The final schedule and abstracts for the 14th annual Student Research and Creativity Celebration is now available online. Click the link in upper-right corner to download a pdf of the program.

With more than 375 scheduled presentations, this is our biggest "Celebration" yet, with something for everyone, including oral papers and poster presentations, music and dance concerts, and art exhibits. At the end of the opening reception on Friday, April 27, watch for the premiere of the Undergraduate Research YouTube video.

Enjoy Buffalo State Dining's delicious and beautiful cakes for your most important occasions: birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and other special events. Double-layer 8-inch round cakes are sold daily out of Chop'd, located in the Campbell Student Union Food Court, for only $11.99. Get them personalized for no extra charge! Need to custom order a cake? Buffalo State Dining offers a wide variety of cakes that are guaranteed to satisfy everyone. 

For more information on custom-designed cakes, please contact a member of Buffalo State Catering at ext. 4128.

For more information on Buffalo State Dining, visit our website.

Buffalo State Dining is taking you to the fair today with our special themed lunch menu in Resident Dining. Treat yourself to classic fair favorites such as fried dough, corn dogs, cotton candy, and much more! Resident Dining is located in the Campbell Student Union and is open for lunch from 11:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Enter Resident Dining with a meal swipe or door rate of $8.39.

For more information on Buffalo State Dining, visit our website.

Karen McElrath, Ph.D., professor and director of education in the School of Sociology, Social Policy, and Social Work at Queen's University Belfast in Ireland, will speak on Tuesday, April 17, at 4:00 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210 as part of Buffalo State's Leadership Lecture Series. Her talk, “Leadership, Community, and Political Conflict: Insights from Northern Ireland,” will focus on leadership challenges in the midst of political conflict.

McElrath was in Belfast during the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, a major political development in the Northern Ireland peace process, and closely observed how this intended resolution to a political conflict has evolved. She is the author of Unsafe Haven: The United States, the IRA and Political Prisoners (2000) and has written and edited many other books and articles related to drug use and treatment, HIV/AIDS, risky sexual behavior, and criminology.

Her talk is open to the campus community.

The University Police Department at Buffalo State has been awarded a New York State Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee grant for traffic safety, observational activities, and increased enforcement (March–May 2012).

The goal is to increase safety for both vehicles and pedestrians on campus roadways. Targeted areas include seat belt usage, speeding, aggressive driving, distracted driving, pedestrian safety, motorcycle safety, and school bus safety.

This year’s Click It or Ticket mobilization enforcement period is scheduled from April 23 to May 6. University Police will be actively participating in the mobilization to ensure that all motor vehicle occupants are buckled up day and night to reduce the risk of injury and death.

University Police encourages all members of the campus community to exercise traffic safety and adherence to the New York State vehicle and traffic laws.

The Admissions Office is pleased to host another series of class visits for high school seniors who have been accepted to Buffalo State. The Class Visit Program is a three-day invitation-only event scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, April 11–13, in E. H. Butler Library 210. The Wednesday and Friday sessions run from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Thursday’s program starts at 8:45 a.m. During Friday’s session, Buffalo State distinguished alumna E. Jeannette Ogden, city court judge, will offer brief welcoming remarks in the context of the college’s current campaign, “Because of Buffalo State.”

The Class Visit Program attracts students from across the state of New York and beyond. During the first series, hosted in February, at least 200 students and their parents were in attendance. In response to overwhelming demand, a second round of class visits has been added this spring. The Class Visit Program is supported by a cross-section of the campus community, including more than 20 academic departments and student services offices, the Barnes and Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore, the Alumni Association, and Chartwells. To learn more about the Class Visit Program, visit our web page.

In honor of Peace on Earth Month, the Peace Education Fund will host Green Frontier, a roundtable on clean energy, on Saturday, April 21, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

Speakers will discuss forms of alternative energy along with practical considerations of how to make local geothermal, solar, wind turbine, wave energy/current, and other sustainable energy sources financially feasible. The panelists will be Lynda Schneekloth, chair of the Sierra Club Niagara Group; Bill Nowak of the Sierra Club Niagara Group Energy Committee; Rita Yelda of Food & Water Watch; and Walter Simpson, energy and environmental activist.

The event is free and open to the public.

Up to 75 percent of household waste is derived from organic matter and can be composted. Want to learn how? Join us for the fifth annual Environmental Information Fair on Tuesday, April 17, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in the E. H. Butler Library lobby.

Faculty, staff, and students will have many opportunities to learn more about composting and several other local green initiatives. Giveaways will include white spruce saplings and recycled glass sun-catchers. There will also be a competition for participants to win one of 10 composters.

This event is hosted by EVERGREEN and NYPIRG, with funding provided by the Faculty-Student Association.

The Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Office is accepting public comments on the draft Storm Water Management Program Annual Report. This report, which documents campus storm water pollution prevention measures for the reporting year ending March 9, 2012, is a requirement of the separate storm sewer system discharge permit, issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation pursuant to the Clean Water Act.

The draft report, along with other information on campus storm water pollution prevention efforts and instructions for submitting comments, can be accessed from the EH&S Office storm water pollution prevention web page. A paper copy of this report is also available for viewing during business hours at the Customer Service Center, located in the Clinton Center.

Join the Buffalo State Sociology Alumni Chapter April 19–21 for a weekend filled with great events and reunion activities. With panel discussions, campus and community tours, and receptions, this weekend has a little something for everyone!

Thursday, April 19
Sociology Department Student Awards Banquet
6:00–9:00 p.m.
JJ’s Banquet Room (above Casa-Di-Pizza)
477 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14222

This annual awards banquet honors the achievements of our best and brightest students. Those who have maintained a minimum GPA of 3.3 will be inducted into Alpha Kappa Delta, the national honor society for undergraduate sociology students. Cost: $25 per person.    

Friday, April 20
Welcome Reception Happy Hour
5:00–7:00 p.m.
Black Rock Kitchen and Bar
491 Amherst Street
Buffalo, NY 14207

Susan K. Cholewa, ’86, has been a catalyst for the Black Rock neighborhood revitalization efforts. She will join us for happy hour to talk about the social impact she has experienced in the Black Rock and Buffalo State neighborhoods. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres provided by the Buffalo State Alumni Association. Cash bar. 

Saturday, April 21
10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Experience a full day of activities on campus designed especially for Buffalo State sociology alumni, including panel discussions, tours, reflections on how sociology and Buffalo State has influenced lives…and more! Cost $15 per person for all activities.

Sociology Alumni Panel Discussion
E. H. Butler Library 210
10:00 a.m.–noon
Lunch served at 11:30 a.m.
All human societies are defined by the degree to which they reflect healthy vibrant communities. Join us for a panel discussion with Susan Cholewa, ’86, Mark Goldman, and Gary Welborn, Ph.D., for a sociological inquiry into how these concepts are illustrated with the revitalization of neighborhoods and communities surrounding Buffalo State College.

Susan Cholewa has been a French teacher for more than 25 years. A love of Buffalo architecture and urban revitalization motivated her to purchase an old storefront at 464 Amherst Street in 2006, just north of Buffalo State College. This building is now 464 gallery and artist space and continues to attract many students and artists from near and far. In 2008, she purchased an additional building at 491 Amherst Street, which is now the European-style bistro Black Rock Kitchen and Bar. As one of the vice presidents of the Grant Amherst Business Association, she continues to be active in helping to revitalize the historic Black Rock area of Buffalo. 

Born in New York City, Mark Goldman was a student in Buffalo and has been a resident for 40 years. He has written three books on Buffalo history as well as played an active role in community revitalization efforts as a business owner and volunteer. As the author of High Hopes: The Rise and Decline of Buffalo, New York; City on the Lake: The Challenge of Change in Buffalo, New York; and City on the Edge: Buffalo, New York, Goldman has also contributed to the revitalization of key Buffalo districts with the Calumet Arts Café on Chippewa Street 20 years ago, the Allen Street Hardware Café in Allentown, and most recently the Black Rock Kitchen and Bar on Amherst Street. “I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the historical development of Black Rock,” Goldman said. “Now we’re back here, 40 years later. We’ve remodeled a fabulous 1890s storefront and, working with the building’s owner, a dynamic entrepreneur named Susan Cholewa, we are opening a place that will feel as real and as authentic as the neighborhood it’s in. Being authentic, being real and committed to a grounded mission is what has led our businesses to be successful and to play a role in the life of their host neighborhoods.”

Gary Welborn, Ph.D., chair and associate professor of sociology and faculty coordinator for service learning at Buffalo State College, has been a grassroots activist on Buffalo’s West Side for more than 20 years. Since joining the Buffalo State Sociology Department in 1993, Welborn has focused his work on building community-college relations, with a particular emphasis on engagement with refugee communities in the area. Through his position as faculty coordinator for service learning, which he has held since 2003, and in many other ways, he has been leading efforts for Buffalo State to become a community-engaged campus.

Tours
12:30–2:00 p.m.
Come and see how we have grown! If you have not seen the beautiful Buffalo State campus recently, you will be surprised. Buffalo State’s revitalization is in full swing, with the focus on providing an unparalleled educational environment. Buffalo State is engaged in a roster of capital projects that will result in nearly $350 million in new construction and improvements by 2016. Construction will include a new Science and Mathematics Complex and a new Technology Building. Major rehabilitation projects will include extensive renovations to Rockwell Hall's third floor as well as the Campbell Student Union. There is also much excitement about projects in our surrounding community, and we would like to take you on a journey to experience our campus community. On the registration form, please select the tours that interest you. Choices include the Buffalo State campus, the Burchfield Penney Art Center, the Richardson Olmsted Complex towers, and Amherst-Grant Street revitalization. Tours will be selected based on popularity.

Alumni Gathering
E. H. Butler Library 210
2:00–2:45 p.m.
Return to E. H. Butler Library to mix and mingle with fellow alumni and share reflections on “How Sociology and Buffalo State Influenced My Life.”

Register Online