If you are interested in serving on one or more of the eight College Senate standing committees for the 2024-2025 academic year, please complete and submit the College Senate Standing Committee Member Interest Form by Friday, August 23. You do not need to be an elected senator to serve on a committee.

Committee functions and charges are available on the College Senate website.

Please note that some committees may not need members. Standing committee chairs for the 2024-2025 Senate year are listed below. Please contact them if you have specific questions regarding the committee's work or membership needs.

Academic Plan Committee - Naila Ansari
Budget and Staff Allocations Committee - Howard Reid
Bylaws and Elections Committee - Kristen Mruk
Curriculum Committee - TBD
Faculty and Staff Welfare Committee - Jennifer Toohey
Instruction and Research Committee - Christopher Weber
Standards for Students Committee - Holly Quicksey
Student Welfare Committee (Vice Chair) - Matthew Baran

Are you interested in incorporating the community in your course but are not sure where to start?

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for a Pedagogical Institute workshop on Thursday, May 23, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in Bacon Hall 115. A light breakfast will be provided at 8:30 a.m. Registration is required.

You may also email us or call (716) 878-3919 to discuss ways to introduce community-engaged learning or service learning into your course.

We also invite faculty and staff members to join our community partner meetings in August to meet with community partners and discuss possible partnerships (RSVP):

• Wednesday, August 7, 1:00 p.m. (Upton Hall 230)
  or
• Thursday, August 8, 10:00 a.m. (virtual)

This is a great opportunity to incorporate the community in your fall 2024 (or future) courses.

Buffalo State University's Anne Frank Project is thrilled to announce its 16th annual social justice festival AFP 2024: Home: Building Our Collective Story September 25 and 26. We are currently seeking proposals from a variety of disciplines, cultures, perspectives, and communities to share and teach ways to build our collective homes.

Here at Buffalo State, we welcome students from all over the world to immerse themselves in education, diversity, and social justice. This is our community. What if we took this one step further and created an environment not only considered a community but also a home?  

This year, we challenge our university students, faculty, staff, alumni, and off-campus audiences to define "home." How can we collectively bring our different stories together to build our collective story, our home? A home where our stories are protected, honored, and shared without fear.

Using our annual festival as a platform, we have the opportunity to achieve Anne Frank's wish to "repair the world" by deconstructing and rebuilding what we call home.  

We invite artists, activists, educators, and students to submit proposals to AFP 2024: Home: Building Our Collective Story. All proposals must reflect directly on this year's theme and follow AFP's kinesthetic and experiential pillars: one-third theory, two-thirds practice. Our annual festival, an academic ritual at Buffalo State, is a unique way to emphasize the importance of doing for a more meaningful and effective educational experience. This reflects Buffalo State University's commitment to applied research and experiential education.  

AFP staff members are available to assist proposers in crafting the kinesthetic element of their sessions. 

Submit your proposal today!

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

From the Chair of the College Senate Bylaws and Elections Committee
Thanks to all the candidates willing to serve as Senate committee chairs. The College Senate has concluded the caucus election and congratulates the following individuals who have successfully been elected to chair College Senate standing committees, as well as the College Senate vice chair:

• Naila Ansari, Chair, Academic Plan Committee
• Howard Reid, Chair, Budget and Staff Allocations Committee
• Kristen Mruk, Chair, Bylaws and Elections Committee
• Andrew Nicholls, Vice Chair, College Senate

Teacher Education Unit faculty members who have a key program or unit assessment tied to their course (including student teaching Exit Surveys, TPAs, etc.) should complete all evaluations now. Please evaluate all student submissions before faculty obligation ends for the spring semester. Thank you.

Assessment resources related to Taskstream/Watermark can be found on the TEU website.

E. H. Butler Library will modify its operating hours for summer 2024:

Monday, May 20-Friday, May 31 (weekdays): 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
Monday, May 27 (Memorial Day): Closed 

Starting Monday, June 3, the library will be open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for Summer Sessions.

Wednesday, June 19 (Juneteenth): Closed 
Thursday, July 4: Closed

Starbucks in Butler Library will be closed for the summer.

Please visit the library website for complete details on library hours.

Please contact Charles Lyons, library director, with comments or questions.

We hope to see you around the library. Have a great summer!

Results from the Brightspace Implementation Surveys deployed this semester for faculty and students have been reviewed by the Brightspace Stakeholders Task Group. There were 298 student responses and 137 faculty responses. At this point, each faculty member who requested a follow-up has been contacted by a staff member from Instructional Design and Distance Learning.

Among the results: 55 percent of students rated Brightspace 8 or higher (10-point scale) on being beneficial to their learning, with Assignments (64%), Announcements (61%), and Syllabus (60%) rated as the most beneficial features of their courses in Brightspace. On the question "What features in Brightspace do you wish were utilized more often by your instructors?" students rated Calendar (dues dates, academic calendar items, etc.) (48%), Grade Center (40%), and Organization of Content by Modules or Weeks (38%) highest.

Student comments on the survey included:

• "I really like Brightspace, and I wish all professors would use it for classes."
• "Calendar integration and instructor utilization would also be VERY helpful. I believe this would help with deadlines and project/assignment planning."
• "Brightspace is a fantastic platform to upload assignments, get direct feedback, and have access to our grades in the same breath."
• "Some courses are a lot more structured and organized for this kind of system, and I typically do best/understand better with those courses."

For more information on the survey results, please visit the Brightspace Student Implementation Survey Summary of Responses.

For help with Brightspace, including instructions on how to implement the features students found most helpful, please feel free to browse and click on topics in SUNY's Comprehensive Brightspace Fundamentals Video Index, check out the Brightspace Tutorials YouTube channel, or contact the SUNY Online Support Services Help Desk. More Brightspace information and learning opportunities from SUNY and Buffalo State will be available throughout the year, so keep an eye on the Daily Bulletin for future announcements.

To streamline the process for our students, students can now choose the specific form that meets their needs from the Registrar's Office Forms and Services web page:

Undergraduate Course by Contract (PDF, 300 KB)

Undergraduate Independent Study (PDF, 400 KB)

Undergraduate Project (PDF, 225 KB)

Buffalo State will offer three 2024 Summer Sessions:

• Early Summer (ES): May 28-June 28
• Late Summer (LS): July 8-August 9
• Variable Summer (VS): May 28-August 9

Summer 2024 Online Master Schedule

Summer 2024 Deadline Calendar by Session (PDF, 150 KB)

Students are encouraged to register by the established drop/add deadline for each session. Once each deadline passes, Online Late Add continues. No late add fee is assessed for summer only.

The Buffalo State Fitness Center will be open the following hours from Monday, May 20, through Friday, August 23:

Monday-Friday: 10:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: Closed