Weigel Health Promotions will provide an educational workshop on the tobacco-free policy on Friday, January 31, at 2:00 p.m. in Caudell Hall 116. This workshop and training is offered to all students, faculty, and staff members who would like more information about the tobacco-free policy and how to approach and educate others. Registration is appreciated but not required: e-mail Paula A. Madrigal.

Those who complete the training will learn how to talk about the policy, the history, and the purpose. After completing the training, attendees will have the knowledge and skills to approach others (including those in violation of the policy, should they so choose) and have a respectful and appropriate conversation with them about the policy. Any student, staff, or faculty member may sign up for this training.

Trainings are about 90 minutes long and are held monthly. The following training sessions are scheduled:

Friday, January 31
2:00–3:30 p.m.
Caudell Hall 116

Friday, February 28
3:30–5:00 p.m.
Cleveland Hall 418

Certificates will be provided upon completion of the training for anyone who would like to sign up as an ambassador of the tobacco-free policy.

Tobacco-free ambassadors will help promote the tobacco-free policy by taking an active role in informing people that a tobacco-free policy is in effect. A large majority of Buffalo State students and employees support a tobacco-free environment, so we are inviting volunteers to be trained in effective ways to speak up when they see tobacco being used. To volunteer, please fill out this online form. If you have questions, please call the Health Promotions Office at ext. 4719.

All those who complete the training, especially ambassadors, are encouraged to return to future trainings to discuss their experiences when addressing this topic with others and to provide advice and insight to new ambassadors and others.

To request this training for a class or group, please complete and submit this form: Tobacco-Free Workshop

Please note: The policy is not up for discussion or debate in these trainings. This is an educational opportunity where information, skills, and resources will be reviewed and questions answered. If you have any questions, please contact Paula A. Madrigal.

VALIC Financial Advisors will conduct the workshop "Social Security and Your Retirement," led by Jeffrey Otterstein, on Tuesday, February 11, from noon to 1:00 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210.

You'll learn

• how Social Security benefits affect retirement,
• what married couples can do to increase their overall benefits,
• how to maximize your retirement income.

Guest speaker Marianne Koenig, Esq., will also briefly discuss wills, estates, and trusts and the use of these tools in a financial plan.

Visit VALIC online for additional information and to register. Space is limited. Lunch will be provided.

The most recent financial crisis that wracked the global economy bears a striking resemblance to crises of the recent past (and, most likely, to the next crisis, which some economists warn is not far off). Few people have gone to jail for the damage their actions caused. Tonight at 6:00 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo State's Economics and Finance Department hosts the first in a series of films and panel discussions about the finance industry and the origins and consequences of the crises it often has a hand in provoking.

The first film is Brian De Palma’s 1990 film version of Tom Wolfe’s 1987 best-selling novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, a gleeful portrait of 1980s Wall Street excesses and malfeasance, race and class conflicts, and political corruption—in short, a portrait of an era that bears a great resemblance to our current predicament. Panelists include Buffalo State faculty members Albie Michaels, Bruce Fisher, and Ted P. Schmidt and Artvoice editor Geoff Kelly. Panel members will talk briefly before the film.

Workshops, classes, and discussions take place on Sundays and Fridays from February through May as part of the International Center for Watercolor. The new schedule begins Sunday, February 2, with a workshop with Rita Argen Auerbach. Friday lunchtime talks resume on Friday, February 7, at 12:30 p.m. with My Appreciation of Watercolor A Personal View: The Value of Value with Ric Feeney.

Nancy Weekly, head of collections and the Charles Cary Rumsey curator at the Burchfield Penney, will join art conservator Christina Taylor on Thursday, February 6, at 7:00 p.m. for a discussion on the restoration of New Moon #10. For the complete schedule of events, visit the Burchfield Penney website.

Contact Kathy Shiroki for more information.

Buffalo State Dining is constantly updating its programs to better meet the needs of its guests and to keep up with the evolution of food. We are excited to introduce our newest program, Dine with the Director. Have you ever wanted to talk one-on-one with someone from dining services to give your feedback, comments, or concerns? Well this is your chance. Sign up to dine with Manny Lezama, resident district manager at Buffalo State. Sign up by filling out a comment card in Buffalo State Dining's information center, located next to Spot Coffee in the Campbell Student Union Food Court, or by e-mailing Marissa Dinello.

For more information on Buffalo State Dining, please visit our website.

Join Francis R. Kowsky, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus, as he leads the Burchfield Penney Book Club for a discussion of his book The Best Planned City in the World: Olmsted, Vaux, and the Buffalo Park System (Designing the American Park). The book club meets the first Sunday of the month at the Burchfield Penney. More information is available online. New members are always welcome! E-mail Joseph Lonzi for more information.

Beginning in 1868, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux created a series of parks and parkways for Buffalo, New York, that drew national and international attention. The improvements carefully augmented the city’s original plan with urban design features inspired by Second Empire Paris, including the first system of “parkways” to grace an American city. Displaying the plan at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, Olmsted declared Buffalo “the best planned city, as to its streets, public places, and grounds, in the United States, if not in the world.”

Olmsted and Vaux dissolved their historic partnership in 1872, but Olmsted continued his association with the Queen City of the Lakes, designing additional parks and laying out important sites within the growing metropolis. When Niagara Falls was threatened by industrial development, he led a campaign to protect the site, and in 1885, succeeded in persuading New York to create the Niagara Reservation, the present Niagara Falls State Park. Two years later, Olmsted and Vaux teamed up again, this time to create a plan for the area around the Falls, a project the two grand masters regarded as “the most difficult problem in landscape architecture to do justice to.”

In this book, Kowksy illuminates this remarkable constellation of projects. Using original plans, drawings, photographs, and copious numbers of reports and letters, he brings new perspective to this vast undertaking, analyzing it as a cohesive expression of the visionary landscape and planning principles that Olmsted and Vaux pioneered.

Kowsky is a SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus of art history at Buffalo State. He has written articles and books on nineteenth-century American architects, including Frederick C. Withers, H. H. Richardson, and A. J. Davis. In 1998, Oxford University Press published his book Country, Park & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux. The New York Times called it "a handsome effort to rescue from comparative oblivion the architect who shared—sometimes more than equally—with Frederick Law Olmsted in the design of Central Park and other New York amenities." The book was reissued as a paperback in 2003 on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the creation of Central Park. Kowsky has also been a member of the NY State Board for Historic Preservation and is currently a trustee of the National Association for Olmsted Parks.

Participation is free for Burchfield Penney members; general admission applies to "not yet" members. General admission is free for Buffalo State students, faculty, and staff.

The Burchfield Penney's February e-newsletter is out now. Learn about the exhibitions and programs happening this month at the center. Not on our e-mail list? Sign up here. You can also follow the Burchfield Penney on Facebook and on Twitter.

February's M&T Second Friday in the Burchfield Penney celebrates the opening of seven new exhibitions tonight from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Biological Regionalism: Alberto Rey; Bridging the Great Divide; Brian Milbrand: Melt; Fly Fishing: A Celebration of the Stream; Charles Burchfield: Water; Family Tree; and Hydro-Graphic.

The Burchfield Penney Writers and Poets Series returns for the spring 2014 semester with a reading by Perry Nicholas and Robert Baxter at 7:00 p.m. A drop-in art-making workshop will take place in the studio classroom from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

More information is available on the Burchfield Penney website.

February's M&T Second Friday on February 14 in the Burchfield Penney celebrates the opening of seven new exhibitions from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.: Biological Regionalism: Alberto Rey; Bridging the Great Divide; Brian Milbrand: Melt; Fly Fishing: A Celebration of the Stream; Charles Burchfield: Water; Family Tree; and Hydro-Graphic.

The Burchfield Penney Writers and Poets Series returns for the spring 2014 semester with a reading by Perry Nicholas and Robert Baxter at 7:00 p.m. A drop-in art-making workshop will take place in the studio classroom from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

More information is available on the Burchfield Penney website.

Please stop by to check out the newly renovated English Department offices in Ketchum Hall 326—and if you visit during our open house on Tuesday, February 4, between 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., we'll have snacks!