The Fall 2024 Midterm Student Progress Survey will be deployed via the Bengal Success Portal on Wednesday, October 30, and close Friday, November 22, at 11:00 p.m. The fall semester deadline for Course Withdrawal and Pass/Fail is Friday, November 22.

Raising kudos, flags, and referrals is the first step in alerting other campus members of the status of students, enabling professional staff members to follow up with students and close the loop of communication with faculty; however, before raising any flag, please make every attempt to communicate and resolve an issue with a student. If your attempt is unsuccessful, please proceed with raising flags in the Bengal Success Portal so the appropriate staff member can provide support.

It is expected that all faculty members (full time and adjunct) will raise kudos, flags, or referrals for each course survey, acknowledging where students stand in their respective courses so support staff can proactively reach out and respond to student needs and concerns. If no kudos, flags, or referrals are raised for your course(s), please simply open your course survey and click the submit button to mark your course survey(s) complete.

A video on how to complete the Student Progress Survey for courses is available online. Please email Bob Hudson, coordinator of advisement student systems and senior academic adviser, with questions about completing course surveys or raising kudos, flags, and referrals.

Thank you all for caring about the success of our students. It is essential that we continue to work collaboratively as a campus community, making every effort to increase students' academic achievement, persistence, retention, and graduation rates.

Every three years, Butler Library kindly asks the Buffalo State community to participate in the LibQUAL+(R) service quality survey. The 2024 survey opens today, October 28, and runs through December 15. Please spend just 10 minutes completing the survey. That's all it takes for your voice to be heard. Please encourage students to participate in the survey, too.

Your contribution will make a difference to the library, so please tell us what you like and what you think needs changing but please tell us. Your feedback will guide our strategic planning initiatives and help us determine what changes and improvements to make in how we serve you. If you include your email address, you will be eligible to win one of 30 prizes valued at roughly $15 each.

Thank you very much for your participation.

Please contact Eugene J. Harvey, associate librarian, (716) 878-3138, with questions.

Please join the Philosophy Department for the annual fall colloquium "Know Thy (Non-Self): Psychedelics, Meditation, and Personal Identity," presented by Leigh Duffy, associate professor of philosophy, on Tuesday, October 29, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Cleveland Hall 418.* Carolina Miller, freshman philosophy major and honors program student, will serve as commentator.

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*Correction: October 28, 2024
Please note the corrected location of Cleveland Hall 418.

SUNYCUAD has partnered with Concept 3D to offer a free webinar on creating accessible and engaging web content for prospective and current students on Tuesday, October 29, from noon to 12:50 p.m. As it is estimated that roughly one in five students in secondary education identifies as having a disability, ensuring that all our digital content is accessible is critical for recruitment and retention. Registration is free for this event. If you manage a campus website, this professional development opportunity will be worth your time.

New York Election Law §3-110 allows employees who are registered to vote in New York, and who do not have sufficient time to vote outside of their working hours, to take up to two hours of paid leave at the beginning or end of their working schedule, as the employer may designate, to vote in any election in New York State, including general elections, special elections called by the governor, primary elections, and town and village elections, but not school or library elections. Additional time off for employees who are covered by the Attendance Rules should be charged to vacation, overtime compensatory time credits, or personal leave, as approved by the supervisor.

Employees who have four consecutive hours either between the opening of the polls and the beginning of their working shift, or between the end of their working shift and the closing of the polls, shall be deemed to have sufficient time outside their working hours to vote. Employees who have fewer than four consecutive hours may take off so much working time as will, when added to their voting time outside their working hours, enable them to vote, but not more than two hours of which shall be without loss of pay, provided that they shall be allowed time off for voting only at the beginning or end of their working shift, as the employer may designate, unless otherwise mutually agreed.

Employees must provide their supervisors with at least two working days' notice of the leave request. Whether the leave is to be taken at the beginning or end of the employee's regularly scheduled work shift is to be determined at the supervisor's discretion and based on the operating needs of the department or university. While up to two hours of leave with pay is available for every election, not every employee's situation will require the full two hours' allotted leave. 

Proof of voter registration or proof that an employee voted is not required. 

Once the leave request is approved, employees should record the non-chargeable leave on their attendance record.

Resources: Attendance and Leave Manual Policy Bulletin and HRM Leaves of Absence website

Take control of your health today and book a free counseling session with the Nutrition Education Counseling Center, located in Caudell Hall 212. Our team of eager dietetics students led by a registered dietitian are available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Nutrition counseling includes weight management, meal planning, body composition analysis, navigating diet-related diseases, how to stay healthy over the upcoming holidays, and more! To book an appointment, please email nutritioncounseling@buffalostate.edu with your name, preferred date and time, and main topic or concern.

Follow us on Instagram @Buffalo_state_hnd for upcoming announcements, events, and health tips for the holiday season!

Please join us to raise awareness about mental health with a Halloween eve Trick or Treat & Shine the Light on Mental Health Walk on Wednesday, October 30, from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. The event will begin on the steps of Rockwell Hall (facing Elmwood Avenue). Participants will receive a Bengal orange glow-in-the-dark bracelet for the walk to Caudell Hall's lobby area. After the walk, students will be encouraged to "trick or treat" at community agency tables to get agency information and other treats.

Please encourage your students to attend today's Graduate and Professional School Fair from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union Social Hall. Students can meet with representatives from 65 graduate programs from local, regional, and national colleges and universities. This CAPE event is free and open to all Buffalo State students and alumni.

Please join the Garman Art Conservation Department today, October 25, for our Fall Open House from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the north wing of Rockwell Hall's second and third floors. View conservation projects in progress, demonstrations, and conservation imaging techniques in action. We will also have our recent Let's Go! episode playing for visitors to enjoy. The event is free and open to the public. All are welcome!

Buffalo State Athletics will host a ConnectLife Blood Drive on Tuesday, November 19, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in Houston Gym. All blood donors will receive $5 in Moe's Bucks to be redeemed at area Moe's Southwest Grill locations. 

Schedule your appointment online. Walk-ins will also be accepted.

One blood donor can save up to three lives right here in Western New York.