Homecoming and Family Weekend 2012 will be held October 23–27. Activities include a pep rally, king and queen competition, banner- and window-painting competitions, Homecoming parade and tailgate, and multiple athletic events. Check out the new Faculty and Staff tab outlining events for you and your family to attend. There’s something for everyone at Homecoming and Family Weekend!

For a schedule of events and more information, please visit the Homecoming website.

Kenneth Papaj, '73, commissioner of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (retired), will speak on campus on Tuesday, October 9, at 1:45 p.m. in Rockwell Hall 304. His talk is free and open to the public.

Papaj served for more than 34 years in the Treasury Department's Fiscal Service, from 1973 to 2007. He was the commissioner at FMS for 19 months and deputy commissioner for eight and a half years. 

Papaj worked for more than 24 years in the Treasury’s Bureau of the Public Debt, earning increasingly greater levels of responsibility and authority. In 1985 and 1986, he led a team from the Treasury and the Federal Reserve in developing the terms and conditions for the Treasury’s new zero-coupon instrument, STRIPS (Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities), and in designing an automated system to maintain and account for STRIPS.

From 1987 to 1997, Papaj was the director of the Government Securities Regulations staff, which regulated brokers and dealers in the government securities market. He worked closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission, bank regulatory agencies, and the National Association of Securities Dealers in ensuring adequate capital levels for government securities brokers and dealers and customer protections for investors. 

Papaj is the recipient of two Senior Executive Service (SES) Meritorious Executive Awards and one SES Distinguished Executive Award for his work at the Treasury. He graduated summa cum laude from Buffalo State in 1973 with a degree in political science.

The Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State is proud to be the Buffalo location for the traveling exhibition of Abraham Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on Friday and Saturday, October 5 and 6.

Please join us today, October 5, at 9:30 a.m. in the Burchfield Penney for welcoming remarks by the following speakers:

Peter Fleischmann, chair, Burchfield Penney Board of Trustees
Robert Bennett, chancellor emeritus, Board of Regents
Karen A. Clinton Jones, chief diversity officer, Buffalo State
Anthony Bannon, executive director, Burchfield Penney Art Center

The exhibition, The First Step to Freedom, marks the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. The exhibition offers an unprecedented display of the only surviving version of the document in Lincoln’s handwriting as well as the manuscript of a speech written and delivered in New York City in September 1962 by Martin Luther King Jr. for the proclamation’s centennial.

The New York State Museum, a division of the New York State Education Department, has organized the exhibition, which will travel to eight locations in New York State including the Burchfield Penney.
Learn more about the exhibition at www.nysm.nysed.gov/ep/ or www.burchfieldpenney.org.

The International Education Office and the Writing Center are teaming up today to inspire and share information regarding scholarship writing with potential study-abroad and exchange students from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 318 (CyberQuad). Students will learn about the various scholarships available to them and be able to begin the writing process on site! There is money out there to help fund the study-abroad and exchange experience, and we intend to help students find it by giving them the proper tools. Part 2 of this workshop will be held the following week, October 18, same location and time. Students will be able to continue their writing with the assistance of a staff member from the Writing Center.

Computing and Technology Services will upgrade Internet Explorer to IE9 on all Windows7 office devices at 4:00 a.m. Tuesday, October 9. The upgrade is being done at this time to facilitate access to the Middle States self-study site.  

Devices that are not on the network at the time the updates are delivered (laptops, for example) will be updated and rebooted the next time users log in to the network. Lab devices will be handled separately, once lab coordinators have been contacted about the schedule.  

Please contact the Computing Help Desk, ext. 4357, with questions.

The Center for Development of Human Services College Partnership Development is now accepting submissions for 2013 Partnership Projects. The request for proposals is available on the CDHS website. Printed copies are also available from our offices in Bacon Hall 103 and 114. For more information, please call Gail Daniels, director, at ext. 4816. We look forward to hearing from you.

Want a meal for only $5? Then stop into the Campbell Student Union Food Court for a WOW Deal! WOW Deals are offered every day from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. and are available at every platform.

October WOW Deals of the month:

Train Grill: Italian sausage and a fountain beverage
Chop'd: garden salad and a fountain beverage
2.mato: cheese calzone and a fountain beverage
Salsarita's: two tacos and a fountain beverage
Bluw: any $4 sushi and a fountain beverage
The Strip: six wings and a fountain beverage

For more information on Buffalo State Dining, visit our website at www.dineoncampus.com/bsc.

Daniel L. Potts, assistant professor of biology, will present "All That Is Solid Melts into Air: Postindustrial Ecosystem Ecology" today from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 320 as part of the "Conversations in and out of the Disciplines" lectures series. Everyone is welcome. Refreshments and an opportunity for informal conversation will follow the talk.

The McNair Scholars Program will host an information and recruitment session on Tuesday, October 23, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Science Building 250. The McNair Scholars Program helps prepare first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented Buffalo State students for graduate study. Students who participate in this program are provided with research opportunities and faculty mentors. Please inform any student who you feel qualifies for this program. For more information, call the McNair office at ext. 3411 or e-mail Jennifer Johnson.

Do you need a brochure designed, a large-format poster printed, a corrugated plastic sign made, or other design services? Then this information is for you! All job requests can now be submitted online. This form provides essential information for Kaylene Waite, computer graphics specialist, and her design student assistants. Please submit all jobs through this form. The job request form is available on Instructional Resources' Computer Graphics web page. Please contact Waite at ext. 6676 or waitekd@buffalostate.edu with questions.