The grading window will close Wednesday, December 18, at 9:00 p.m. Detailed documentation for entering grades is available at http://buffalostate.edu/banner/documents/grading.pdf. Assistance is available by calling the Computing Help Desk at ext. 4357 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. 

If you have questions about grading, please call the Registrar's Office at ext. 4811. We have provided a grading tip sheet to assist you in successful grading.

The Community Academic Center (CAC), located at 214 Grant Street, just south of Lafayette Avenue, coordinates and provides cradle-to-career educational support programming for youth and families on Buffalo's West Side. The center serves as a site of listening and learning: Buffalo State listens to community partners, families, and children in order to better understand what is needed for children to be ready, willing, and able to engage fully in learning. Programming is developed and designed in collaboration with campus and community partners, with activities and offerings ranging from outside-of-school-time enrichment to instruction for newcomer refugee youth and parents.

The CAC also supports microenterprise development and partners with neighborhood revitalization efforts. With a special emphasis on the needs of refugee families, the center serves as a "hub" for work being done at various satellite locations in partnership with a variety of community-based organizations.

The CAC offers both content specialty after-school programs taught by Buffalo State students, as well as English language learner support program. For a full listing of fall 2013 programs, visit www.buffalostate.edu/cac/programs.xml.

The CAC also holds a Monthly Service Corps, an opportunity for Buffalo State students and youth from the community to come together to volunteer for a Saturday afternoon. For upcoming service dates, visit www.buffalostate.edu/cac/x487.xml.

Through a generous gift from longtime Buffalo State supporters Eleanore Woods Beals, '50, and her husband, Vaughn Beals, the college opened the doors to the CAC in November 2011. It is jointly operated by the Center for Excellence in Urban and Rural Education and the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center.

Read about other Buffalo State teacher-centered programs and initiatives on the Year of the Teacher website.

Students requesting a letter grade in place of a pass-fail grade should submit a Substitution for Pass/Fail form no later than Monday, December 16.

Would you like to learn more about active and integrative learning? You are invited to attend Niagara University’s 2014 Conference on Teaching and Learning on January 6 and 7, 2014. The conference theme is “Enhancing Active, Integrative Learning through Evidence-Based Teaching and Cooperative Classrooms”; the keynote speaker will be Barbara Millis, director of the Teaching and Learning Center at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

The Faculty Development Office has funding to register a limited number of faculty members to attend the conference. Faculty members will be sponsored on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you are interested in attending, please contact Sue McMillen.

Faculty members will enter their fall 2013 grades using Banner. The grading window is now open and will close Wednesday, December 18, at 9:00 p.m. Detailed documentation for entering grades is available at http://buffalostate.edu/banner/documents/grading.pdf. Additionally, assistance is available by calling the Computing Help Desk at ext. 4357 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

If you have any questions about grading, please call the Registrar's Office at ext. 4811. We have provided a grading tip sheet to assist you in successful grading.

After you have completed (and saved) your grades, go back into your roster and double-check that all grades are there as you intended. If you have additional grading questions, please call the Registrar’s Office at ext. 4811.

The fall 2013 faculty grading window closes Wednesday, December 18, at 9:00 p.m.

The West Side Youth Development Coalition will convene a Community Forum on Prescription Drug Abuse on Thursday, October 24, from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. at the Connecticut Street Armory, 184 Connecticut Street, Buffalo NY 14213. The purpose of the forum is to inform Buffalo’s West Side and broader Western New York community on the dangers of prescription drug abuse, discuss efforts and share skills to combat this growing problem, and provide people of diverse backgrounds with an opportunity to come together to develop action plans for improving local conditions and the quality of life.

We are pleased to announce that United States Attorney William J. Hochul Jr., Western District of New York, has confirmed his participation, and he will discuss the prescription drug abuse problem that is sweeping across Western New York and the country. We will also have Michelle Spahn, resident agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Buffalo, and two FBI agents to provide remarks.

Additionally, we have asked a number of health professionals, members of law enforcement, community leaders, parents, and youth to participate on a group panel. Each of the panelists will provide insights and experiences on addressing the most critical issues in responding to the prescription drug problem in Western New York. Panelists will discuss (1) social and medical availability, (2) lack of monitoring (locking up prescription drugs), and (3) health literacy and issues with taking medicine as prescribed. We will have a 40-minute question-and-answer period from the audience after the panel presentation. Our hope is that these discussions will bring together members of the community in thoughtful conversations about what can be done.

For more information, please contact Jonathan Lindner of the Center for Health and Social Research, ext. 6137.

The deadline for removal of incomplete (I) grades for courses taken during the spring and summer 2013 semesters is Friday, November 1. The policy on incomplete grades, as stated in the 2013–2014 undergraduate catalog, includes the following:

"An incomplete grade is converted to a letter grade by the 10th week of the following spring or fall semester. If the work is not completed by that time, the instructor will submit a grade based upon the amount of work completed. If the instructor who granted the incomplete is not able to evaluate the student’s fulfillment of course requirements during the stipulated time period, the chair or program coordinator is responsible for changing the grade. Anyone not completing the course requirements within this time will automatically have a grade of E recorded.”

Jason Bird from MetLife Financial Services will be on campus for individual consultations with Buffalo State faculty and staff members on Tuesday, October 29. Sessions are by appointment only between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210B.

Gain a greater level of confidence in your retirement portfolio. To schedule an appointment, please contact Jason Bird, (734) 320-0453.

Academy Award nominee Robert Forster, best known for his roles in Medium Cool (1969), Jackie Brown (1997), Heroes (2006–2011), The Descendants (2011), and Breaking Bad (2013), will spend the week of October 28 at the Burchfield Penney Art Center at Buffalo State as an artist in residence.

Forster, who received the Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his role as Max Cherry in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown, will work with students from Buffalo State’s Theater Department, led by assistant professor Carlos Jones, working to develop a single performance, The One Man Show. Jeffrey Hirschberg, associate professor and director of the television and film arts program at Buffalo State, will co-lead the effort.

Forster’s residency will begin with A Conversation with Robert Forster, a riveting hour of insider movie and theater talk, in the Burchfield Penney’s Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Auditorium, on Monday, October 28, at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free for students and $10 for the general public.

The actor will share the work of his residency in a single performance, The One Man Show, on Saturday, November 2, at 8:00 p.m. The show, open only to members of the Burchfield Penney and students, faculty, and staff of Buffalo State, is an interpretation of a renowned American cultural icon, presented with the assistance of students from Buffalo State’s Theater Department. Tickets are free for Buffalo State students and $10 for Burchfield Penney members and Buffalo State faculty and staff.

Forster has built a reputation for his solid work in films and television across a wide range of genres. He has appeared in more than 100 films, starting in 1967 with Reflections in a Golden Eye, followed by Medium Cool, The Stalking Moon, Alligator, Vigilante (the Blu-ray release of which earned him the moniker “Grindhouse Giant” by the New York Times), The Black Hole, and Stunts and the TV series Banyon. For 13 years, he played villains—starting with Delta Force (1985) and ending with one of his all-time favorites, American Perfekt (1997). Since his Oscar-nominated role of Max Cherry in Jackie Brown (1997), his films have included Olympus Has Fallen; The Descendants, Best Picture nominee; Middle Men; Ghosts of Girlfriends Past; Thick as Thieves; Like Mike; Me, Myself & Irene; Firewall; Lakeboat; and Diamond Men; and TV series Last Man Standing, Breaking Bad, Alcatraz, Heroes, Huff! Karen Sisco, and Fastlane.