The campus community is invited to attend the workshop "LGBTQ 101: Terminology, Identity, and Inclusion" today, October 13, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. in Butler Library 208. Steve Jagord from the Pride Center of Western New York will lead a discussion on LGBTQ terminology, identity, and inclusive practices.

This interactive workshop is designed to help answer questions as well as share information about how you can be involved in supporting your colleagues, students, and employees. By learning more about our unique identities, members of our campus can create an even more welcoming, diverse, and inclusive community.

More LGBTQ resources are available on the Butler Library website. This event is sponsored by the Equity and Campus Diversity Office.

I will address the Buffalo State College community at my annual Fall Forum on Tuesday, October 18, at 12:15 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall. During my remarks, I will present highlights from the previous academic year and set the direction for the campus moving forward as we implement the directions and strategies in our Strategic Plan for 2016–2021. All members of the campus community are encouraged to attend and to join me in a reception following the presentation to greet our new faculty and staff members.

The Emergency Response Planning Group and University Police will conduct a test of the college’s outdoor emergency alert horn at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, October 20.

People who are outdoors during the test will hear a series of three loud 60-second horn blasts emanating from the central heating plant. Please note: the horn is primarily intended to be audible at outdoor locations on campus—not inside buildings.

In a real emergency, the horn would sound for a minimum of five full minutes. If a real emergency alert is signaled, immediately seek shelter and await further instructions communicated via Buff State Alert, e-mail, or suny.buffalostate.edu or direct instructions from University Police. For more information on Buffalo State’s comprehensive emergency response plan, please visit http://police.buffalostate.edu/emergency-response-plan.

Approximately 30 minutes before the test horn sounds, the college will issue a campuswide test of the Buff State Alert emergency communication system. At this time, all students, faculty, and staff members who have registered with the service will be sent a test message.

Students, faculty, and staff members who wish to enroll in Buff State Alert or modify their preferences may do so by visiting https://buffstatealert.buffalostate.edu and logging in with their Buffalo State user name and password. Those who do not have a Buffalo State user name or password but want to receive text messages from Buff State Alert can sign up by texting the phrase “buffalostate” to 79516.

The Emergency Response Planning Group and University Police will conduct a test of the college’s outdoor emergency alert horn at 1:30 p.m. today, October 20.

People who are outdoors during the test will hear a series of three loud 60-second horn blasts emanating from the central heating plant. Please note: the horn is primarily intended to be audible at outdoor locations on campus—not inside buildings.

In a real emergency, the horn would sound for a minimum of five full minutes. If a real emergency alert is signaled, immediately seek shelter and await further instructions communicated via Buff State Alert, e-mail, or suny.buffalostate.edu or direct instructions from University Police. For more information on Buffalo State’s comprehensive emergency response plan, please visit http://police.buffalostate.edu/emergency-response-plan.

Approximately 30 minutes before the test horn sounds, the college will issue a campuswide test of the Buff State Alert emergency communication system. At this time, all students, faculty, and staff members who have registered with the service will be sent a test message.

Students, faculty, and staff members who wish to enroll in Buff State Alert or modify their preferences may do so by visiting https://buffstatealert.buffalostate.edu and logging in with their Buffalo State user name and password. Those who do not have a Buffalo State user name or password but want to receive text messages from Buff State Alert can sign up by texting the phrase “buffalostate” to 79516.

Buffalo State hosted a conference on human trafficking on October 14 and 15. It is estimated that 20 million people worldwide are forced into what is best described as modern-day slavery every year...

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

Please remember that all contact with—and requests for funding from—corporations, foundations, or government officials must be coordinated by either the Institutional Advancement Office or the Research Foundation at Buffalo State. It is crucial that our efforts be organized to ensure that all outreach and requests for funding match the college’s priorities.

Michelle Rudnicki is the college’s director of corporation and foundation giving. She can be reached at (716) 878-4508 or rudnicmy@buffalostate.edu.

The Pre-Award and Contract Services staff in the Research Foundation on campus can assist with searching for research funding opportunities and proposal development. Carol Darstein is the director of pre-award and contract services. She can be reached at (716) 878-3047 or darsteca@buffalostate.edu.     

All contact with elected and government officials must by coordinated by William Benfanti, associate vice president for alumni and government relations. He can be reached at (716) 878-5557 or benfanwj@buffalostate.edu.

Upon the recommendation of the department and dean, I approve the name change for the Philosophy and Humanities Department to the Philosophy Department.

Over the summer, RITE enabled self-service guest wireless access to make it easier for visitors to connect to the campus wireless network. This self-service option is intended for the casual campus visitor who needs temporary access to Buffalo State's wireless network. It allows visitors to enroll their devices for a 24-hour period using a personal e-mail address or mobile number. Instructions are available online. 

For conferences and other sponsored events, host departments still have the option of requesting a temporary guest account specifically for event attendees rather than having attendees use the self-service option. Requests must be made at least one week in advance of the event by contacting the RITE Support Desk, 878-4357.

RITE is excited to announce that the Office 365 migration project will conclude on Tuesday morning, October 26. Over the past few months during the transition period, we have been operating in a "hybrid" e-mail environment where e-mail traffic is first delivered to the internal Barracuda Spam Firewall appliance and subsequently routed to either the old Exchange server or to the new Office 365 environment, depending on where the user's mailbox was located. 

Beginning tomorrow morning, the old Exchange environment will be essentially "turned off," at which point, all incoming and outgoing e-mail will be transmitted directly to the Office 365 environment, bypassing the Barracuda Spam Filter and taking full advantage of the built-in spam filtering functionality available in Office 365. As a result of this change, it is possible that some users may experience a change in the volume of messages flagged as spam. During the next few weeks, we strongly encourage users to routinely monitor their Junk Email folders for legitimate messages that may have incorrectly been classified as spam. If you find a message that doesn't belong in the Junk folder, simply click on the "It's not spam" link at the top of the message or drag it back to the Inbox or any other folder of your choosing.
 
We continue to encourage everyone to review the 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 has also begun offering several Office 365 training workshops for which you may register online through the Workshop Registration System.
 
Please send your questions, comments, and concerns to the RITE Support Desk via e-mail. If you encounter any problems with your e-mail or calendar, please notify the Support Desk at 878-4357 as soon as possible.

I'm pleased to announce the membership of the Advising Implementation Team, whose charge will be to work with campus constituents to devise a plan for mandatory advising for all students, every semester, beginning fall 2017:

Judi Basinski, Associate Vice President, Data and Analytics, RITE Services
Kelly Boos, Executive Assistant to the Dean, School of Natural and Social Sciences
Shannon Budin, Associate Professor, Exceptional Education
Daniel Heims, Assistant Director, New Student and Family Programs
Julie Henry, Chair and Associate Professor, Elementary Education and Reading
Jude Jayatilleke, Senior Academic Adviser, Educational Opportunity Program
Dae-Young Kim, Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice
Heather Maldonado, Assistant Dean, University College
Lorena Mathien, Assistant Professor, Business
Jill Norvilitis, Chair and Professor, Psychology
Kenneth Orosz, Professor, History and Social Studies Education
Roswell Park IV, Director, Academic Support Programs
Daniel Potts, Associate Professor, Biology
Holly Quicksey, Assistant to the Dean, University College
Sumana Silverheels, Technology Accommodations Coordinator, Student Accessibility Services
Deborah Silverman, Associate Professor, Communication
Aimee Woznick, Director, Academic Achievement Center
Jing Zhang, Associate Professor, Elementary Education and Reading
Rita Zientek, Associate Dean, School of the Professions