Each spring, the Business Department grants a monetary award to two budding entrepreneurs as they graduate from college and embark on building their own businesses. Qualities such as ambition, willingness to work hard, ingenuity, and other personal factors are considered. Any graduating senior (December or May) with an interest in establishing their own company or venture post-graduation is invited to apply. Applicants do not have to be business majors.

Kratus Award Overview
John and Thomas Kratus were father and son who both attended Buffalo State in the mid-1970s. After graduating with bachelor’s degrees in business, they moved to Dallas where they founded Welbourne’s Appliance and Furniture Company. Sadly, they both passed away within two years of achieving their success. This award is donated by their family in their memory.

Applicants should provide a detailed business plan in Microsoft Word or PDF format outlining their potential business. The business plan must include the following, but not necessarily in this order or format.

• Cover page - Include the name of the business, your name, and the date.
• Executive summary - Provide a shortened version of everything that is in your report (1–2 pages maximum).
• Table of contents - Include page numbers.
• Overview/business opportunity - Provide a brief description of the organization and the context it operates in. Describe the nature of the business opportunity. Provide your mission, vision, values, and overall strategy of the organization (what you are trying to do).
• Industry analysis - Examine the micro and macro environment that the company will operate in. Based on the industry analysis, identify the outlook, forecast, or trends for the type of organization you have selected.
• Marketing plan - Complete a SWOT analysis: Who is your target market? How big is this market and what percent will you try to get? Explain your four Ps.
• Competitive advantage - What makes you unique and why?
• Management plan - How you will be organized and who will manage the functions and operations?
• Operational plan - How will you run and carry out the operations of the company? What will be done in-house versus outsourcing?
• Financial plan - Identify possible sources for investment capital if required. Provide a P&L statement.
• Milestones and risks - Describe the preferred timing and objectives for your business plan. Assessing what risks could happen, how affective would they be? What you would do if they happened, and who would be responsible for each?

Send your submissions electronically via email to Lorena Mathien, associate professor of business, by Sunday, April 30, for consideration.

Section of Recipients
Recipients will be selected by a committee of at least three faculty members from the Business Department. The winners will be announced at the beginning of May and will be presented with their awards at the Student Awards Ceremony in May (date forthcoming).

We look forward to reading your submissions.

From the Dean of the School of Education
It is a pleasure to announce that Raquel Rezŕra Schmidt, associate professor of exceptional education, has accepted appointment as the associate dean of the School of Education. Dr. Schmidt has been the chair of the Exceptional Education Department since 2018. She currently serves as a Buffalo State senator and vice chair of the Student Welfare Committee. She came to Buffalo State as an adjunct instructor, was appointed assistant professor in 2001, and achieved the rank of associate professor in 2007. She has taught a multitude of courses in the Exceptional Education Department, including Bilingual Special Education. Her experience; insights; compassionate communications with faculty, staff, and students; and growth mindset make her an ideal fit for the complex tasks required of an associate dean. We welcome Dr. Schmidt to the newest chapter of her leadership!

As the campus transitions from Blackboard Learn to Brightspace, many departments, offices, and committees used the Blackboard Organization functionality to communicate, share documents, and collaboratively work on projects. If you are currently using a Blackboard Learn organization and have not requested that it be moved over to Brightspace, please complete the online form to have it moved. If you are no longer using this organization but would like it archived, we ask that you complete the online form as well and indicate that information.

If you have any questions about organization in Brightspace, please submit a ticket in the IT portal.

The women and gender studies interdisciplinary minor invites members of the campus community to attend a panel discussion on reproductive justice, "Beyond Roe: Reproductive Justice in Western New York," on Wednesday, April 12, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in Ketchum Hall 113. Reproductive justice is the Black feminist framework that identifies the right to have a child, the right not to have a child, and the right to parent one's children as fundamental human rights. Panelists will address the full spectrum of reproductive health care, including contraception, abortion, and birthing care, with a focus on local efforts to remediate systemic inequities.

Panelists

• Shayla Benson, Senior Manager of Outreach and Education, Planned Parenthood of Central and Western New York
• Shyana Broughton, Founder and Doula, Our Mommie Village
• LuAnne Brown, President and CEO, Buffalo Prenatal Perinatal Network
• Katharine Morrison, M.D., FACOG, Obstetrician Gynecologist, Buffalo Women Services and Birthing Center of Buffalo
• Engracia Nkunga Sampaio, Founder and Doula, Nkunga Village

The panel discussion will be followed by a reception. Please contact Julie Setele, senior assistant librarian, for more information.

Please join us for an upcoming English Education Alumni Speaker Series event as City Honors teacher William O'Neil-White, ’15, ’17, discusses how educators can bring an abolitionist mindset (Love, 2019) to their educational practices on Thursday, April 6, during Bengal Pause (12:15–1:30 p.m.) in Ketchum Hall 300. Attendees will explore how teachers can act as co-conspirators with their students as they create meaning and develop criticality through academic work. Real teaching practices that can open up such spaces in our classrooms will be shared.

Mr. William O'Neil-White lives and teaches in the city of Buffalo. He completed both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in English education at Buffalo State. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in English education at the University at Buffalo, where he centers his work on critical race theory and English teaching.

The Civic and Community Engagement Office encourages you and your students to join AASCU and the American Democracy Project 2023 Bridging Wicked Divides Project: Deliberative Forms for College Students to deliberate together across political, geographic, and cultural differences. These online forums are designed to allow productive deliberation across difference to combat polarization and find common ground.

Youth and Opportunity: What Should We Do for Future Generations to Thrive? 

• Monday, April 17, 2:00–3:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 18, 5:00–6:30 p.m.

Free Speech and the Inclusive Campus: How Do We Foster the Campus Community We Want? 

• Wednesday, April 19, 8:00–9:30 p.m.

Immigration: Who Should We Welcome? What Should We Do? 

• Thursday, April 20, 4:00–5:30 p.m.

Climate Choices

• Saturday, April 22, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

Consider assigning attendance at these deliberative dialogue sessions as part of your class or as an extra credit opportunity. Please visit the AASCU website for more information and the links to register for all sessions.

Please join the Buffalo State Political Science and Public Administration Department for the next talk in its spring 2023 Public Service Lecture Series, presented by Buffalo State alumna Catherine Connolly, professor emerita of the University of Wyoming's School of Culture, Gender, and Social Justice and a former member of the Wyoming House of Representatives, on Wednesday, April 12, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in Caudell Hall 123.

Dr. Connolly earned a Ph.D. in sociology (1992) and a J.D. (1992, cum laude) from the University at Buffalo, and a B.S. in information systems management from SUNY Buffalo State (1984). She coauthored the book Outlaw Women: Prison, Rural Violence, and Poverty in the American West as well as numerous studies and reports on the wage gap between Wyoming’s men and women (one of the worst in the nation). She was elected to seven terms in the Wyoming Legislature (2009–2022) representing a portion of Laramie, Wyoming, and by her peers to serve as the minority floor leader. As a legislator, Representative Connolly served on numerous committees, including positions as vice chair of both the Education and Revenue committees, and on the powerful Appropriations Committee. She sponsored or co-sponsored numerous successful bills, including Wyoming’s anti-human trafficking statute. She was a tireless advocate for expanding Medicaid to address the needs of those in poverty as well as to support local hospitals, and revisions to the tax code for equity. As Wyoming’s first openly LGBTQ legislator, Representative Connolly sponsored numerous bills for recognition of human rights. Dr. Connolly is depicted in The Laramie Project, the 2000 play by Moisés Kaufman (made into an HBO feature film in 2022) about the reaction of Laramie residents to the 1998 savage murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.

Please join the Buffalo State Political Science and Public Administration Department for the next talk in its spring 2023 Public Service Lecture Series, presented by the Honorable April N. M. Baskin, chair of the Erie County Legislature, District 2, on Wednesday, April 5, from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. in Caudell Hall 123.

The Buffalo State community is saddened by the death of Edward N. “Ed” Gollwitzer Sr., cleaner in Custodial Services (retired), who died March 30, 2023. Mr. Gollwitzer joined the campus in 1989 and retired in 2009. He is survived by his wife, Jane; three children; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. The family will receive relatives and friends Tuesday, April 4, from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Sieck, Mast & Leslie Funeral Home, 250 Orchard Park Road, West Seneca, where prayers will be offered at noon. More information is available online.

The Beyond Boundaries Film and Discussion Series is pleased to present the award-winning film Changing the Game on Thursday, April 13, at 7:00 p.m. in the Burchfield Penney Art Center Tower Auditorium.

The film takes us into the lives of three high school athletes—all at different stages of their athletic seasons, personal lives, and unique paths as transgender teens. Their stories span the U.S., from Sarah, a skier and teen policymaker in New Hampshire; to Andraya, a track star in Connecticut openly transitioning into her authentic self; to Mack Beggs, who made headlines last year when he became the Texas state champion in wrestling.

The screening is free and open to the public and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Western New York athletes, coaches, and experts on the subject.

Watch the trailer.

Beyond Boundaries is sponsored by the Equity and Campus Diversity Office, the Communication Department, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center. The series is curated by Ruth Goldman and Meg Knowles, associate professors of media production in the Communication Department.