The agenda, formal materials, and an update of actions taken at the October 2007 meeting of the College Senate have been posted. Three items were presented at the October meeting for consideration and action at the November meeting relating to (1) suspension of BSC 301 until 2010; (2) definition of upper-division courses; and (3) approval of an award for faculty/staff mentoring of other faculty and staff members. Please visit the Senate Web site for additional resources.

To comply with New York State Ethics Commission regulations (Title 19 NYCRR Part 930 of the Public Officers Law), the college is required to annually report honoraria received by full-time faculty and professional and management/confidential employees. An honorarium is defined as "a payment, fee, or other compensation given to an individual for services rendered not related to the individual's official state duties." It also includes payment for travel expenses when the expenses incurred are unrelated to the employee's duties.

Examples of honoraria include compensation for delivering a speech, writing an article, or attending a meeting. Honoraria do not include salary, wages, or fees earned from outside employment. Faculty are not required to declare honoraria received within their academic disciplines.

Although reporting honoraria is required, obtaining prior approval of requests to receive honoraria is optional rather than mandatory. However, the college encourages employees to seek prior approval from the president's designee (your respective vice president) before engaging in an activity that leads to the receipt of honoraria.

If you receive honoraria during the period April 1, 2007, through March 31, 2008, and do not request prior approval from your vice president, you will be required to report the source, date, and amount of honoraria received to your vice president by May 9, 2008.

Information regarding reporting of honoraria can be found on the New York State Ethics Commission Web site. Questions should be directed to Susan Earshen, director of human resource management, at (716) 878-3042.

The April 11 College Senate meeting will be held at 3:00 p.m. in Classroom Building A122. The following voting will take place at the meeting:

Issues Relevant to Graduate Faculty and Graduate Students
Since October 2007, the Ad Hoc Committee on Graduate Issues has worked to formulate responses to the issues relevant to graduate faculty and graduate students. Please review the motion posted on the College Senate Web.

Service-Learning Designation for Transcripts
At the March 2008 meeting, a motion from the Instruction and Research Committee was introduced and discussed to create a service-learning designation for transcripts for sections of courses that included a service-learning component. The motion can be reviewed on the Senate Web site.

Academic Calendars
Academic calendars for 2008–2012 will be voted on at the College Senate meeting in April. The proposed calendars and relevant resolution can be found on the Senate Web site.

In compliance with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the rules promulgated therein by the Federal Trade Commission, Buffalo State College requires that all employees receive the following guidelines to ensure the security and confidentiality of customer records and information:

Control access to rooms and file cabinets where paper records are kept:

• All doors to office areas must be locked during non-business hours.
• Work areas where customer information is processed must be behind locked doors or otherwise secured during business hours.
• Guests should be escorted in areas where customer information is being processed.
• Guests should be restricted to areas that do not have customer information in plain view. Conversely, customer information should be kept out of areas accessible to students and the public.
• File cabinets used to store customer information must be secured in locked areas.
• Fireproof cabinets used to store promissory notes must be locked during non-business hours.
• Records containing customer information are to be retained only as long as they are valid, useful, and required to be retained. When no longer needed, paper, microfilm, and microfiche records must be destroyed by shredding. Electronic records must be destroyed according to current guidelines available from Computing and Technology Services. Retention guidelines are available from the Campus Services and Facilities Office.

Control access to information stored electronically:

• Workstations should be behind locked doors or otherwise secured.
• Employees should "minimize" any computer windows not in use, to prevent inadvertent breaches.
• Employees are encouraged to password-protect their workstations when not in use.
• Employees should use strong passwords for all systems (at least eight characters, alphanumeric).
• Employees should change their passwords every 60 days or less.
• Employees must not post passwords on or near their computers.
• Access to student and employee records systems will be granted only to those employees whose job duties require them to access customer information.

Protect our customers' information:

• Employees should respond to requests for customer information in accordance with theFamily Educational Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA). FERPA questions or potential violations should be referred to the Registrar's Office.
• Employees should refer to appropriate security policies as needed to ensure compliance.
• Employees must report any fraudulent attempt to obtain customer information to management, who should then report the attempt to the Vice President for Finance and Management's Office.

The Standards for Students Committee of the College Senate has set up an electronic forum for discussion of the number of credits students on probation should be eligible to take. Please view it and share your thoughts.

Please note the change from the previous notice of an April 7–18 voting period.

Four at-large and one University Faculty Senate position will become vacant on August 25. A call for nominations and information about candidates’ statements can be found on the College Senate Web site. Elections will begin on Tuesday, April 15, and continue through Friday, April 25. All individuals who received a recent letter regarding nominations for the College Senate elections are on a voting list of one of the units recognized by the College Senate and are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections. The electronic voting booth is also accessible through the College Senate Web site.

One day remains for nominations for the College Senate. These nominations close at the end of the day on Friday, April 11. Faculty members, faculty librarians, and professional and support staff whose total service in the College Senate would not exceed six consecutive years by the end of this term (September 2008–August 2011) are eligible to run for office. Nominees are asked to provide a short statement about their interest in serving as an at-large or University Faculty senator, and post their statements on the Senate electronic voting site. Details are provided on the Senate web site.

Individuals running for a senator position in another election may not also run for at-large senator or University Faculty senator while the other election is being conducted. If the other election concludes during the period when nominations for at at-large or University Faculty senator are still being accepted, eligible individuals may self-nominate for either position.

If you are interested in being a candidate or have questions about your voting status, please contact Vince Masci, (716) 878-5139. We look forward to your participation in the vital process of campus governance.

The New York State fire code requires fire drills to be conducted three times per year. Contrary to past practice, the State Office of Fire Prevention and Control now requires that drills be unannounced, with no accommodation for special circumstances (special events, exams, speakers).

Please be prepared to comply with required evacuation procedures.

Evacuation Procedure for Occupants

• When alarm sounds, proceed by the most direct means, in keeping with equitable distribution of traffic, to the nearest exit and stand at least 25 yards outside the building.
• Leave lights on.
• Close all doors.
• Turn off room fans; leave hood fans on.
• Turn off all electrical and gas appliances.
• Close doors to corridors; in the event of actual fire, leave doors in immediate areas unlocked.
• Reenter building when "all clear" is announced by college personnel conducting the drill.

For more information, visit our Web site, or call the Environmental Health and Safety Office, (716) 878-4038. Thank you for your cooperation.

Buffalo State is one of a small group of colleges and universities participating in a pilot test of the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA). The Buffalo State information is accessible through www.buffalostate.eduby clicking on College Portrait, the VSA Web-reporting template (bottom right of page).

The VSA is a collaborative project of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). Components of the VSA framework present transparent and consistent information regarding characteristics of participating public institutions, student engagement in learning, and core educational outcomes. Information presented in the VSA is designed to address calls for accountability in higher education and to expand understanding of public colleges and universities. All information is assembled from existing data elements. The VSA is not intended to serve as a marketing tool for colleges and universities or to replace campus individualized Web sites. More information on the VSA can be found atwww.voluntarysystem.org.

I invite members of the campus community to visit the Buffalo State pilot VSA template and to direct comments or questions to me.

The Internal Control Act of the State of New York establishes certain standards that define a minimum level of quality acceptable for internal control systems. These internal control standards apply to all operations and administrative functions.

Among these standards is one for execution of transactions and events. Specifically, transactions and other events are to be authorized and executed only by persons acting within the scope of their authority. Another standard provides that all transactions and other significant events must be clearly documented and that the documentation be readily available for examination.

Grading and grades constitute administrative functions that are subject to the internal control standards. The advent of online grading makes it all the more important that these standards be explicated and followed.

Therefore:

• The entry of grades for students taking any coursework at Buffalo State College or any subsidiary thereof must be carried out by the faculty member in whose course the student is registered.
• In the event the faculty member is for any reason unable to personally enter these grades, a delegate must be named. This delegation must be approved in advance by the faculty member’s department chair and dean. The process for this approval will be as follows:

The faculty member shall, no later than two weeks prior to CEP, petition in writing to the dean via the department chair for permission to delegate to a specific individual. If approved, the faculty member and the delegate shall be advised in writing. The original request to delegate grading and a proven copy of the approval shall be retained in the dean’s office for inspection as needed. The two-week deadline may be waived by the dean in emergency situations.

• Under no circumstances may a faculty member delegate grading entry responsibility to an employee who is a student at the college.

From the Vice President and Chief Information Officer
I am pleased to announce the promotion of Don Erwin to senior associate vice president for information services and systems.

Don has displayed significant leadership in providing effective project planning, management, and oversight of our Banner project. He is also now fully responsible for our partnering and relationship activities with ITEC (Information Technology Exchange Center), SICAS (Student Systems and Administrative Systems) Center, and Sungard Higher Education (Banner).

In addition to these responsibilities, Don has played a major role in the Information Services and Systems (ISAS) governance process, and he will continue to bring considerable strength to its further development. In the absence of the vice president and chief information officer from campus, he will speak for and act on behalf of the vice president and CIO on all major issues and concerns regarding ISAS.

Please join me in welcoming Don to this new role.