The Equity and Campus Diversity Office would like to recognize the recipients of the Dr. Muriel A. Howard Presidential Award, given in recognition of Muriel A. Howard, the seventh president of Buffalo State, for her leadership and lifelong commitment to diversity.

The President’s Council on Equity and Campus Diversity invited individuals (preferably students) to nominate faculty and staff members who have made exceptional efforts to promote respect for equity and diversity through classroom discussions, curricular experiences, and co-curricular activities and projects. The following individuals were honored and recognized as the 2012–2013 award recipients:

Carlos R. A. Jones, Assistant Professor, Theater
Staci D. Newmahr, Assistant Professor, Sociology
Hibajene M. Shandomo, Associate Professor,  Elementary Education and Reading
Lynne C. Sommerstein, Lecturer, Exceptional Education

Congratulations and thank you for your remarkable commitment to equity and campus diversity.

The Equity and Campus Diversity Office, in partnership with the President’s Council on Equity and Campus Diversity, would like to recognize the following recipients of the Equity and Campus Diversity Program Grants.

The Equity and Campus Diversity Office sponsors a minigrant award for campus individuals seeking to enrich the campus with a project, workshop, activity, lecture, or series that infuses diversity, global issues, and different perspectives into the curriculum and extracurricular activities.

Congratulations to the following minigrant award recipients:

• John Abromeit, Assistant Professor, History and Social Studies Education: "Lynching: America’s 'National Crime' from a Global Perspective"
• Pixita del Prado Hill and Kim Truesdell, Associate Professors, Elementary Education and Reading: "Adopt a Children's Book"
• Beth Hinderliter, Assistant Professor, Fine Arts: "The Necessity of Race Conversations"
• Drew Kahn, Professor, Theater: The Anne Frank Project
• Tara Nahabetian, Associate Professor, Design: "Traditional Japanese Metal Inlay"
• Michele Ninacs, Assistant Professor and Director, College Writing Program: "Colonial Memory and Crime of Rhetoric: Pedro Albizu Campos"
• Kenneth Orosz, Associate Professor, History and Social Studies Education: "The Indian Image in the Black Mind: Race, War, and Manhood"
• Ramona Santa Maria, Assistant Professor, Computer Information Systems: "A Celebration of Computing: Computer Science Education Week"

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to diversity. Awards are contingent on available funds and approval by the president. We are still accepting applications for the 2012–2013 academic year.

The Career Development Center will sponsor Senior Job Search Day on Thursday, April 25, in Cleveland Hall 306. Seniors can drop by any time between 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. for résumé and cover-letter critiques, for help with interviewing, and to learn more about job search resources that are available to them. No appointments are necessary. Please help spread the word to all seniors in your department. If you have any questions, or would like fliers for the event, please call the Career Development Center at ext. 5811.

Buffalo State Dining's Balanced U program is a holistic approach to food and nutrition. It’s based on one concept—we eat food. To help students, faculty, and staff understand how food plays into health, Balanced U consists of monthly subjects that act as an educational opportunity to focus on food topics of interest to our customers. April's monthly subject is Earth-Friendly Foods.

You’ve probably heard of the slow food movement. No doubt you’ve heard of local fruits and vegetables. Organics? Free range? Hormone free? They are all part of the sustainable food movement. As Earth Day approaches on April 22, you can do your part, too. Our daily food choices do play a role in our personal carbon footprint, and every little bit of savings counts.

Buffalo State Dining invites you to the Resident Dining Hall, located in the Campbell Student Union, today from 11:00 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. for our Balanced U Earth-Friendly Foods meal. Try foods from our Balanced U station that are sustainable, and receive recipes and tips on how to eat green every day.

Enter with a meal swipe or lunch door price of $8.79.

For more information on Balanced U, please visit our website and click on the Total Health tab.

The Grief and Loss Workshop focuses on normalizing and managing feelings associated with the loss of a loved one. Topics covered will include types of grief, myths, triggers, and expectations as well as coping and self-care. Please consider attending the workshop today, April 11, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in Weigel Health Center 203.

The Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held Friday, April 12, from noon to 1:00 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union Assembly Hall 1 and 2. Death is part of life. Encourage your students to join you and attend together this year's Celebration of Life Memorial Service in honor of students, faculty, staff, and alumni who died this past year.

Both activities are open to the entire college community. For more information, please call the Counseling Center at ext. 4436.

All instructors, please remember to fill out a test cover sheet for those students taking tests with our office. In advance of the test, students should be providing instructors with the cover sheet and notifying you that they will be taking their test with Disability Services.

Tests submitted electronically are encouraged. If you wish to e-mail your test to the office, please do so at disabilityserv@buffalostate.edu. Make sure you include the following information in your e-mail:

• Student's name and course number
• Time and date of the test
• The method by which you wish to retrieve the completed test
• Any special instructions

If you have any questions, please call Disability Services at ext. 4500.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Please join us for a presentation and discussion of two papers during the Economics, Finance, and Social Science Seminar from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 19, in the Campus House boardroom. Xingwang Qian, assistant professor of economics and finance, will present his paper "International Reserves and the Composition of Foreign Equity Investment," and Dae-Yung Kim, assistant professor of criminal justice, will present his paper "U.S. Crime Rates and Economic Conditions: Moving Beyond Traditional Economic Measures." Seating is limited. R.S.V.P. to Tae-Hee Jo, assistant professor of economics and finance, ext. 6933, by Thursday, April 18. The seminar is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The Student Employment Awards reception is today, April 11, at 12:15 p.m. in E. H. Butler Library 210. Vice President Hal Payne will provide the keynote to recipients, nominees, and their families. The Student Employee of the Year, Supervisor of the Year, and Student Employer of the Year awards will be presented. The ceremony will honor all nominees and the following recipients:

Connor Grabowski – Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year, Fine Arts Department
Peter Greenhalgh – Graduate Student Employee of the Year, Computing and Technology Services
Lynn Weldon – Supervisor of the Year, Fine Arts Department
Transitional Services Inc. – Student Employer of the Year

The awards are sponsored by the Career Development Center, the Financial Aid Office, and the Northeast Association of Student Employment Administrators. Light refreshments will be provided.

The fifth annual Weather Photo Contest ends Friday, April 19. Hurry and submit your best weather-related photos to vermetsj@buffalostate.edu. Photos may be submitted by students, faculty, or staff from Buffalo State. Photos must be submitted in a digital format and must have been taken by you. You are allowed to submit up to three photos, but only one prize will be awarded per person. Prizes include a Midland hazard/weather radio, a lollipop garden thermometer, and a handcrafted metal snow gauge. The first-prize winner gets first choice of prizes and so on. Fliers are posted across campus. This contest is sponsored by the Buffalo State meteorology and climatology program and the Geography and Planning Department.

Chelsey Whitson, a forensic science graduate student at Buffalo State, will present her literature seminar, "Human Identification Methods with the Use of Dentition," at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, April 11, in Science Building 272. Her seminar abstract follows.

This seminar is supported by the Auxiliary Services Grant Allocation Committee, the Vice President for Student Affairs Office, and the Faculty-Student Association.

Abstract
The identification of human remains can be very difficult when the body is in an unrecognizable
state. Human teeth are one of the hardest substances in the body, making them extremely resistant to
environmental factors such as decomposition, immersion, and incineration. Human dentition has unique characteristics that can be utilized for identification of remains.

The first examination is a comparative method in which the findings of the remains are compared
with the antemortem dental records of the assumed individual. In cases where antemortem records are
not available, postmortem dental profiling is used with aims to locate the antemortem records. When
conventional methods have failed, DNA profiling is employed. Teeth represent an excellent source of DNA
material. Genomic and mitochondrial DNA can be extracted from the teeth of an unidentified individual
and compared with an antemortem DNA sample. The conclusions from these methods can be used for
mainly inclusion of the questioned individual.

Other methods for human identification are being studied for exclusion purposes. Age estimation
plays a major role in the identification of individuals. Hard dental tissues are good candidates for age
estimation because they are less destructible and can be easily examined. Cementum is a hard calcified
tissue covering the surface of the root of the tooth. It is deposited around the dentin in layers throughout a
person’s lifetime. Polarized light and stereomicroscopes can be useful tools to examine the cementum
layers (annulations) and thickness for age estimation of an individual. This process of correlating age with
cementum annulations and thickness can be very suggestive to age and aid in exclusion for the human
identification process.

References
1. Pretty, A.; Sweet, D. A Look at Forensic Dentistry—Part 1: The Role of Teeth in the Determination of Human
Identity. Brit Dent J 2001, 190.7, 359-66.
2. Sweet, D.; Hildebrand, D. Recovery of DNA from Human Teeth by Cryogenic Grinding. J Forensic Dent Sci
1998, 1199-202.
3. Kasetty, S.; Rammanohar, M.; Ragavendra, T. Dental Cementum in Age Estimation: A Polarized Light and
Stereomicroscope . J Forensic Dent Sci 2009, 1:73-6.
4. Mavrodisz, K.; Rózsa, N.; Budai, M.; Soós, A.; Pap, I.; Tarján, I. Prevalence of Accessory Tooth Cusps in
a Contemporary and Ancestral Hungarian Population. Eur J Orthod 2007, 29.2, 166-9.
5. Lipsinic, F.; Paunovich, E.; Houston, G.; Robison, S. Correlation of Age and Incremental Lines in the Cementum of Human Teeth. J Forensic Sci 1986, 31.3, 982–9.
6. Stein, T.; Corcoran, J.; Pararadicular Cementum Deposition as a Criterion for Age Estimation in Human Beings. Oral Med Oral Surg Oral Pathol 1994;77:266–70.