I am pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Hulbert as the director of leadership and organizational development. He begins his appointment today, August 15.

Mr. Hulbert is a returning Buffalo, New York, resident who has spent the last year at Tiffin University in Ohio as the dean of student success, where he was responsible for developing campuswide retention strategies, managing academic support services, and revising institutional policies to facilitate student persistence. Mr. Hulbert served as a student engagement, retention, and student affairs assessment consultant for 50 west coast colleges and universities when employed at Campus Labs. He has also held positions in Institutional Research and Assessment at Hilbert College and coordinated data between the Department of Education and Buffalo Public Schools system as a data manager for the FAFSA Completion Project. Mr. Hulbert continues to actively contribute to higher education professional development, most recently serving as the Graduate of the Last Decade on the Hilbert College Alumni Board, as well as by presenting at the Ohio Bursar’s Association Conference on Active Shooter Preparation and acting as the co-curricular assessment faculty member for the Student Organization Institute in 2015.  

He has experience using evidence-based methods to develop organizational systems that improve student success, productivity, employee satisfaction, equity, and inclusion. He also has experience facilitating and assessing training sessions for hundreds of staff and faculty members and developing educational seminars for 50 institutions.

Mr. Hulbert received an Ed.M. degree in higher education administration from the University at Buffalo and a B.A. degree in psychology with a minor in leadership studies from Hilbert.

Please join me as we welcome Mr. Hulbert to our campus community.

Buffalo State College will host the conference "Human Trafficking: Strategies for a Solution" on Friday and Saturday, October 14 and 15. International scholars in human trafficking will discuss such topics as cultural tolerance of trafficking, the use of social media, vulnerable populations, and life experiences of survivors. Federal, state, and local governmental and nongovernmental practitioners working on the front lines will inform the discussion. To learn more about modern-day slavery locally, nationally, and abroad or for registration details, please visit the conference website.

This event is sponsored by the SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines program. Additional support has been provided by the Buffalo State President's Office, Provost’s Office, School of Arts and Humanities, School of Natural and Social Sciences, School of the Professions, and University College.

The NFTA has announced that it will restore Metro Bus service to Buffalo State College via Route 32 (Amherst) beginning Sunday, September 4. The Buffalo State stop—at the corner of Rockwell Road and Elmwood Avenue—was discontinued in June.

To accommodate students, faculty, and staff members who will use the Route 32 bus to travel to campus, the NFTA will also temporarily expand the schedule of its 206 circulator from Monday, August 22, to Saturday, September 3. The 206 circulator connects the campus with Tops on Grant Street and Wegmans on Amherst Street. This temporary service for the 206 circulator between the campus, Tops, and Wegmans will operate at 25-minute intervals from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily through September 3. Riders can connect to Route 32 at various stops along Amherst Street. Stop options can be viewed online via the NFTA’s Metro Trip Planner. Additionally, passengers can connect to Route 32 via the Route 20 (Elmwood) or Route 3 (Grant) buses operating at the edges of campus. The 206 circulator will resume its regular schedule on September 4.

For more information on NFTA services available to Buffalo State students, faculty, and staff, please visit the Finance and Management website.

The NYS Assembly Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force and the State University of New York will host a one-day institute, "Building Institutional Capacity for Latino/a Leadership in Higher Education," on Friday, September 16, at the SUNY Global Center, 116 East 55th Street, in New York City.

Please download the flier (PDF, 10.6 MB), which includes a preliminary schedule, or visit the event website for details and registration information.

I am sure you have noticed that it is opening week here at Buffalo State College. The excitement is in the air as every segment of our community gears up for the new semester...

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What a wonderful sight as a sea of orange filled the Sports Arena at this year’s First-Year Convocation on Wednesday. This is the first class to embrace our graduation commitment to Roar in 4...

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During this Week of Welcome, among the many newbies on campus are new faculty and staff. This fall we welcome 29 new faculty members and 39 new staff members to the Buffalo State academic community...

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RITE will begin migrating faculty and staff Outlook accounts (e-mail and calendar service) from our current on-premise e-mail environment, Exchange 2007, to the new cloud-based Office 365 platform beginning Monday, August 29. Mailboxes will be migrated in batches, alphabetically by department; once the transition begins, the process will run continuously until all accounts have been converted. While it will be difficult to precisely predict when an individual's account will be migrated, we have published an Office 365 schedule on the RITE website showing target dates by department.

To prepare for the migration to the new mail system and to learn what to expect before, during, and after the transition, we strongly encourage you to review the Office 365 Migration Guide. You will also find answers to many questions on our Office 365 FAQ page. RITE will host weekly drop-in sessions in Butler Library 318 (CyberQuad) to provide an open forum devoted to answering questions and solving problems that you may encounter while navigating the new Office 365 environment. The drop-in session schedule is available on the Office 365 Training web page.

Please note: some users may experience a brief disruption to e-mail service while their mailboxes are being converted. If this happens, Outlook will display a "Disconnected" message in the status bar at the bottom of the window. This is normal and should last only 15–20 minutes. You may need to restart Outlook a few times to regain connectivity once the migration has been completed.

Please send your questions, comments, and concerns to the RITE Support Desk via e-mail. If you encounter a problem with your e-mail or calendar after the migration, please call the Support Desk at 878-4357 as soon as possible.

I am pleased to announce Glenn Bucello, ’89, as the new resident district manager of Chartwells Dining Services, effective August 29, 2016.

Mr. Bucello comes to Buffalo State after serving as director of operations and general manager for two of the region’s largest food service providers, where he was responsible for directing all operational functions of the region including hiring managers, developing teams, building systems, and implementing and integrating initiatives and new menus. Mr. Bucello has nearly 30 years of combined experience in the food service and hospitality industries.

As resident district manager, Mr. Bucello is responsible for managing and coordinating all retail, residential, and catering operations. He is also responsible for managing a staff of eight managers, five supervisors, and over 80 associates, with a volume totaling 1,231 meal plans for over 1,441 full-time students.

Mr. Bucello is a 1989 graduate of Buffalo State, having earned a bachelor's degree in economics with a concentration in finance. Please join me in welcoming Glenn Bucello back to his alma mater as our new resident district manager.

Throughout September, RITE will continue migrating faculty and staff Outlook accounts (e-mail and calendar service) from our current on-premise e-mail environment, Exchange 2007, to the new cloud-based Office 365 platform. Mailboxes will continue to be migrated in batches, alphabetically by department, until all accounts have been converted. A schedule of departments and their anticipated migration dates is available on the RITE website.

We strongly encourage everyone to review the Office 365 Migration Guide to prepare for the move to the new mail system and to learn what to expect before, during, and after the transition. You will also find answers to many questions on our Office 365 FAQ page, including the impact on accessing e-mail on mobile devices and the significant enhancements and benefits available. RITE will also host weekly drop-in sessions in Butler Library 318 (CyberQuad) to provide an open forum devoted to answering questions and solving problems that you may encounter while navigating the new Office 365 environment. The drop-in session schedule is available on the Office 365 Training page.

Please note: Some users may experience a brief disruption to e-mail service while their mailboxes are being converted. If this happens, Outlook will display a "Disconnected" message in the status bar at the bottom of the window. This is normal and should last only 15–20 minutes. You may need to restart Outlook a few times to regain connectivity once the migration has been completed. After migration, you can continue to access your e-mail from your campus workstation using the desktop version of Outlook 2013 (PC) or Outlook 2011 (Mac). No reconfiguration is necessary; however, to access the web version of Outlook, users must visit https://outlook.office365.com/owa/buffalostate.edu.

Please send your questions, comments, and concerns to the RITE Support Desk via e-mail. If you encounter a problem with your e-mail or calendar after the migration, please call the Support Desk at 878-4357 as soon as possible.