At its April 8, 2016, meeting, the College Senate voted to recommend to the president revisions to the Academic Calendar construction guidelines.
 
It was determined that the guidelines currently used to set the Academic Calendar (voted on in the Senate in 2010) were never adopted into DOPS. It was also determined that these guidelines do not bring the college into compliance with SUNY calendar day guidelines. As a result, the College Senate recommends that the following resolution be adopted to ensure that Buffalo State College follows the SUNY policy of 15 weeks of instruction each semester, inclusive of final exam week:

WHEREAS, SUNY policy requires that campuses provide a minimum of 15 weeks of instruction each semester; and

WHEREAS, a 15-week semester schedule requires the equivalent of 42 Monday/Wednesday/Friday classes or 28 Tuesday/Thursday instructional days each semester for regularly scheduled classes, plus CEP week; and

WHEREAS, our students benefit from a greater exposure to and interactions with faculty in the classrooms; and

WHEREAS, Buffalo State’s current calendar construction policy, adopted by the College Senate in 2010, provides fewer instructional days than prescribed by SUNY policy and generally acknowledged as being required for awarding credit, particularly for 3-credit-hour courses meeting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the following revised version of the Academic Calendar Construction Guidelines Policy be adopted:

Policy Number: 1:19:00
Date: April 2016
Subject: Academic Calendar Construction Guidelines

In establishing the instructional calendar, the following trustees’ policies and/or legislation apply:

New York State and Trustee policy requires that the instructional year include a minimum of 30 weeks of instruction during the traditional nine or 10 months of instruction, inclusive of periods of examinations. If the conventional semester plan is followed, a semester must contain 15 or more weeks of instruction, inclusive of periods for examinations. Other patterns may be developed with the approval of the chancellor; however, the total of all instructional periods must provide the equivalent of a minimum of 30 weeks during the 12-month period. (Source: Memorandum to the Presidents, dated February 18, 1981. Subject: Guidelines for Development of the Campus Instructional Calendar.)

Colleges must allow sufficient time in the instructional calendar for students to register for courses, and makeup examinations and other assignments due to religious observance. University policy specifies that campuses accommodate, to the extent possible, religious holidays when developing the instructional calendar. (Source: Education Law, Sections 224-a.)

The following guidelines, as approved by the College Senate, are hereby approved for the construction of Buffalo State academic calendars:

Fall semester:

1. The first day of classes will be the last Monday in August with classes not held on Labor Day.
2. There will be a two-day Fall Recess beginning on the second Monday of October, which will coincide with the legal holiday Columbus Day.
3. No classes will be held Wednesday through Saturday during the week of Thanksgiving Day.
4. The final day of the regular instruction schedule should be the Friday in December at the end of the 15th week of the semester. This will be followed by a period of four days with a revised schedule during which students will have final critiques, present final reports, or take final examinations.

Intersemester:

1. There will be a three-week intersemester beginning the first Monday in January, unless the first Monday is the legal observance of New Year’s Day. In such a case, the intersemester will begin on the Tuesday after the holiday. In years that the intersemester begins on the Tuesday, the registrar will adjust instruction periods as necessary to ensure compliance with SUNY guidelines regarding contact hours required for credit.
2. Martin Luther King Jr. Day will be a holiday with no classes.
3. Should weather require the cancellation of classes, the college will hold classes on the final Saturday of the intersemester.

Spring semester:

1. The first day of the spring semester will be the last Monday in January.
2. There will be a Presidents Day recess using the Monday legal holiday in February. The Monday will be a holiday on which the college will close in observance of the legal holiday.
3. There will be a Spring Recess of six consecutive days without classes beginning on the Monday of the ninth week of the spring semester.
4. The final day of the regular instructional schedule for the spring semester will be the Friday in May at the end of the 15th week of the semester. This will be followed by a four-day period with a revised schedule during which students will have final critiques, present final reports, or take final examinations. This week will be followed by Commencement.

I hereby accept the recommended revisions to the Academic Calendar Construction Guidelines presented by the College Senate. I charge the provost with the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the changes and ensuring that the new calendar guidelines and resulting academic calendar are communicated broader and widely to all faculty students and staff. These changes will be implemented with the fall 2016 semester.

The draft Strategic Plan 2016–2021 is now available for public comment (log-in required) on the strategic planning website. Please know that this is still in draft form, and the College Planning Council is looking forward to your comments and suggestions as we work to finalize the plan.

As I sat at the Athletics banquet this week and heard about the numerous accomplishments of our 93 graduating student-athletes, I was simply in awe of their records on and off the fields, courts, and pools...

Please follow my blog at http://kateconwayturner.tumblr.com.

Forms for the submission of 2015–2016 annual reports for faculty, librarians, professional staff, academic departments, and administrative departments are posted on the Human Resource Management website.

The timetable for submission of annual reports for 2015–2016 is as follows:

• June 30, 2016: Individual reports from faculty, librarians, and professional staff submitted to director or department chair
• July 22, 2016: Department reports submitted to dean or associate vice president
• August 8, 2016: Associate vice president and dean reports submitted to vice president, provost, or CIO

From the Chief Diversity Officer and the Deputy Title IX Officer
Faculty and staff members: Please encourage students to take the Campus Climate Survey. Students must be 18 years or older to participate. Thank you.

Campus Climate Survey. Do Your Part – It Won’t Take Long - FOR STUDENTS

Please help Buffalo State learn about our campus climate by taking a brief survey at https://www.research.net/r/buffalostate_climatesurvey. The more students who participate, the more we will learn. Help us take on the issue of sexual violence in a meaningful way. Your response really will make a difference.

Voice your opinion! Win a prize! At the end of the survey, you will be provided access to a separate questionnaire to enter your name, e-mail address, and student ID in a raffle to receive one of 10 gift certificates to the Barnes and Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore, valued at $25 each, for completing the survey.

Please note that this information will always be stored in a separate and unlinked database and therefore will never be tied to your survey responses. This procedure has been approved by the Institutional Review Board for Buffalo State.

You must at least 18 years of age or older to participate in the survey.

If you would like to seek out campus resources for sexual assault, please visit http://equity.buffalostate.edu/title-ix-compliance.

If you are unable to contact the researcher and have general questions about your rights as a participant, please contact Gina Game, IRB administrator, Sponsored Programs Office at Buffalo State.

Thank you for participating—and for encouraging your friends to do the same!

Dr. Karen Clinton Jones
Chief Diversity Officer
Title IX Officer

Dr. Charles B. Kenyon
Associate Vice President and Dean of Students
Deputy Title IX Officer
 

Did you notice there was some “serious” cooking occurring in the vestibule of the Campbell Student Union on Wednesday?...

Please follow my blog at http://kateconwayturner.tumblr.com.

At its May 6, 2016, meeting, the College Senate voted to forward the following recommendation to the president for review and consideration:

Outsourcing of Credit-Bearing Classes
BE IT RESOLVED THAT in order to maintain academic integrity and to ensure that the curriculum is the purview of the faculty, Buffalo State College will not contract with third-party vendors to deliver classes that carry Buffalo State credit.

I accept the recommendation of the College Senate and authorize this policy on outsourcing of credit-bearing classes to be implemented immediately, commencing with summer 2016 courses. I charge the provost with responsibility for implementing the policy changes and communicating the policy broadly and widely to faculty and staff.

Our Music Department is now the proud owner of a Mason & Hamlin grand piano, circa 1930, thanks to the thoughtfulness of Sheila King, sister of the late Marvin Stiglitz, and Marvin’s longtime partner, Tom Sadowski, who taught in the School of Education for 15 years.

Moving the piano from its previous home to Rockwell Hall also required the tenacity of Music Department chair and associate professor Emily Boyce and piano technician David Sipos, along with the assistance of Illos Piano Restorations, Moeller Sign and Crane Service, and the Buffalo Police Department.

Marvin Stiglitz was a prominent Buffalo optometrist who passed away in November 2014. Tom, who lived with Marvin for 40 years, said Marvin loved the piano and played it every day.

Sheila King contacted Emily earlier this spring saying they were interested in donating Marvin’s piano to the college. The caveat was that the piano was located on the second floor of the couple’s Buffalo house, and the movers couldn’t get it down the stairs because of a tricky turn. They then got the brilliant idea to move the piano up to the third floor deck and use a crane to lift it out. Unfortunately, the second attempt failed because the crane couldn’t get into the driveway with cars parked on the street.

Before giving up, David and Emily went to the house to see the piano. They both realized it was an absolute gem worth the effort to move. And as it turned out, Tom had a friend in the Buffalo Police Department who arranged to have the street blocked off so that the crane could get into the driveway.

Eventually, everything coalesced, and on April 5, the movers were able to get the piano safely out of the Buffalo house and into Rockwell Hall. The piano is now being cleaned and refurbished so that in the fall it can be used for choral rehearsals.

This story illustrates how philanthropy comes in many different shapes and sizes, all of which make a difference to our students and our campus.

Thanks to all who went the extra mile to make this gift possible!

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice have released joint guidance (PDF, 700 KB) to help provide educators with the information they need to ensure that all students, including transgender students, can attend school in an environment free from discrimination based on sex.

Recently, questions have arisen from school districts, colleges, universities, and others about transgender students and how to best ensure that these students, and non-transgender students, can all enjoy a safe and discrimination-free environment.

Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, schools receiving federal money may not discriminate based on a student’s sex, including a student’s transgender status. The guidance makes clear that both federal agencies treat a student’s gender identity as the student’s sex for purposes of enforcing Title IX.

The guidance explains that when students or their parents, as appropriate, notify a school that a student is transgender, the school must treat the student consistent with the student’s gender identity. A school may not require transgender students to have a medical diagnosis, undergo any medical treatment, or produce a birth certificate or other identification document before treating them consistent with their gender identity.

The guidance also explains schools’ obligations to

• respond promptly and effectively to sex-based harassment of all students, including harassment based on a student’s actual or perceived gender identity, transgender status, or gender transition;
• treat students consistent with their gender identity even if their school records or identification documents indicate a different sex;
• allow students to participate in sex-segregated activities and access sex-segregated facilities consistent with their gender identity; and
• protect students’ privacy related to their transgender status under Title IX and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

At the same time, the guidance makes clear that schools can provide additional privacy options to any student for any reason. The guidance does not require any student to use shared bathrooms or changing spaces, when, for example, other appropriate options are available; and schools can also take steps to increase privacy within shared facilities. 

In addition to the departments’ joint Title IX guidance, the Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education released Examples of Policies and Emerging Practices for Supporting Transgender Students (PDF, 599 KB), a compilation of policies and practices that schools across the country are already using to support transgender students. The document shares some common questions on topics such as school records, privacy, and terminology and explains how some state and school district policies have answered these questions, which may be useful for other states and school districts that are considering these issues. In this document, the Education Department does not endorse any particular policy but offers examples from actual policies to help educators develop policies and practices for their own schools.

Many parents, schools, and districts have raised questions about this area of civil rights law. Together, these documents will help readers navigate what may be new terrain for some. Government resources for transgender and gender-nonconforming students are available on the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights website.

Thank you.

After nearly a year of planning, research, and most importantly, campus constituent input, we are pleased to announce that Information Services and Systems has been reorganized to better meet the needs of the campus community.

After a thorough review of your feedback, our Organizational Identity Task Force unanimously agreed on a new name for the division: Resources for Information, Technology, and Education, or RITE. The new name best reflects our goal to deliver exemplary service and resources to support the educational mission of the institution.

I invite the campus community to explore the new division website, review our new teams, and browse the breadth of available services through RITE.

We are here to help. In the coming weeks, a new self-service option will be added to the RITE website to empower you, our valued colleagues, to request services and track the progress of individual projects. Additionally, the RITE Support Desk has also been reorganized to better serve the campus. Please call our team at 878-4357 (878-HELP) and they will be happy to troubleshoot your issue, address your questions, or connect you with the appropriate partner within our division to ensure timely resolution.

As part of the reorganization, the Institutional Research Office, which previously reported to Academic Affairs, will now work within RITE as a member of our Enterprise Data and Analytics team. We are thrilled to welcome the talented Institutional Research staff to this team!

As you explore the new website and organizational structure, please do not hesitate to contact my office for assistance or clarification. I would be glad to answer your questions. Thank you and we look forward to working together as we move our campus forward.