I am pleased to announce that Kathy Doody, associate professor in the Exceptional Education Department, has received the President's Caring Bengal Award.

Dr. Doody was nominated for the award by Wendy Paterson, dean of the School of Education. I am so pleased to recognize Dr. Doody, and I encourage the entire campus community to join me in thanking her for her exceptional effort to make Buffalo State a great place to live, learn, and work. Her award profile can be viewed on the Professional Development website.

I announced the creation and implementation of the President's Caring Bengal Award in December 2017. This award recognizes supportive colleagues in our Buffalo State community who not only transform the lives of our students but also help create a caring and collegial environment for our faculty, staff, and administrators.

Members of the campus community are invited to submit nominations for the President's Caring Bengal Award by 5:00 p.m. Friday, November 1. For more information about the award criteria and recipient selection process, or to submit a nomination, please visit the Professional Development website.

This week we continue to tell the Buffalo State story through students’ eyes with chapter 2: An Inclusive Student Experience: Life at Buffalo State. You may recall that each month during the upcoming academic year, we will focus on a new and unique chapter in the Buffalo State story that, all told, will illustrate the amazing student experience here at the college...

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

New York State requires all employees to complete a mandatory sexual harassment prevention training. This announcement serves as a reminder to complete the training modules in Blackboard Learn. The training was to be completed by October 9; as of today, we are still waiting for some individuals to complete the training modules. Please do so as soon as possible. Thank you.

I invite the campus community to attend the 2019 Faculty and Staff Recognition Ceremony on Thursday, November 7, at 12:15 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at Rockwell Hall.

Please join us as we recognize this year’s recipients of the President’s and Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence, welcome new staff members, and celebrate the accomplishments of our colleagues on campus. A light reception will immediately follow the ceremony.

View bios and photos of this year’s awardees.

Members of the campus community are invited to submit nominations for the following student awards:

President’s Medal for Outstanding Undergraduate and Graduate Student
One undergraduate student and one graduate student will be awarded the President’s Medal. The President’s Medal is the highest honor awarded to a student by Buffalo State College. This award is given to a student who, through use of his or her natural talents and acquired skills, has demonstrated a commitment toward meeting the goals of higher education as set forth in the college’s mission statement. The recipients will deliver the student address at Commencement. A minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 is required for consideration for this award. Only students graduating in August 2019, December 2019, January 2020, May 2020, or August 2020 will be considered.*

SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence
The Chancellor’s Award is the highest honor bestowed by SUNY upon a student. This award recognizes model students who have integrated academic excellence with achievement in areas such as athletics, community service, creative and performing arts, entrepreneurship, leadership, and career achievement. Although there is no prescribed grade point average for this award, it is assumed that recipients will have high academic achievement. Award recipients will be recognized at a spring ceremony in Albany and at Commencement. Only students graduating between June 2019 and May 2020 will be considered.*

Nomination Procedure
Nominations are being sought for both awards. Students must be nominated by a faculty or staff member at Buffalo State College. Candidates must have demonstrated the qualities recognized by each award. Selection criteria are similar for each award; however, to be considered for the President’s Medal, a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 is required. A student may be nominated for either or both awards.

Selection Criteria for Both Awards
Academic Performance: Documented via grade point average, honors received, rank in class, research, and other scholarly projects.

Citizenship: As measured by university and community service, the quality of extracurricular activities, and/or involvement in professional organizations.

Leadership and Creativity: Documented local, state, national, or international recognition for excellence (e.g., recipient of major national scholarships or athletic awards, or recognition by national and international associations and honor societies).

For graduate students: documented by activities related to the discipline of graduate degree program or other university service leadership in a professional organization, or community outreach activities related to the field of study.

More information and nomination materials are available on the Student Affairs website.

Deadline
Nominations and supporting documentation must be delivered to the Student Affairs Office, Cleveland Hall 513, by 4:00 p.m. Monday, December 16, 2019.

Those with questions or concerns regarding the application process are encouraged to call Kathy Marzolf at 878-4704.

*Information will be verified with the Registrar's Office.

The next meeting of the Buffalo State College Council will be held at 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 5, in Cleveland Hall 518.

Agenda

1. Call to Order
2. Action Items
   Approval of the Minutes: September 17, 2019
3. Chair’s Report
4. President’s Report
5. Committee Reports
6. Announcements
7. Executive Session (If Necessary)
8. Adjournment

The Teaching and Learning Center, Instructional Design and Training Department, and Professional Development Center encourage all faculty, staff, and administrators to take part in relevant professional and leadership development opportunities throughout the fall 2019 semester. We have created this calendar of events for November workshops as a central source of information for trainings, workshops, presentations, and other opportunities for professional development on campus. Individual events will also continue to be announced in the Daily Bulletin.

At its October 11, 2019, meeting, the College Senate voted in favor of the following recommendation on an amendment to DOPS Policy IV.02.00: New and Revised Curricular Proposals:

BUFFALO STATE COLLEGE
DIRECTORY OF POLICY STATEMENTS
Policy Number: IV.02.00
Subject: New and Revised Curricular Proposals

The official source for curricular matters is Section IV of the Directory of Policy Statements (DOPS). The following information is presented as a supplement to DOPS. It answers frequently asked questions about issues brought before the College Senate Curriculum Committee (CSCC).

All curricular proposals shall follow the submission policy outlined in the next section. A curricular proposal is any new course proposal, new program (major, minor, certificate) proposal, or proposed revision to a course or program. Templates for curricular proposals can be found online on the CSSC website.

SECTION 1: NEW CURRICULAR ACTIONS AND CURRICULAR REVISIONS

CURRICULAR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION POLICY

I. Departments should establish their own internal procedures for reviewing curricular proposals. The College Senate Curriculum Committee (CSCC) asks that one member of each departmental curriculum committee be assigned the function of assessing proposals for conformity to standard format and to make appropriate changes to the curriculum document as suggested by departmental and dean’s level committees. The department should update the CSCC regularly and share with the CSCC the name of the delegate. 

The CSCC will provide training as needed and requested by departmental, and/or dean’s level, curriculum committees to establish common understandings about content, format, and process.

II. A single curricular proposal will follow this path toward approval:

1. Curricular proposals approved by departments will be sent to the dean’s office via the online workflow management system.
2. Deans will follow established procedures for reviewing proposals.
3. Proposals rejected at the dean’s level will be returned to the department with an explanation, and no further action will be scheduled.
4. Proposals reviewed and approved at the dean’s level will be sent to the College Senate Office via the online workflow management system.
5. Once received in the College Senate Office, a log number will be issued, and the curricular proposal with correct title, number, and catalog description will be sent for inclusion in the next Daily Bulletin. The description will be edited by Marketing and Communications before publication. Departments should contact their associate dean if there are any problems with the editing. Once the announcement has been posted in the Daily Bulletin, interested parties may review the proposal and, if they so desire, initiate the challenge process (see DOPS IV:04:00) within 15 academic days of posting.
6. The CSCC will review the curricular proposal and post contingencies based on its established procedures for review and make a recommendation to the Senate according to Senate bylaws.
7. Proposals rejected will be returned to the initiator (person who initiates proposal in workflow management system) with the CSCC feedback via the online workflow management system.
8. For proposals approved pending revisions (APR), the department originating the proposal will be notified via the online workflow system to make recommended changes to the electronic document or confirm changes that have been made by the CSCC. Once changes are made, the revised document and/or responses to revision requests are updated via the online workflow management system under the original proposal for next steps in the approval process.
9. For proposals approved with no changes, the assistant to the College Senate will

   • post the approval in the Daily Bulletin,
   • log the approval date,
   • forward the final proposal to the Academic Affairs Office or the president’s designee for final review and approval.
    

10. Once a curricular proposal has been approved by the president, the title and number will be published in the Daily Bulletin (by the President’s Office). The proposal will be archived digitally as per DOPS Policy Number IV:02:05: Electronic Archive of Course Proposals.
11. Program proposals shall follow subsequent steps listed in DOPS Policy Number IV:01:00: Program Proposals and Review following the CSCC and president’s approval.
12. Certificate proposals shall follow subsequent steps listed in DOPS Policy Number IV:06:00: Proposals for SUNY Certificates following the CSCC and president’s approval.

I hereby accept the recommendation of the College Senate regarding the amendment to DOPS Policy IV.02.00: New and Revised Curricular Proposals. I charge the provost with responsibility for overseeing the implementation of this policy change and for communicating the change to the campus community.

In my Opening Year Address, I noted that higher education is undergoing significant demographic and technological shifts, which will require us to change how our institution operates, how we collaborate across departments and divisions to solve institutional challenges (retention, enrollment, developing new revenue streams, etc.), and how we prepare our campus workforce to address the ever-changing challenges of the future. To examine these challenges and questions, I am creating the President’s Institutional Innovation Advisory Council (IIAC). The IIAC will include a representative from each division and faculty with expertise in the content areas being examined (organizational development, workforce planning, innovation, organizational psychology, etc.).

The IIAC will be charged with helping assess and analyze institutional data, policies, and processes and making recommendations to the president and the cabinet to help inform their decision-making for the following challenges:

• What are the campus's strengths, challenges, opportunities, and threats in terms of organizational culture, employee engagement and satisfaction, workforce development, organizational agility, and institutional innovation, and how do they affect institutional performance? What strategies and initiatives can further improve institutional performance by leveraging these factors?
• How do we assess and build institutional capacity (workforce development, organizational structure, process improvement, organizational agility, technology infrastructure, etc.) to support new campus initiatives, programs, and strategies identified in the strategic plan?
• How can Buffalo State College be more intentionally innovative and agile as an institution to quickly adapt to meet market needs and demands?

To begin examining these questions, the first project the IIAC will be charged with from fall 2019 to fall 2020 is administering a Campus Culture and Employee Engagement and Satisfaction Study using the “Great Colleges to Work for Survey.” I will announce the IIAC members in the coming weeks.

Buffalo State students, faculty, and staff members are encouraged to review the college's emergency closings policy (PDF, 115 KB) and sign up for the Buff State Alert system to receive emergency notifications. If you have already signed up for Buff State Alert, please take a few moments to verify or update your contact information.

Because the weather in Western New York can vary greatly within just a few miles, there are times each winter when conditions on campus are favorable for classes to be held as scheduled, but some students, faculty, and staff members may experience difficulty traveling to campus. In those situations, students must communicate with their instructors, faculty with their students, and staff with their supervisors if they cannot travel to campus safely.

Students will not be penalized if they cannot attend classes because of severe weather but are responsible for making up any assignments, quizzes, or exams promptly, in consultation with the faculty. Students are responsible for the prompt completion of any alternative assignments. If an absence situation between a student and instructor cannot be resolved, an appeal should proceed sequentially to the department chair, dean, and finally the provost.

Faculty members who are unable to travel to campus are responsible for making alternative arrangements for their students. If a faculty member must cancel class(es), affected students should be notified via Blackboard and/or direct e-mail as soon as possible.

Staff members who are unable to travel to campus because of adverse weather conditions must communicate their absence to a supervisor and note the absence on their time records. Staff members must charge vacation or personal leave accruals for any weather-related absence.