If you are traveling over the Labor Day weekend, please remember to save the small hotel toiletry items that you do not use. The College and Community Partnerships Office and the Buffalo State Alumni Association will once again be collecting these items for the kids at the Asarese Youth Center (located on Rees and Grant streets). The items will be placed in 2009 holiday bags and distributed to the children who attend the center. Last year, thanks to the generosity of Buffalo State faculty and staff, over 150 bags were given out. Many of these youth live in poverty and often do not have items that we take for granted like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, cream, combs, brushes, lip balm, soap, etc. We also like to fill some bags with items specifically for teen boys and girls. Your donations will help make the holidays a little better for these struggling families.

If you had NYSHIP family coverage as of February 1, 2009, you should have received information sent to your home by the NYS Department of Civil Service (Employee Benefits Division) and Budco Health Services Solution to verify eligibility of all dependents on your plan as of February 1, 2009.

Attention all Wizards and Muggles,

For the latest guidance on influenza and higher education, go to http://www.flu.gov/plan/school/higheredguidance.html

We are pleased to let you know that Buffalo State's Internal Control Program Web site is nearing completion. In one location we will provide information about recent Internal Control Program activity and upcoming program plans. Additionally, we hope it provides you with valuable resource links and continuing access to pertinent internal control documents and advisories for exercising good internal control practices at Buffalo State. Look for the Web site address to be announced very soon!

As part of the new First Thursdays program at the Burchfield Penney presented by Citizens Bank, "Japan in Buffalo: A Concert with Josh Smith Performing Traditional Zen solo Shakuhachi Music" will be held on Thursday, September 3, at 7:00 p.m.

Please contact the Disability Services for Students office at 878-4500 if you observe any mobility impaired students having difficulty with access to buildings or traveling about campus due to construction. As a reminder, students with mobility needs will likely be delayed in arriving to class due to the additional travel time required while the campus is under construction. Your support is appreciated.

Applied Math students Lucas Bunt, Benjamin Kanouse, and Steve Leuthe will give a short presentation about their research, "Undergraduate Research in Applied Mathematics," today, Tuesday, September 1, at 12:15 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center South. The students are part of the 2009 cohort of the NSF-sponsored program "CSUMS: Undergraduate Research Group Experiences" which is a joint effort between UB and Buffalo State. For more information about the program see http://copper.math.buffalo.edu/ugs/csums/.

If you need to order software with campus funds for campus-owned devices (for lab or office), please contact the Computing Help Desk (878-4357 or chd@buffalostate.edu) to submit your order.

Fresh, a film celebrating the farmers, thinkers, and business people across America who are reinventing our food system, will be screened on Thursday, September 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Fresh at the Burchfield Penney is presented by Edible Buffalo with support from the American Farmland Trust and Buffalo Spree.