The Police Athletic League will be on campus Tuesday, April 9, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union lobby. The Police Athletic League of Buffalo Inc. (PAL) is a not-for-profit organization that provides youth of the City of Buffalo with recreational, educational, cultural, environmental, and preventive program activities in structured, supervised, and organized settings using professional recreation and law enforcement personnel, in an effort to provide leadership, direction, and an opportunity for those youth to become responsible, successful adults.

PAL is looking for potential employees and volunteers such as athletic league coordinators, sports coaches, summer camp coordinators, and teachers. Please apply online.

Please email Mark Brumby, administrative assistant 1 in the Civic and Community Engagement Center, or call (716) 878-3919 with questions or comments.

PUSH Buffalo will be on campus Thursday, April 4, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union lobby. PUSH mobilizes residents to create strong neighborhoods with quality, affordable housing, expand local hiring opportunities, and advance economic justice in Buffalo.

Please email Mark Brumby or call (716) 878-3919 with questions or comments.

The Graduate Student Association, in collaboration with Graduate Studies, is sponsoring the ninth annual 3-Minute Capstone Contest and 12th annual Graduate Student Research Fair. 

3-Minute Capstone Contest
Master's project and thesis completers from December 2023 to August 2024 are eligible to participate in the 3-Minute Capstone Contest. Contest participants initially compete in the Academic School Capstone Contest against students in their academic school (Arts and Sciences, Education, or Professions). The top three winners from each school win a cash prize and advance to the Buffalo State Capstone Contest Finals to compete live at 5:00 p.m. Friday, May 10, for cash prizes. December 2023-August 2024 thesis and master's project advisors are asked to encourage their thesis and master's project students to participate. The deadline for students to upload their Zoom .mp4 file for the Academic School Capstone Contest is Monday, April 22.

Graduate Student Research Fair Poster Presentations
All graduate students are invited to present research associated with a course, faculty-supervised research project, master's thesis, or master's project during the Graduate Student Research Fair Poster Session on Friday, May 10. To present at the poster session, students must register by Wednesday, April 24. 

More information about the events, registration links, timelines, and instructions for students are available on the Graduate Student Association website. Administrators, faculty, staff, and Buffalo State students are invited to register, attend, and celebrate the outstanding work of our graduate students!

Commencement marchers should place their orders for regalia rentals with regular shipping charges and guaranteed hood colors by Friday, April 5. Late orders can be submitted by Friday, April 19; however, extra shipping charges may apply, and correct hood colors are not guaranteed.

Please place rental orders directly through the Barnes & Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore: email Marybeth Keller, general merchandise manager, or call (716) 878-5509 to place rental orders.

Marchers who have rented regalia for Honors Convocation on April 19 may also use it for Commencement and return regalia to the bookstore by Monday, May 20.

A limited inventory of doctoral and master's gowns, caps, and hoods are available for loan through the Academic Affairs Office. Email Ann Delmont, administrative assistant 2, by Monday, May 6, to make your regalia loan requests at no charge. Marchers should include their ceremony time(s) and highest degree earned and indicate requested size (small, medium, large, or extra large). Please place loan requests early for best options.

Please see the Marchers section of the Commencement website for registration, regalia rental and loan, and other important information.

Monday, March 25, is the deadline for academic departments, programs, and offices to submit their graduating student awards listings for publication in the 2024 Commencement booklet.

Please see the revised instructions for submitting awards. You may submit your listings for bachelor's, master's, and advanced graduate certificate awards by completing the Excel spreadsheet emailed to you on March 4.

Please contact Kimberly Jackson, deputy director of commencement operations in Academic Affairs, with questions about submitting student awards.

Thank you for your cooperation.

The application window for 2024 Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowships (USRF) is now open. The USRF program supports full-time research, scholarly, and creative activities each summer. USRF applications are welcome from Buffalo State undergraduates in all disciplines with a graduation date of December 2024 or later. Each fellowship provides student and faculty stipends, as well as support for necessary supplies (levels contingent on budgetary projections). All USRF award winners are required to present their projects at the 27th annual Student Research and Creativity Conference (SRCC) in May 2025. To learn more about the program, including student and faculty mentor April deadlines for digital applications, please visit the USRF program page of the Undergraduate Research website.

Please join us today, April 3, for the next Cultural Café, a monthly event that brings together members of the Buffalo State University community over conversation, culture, and coffee and light refreshments. We will begin at noon on the first floor of Butler Library. The focus is on Taiwan and the art of calligraphy. This is a great opportunity to meet new people and find common ground with other internationally minded members of the community in a casual, relaxed atmosphere. This event is sponsored by the Equity and Campus Diversity Office, Butler Library, and Global Engagement.

Please join us for the next Cultural Café, a monthly event that brings together members of the Buffalo State University community over conversation, culture, and coffee and light refreshments, on Wednesday, April 3, at noon on the first floor of Butler Library. The focus is on Taiwan and the art of calligraphy. This is a great opportunity to meet new people and find common ground with other internationally minded members of the community in a casual, relaxed atmosphere. This event is sponsored by the Equity and Campus Diversity Office, Butler Library, and Global Engagement.

Registration is now open for the 2024 J. P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, which will be held Thursday, June 13, in Delaware Park. The 3.5-mile race starts at 6:25 p.m. The registration fee is $43 per person. Registration is open until Thursday, May 23. Please register online for the Buffalo State University team.

We hope you invite and encourage your colleagues to register. The Corporate Challenge is a great time to connect with colleagues and community partners. The registration fee includes the hospitality tent, a team T-shirt, Corporate Challenge T-shirt, and much more. A special thank-you to Interim President Bonita Durand for her support and assistance. We also thank United University Professions for its support and assistance annually. 

You may register directly on the J. P. Morgan website.

More information is available on the J. P. Morgan Corporate Challenge website.

J. P. Morgan donates to a local not-for-profit organization in each of our 16 locations across eight countries on six continents. Our beneficiary for the 2024 J. P. Corporate Challenge Buffalo will be announced soon. For more information, please contact Jude Jayatilleke, ACE program director, (716) 878-6028.

Special guest Karen Schubert will read from her work at the next Emanuel Fried Drop Hammer Reading Series on Thursday, March 21, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 218.

Ms. Schubert is the author of The Compost Reader (Accents Publishing) and five chapbooks including I Left My Wings on a Chair, winner of the Wick Poetry Center Chapbook Prize. Her poetry is featured in the Butler Institute of American Art's Art, Poetically; her work has also been performed at the 2023 Cleveland Humanities Festival and published in the Pinch and in the anthologies This Is Cleveland and the Edith Chase Symposium Songs for Wild Ohio. Her awards include an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award and residencies at Headlands Center for the Arts and the Vermont Studio Center. She lives in Northeast Ohio, but Buffalo is her old stomping grounds. She is the founding director of Lit Youngstown.

Snacks and refreshments will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. 

The Emanuel Fried Drop Hammer Student Reading Series is a tribute to the legacy of our late colleague Emanual "Manny" Fried and his famous play Drop Hammer.