When her deaf mother gets cancer, a middle-aged daughter moves back into her childhood room with two questions, “Where is God?” and “Who moved my Springsteen poster?”

Arlene Malinowski is a solo artist, educator, and CODA (Hearing Child of Deaf Adults). She has been performing her critically acclaimed one-woman shows to sold out houses across the country including National Center on Deafness, Gallaudet, UCLA, St. Louis Cultural Center, Victory Gardens, Chicago’s Millennium Park, Indianapolis Deaf Club, Minnesota CODA, Las Vegas Cultural Center, and HBO Workspace.

“I believe that all of us have a story. Our stories connect us to who we are and who we can become. Most importantly, I believe our stories connect us with each other and it is in that connection we discover that that we all live the same lives in many different ways. This play was a personal exploration of deafness, family, faith, and forgiveness."

Malinowski 's on-campus performance is Friday, March 25, at 7:00 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall. Proceeds benefit students at St. Mary's School for the Deaf. Tickets for the event are $10 for students and $15 for the general public, and can be purchased at the Rockwell Hall Box Office.

Eva Hassett, executive director of the International Institute of Buffalo, will be the guest speaker of the Buffalo-Lille Association, Inc., on Tuesday, January 25, at 7:30 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210.

Everyone is welcome to attend this free event.

If you like your food spicy, warm up with authentic Indian foods this Thursday, January 27, during lunch in the Resident Dining Hall. Sukhi's Gourmet Indian Food products will be served at the international station and the vegetarian station from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Resident Dining is open to all students, faculty, and staff. If you do not have a meal plan, the cash or credit price is $7.99 plus tax. The Resident Dining Hall is an all-you-can-eat dining hall. If you would like information on meal plans please contact the Bengal Card Office at ext. 5152.

Learn how to use E. H. Butler Library’s new database of more than 50,000 academic-level online books, including searching the database, saving favorites to a personal bookshelf, making online notes, and other features. There are no prerequisites for this presentation on Wednesday, February 2, from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Professional Development Center, E. H. Butler Library 181B . Presenter: Al Riess, electronic database librarian, E. H. Butler Library. A light lunch will be provided.

Register online.

The Professional Staff Caucus (PSC) of Buffalo State College is hosting a fundraising event to benefit a student scholarship. The benefit will be held at Macaroons Friday, February 4, from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. Sabres fans can watch the televised away game vs. the Penguins. Enjoy food, drink, and live music too!

So, grab your co-workers, your family, your friends, and join us for our first PSC student scholarship fundraising event! To purchase advanced tickets ($20) or 50/50 tickets ($1 each or 10 for $7), contact Josie Adamo (ext. 3468) or Carol Reed (ext. 5303).

It promises to be a fun evening. Let's raise money for a wonderful cause. All are invited, we hope to see you there.

PSC would welcome donations to support this fundraising event to benefit the student scholarship.

All faculty and staff at Buffalo State are eligible to apply for minigrants offered by the College and Community Partnerships Office. The awards are in the range of $1,500 to $2,000. The grants will be awarded in March 2011. Interested faculty and staff should focus on partnerships that offer the greatest chance for meaningful community change, are mutually beneficial, and result in possible publishable scholarly research or future application for larger grants.

Priority will be given to projects that contribute to the vitality of the region, especially the west side of Buffalo.

The deadline for submission of proposals is 4:00 p.m. on Friday, February 25. A panel of reviewers will evaluate the proposals and announce the awards by March 11. Funds must be encumbered by the end of June 2011. A full application, guidelines, and selection criteria are available at www.buffalostate.edu/partnerships.

For questions, please contact Marian Deutschman, ext. 4132, or Michele Graves, ext. 5444.

Buy one lunch, get one half off every Wednesday at Tastings Cafe for all Buffalo State faculty and staff. Invite a colleague to join you for a taste of this week's gourmet specialties. Warm up with a bowl of southwestern butternut squash soup, a grilled panini sandwich, or any one of our other delicious menu selections. You'll be glad you did!

All Buffalo State students are welcome to the Newman Center's kick-off to the spring semester karaoke night on Friday, January 28, at 7:00 p.m. Join us at the Newman Center, 1219 Elmwood Avenue, for an evening of karaoke and fun! Please R.S.V.P to Julianne Wallace at (716) 882-1080 or wallacje@buffalostate.edu.

Father Pat and the staff at the Newman Center remind students that they are invited to the Newman Center, 1219 Elmwood Avenue, every Thursday during the semester for a free homemade dinner. We begin serving at 6:30 p.m. All Buffalo State students are welcome!

Graduate students who will be culminating their graduate coursework with a master’s thesis are invited to participate in a focus group to discuss the implementation of electronic thesis submission. The platform created by the Digital Commons will create the opportunity for students to submit their thesis electronically to advisers and the Graduate School, rather than in a paper copy, and for students and faculty to share their scholarly work with multiple readers, for longer periods of time, and with greater access by more audiences. Students would also not have to submit a bound copy of their thesis to the Graduate School if this process is adopted. The focus group, organized to get as much student feedback as possible, will be held on Wednesday, February 9, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. in Bacon Hall 115. Please R.S.V.P. to Marnie (ext. 5609) in the Graduate School Office by Monday, February 7, if you will be in attendance. Please share this information with any and all interested students.