Do you know any junior or senior student leaders you would like to nominate for the Student Leadership and Humanitarian Recognition Awards?

Buffalo State's Student Leadership and Humanitarian Awards recognize students who help make Buffalo State truly extraordinary—students who go above and beyond, who answer the call to service, and who lead their peers and our campus with energy, care, integrity, vision, and creativity. Candidates for these awards are leaders in our campus community, participate in civic engagement and service, and demonstrate a commitment to something worthwhile and enduring. These are the qualities that help define Buffalo State as a truly civil and caring academic community.

Applications and nominations are invited for the following Student Leadership and Humanitarian Awards:

The Mildred Campbell Leadership Award
The Phillip Santa Maria Award for Student Leadership in Equity and Campus Diversity
The Phillip Santa Maria Memorial Award
The Luis M. Antonetti Student Humanitarian Award
The Minnie and Joe Engel Student Humanitarian Award

The nomination and application process is electronic. The deadline for nominations is Friday, February 10, 2023, but we encourage early nominations to ensure that all deserving students are considered.

Nominations forms are available on the Dean of Students website. We encourage students to self-nominate, and we invite faculty and staff members to nominate deserving students for consideration. Recipients must be present on Tuesday, April 25, for the awards ceremony.

Questions about the Student Leadership and Humanitarian Awards can be addressed to the Dean of Students Office, Campbell Student Union 311, or by email at deanofstudents.buffalostate.edu.

The State of New York/United University Professions Joint Labor-Management Committees have announced that $56,656 has been allocated to SUNY Buffalo State for Individual Development Awards for July 2, 2022, through March 31, 2023. Please note: This nine-month extension ends on March 31, 2023, and all activities funded by the program must be completed by that date.

This program is intended to assist employees in the UUP bargaining unit in developing their full professional potential and preparing for advancement by funding professional development activities. Information on eligibility requirements, types of projects or activities funded, funding priorities, expenditure limitations, and the application and instructions are available on the Human Resource Management website.

The maximum amount that can be awarded for each employee under this program is $2,000. Employees may be funded for up to two projects or activities, not to exceed a total of $2,000 for the period of July 2, 2022, to March 31, 2023. This nine-month extension ends on March 31, 2023, and all activities funded by the program must be completed by that date. 

Applications for this award period must be received at uupida@buffalostate.edu no later than February 17, 2023.

Individual Development Awards committee members are Lisa Marie Anselmi and Jude Jayatilleke representing UUP, and Jamie Warnes and Charles Lyons representing management. If you have questions regarding the awards, please contact Jamie Warnes in Human Resource Management.

Weigel Health Promotion will be starting a new programing recruitment event called “Bengal Den: Wellness Edition,” a “Shark Tank” model where students (regardless of department or residence affiliation) can “pitch” wellness programing ideas to a panel of judges for funding and support. The panel will select a first, second, and third prize. Judges will fund winning entries by matching the prize amounts: First Prize $100; Second Prize $50; Third Prize $25.

Proposals must relate to “wellness” in some way. “Wellness” is defined as any topic that applies to one’s physical, mental, or social health and overall well-being. It may include such issues as sleep, depression, anxiety, relationships, sexual health, sexually transmitted infections, sexual assault, testing, safety, drinking and driving, tourniquets, alcohol and other drugs, food and nutrition, exercise classes, mindfulness and meditation, stress management, flu, COVID, vaccine clinics, CPR, AED, First Aid, LGBTQ, financial security, or cybersecurity.

Further details will be forthcoming. If you are interested in having a seat at the judging table, please complete this online interest form before Thursday, January 5, 2023. A Microsoft Teams call with all interested judges is planned for the week of January 9.

The following dates are suggested in an effort to plan ahead but may be subject to change once the panel is assembled.

Spring 2023 Semester
Two tentative date presentations between March 6 and 17, 2023. Judges meet the week of March 20 and select winners to be announced the same week, before spring break.

Fall 2023 Semester
Two tentative date presentations between September 18 and September 29, 2023. Judges meet the week of October 2 and select winners to be announced the same week.

Please contact Paula Madrigal, assistant director of prevention and health promotion, with questions.

From the Chair of the College Senate 
The first meeting of the College Senate for spring 2023 will be held Friday, February 10, at 3:00 p.m. in Newman Lecture Hall, Bulger Communication Center 215. Kimberly Kline, professor of higher education administration, serves as chair of the College Senate for the 2022–2023 academic year. Please contact Dr. Kline with questions. 

We encourage everyone to visit the College Senate website to catch up on Senate news, find podcasts and minutes of past meetings, review reports and resolutions, and more.

During the campus transition from Blackboard to D2L Brightspace, Butler Library is providing a service for instructors to help them locate course content in electronic format in an effort to improve accessibility within course shells. Please use this online form to provide PDF content you would like to use in your course shell, and we will try to locate the resource in our library’s electronic collection.

If you have an article or book chapter PDF you’ve been using for years, please let us know and we will try to provide you with either (1) an updated accessible PDF version when available or (2) a permalink to the library collection to access the resource.

Please note: Some e-book content may have limited concurrent user restrictions based on licensing. Additionally, permalinks are reliable and almost never change. Not all content may be available in our electronic collection, and we cannot infringe on copyright.

Materials that are most likely to be available are scholarly journal articles and other periodical content. Works of fiction, short stories, and essays are less likely to be available; however, we will try to locate a more recent version.

This initiative is designed to assist us in keeping track of usage as well as to enhance accessibility, library usage metrics, and student discovery of electronic library resources.

For more information, please visit the library’s Accessible PDF Exchange website or contact Chris Hulsman, electronic and educational resources librarian.

All faculty members are encouraged to begin training in Brightspace, the new SUNY-wide learning management system selected to replace Blackboard Learn.

In-Person Training Options
In-person training sessions will be offered by Instructional Design and Distance Learning (IDDL). These sessions will be hosted on campus in a variety of labs across campus. Registration is through the Workshop Registration System.

The Brightspace Fundamentals Workshop Series is designed for instructors new to Brightspace and is suitable for instructors teaching in any modality: face-to-face, hybrid, or online.

Workshops in the series are Navigation and Interface; Communication Tools; Authoring and Publishing Content; Gradable Activities: Assignments, Discussions, and Quizzes; and Gradebook.

Online Training Options
Online synchronous workshops will be provided by the SUNY Center for Professional Development. Registration is open.

Online asynchronous modules are available within the Buffalo State Brightspace environment. Log in to mylearning.buffalostate.edu using the "Network Login" button, where you can enter your Buffalo State username and password. If you are experiencing log-in issues, please submit a ticket via the IT portal.

Please contact Jamie Tabone, instructional designer, with questions. Please see the IDDL website for more information.

Desire2Learn (D2L) Brightspace was selected to replace Blackboard as the learning management system (LMS) for the SUNY Digital Learning Environment (DLE). All courses will use Brightspace starting with J-Term 2023.

This is your opportunity to see Brightspace courses and ask questions of a panel of Buffalo State pilot faculty members who can share their experience with you. Currently, Buffalo State has 25 pilot faculty members teaching over 90 sections to over 900 Buffalo State students for the fall 22 semester. 

Friday, December 16, 10:00–11:00 a.m., via Microsoft Teams

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please contact Jamie Tabone, instructional designer, with questions. Please see the IDDL website for more information.

The English Department is proud to announce that the fall 2022 edition of Buffalo State's student-edited Portrait Literary Magazine has been published online. Congratulations to all the students who contributed art, poetry, and fiction or who served as editors.

When issuing a student a non-passing grade, including an E, F, U, I, or N grade, please also report the student's last date of attendance when entering the grade online. This assists the Financial Aid Office in determining whether a student unofficially withdrew and whether the student is able to retain the aid that he or she received.

The last date of attendance is the last date the student participated in class, took an exam, handed in homework, or actively engaged in an online course. If assigning an I or N grade, the last date of attendance is the last date you met with the student to discuss progress in the course. If you have no record of the student's attending, do not enter a date. Instead, use the grade of EV, which indicates that the student never attended the course.

Questions regarding this policy or procedure should be referred to the Financial Aid Office, 878-4902. The grading guide (PDF, 162 KB) may also assist you.

Please join the Earth Sciences Department to celebrate the end of the fall semester and get in the holiday spirit with a free showing of Laser Holidays for faculty and staff on Thursday, December 15, from 11:00 to 11:50 a.m. at the Whitworth Ferguson Planetarium. Please reserve your spot and guarantee a seat by emailing Cindy Wong, administrative assistant 1, by the end of the day Wednesday, December 14.