Buffalo State is reapplying for Carnegie Community Engagement Classification in the 2026 cycle, with an application due date of April 1, 2025. The Community Partnerships Council is leading the process, and a Carnegie Community Engagement Classification web page has been formed to enhance communications and share information. Campuswide input is needed for success, and spring 2024 listening sessions have been set up to ensure that Community Partnerships Council members fully understand the depth and breadth of community engagement occurring across campus. Please join us to ask questions and share information about your community-facing projects and activities.  

Carnegie reapplication office hours:

Tuesday, March 19, 2:00–4:00 p.m., South Wing 100 or Microsoft Teams Meeting 

Thursday, April 11, 8:30–10:00 a.m., South Wing 100 or Microsoft Teams Meeting 

Friday, May 17, 9:00–1:00 a.m., South Wing 100 or Microsoft Teams Meeting 

The committee plans to release a first draft of its application to the campus and community in November 2024 for additional input and feedback. If you would like to be involved in the Carnegie reclassification efforts, please contact the committee co-chairs for opportunities.

Buffalo State Gives 2024, our sixth annual Day of Giving, ends at noon today. This is our biggest online fundraising event of the year, and every year it gets bigger and better.

This time around, more than 40 departments are participating to raise money for Buffalo State students. That includes scholarships, internship and research opportunities, and essential instructional equipment across academic departments in all three schools; campuswide student support programs like Honors, EOP, and Roar 2 Success; student emergency funding; Intercollegiate Athletics; and so much more.

Please visit the Buffalo State Gives website to see them all. No matter what you choose to support, you can be sure that you will have a powerful impact on our students.

If you have already given, thank you for supporting Buffalo State students!

If you have questions about any aspect of Buffalo State Gives, or to learn how your department can participate in 2025, please contact Kate Lockhart, assistant to the vice president for institutional advancement and external relations, (716) 878-3077.

As you are all well aware, Buffalo State University, among many other campuses, will be at the center of the path of the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8. This event is expected to attract tens of thousands of visitors and onlookers to the region.

The Eclipse Planning Committee and our University Police and emergency management staff have been preparing for this event. Heavy traffic can be expected in the hours leading up to and after the eclipse in many areas. 

While Buffalo State has canceled classes on Eclipse Day, state offices, including SUNY campuses, are expected to be open on April 8; however, campuses in the path of totality are encouraged to allow as many individuals as possible to telecommute on April 8 to lessen the volume of traffic on the roads while keeping campuses open and providing for continuity of all university services. Supervisors should consider the essential status of employees and whether they can telecommute where operations permit. Supervisor approval is required in advance for remote work. If employees cannot telecommute, supervisors are encouraged to be as liberal as possible with those who want to take time off and charge accruals on April 8.

The Islamic month of Ramadan began March 11. Eid is Wednesday, April 10. For this one month, Muslims will be fasting each day (abstaining from food and water), starting from slightly before sunrise all the way to sunset.

This is a note for faculty and staff members to be aware of these details, and to be especially cognizant of Muslim students fasting. Kindly provide necessary accommodations as needed.

For further resources or information about Ramadan, please contact Saquib Ahmed, assistant professor of engineering technology and faculty advisor to the Muslim Students Association.

At its May 12, 2023, meeting, the College Senate voted to recommend the following resolution to the president for consideration:

Resolution on the Implementation of the World Languages General Education Requirement within Degree Works

WHEREAS, one legitimate interest and aspiration that a student might have is to become proficient in one or more world languages; and

WHEREAS, one way in which students might signal an interest in or aspiration to become proficient in one or more world languages is to have taken world languages in high school; and

WHEREAS, the GE23 general education program is designed to provide students with options that allow them to choose general education courses that are in line with their interests and aspirations; and

WHEREAS, the GE23 general education program does provide students with the option for developing proficiency in one or more world languages by taking up to 12 credit hours of world languages as part of their general education at Buffalo State; and

WHEREAS, conversations with faculty and staff advisors are central to helping students identify and pursue their interests and aspirations; and

WHEREAS, students and advisors alike rely heavily on Degree Works during thought about and conversations pertaining to registration decisions; and

WHEREAS, having a box ticked in Degree Works usually indicates to a student or advisor that a requirement is complete; and

WHEREAS, students and advisors spend much less time thinking about and discussing completed requirements than requirements that still need to be completed; and

WHEREAS, a student’s completion of at least one year of world language study in high school is currently sufficient to mark the GE23 world languages requirement as complete in Degree Works; and

WHEREAS, having the world languages requirement marked as complete in Degree Works makes it less likely that students will be prompted to consider world language options at Buffalo State, which has the potential to harm those students who, if prompted, would have an interest in or aspiration to develop proficiency in one or more world languages; and

WHEREAS, the current implementation of the world languages component of the GE23 general education program hinders students and advisors from recognizing the world languages options available to them at Buffalo State; and

WHEREAS, the current implementation of the GE23 general education program singles out world languages as the only GE23 category that can be completed through study of regular high school classes (as opposed to, for example, AP high school classes that are designed to offer college-like experience in high school); and

WHEREAS, because of the impact that the current Degree Works implementation of the world languages requirement will likely have on advisement, world language courses are placed at a systematic disadvantage when compared with GE23 courses in other non-required categories, i.e., Humanities, the Arts, U.S. History and Civic Engagement, Social Sciences, and World History and Global Awareness, in terms of recruiting students into these classes; and

WHEREAS, the current implementation of the world languages component of the GE23 general education program does not significantly benefit students because (i) they are not given Buffalo State credit for their study of a world language in high school, and (ii) they are still required to complete as many non-required credit hours within GE23 as they would be were the GE23 world language requirement not waived; and

WHEREAS, the world language advisement needs of faculty, staff, and students are not well served by the current Degree Works implementation of the world languages component of GE23, because students might take multiple world languages as components of their high school education or their Buffalo State general education (e.g., CHI 101, FRE 101, ITA 101, and SLP 101), and students who took different amounts of a world language in high school should be guided by advisors to take different levels of that world language at Buffalo State (e.g., students who have studied four years of Spanish in high school should be guided to take SPA 201 as their first Buffalo State Spanish class rather than SPA 101 or SPA 102); and

WHEREAS, the current implementation of the world languages component of the GE23 general education program in Degree Works is a result of Buffalo State’s decision to grant SUNY World Language waivers to students who have engaged in one year of study of a world language in high school; and

WHEREAS, the granting of SUNY World Language waivers to students who have engaged in one year of study of a world language in high school is a carryover from a time at which the waiver reduced the number of credit hours that students needed to take as part of the Buffalo State general education program, which is no longer the case under GE23 and so no longer offers a benefit to students; and

WHEREAS, both the above-mentioned potential harm to students and above-mentioned systematic disadvantage to world language courses are consequences of the current implementation of GE23 in Degree Works, which is itself a consequence of an outdated carryover of granting SUNY World Language waivers to students who have engaged in one year of study of a world language in high school,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Buffalo State not grant SUNY World Language waivers to students who have engaged in one year of study of a world language in high school; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that information be provided at the top of each student’s Degree Works audit sheet, near where test scores are listed, about which world languages the student studied in high school and for how many years the student studied each of those languages so that advisors may be aware of each student’s potential interest in world languages and use this information to appropriately guide their advisees into appropriate world language courses; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that systematic guidance be developed that can be shared with students and advisors to help them decide which world language courses are appropriate given a student’s current proficiency in one or more world language.

I thank the College Senate for this comprehensive analysis on the importance of clear direction and guidance in Degree Works for all general education requirements. The checkbox in the Language Section of Degree Works was recently removed, as the purpose for the checked box was to show that a student has completed at least one year of a foreign language during high school. I am directing that the following additional adjustments be made to Degree Works to aid and assist students, faculty, and academic advisors to be effective with the fall 2024 semester:

I direct the vice president for enrollment management to

• maintain the information on completion of high school foreign language at the top of the Degree Works for information purposes.

I direct the interim provost to

• oversee the development of an assessment rubric by fall 2024 that will determine the appropriate placement of students in foreign language courses; and
• update the General Education Requirements in all relevant documents to clearly explain how high school foreign language courses are evaluated at Buffalo State.

I further direct the interim provost and the vice president for enrollment management to

• advise faculty and staff members to continue to use the information in Degree Works on high school foreign language courses as the initial benchmark when determining the course level placement of students in foreign language courses, but to also implement an assessment rubric to confirm that the appropriate course level placement for each student has been determined.

The Accounts Payable and Travel Services Office and Procurement Services have been merged to form the Accounts Payable and Procurement Services Office, under the leadership of director Kristy Mediak. This merger will create additional efficiencies for the campus and oversight of the procure-to-pay life cycle.

Effective Monday, April 1, the Accounts Payable and Procurement Services Office will be located in Cleveland Hall 406. Please continue to email Accounts Payable at aptravel@buffalostate.edu and Procurement Services at purchasing@buffalostate.edu.

Nominations are now open for the Deborah K. Renzi Social Advocacy Award. Mrs. Renzi served Buffalo State University for 39 years as the director of admissions and records, assistant professor and field education coordinator in the Social Work Department, and staff assistant in the Civic and Community Engagement Office (CCE). Throughout her influential career, she supported thousands of students and believed in the power of higher education to bring about systemic change and create opportunities and equity for all. Mrs. Renzi believed that the transformation of policies, practices, social norms, and personal mindsets are necessary to shift the conditions that hold social problems and inequality in place.

The Deborah K. Renzi Social Advocacy Award honors Mrs. Renzi’s legacy and leadership by celebrating an individual who has similarly worked to foster change in societal structures to create equity, justice, and inclusion in a variety of ways, including through campus-community partnerships.

Students, alumni, faculty, staff, and community partners are eligible for recognition and must demonstrate the ability to

• seek out and engage respectfully across differences to understand the many angles of a societal issue;
• demonstrate leadership in the creation of knowledge, action, and positive societal change that address inequity;
• create awareness of the power of each person to foster change;
• engage others directly in opportunities to develop cultural humility, empathy, compassion, and courage to act in service to the greater good.

Please submit nominations through the CCE website. The nomination deadline is Monday, April 29. For more information, please visit the award page of the Civic and Community Engagement website.

Internships play a crucial role in students’ overall development, providing them with practical insights into their chosen field and helping them bridge the gap between academic knowledge and professional application. By participating in internships, students gain valuable skills, industry exposure, and networking opportunities that significantly contribute to their personal and professional growth.

The Career and Professional Education Center (CAPE) is facilitating two separate internship funding sources for summer 2024 internships:

Bengal Internship Award
Deadline: Wednesday, April 17
(CAPE) is once again facilitating the Bengal Internship Award (BIA) created to support students and offset some of the expenses related to unpaid or underpaid internships. Recipients will receive a stipend up to $2,000 to assist with housing, food, transportation, and other incidental costs and expenses. Students who are taking internships during summer 2024 have until April 17 to apply. A full description, eligibility requirements, application, and deadlines can be found on the CAPE website.

CAPE thanks our generous donors, including M&T Bank, Enterprise, and private individuals who have contributed to funding the Bengal Internship Award.

SUNY Incremental Funding for Internships
Deadline: Friday, May 31
Students are eligible to receive up to $1,700. This funding can be used for general living expenses, professional clothing, transportation, and costs associated with housing or rent. This initiative is a testament to SUNY’s commitment to enhancing the educational experience of our students by providing them with real-world, hands-on opportunities that align with their academic and career goals.

Inform Students
If you know of any students who are interested in or are pursuing an internship for summer 2024, please inform them of this opportunity. Students can apply for this funding by completing an online application in Bengal Connect. Applications must be submitted by May 31.

Looking to Host an Intern?
If your office would like to host an intern for summer 2024, please complete this online form. This is a great opportunity to have an undergraduate student work on a special project or initiative. Many of our students do not have access to transportation, so on-campus experiences will ensure that more students have access to this opportunity. Please contact Maureen Huber, associate director of CAPE, with questions.

We are asking for your assistance to support these initiatives.

CAPE is available to help students create their résumé, cover letters, and any other professional documents needed to apply for an internship.

Please contact Denise Harris, director of CAPE, with questions.

The eclipse is only one week away! We are expecting a vibrant campus with many events and visitors to Buffalo State University. United Students Government is hosting a student event in the Plaza; the main public event—Eclipse Fest—takes place at Coyer Field; and there will be a private event in the Science and Mathematics Complex. Here are a few reminders and updates as we approach this exciting event.

Staffing Reminders
While Buffalo State has canceled classes on Eclipse Day, state offices, including SUNY campuses, are expected to be open April 8; however, campuses in the path of totality are encouraged to allow as many individuals as possible to telecommute to lessen the volume of traffic on the roads while keeping campuses open and providing for continuity of all university services. Supervisors should consider the essential status of employees and whether they can telecommute where operations permit. Supervisor approval is required in advance for remote work. If employees cannot telecommute, supervisors are encouraged to be as liberal as possible with those who want to take time off and charge accruals April 8.

Supervisors must review their department operational plans with their respective VP this week (if they have not done so already).

Building Access
Please be aware that all buildings—with the exception of Butler Library, the Sports Arena, and the Campbell Student Union—will be locked, with swipe card access only. For more information on accessing buildings, please contact Facilities at (716) 878-6111.

Parking on Campus
We are expecting heavy traffic on and around campus throughout the day. Everyone who plans to come to campus on Eclipse Day is encouraged to arrive early. Please be aware that if our parking lots fill up, the University Police Department plans to restrict access to our campus roads and parking lots.

Eclipse Glasses
Thanks to a collaboration with Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, all Buffalo State University students, faculty, and staff members will receive a free pair of eclipse glasses this week. Students can pick up their glasses at the Information Desk in the Campbell Student Union. Faculty and staff members’ glasses will be distributed through their units.

Additional eclipse glasses and viewers with other designs will also be available for sale through the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium. Please visit the Eclipse website for updates.

Eclipse Fest at Coyer Field—Ticket Required
1:00–5:00 p.m.

• Access to Coyer Field viewing area and party
• Eclipse-related activities and demos for all ages
  ¤ Featuring a guided educational format led by experts from the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium at Buffalo State
• Entertainment by Buffalo State and Western New York groups
  ¤ Headlined by Buffalo’s own XOXO Pop Band
• Food trucks available noon–5:00 p.m. (not included in ticket price)
• Eclipse swag bag
  ¤ Commemorative Eclipse Fest T-shirt
  ¤ Eclipse Fest reusable shopping bag
  ¤ Eclipse glasses
  ¤ Other eclipse information
  ¤ Bottle of water
  ¤ Two surprise eclipse souvenirs
• Kids Zone with activities for the younger eclipse fans
  ¤ Photo booth
  ¤ Eclipse scavenger hunt
  ¤ Face painting
  ¤ Eclipse viewer activities
• Memories to last a lifetime

Eye Safety
The most important thing to note is that individuals need to protect their eyes and should not look directly at the sun during the eclipse (except during the limited time of totality when the sun is completely covered by the moon—and even then, with caution). Sunglasses will not protect your eyes. If your eyes are exposed to the sun without the appropriate protection, it can cause “eclipse blindness,” which can temporarily or permanently damage your eyes. For more health and safety information, including tips for individual safety for those venturing out to view the eclipse, please visit the 2024 Total Solar Eclipse in New York State health and safety website.

At Buffalo State University, we seek to provide a welcoming and inclusive working environment where all employees can be fully engaged, feel safe and respected, and are able to thrive; therefore, it is important that we assess our campus climate.

Viewfinder Campus Climate Surveys LLC will administer a SUNY DEI Campus Climate Survey for students and employees at Buffalo State University from April 1 through April 22. You will be receiving an invitation email to participate. The survey will be administered online and will be made accessible for those who need accommodation. Your participation in the survey is voluntary. It will take about 15 minutes to complete.

As we continue to grow, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has become an increasingly integral focal point for Buffalo State University. As part of our ongoing DEI efforts, the climate survey will help us take stock of our successes to build on them, while allowing us to learn where we may need to do more work to strengthen our ongoing policies, practices, and initiatives. We value your voice, and we would love to have you share your experiences and perceptions of the current campus climate with us.

As you may already know, our past campus climate survey was conducted in collaboration with Modern Think; however, several factors have prompted a change in our strategy. First, Modern Think revised its survey tool following the pandemic, which would prevent us from gaining a clear comparison of our pre- and post-survey results, as we had initially anticipated when we first administered the survey a few years ago. Second, the financial burden associated with continuing our partnership with Modern Think was significant. In light of these considerations, we have decided to transition to Viewfinder Campus Climate Surveys LLC, a vendor now under contract with SUNY. This transition allows Buffalo State to use its services without incurring any additional costs to our institution.

The survey results will be used to identify strengths and opportunities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion on our campus. All employees are strongly encouraged to complete the survey, which will be online April 1–22. Additionally, we are asking you to support this effort by encouraging Buffalo State University students to participate in the student survey. Capturing the voices of all members of our campus community will allow us to reflect on our current practices, both inside and outside the classroom, and make necessary changes to improve everyone’s experience on our campus.

To ensure that your responses remain confidential, no personal identifying information will be collected from you. You will be receiving an email directly from Viewfinder Campus Climate Surveys LLC inviting you to participate in the survey.

Thank you for supporting this important effort to advance our DEI goals at Buffalo State University. If you have any questions, please contact me, Lisa Morrison-Fronckowiak, interim chief diversity officer. Thank you.