The Career Development Center is excited to announce the recipients of its inaugural Bengal Internship Awards. The award was created to financially support students in unpaid or underpaid internships. The Bengal Internship Award was made possible by a generous donation from M&T Bank and more than 50 donors through the Buffalo State Day of Giving.

 2022 Award Recipients

• Mimi Byrne, Biology
• Christina Clark, Business Administration
• L. Daniela Gonzalez-Pruitt, Art Conservation
• Soumaya Hassan, International Relations
• Amina Mambambu, Political Science

Additional information about the recipients, including their summer 2022 internship sites, can be found on the Career Development Center’s website. If you would like to make a donation to the Bengal Internship Award, please visit our donation page.

As previously announced, the SUNY Telecommuting Program is set to expire June 30, 2022.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Buffalo State College implemented telecommuting to serve the immediate needs of the campus community. Our focuses were on preserving health and safety; fulfilling the academic mission; continuity of operations; and balancing our institution’s human, physical, and financial resources. Those were especially challenging times.

In 2021, as members of our Buffalo State community—including our student population—returned to residential, in-person campus operations, the application of telecommuting needed to be adjusted to reflect this return.

The SUNY Workplace Flexibility and Telecommuting Program is not an employee entitlement, and participation is not operationally feasible for many job functions. All telecommuting arrangements must be evaluated, documented, reviewed, and approved by the employee’s immediate supervisor or manager, the department head or dean, the division leader, and senior campus leadership.

If Buffalo State employees are telecommuting without approval from their respective President’s Cabinet members, I encourage them to immediately work with their supervisors to submit an application. Please be aware that supervisory approval alone does not authorize participation in this program.

Employees approved to participate in the telecommuting program must complete and submit to their supervisors biweekly progress reports describing work completed while telecommuting. The Human Resource Management Office may, at any time, request these reports to ensure compliance with the program.

Telecommuting program information for employees and supervisors is available on the Human Resource Management Office home page. Please contact the HR office staff with questions about the program.

As we prepare to celebrate our 150th Commencement on Saturday, May 21, I want to assure our graduates, their family members and friends, and our campus community that a wide range of safety and security protocols will be in place at the Sports Arena this weekend.

We ask that graduates, family members, and all others attending or participating in any of our ceremonies plan accordingly and expect that gaining entrance to the Sports Arena may take a few extra minutes as you pass through our security checkpoints. Additionally, to speed up our screening process, please refrain from bringing any bags—large or small—to Commencement. Faculty and staff marchers and volunteers should enter the Sports Arena at the Graduate Lineup entrance. Signage will direct you.

Warmest wishes and congratulations to the Class of 2022! I look forward to celebrating and recognizing the extraordinary accomplishments of our graduates on Saturday.

The MSCHE Self-Study Steering Committee and I wish to thank Kimberly Kline for her service to Buffalo State as co-chair of the Self-Study Steering Committee. Dr. Kline’s work was instrumental in the initial design of the self-study process. Please join me in wishing her well as she focuses her attention on other initiatives for the Buffalo State community.

I am pleased to announce that Abdi Hajikandi will serve as the new co-chair of our MSCHE Self-Study Steering Committee. Mr. Hajikandi is currently the assistant director for academic services in the Arthur O. Eve Educational Opportunity Program, overseeing academic programs within the unit. For 32 years, Mr. Hajikandi has been an engaged member of the campus community. He serves as the chair of the Professional Staff Caucus and is a member of the President's Civic Action Plan Implementation Committee, chairing its Subcommittee on Staff Recognition for Community Engagement work group. Please join me in welcoming Mr. Hajikandi as he takes on the important role of Self-Study Steering Committee co-chair.

Along with Kelly Frothingham, associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Kim Barron, assistant vice president for institutional effectiveness and planning, Mr. Hajikandi will lead the MSCHE self-study development process through the summer. Watch the Daily Bulletin for continued updates and the Institutional Effectiveness and Planning website for details.

The Online Course Development Series workshops and Course Design Reviews (OSCQR) taught by Instructional Design and Distance Learning will not be offered during the fall 2022 semester and will restart in spring 2023. Instructional designers will dedicate their time to providing assistance to faculty, staff, and students for the migration from Blackboard Learn to D2L Brightspace. 

Pausing new online and hybrid course development will give the campus time to learn the newest technologies that will enhance the learning experience for our students while updating current course resources to reflect this new technology. Course content from Blackboard will migrate to Brightspace but must be reformatted and organized within the new system layout. During the fall 2022 semester, faculty members must complete Brightspace training and redesign current courses using the Brightspace layout before participating in the Online Course Development Series and Course Design Reviews. Brightspace training options are outlined on the SUNY Digital Learning Environment website and will be offered in a variety of modalities starting at the end of this spring semester.

In addition to providing dedicated time to migrate courses from Blackboard Learn to Brightspace, this pause will allow us to review data related to online teaching and learning at Buffalo State and implement recommendations from the SUNY Online Institutional Readiness to prioritize and align with the strategic plan.

Buffalo State internship coordinators and the staff of the Career Development Center are pleased to recognize 12 Buffalo State recipients of the Department Intern of the Year Award. Interns were selected by their academic departments because their hard work, dedication, and performance exceeded employer and faculty expectations. Additionally, they demonstrated a high level of learning and growth during their internship while maintaining exceptional professionalism. A ceremony on May 5 recognized the following students as well as faculty members and community partners. Please join us in congratulating this year’s award winners.

Matthew Azzano, Urban and Regional Planning
Internship Site: Buffalo Erie Niagara Land Improvement Corporation

Christian Burnham, Social Work
Internship Site: GA Family Services - Foster Care and Supervised Visitation

Taylor Coleman, Fashion and Textile Technology
Internship Site: Goodwill of Western New York

Mariama Diallo, Business Administration
Internship Site: Imagine Staffing; Buffalo State LoRusso Alumni and Visitors Center

Shannon Hanley, Criminal Justice
Internship Site: Erie Crime Analysis Center

Jhada Hutchinson, Higher Education Administration
Internship Site: Hilbert College

Devanshi Malaviya, Computer Information Systems
Internship Site: Buffalo State Small Business Development Center

Erin McKendry, Higher Education Administration
Internship Site: University at Buffalo

Sara Mintz, Psychology
Internship Site: Jewish Family Services Adult Health Homes

Syeda Rahmani, Computer Information Systems
Internship Site: Small Business Development Center

Nathaniel Schumacher, Theater
Internship Site: Alleyway Theatre

Ashley Weaver, Anthropology
Internship Site: International Institute of Buffalo

At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the New York State Division of Budget and SUNY System Administration required spending controls to be enacted across all funds at state institutions, including SUNY campuses. At that time, in April 2020, Buffalo State established Procedures for Spending Controls: COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 and has been operating under these procedures ever since.

With the full return to in-person operations, the procedures have been updated in consideration of conserving employee time and effort while ensuring continued compliance with existing regulations.

To reduce consumption of staff effort:

The Spending Constraints Attestation Form (SCAF) (DOCX, 72 KB) has been updated to reflect a new higher threshold. Previously required for all purchases, the updated SCAF must accompany purchase requests at or above $30,000. In turn, the threshold for proposed purchases to be reviewed by the Spending Constraints Oversight Committee for recommendation to the Budget Committee will also be $30,000. Starting May 27, 2022, requests for purchases below this threshold can be sent to Procurement Services in keeping with the general purchasing process.

To summarize existing compliance requirements:

Rather than repeatedly completing SCAFs for proposed purchases between $1 and $30,000, staff members are instead required to agree to follow all applicable regulations. These regulations have been compiled into one document, the Acknowledgment of Financial Resource Stewardship (DOCX, 51 KB), which must be completed annually and on file according to division requirements. The process for filing the completed acknowledgment may be updated to enhance efficiency. Any such updates will be shared in the Daily Bulletin and noted on the Finance and Management website. Once an employee has signed the acknowledgment, he or she may proceed with requesting purchases in keeping with the general guidelines.

To ensure continued compliance with existing regulations:

Randomized post-audits will be conducted quarterly, where requestors will be accountable for justification and reasonableness of expenditure.

More information is available at the Finance and Management website. Questions about these changes can be sent to vpfm@buffalostate.edu. We are hopeful that these updates will ameliorate the procurement process as we move toward standard operation procedures.

As part of the SUNY-wide initiative to protect student privacy and data, Buffalo State College is in the process of implementing multi-factor authentication (MFA) across campus. Student log-ins will have this extra layer of security turned on beginning Monday, June 6. This measure will keep students’ accounts safe even if their log-in credentials are compromised.

Initially, this additional layer of protection will be enabled only for student email accounts (Gmail) and any Microsoft 365 services that students access via portal.office.com (e.g., OneDrive, Word online) but will soon expand to include other Buffalo State and SUNY-linked log-ins.  

Students are encouraged to register now by following these steps to set up two-step verification for Gmail and to set up MFA for Microsoft 365 services. It is important to note that the Microsoft MFA in the second link will eventually become the verification method students will use for all Buffalo State and SUNY-linked log-ins (once MFA is turned on for these sites).

If students have questions, please refer them to the MFA frequently asked questions page. They can also contact the IT Help Desk by email at ithelpdesk@buffalostate.edu, by phone at (716) 878-HELP, or in person by stopping by the office in Butler Library (on the ground floor behind the "Ask Us" counter).

Thank you for your assistance as these changes are rolled out.

Summer hours for the COVID-19 Testing Center in Buckham Hall’s D Wing gym will be Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m.–4:00 p.m. effective Tuesday, May 31.

Alternatively, self-testing kits are available for pickup and drop-off anytime at the University Police “Safe Trade Zone,” Chase Hall 126. Kits are also available in the Human Resource Management Office, Cleveland Hall 403, or at the COVID-19 Testing Center in Buckham Hall's D Wing gym during the hours listed above.

Employees who do not wish to disclose their vaccination status or who are not fully vaccinated must continue to participate in weekly COVID-19 surveillance pool testing.

Vaccinated employees with a physical presence on campus who have not yet reported or received their booster shot must test once a month or until they receive their booster and provide proof to Human Resource Management.

Employees who have completed a full vaccination series, received their booster shot, and provided proof of their vaccination and booster to Human Resource Management are exempt from surveillance testing at this time.

Beginning Monday, June 13, all SUNY-federated websites—websites that use the SUNY Secure Sign On page for authentication—will require employees to use multi-factor authentication (MFA) when signing in. This will include the SUNY HR Portal, Time and Attendance, Slate, Degree Works, and D2L Brightspace (Blackboard replacement). Buffalo State College is adding this new protection as part of a SUNY-wide initiative to safeguard employee privacy and data.

The MFA verification process for these websites will be the same as when signing in to campus email. You will use the verification options that you have already set up (e.g., call or text to your authentication phone). If you need to update these verification options, you can do so through the MFA setup page. Complete step-by-step instructions are available in the IT Knowledge Base.

If you have questions about multi-factor authentication, please review the MFA frequently asked questions page. You can also contact the IT Help Desk by email at ithelpdesk@buffalostate.edu, by phone at (716) 878-HELP, or in person by stopping by the office in Butler Library (on the ground floor behind the "Ask Us" counter).

Thank you for your patience as these changes are rolled out.