student's last date of attendance when entering the grade online. This helps the Financial Aid Office determine whether a student unofficially withdrew and whether the student is able to retain the aid he or she received.

The last date of attendance is the last date the student sat in class, took an exam, handed in homework, or actively participated in an online course. If you are assigning an I or N grade, the last date of attendance is the last date you met with the student to discuss progress in the course. If you have no record of the student's attending, do not enter a date. Instead use the grade EV, which indicates that the student never attended the course.

Questions regarding this policy or procedure should be referred to the Financial Aid Office, ext. 4902.