The Buffalo State Rotaract Club will host its Halloween Bake Sale and Basket Raffle in the Campbell Student Union on Tuesday, October 29, during Bengal Pause (12:15–1:30 p.m.).

Baked goods and raffle tickets are available for only $1. Enter for a chance to win a $15 Romeo & Juliet's Café and Bakery gift certificate. All proceeds will go to ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) research, which works on developing effective treatments and a cure for Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Stop by and support your fellow Rotarians. Hope to see you there!

Open enrollment for the 2014 NYS Flex Spending Account (FSA) is Monday, September 30, through Friday, November 8. The account offers two benefits: the Health Care Spending Account (HCSAccount) and the Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAAccount).

The HCSAccount allows employees to set aside from $100 to $2,500 annually in pretax salary to pay for health-care expenses not reimbursed by health insurance.

The DCAAccount allows employees to set aside up to $5,000 annually in pretax salary for eligible child care, elder care, or disabled dependent care expenses. The DCAAccount employer contribution will continue in 2014 for employees in eligible negotiating units who enroll in the DCAAccount. For employer contribution eligibility and rates, please visit the FSA website.  

Participants currently enrolled in the HCSAccount or DCAAccount must reenroll to continue benefits in 2014.

Paperless enrollment is quick, easy, and secure. For program details or to enroll in the Flex Spending Account, visit www.flexspend.ny.gov or call the FSA hotline at (800) 358-7202.

The November 8 deadline for 2014 enrollment will be strictly enforced.

James Mayrose, associate professor of technology, will give a seminar on 3-D printing on Thursday, October 24, at 12:30 p.m. in Technology Building 160. Three-dimensional printing has been used to create car parts, smartphone cases, fashion accessories, medical equipment, and artificial organs. Charles “Chuck” Hull created the first functional 3-D printer in 1984, and the technology has come a long way since then. Manufacturing corporations and aerospace organizations have saved billions of dollars by using 3-D printing for building parts. 3-D printing has also helped save lives. One of the best ways to learn about what 3-D printing can do is by researching real-life applications of the technology. In this presentation, a number of examples of 3-D printing uses will be discussed.

In order to further improve performance and reduce costs, the college will continue virtualization of the Drupal web server environment on Tuesday, October 22, starting at 7:00 a.m. During the upgrade, all Drupal sites, including the Daily Bulletin site and the main site’s news section and events calendar will be offline. As a result, the Daily Bulletin e-mail will be held during the upgrade and delivered to your inbox once the upgrade is complete—roughly by 9:00 a.m. The main site and all other sites still in Ingeniux will remain online during the upgrade. We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause.

The Geography and Planning Department will host a luncheon on Thursday, November 21, between 12:15 and 1:30 p.m. in Classroom Building A205 and A209. This year’s theme is Exploring Multicultural Buffalo. Food will be provided by the Westside Bazaar. Please come and sample traditional dishes from Laos, Peru, Yemen (Ethiopian), and Burma. In addition, vendors from these countries as well as Nepal, Morocco, South Sudan, Rwanda, and India will display authentic merchandise from their home countries.

Please stop in and learn about these countries (posters provided by geography students) and welcome our new neighbors to our community.

The 2013–2014 "Conversations in and out of the Disciplines" series continues today at 3:00 p.m. as Mayra Velez-Serrano, assistant professor of political science, presents "Puerto Rico: The Next 51st State? Reasons, Consequences, and Prospects," in Ketchum Hall 320. Everyone is welcome. A wine-and-cheese reception follows.

Applications and nominations are requested for students to be considered for the following awards. Although the deadline for nominations is not until Monday, December 2, we encourage early nominations to ensure that all deserving students are considered.

Student Leadership Awards:

• Mildred Keller Campbell Leadership Award
• Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges
• Phillip Santa Maria Award for Student Leadership in Equity and Campus Diversity

Student Humanitarian Awards:

• Luis M. Antonetti Student Humanitarian Award
• Minnie and Joe Engel Student Humanitarian Award
• Phillip Santa Maria Memorial Award

Nomination forms are available online.

For more information, please contact Charles B. Kenyon, dean of students, ext. 4618.

The campus community is warmly invited to attend the lecture “Rwanda: Not Just Genocide” with Carol Townsend, associate professor of design, on Tuesday, October 22, from 12:10 to 1:30 p.m. in Technology Building 160.

This lecture is an integral part of a lecture series sponsored by the International Student Advisory Council.

Jeffrey Otterstein from VALIC Financial Advisors will be on campus for individual consultations with Buffalo State faculty and staff members on Tuesday, October 22. Sessions are by appointment only between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. in Cleveland Hall 416.

Gain a greater level of confidence in your retirement portfolio. To schedule an appointment, please register online.

Enjoy an evening of food, drinks, live music, and socializing at the Speech-Language Pathology Scholarship Social on Friday, October 18, from 4:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the Science and Mathematics Complex atrium. Admission fee of $25 includes light fare and a cash bar. The event will also feature a basket raffle, a 50/50 raffle, and an auction, with 100 percent of the proceeds to fund graduate student scholarships. For more information, please contact Katie Harrington or Constance Dean Qualls at ext. 4412 or harrinkr@buffalostate.edu.