Do you need help registering to vote, making changes to your voter registration, or applying for or filling out your absentee ballot? Then stop by the weekly "Get Election Ready" information table in the foyer of Bulger Communication Center between 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, September 17, when civically engaged student advocates from SWK 302 and community partners from the League of Women Voters, Partnership for the Public Good, Buffalo Center for Health Equity, and Voice Buffalo will be on hand to answer your questions. For more information and resources, please visit the Bengals Vote web page. Questions? Email the Civic and Community Engagement Office or call (716) 878-3919.

New meal plans for faculty and staff are now available for purchase:

Plan A: 10 meal swipes for $90 + tax (2.5 meals free)
Plan B: 20 meal swipes for $160 + tax (5 meals free)

Bengal Bucks
Purchase $100, get $10 free
Purchase $200, get $25 free

Benefits of Purchasing a Meal Plan

• Assist in becoming part of the campus community
• Healthy options
• Homestyle options
• No dishes, grocery shopping, or cooking
• Have more time to eat, spend less time traveling
• No delivery waiting time or delivery fees

Visit our website to purchase or for more information.

The Online Teaching: Technology and Educational Resources (OTTER) Institute, hosted by the SUNY Center for Professional Development (CPD), is an opportunity for instructors, regardless of teaching modality or experience, to learn more about online education's innovations, trends, and challenges.  

This year OTTER will focus on student voices. Each webinar will commence with online students from across SUNY sharing their experiences and preferences for online course materials, course design, communication tools, interaction, and more.

The second half of each webinar will focus on how we can use Brightspace to meet student expectations and preferences. 

The OTTER Institute is free to all SUNY campus members. The webinars will be recorded and shared with participants at the conclusion of OTTER 2024. 

Registration is required for the OTTER Institute 2024.

You are invited to join the Social Justice Book Club this fall as we read Octavia E. Butler's dystopian classic Parable of the Sower.

Called a "prophetic odyssey" by Essence, the book was published in 1993 but is set in 2024 through 2027. In reading (or rereading) this now, we join countless numbers around the world who are doing the same.

The book club meets in person every other week, beginning Thursday, September 5, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 134. Meeting dates are September 5 and 17 (please note: September 17 is a Tuesday), October 3, 17, and 31, and November 14.

The book club is free and open to all Buffalo State students, faculty, and staff.

Thanks to generous funding from E. H. Butler Library, the Muriel A. Howard Honors Program, and Student Leadership and Engagement, print copies of the text will be provided to all registered student participants, while supplies last.

Anyone interested in joining the book club should complete the online form.

More information is available on the book club website.

Please direct any questions to Julie Setele, senior assistant librarian.

Please join the Maurene Callahan Bouras Center for Global Engagement for a welcome reception today, August 20, at 3:00 p.m. in the Butler Library main lobby. This academic year, we have students and scholars from over 20 countries. We encourage our staff and faculty members to give a warm welcome to our international students and scholars as they join the Bengal community.

Buffalo State University's Anne Frank Project is thrilled to host its 16th annual social justice festival AFP 2024: Home: Building Our Collective Story September 25 and 26!

During this year's festival, we challenge our university students, faculty, staff, alumni, and off-campus audiences to define Home. Buffalo State University is a campus that welcomes students from all over the world to immerse themselves in education, diversity, and social justice. How can we bring our different stories together to build our collective story, our Home? A Home where our stories are protected, honored, and shared without fear?

At AFP 2024 - Home: Building Our Collective Story, we have the opportunity to achieve Anne Frank's wish to "repair the world" by deconstructing and rebuilding what we call Home.

View the schedule of events for AFP 2024 (PDF, 13 MB) on our website. Registration to open soon!

Questions about the festival? Please contact AFP's assistant director, Jonise Hall.

Please join members of the 2023-2024 Social Justice Cohort for the following workshops on Tuesday, August 20, and Thursday, August 22. Please register for one or more sessions through the Workshop Registration System or by using the links embedded in the dates and times listed below:

Discussion as a Vehicle for Social Justice
Butler Library 318
Tuesday, August 20 | 1:00-2:25 p.m.
or
Thursday, August 22 | 10:00-11:25 a.m.

Is it always the same two or three students participating in your classes? Do discussion sometimes go awry? Discover how to navigate and address power dynamics in university classrooms by promoting active listening and purposeful discussions. This session equips faculty members with practical tools to plan discussions that foster social justice and equity, ensuring that all voices are heard and valued.

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Creating an Engaged Community from Day One
Butler Library 316
Tuesday, August 20 | 1:00-2:25 p.m.
or
Thursday, August 22 | 10:00-11:25 a.m.

Do you want to get your students excited about class every day? Do you want to reach those elusive students in the back row? Whether you are teaching chemistry, communication, English, or psychology, this workshop will help you modify and use simple tools to build and sustain an inclusive and engaged classroom community.

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Brave Space Workshop: Intersectional Identities
Butler Library 318
Tuesday, August 20 | 2:30-4:00 p.m.
or
Thursday, August 22 | 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Explore the complex interplay of intersecting identities such as gender, race, and class and how these influence personal and student experiences in the classroom. This session empowers participants to recognize and address identity-based systems of oppression and privilege, enhancing their understanding of how these dynamics shape the educational landscape and student interactions.

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One Flat Tire, One Sick Parent, and One Missed Bill Away...
Butler Library 316
Tuesday, August 20 | 2:30-4:00 p.m.
or
Thursday, August 22 | 11:30 a.m-1:00 p.m.

Are some of your students one flat tire away from dropping out of school? Do you feel challenged by maintaining personal boundaries while trying to help your students succeed? This session will help faculty members recognize and collaborate on effective strategies to respond to students facing interlocking life situations that affect their ability to succeed class. Participants will also work together on creating a more supportive classroom learning environment while maintaining healthy personal boundaries.

Please join the Teaching and Learning Center for the session "Librarians Are Your Friends: Partnering to Support Student Research," presented by Julie Setele, senior assistant librarian, on Thursday, September 12, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. in Butler Library 318.

Librarians are a tremendous resource available to both you and your students. This presentation will discuss a variety of ways that faculty members can partner with librarians in their coursework, from offering one-shot presentations in your class to the more elaborate and creative endeavor of embedding a librarian in your course or working with a librarian to redesign an assignment. Building on recent scholarship on teaching and learning in academic libraries, this presentation will give you new ideas for how to collaborate with librarians and build students' research skills.  

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please join the Teaching and Learning Center for the information session "A Journey: International Living to Calling Buffalo State University Home; Supporting International Students in the Classroom," presented by Tricia Herritt, director of international student and scholar services, on Thursday, September 12, from 12:45 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 134.

Our faculty and staff members engage with international students and new Americans, and we want this to be a meaningful experience for everyone. During this information session, staff members will share ways that Buffalo State actively supports student learning when English is not a student's first language and other campus services that are available to this unique population. In addition, we will discuss important compliance topics such as advising tips to ensure that visa status is maintained and steps international students must take to participate in off-campus activities such as internships, service learning, volunteering, and student teaching, which now require Homeland Security approval.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

The Cultural CafĂ©, a monthly event that brings together members of the Buffalo State University community over conversation, culture, and coffee and light refreshments, will precede the information session from noon to 12:45 p.m. in Butler Library's main lobby. Please consider supporting the Cultural CafĂ© before attending the Supporting International Students in the Classroom session at 12:45 p.m.

For more information, please contact Ms. Herritt.

Please join the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) for the session "Civic and Civil Discourse: A Strategy for Fall 2024 and Beyond," facilitated by Laura Hill Rao, director of civic and community engagement, and John Draeger, TLC director, on Thursday, September 5, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 318.

This workshop will share strategies and benefits to facilitating civic and civil discourse to provide safe, respectful, informed, and purposeful conversations across lines of difference. The 2023-2024 academic year saw polarization and division across higher education, and the coming academic year may bring continued unrest with a divisive presidential election, protests over ongoing international conflict, and free-speech controversies. Buffalo State's classrooms and campus activities are vital to educating the next generation to be active and effective participants in our democracy. Structured civic and civil dialogue can provide opportunities for students to learn to talk across differences, bridge divides, and address public problems and can be integrated in and out of the classroom to discuss various viewpoints with the intent to learn, understand, and engage in better dialogue across difference. 

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.