From the Chief Diversity Officer
The Equity and Campus Diversity Office is pleased to announce the continuation of the campus Equity and Campus Diversity Program Grants.

Consistent with the college’s mission, the minigrants provide financial assistance for projects, workshops, and activities that have institutional impact—strengthening Buffalo State’s inclusive excellence toward diversity as described by our mission statement, core values, and strategic plan.

For additional information, please visit the Equity and Campus Diversity website.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The College Senate Office wishes everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. The final meeting of the College Senate for the fall 2013 semester will be held Friday, December 13, at 2:00 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210. Please note the one-hour earlier start time, due to the president’s holiday party.

From the Chair of the College Senate
A special meeting of the College Senate will take place tomorrow, November 15, at 3:00 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center North. Howard Zemsky, chair of the Buffalo State College Council, will give an update on the presidential search. Front-row seating is reserved for all Senate personnel; visitors are welcome to sit in the upper areas.

The final meeting of the College Senate for the fall 2013 semester will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, December 13, in E. H. Butler Library 210. Please note the one-hour earlier start time, due to the president’s holiday party.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The next meeting of the College Senate will be held tomorrow, November 8, at 3:00 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210. The meeting agenda is posted on the College Senate home page.

From the Vice President for Student Affairs
I am pleased to thank everyone who has contributed to the Buffalo State SEFA/United Way Campaign so far, and I urge others who want to participate to do so. While state, national, and international news has drawn our attention to dramatic and tragic events elsewhere, and while these are events of great and urgent concern to us all, we do continue to have pressing social needs in our own community. We cannot neglect the needs that are addressed by agencies supported by the SEFA/United Way. Our campaign runs from October 1 through November 15, 2013.

We have a strong legacy of United Way support here at Buffalo State. As a testament to our legacy, Buffalo State President Howard Cohen; union presidents Earl Morris, CSEA, and Richard Stempniak, UUP; SEFA regional representative Marilyn Wilson; and SEFA/United Way Campaign chair Dennis Black attended the kickoff on October 1 to show support. Please call Margaret Shaw-Burnett at ext. 5907 for more information.

www.buffalostate.edu/sefa/x507.xml

From the Chief Diversity Officer
SUNY Buffalo State received the 2013 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. As a recipient of the annual HEED award—a national honor recognizing U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion—Buffalo State will be featured along with 55 other recipients in INSIGHT Into Diversity’s November 2013 issue.

“We hope the HEED award serves as a way to honor those institutions of higher education that recognize the importance of diversity and inclusion as part of their everyday campus culture,” said Lenore Pearlstein, the magazine's publisher.

INSIGHT Into Diversity selected Buffalo State based on its exemplary diversity and inclusion initiatives and ability to embrace a broad definition of diversity on its campus, including gender, race, ethnicity, veterans, people with disabilities, and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community.

SUNY Buffalo State prides itself on being an institution of access. Students from all backgrounds, including many first-generation students, succeed because of faculty and staff commitment. There has been a collective effort to create a campus climate where everyone is valued and encouraged to participate fully as students, faculty, and staff.

The college has a long history demonstrating its commitment to inclusion by providing minigrants for academic programs and community projects that herald diversity. Some of the efforts include the Community Academic Center; the National Coalition Building Institute; the Global Book Hour, which serves the city’s culturally diverse schoolchildren; and the Anne Frank Project, which explores social justice through storytelling and the arts. Other institutional efforts include international student exchange programs and Intellectual Foundation courses with diversity perspectives, as well as partnerships with community-based organizations.

For more information about the 2013 HEED award, visit www.insightintodiversity.com.

From the Chief Diversity Officer
The previously announced revised SUNY Buffalo State Nondiscrimination Policy has been added to the 2013–2014 Handbook for Faculty and Librarians and is located on page 6.33 of Section 6: Buffalo State Policies.

The revised policy is also included in the full version of the online handbook. New faculty members and librarians who received a hard copy of the handbook during the August orientation, as well as department chairs and deans’ offices, may print copies of the policy to insert into their handbooks.

Thank you for your interest, consideration, and continued support by adhering to the updated policies regarding equity and diversity at SUNY Buffalo State.

From the Chair of the College Senate
The next meeting of the College Senate will be held at 3:00 p.m. Friday, November 8, in E. H. Butler Library 210. The meeting agenda is posted on the College Senate home page.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
The Emergency Response Planning Group and University Police will conduct a test of the college’s outdoor emergency alert horn at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 29.

People who are outdoors during the test will hear a series of three loud 90-second horn blasts emanating from the central heating plant. Please note: the horn is primarily intended to be audible at outdoor locations on campus—not inside buildings.

In a real emergency, the horn will sound for a minimum of five full minutes. If a real emergency alert is signaled, immediately seek shelter and await further instructions communicated via Buff State Alert, e-mail, www.buffalostate.edu, or direct instructions from University Police.

Approximately 30 minutes before the test horn sounds, the college will issue a campuswide test of the Buff State Alert emergency communication system. At this time, all students, faculty, and staff who have registered with the service will be sent a test alert via text message, automated phone message, or e-mail.

Students, faculty, and staff who wish to enroll in Buff State Alert or modify their preferences may do so by visiting https://buffstatealert.buffalostate.edu and logging in with their Buffalo State user name and password. If you do not have a Buffalo State user name or password but still want to receive text messages from Buff State Alert, you can sign up by texting the phrase “buffalostate” to 79516.

From the Vice President for Finance and Management
The Emergency Response Planning Group and University Police will conduct a test of the college’s outdoor emergency alert horn at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, October 29.

People who are outdoors during the test will hear a series of three loud 90-second horn blasts emanating from the central heating plant. Please note: the horn is primarily intended to be audible at outdoor locations on campus—not inside buildings.

In a real emergency, the horn will sound for a minimum of five full minutes. If a real emergency alert is signaled, immediately seek shelter and await further instructions communicated via Buff State Alert, e-mail, www.buffalostate.edu, or direct instructions from University Police.

Approximately 30 minutes before the test horn sounds, the college will issue a campuswide test of the Buff State Alert emergency communication system. At this time, all students, faculty, and staff who have registered with the service will be sent a test alert via text message, automated phone message, or e-mail.

Students, faculty, and staff who wish to enroll in Buff State Alert or modify their preferences may do so by visiting https://buffstatealert.buffalostate.edu and logging in with their Buffalo State user name and password. If you do not have a Buffalo State user name or password but still want to receive text messages from Buff State Alert, you can sign up by texting the phrase “buffalostate” to 79516.