Next Thursday, February 17, at 12:15 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center South 2, students can learn how to spend a semester studying at one of Buffalo State's four partner universities in Australia or our partner university in England. They will find out how courses taken there fulfill requirements here, how financial aid applies, about scholarships that are available, and about other creative ways students fund their overseas experiences.

Intellectual Foundations feedback forums will be held Friday, March 18, from 3:00 to 4:15 p.m. in Cleveland Hall 418 and Tuesday, April 5, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Bacon Hall 115.

The Senate Intellectual Foundations Oversight Committee is interested in hearing from as many faculty and staff as possible during the review period for the Intellectual Foundations program. Please consider participating in one of the remaining feedback forums to share your ideas. R.S.V.P. to Linda Schultz.

In an effort to improve the campus SharePoint environment, Computing and Technology Services will be upgrading and reorganizing the sharepoint.buffalostate.edu server to the new SharePoint 2010 platform. 

As part of the final phase of this upgrade, Sharepoint.buffalostate.edu is scheduled to be unavailable beginning at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, April 1, through Sunday, April 3, while we migrate existing sites to the new environment. Please be aware that some of the site URLs may be changed as a result of this migration. Members of sites for which the navigation and URLs will change will be contacted directly (by e-mail) with information about their sites. CTS will attempt to contact all affected site managers prior to the upgrade.

If you have any questions specific to this upgrade, please e-mail Khaleel Gathers. Thank you for your patience during this process.

Join Butler’s “Green Team” as we learn to make treasures from recycled materials, Thursday, February 10, from noon to 1:15 p.m. Supplies will be available for anyone wanting to make Valentine’s Day treats for their loved ones. Dennis Piatkowski will be on hand to show us how easy it can be to make something beautiful from everyday recyclable materials. Look for us in E. H. Butler’s Curriculum Lab (first floor of the library).

Make sure you check out the new Green Scene display for the month of February!

—Read, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Join the Buffalo State Newman Center as we welcome Franciscan friar Dan Horan, Sunday, February 13, at 6:00 p.m. for "How Do I Love When I Love My God." Brother Dan is a provocative young theologian whose presentation will focus on a Franciscan perspective of prayer and relationship. All students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend a potluck dinner at 5:00 p.m. and talk at 6:00 p.m. For more information, contact Julianne Wallace.

Description of talk:
Oftentimes people think about what or who God is without much consideration for the nature of one’s relationship with God. The Franciscan tradition, going all the way back to St. Francis of Assisi, offers today’s spiritual seekers another way to think about God. Instead of being concerned with the what of God, we should focus on the way we are in relationship with God. Prayer is fundamentally about relationship, which is not just something we do or say, but something we live. This presentation is a look at how we are in relationship with God offering perspectives that come from the rich Franciscan tradition to renew the way we understand our connection to God, our true selves, and others.

For more info on Brother Dan, see his Blog at www.datinggod.org.

Faculty project leaders who have redesigned psychology and economics courses will describe the organization and outcomes of their redesign. A special focus will be given to the effective use of undergraduate learning assistants (ULAs) as a key feature of these redesigns. Participants will be able to learn about how the redesign projects got started, what issues the teams faced in implementation, and what learning improvements and cost reductions have been achieved. This conference is a presentation of the Redesign Alliance and is co-sponsored with Buffalo State College.

The conference will be held at Buffalo State on Monday, April 18, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The Provost’s Office is providing funding to register a limited number of Buffalo State faculty members.

View the conference agenda (PDF).

To register, contact Cara Angie at ext. 3841.

Next Tuesday, February 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Bacon Hall 115, students will learn how they can earn six credits studying in Salamanca, Spain, this summer. Find out how scholarships and financial aid can make it possible. Students will have the opportunity to speak with the program director and past participants, view a Power Point presentation, and sample authentic Spanish tapas. Family members and friends are also welcome to attend.

The College and Community Partnerships Office awarded the following minigrants, totaling $18,600. Each recipient is listed with their community partner.

Lucy Andrus, Professor, Art Education

Beecher Boys and Girls Club                                                                        

Louis Colca, Associate Professor., Social Work
Chestnut Rose Adventures
                                                             

Robin Harris, Associate Professor, Earth Sciences and Science Education
Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper  Partnership Year 5

Jonathan Lindner, Health Educator Research Analyst, and William Wieczorek, Director, Center for Health and Social Research
West Side CommunityServices

Alice Pennisi, Assistant Professor, and Candace Masters, Assistant Professor, Art Education

Asarese-Matters Community Center 

John Siskar, Interim Director, Center for Excellence in Urban and Rural
Education

Buffalo English Language Learners Network

John Song, Professor, Criminal Justice

Buffalo Immigrant/Refugee Empowerment Coalition

Theresa Stephan Hains, Director, Weigel Center

Shwa Min Wun Community                                        

Kim Truesdell, Associate Professor, Elementary Education and Reading 

Wegmans Food and Pharmacy               

This year was the first time that both faculty and staff were invited to submit proposals that coincide with Buffalo State’s third strategic direction to "contribute to the improvement of the vitality of the community, region and state." As in the past, a focus on Buffalo's West Side was a suggested priority for grant submissions.

Congratulations to all the awardees.

Today, February 9, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Resident Dining will celebrate Black History Month. Featured cuisine is soul food/Southern food. Stop by for lunch and enjoy some of the following tasty items: candied sweet potatoes, bacon cheddar cornbread, herb crunch chicken, Charleston hoppin John, collard greens, and Southern banana pudding.

Resident Dining is open to all students, faculty, and staff and is an All-You-Can-Eat dining option.

Lunch price is $7.99. Meal swipes and flex dollars are accepted. Cash, credit, and Bengal Bucks are accepted and are taxable.

The application period for the Muriel A. Howard Award for the Promotion of Equity and Campus Diversity is open. This award recognizes faculty and staff who have gone beyond their usual duties to promote respect for diversity and individual differences. They have accomplished this through classroom discussions, curricular experiences, out-of-classroom activities, projects, or special mentoring that go beyond what is usually expected as a part of their regular job expectation or teaching assignment. The deadline for nominations is Friday, April 1.

Nominations for the award are submitted by students. The recognition is given at a special luncheon program scheduled for Wednesday, April 27. Information and applications are available online.