As a part of National Distance Learning Week, the SUNY Center for Professional Development has coordinated the following presentations with SUNY faculty members on how they are using Brightspace:

• Student Perspective in Brightspace
  Monday, November 7
  11:00–11:45 a.m.
• Success Course for GCC Students
  Monday, November 7
  Noon–12:45 p.m.
• Brightspace Quick Course Review
  Wednesday, November 9
  2:00–2:45 p.m.
• Easy and Hidden Things to Spice Up Your Brightspace Course!
  Thursday, November 10
  11:00–11:45 a.m.

View the schedule for other topics during NDLW and be sure to register for these great sessions.

Now that students have 1 terabyte (TB) of storage on OneDrive, the campus will move forward with retiring student network drives (Z: drives) after the fall 2022 semester. Please let students who still use their Z: drives know that they must move the contents of this drive over to OneDrive before the semester ends. A step-by-step guide to copying content from a network drive to OneDrive is available.

If students do not move the contents of their Z: drive to OneDrive by the end of the semester, the contents of their Z: drive will automatically be transferred to OneDrive when the semester ends (into a folder with the student’s username).

Questions or concerns can be directed to the Help Desk by opening a Technology Help ticket or by email.

Jessica Fitzpatrick, associate professor of social work, will share insights from her experience with a fall 2022 hyflex course, including student feedback about this modality and considerations for faculty members interested in the hyflex model, in a virtual session on Wednesday, November 9, at 1:00 p.m.

The hybrid-flexible learning model (hyflex) is a teaching format that bridges and blends both the physical and digital classrooms and the pedagogy that informs the design of hyflex learning.

A full session description and registration information can be found in the Workshop Registration System.

This session is being offered as part of National Distance Learning Week. You are encouraged to attend this and other NDLW sessions offered by the United States Distance Learning Association, SUNY Online, and Buffalo State’s Instructional Design and Distance Learning.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8. The Civic and Community Engagement Office (CCE) and the Political Science and Public Administration Department (PSPA) invite you to “Walk to the Polls: 2022” on Tuesday, November 8. Choose from four departure times. We will depart from the lower lobby outside the Barnes & Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore and make the accompanied five-minute walk over to the Asarese-Matters Community Center, 50 Rees Street, Buffalo, NY 14213 to vote. Rain or shine, come with comfortable shoes and an umbrella if needed.

Please follow these steps to ensure a successful voting experience:

1. RSVP online (preferably by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 8) and select a departure time:

9:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
1:00 p.m.
4:30 p.m.

2. Verify your voter registration and find your polling location for the November 8 election on the New York State Board of Elections website. If your polling location is not the Asarese Matters Community Center, you will need an absentee ballot to vote there.

3. Request an absentee ballot from the CCE on Election Day to allow you to vote by absentee ballot at Asarese-Matters. Additional information is available online.

Learn about the candidates on your ballot.

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After voting, join us at the PSPA Election Watch Party!

If you have questions about voting in the November 8 election, please contact the CCE office or see the resources on the CCE website.

In the meantime, RSVP for “Walk to the Polls,” and let us know you will be coming.

The deadline to complete the online registration form for the 21st Faculty and Staff Research and Creativity Fall Forum has been extended to Sunday, November 13. The Fall Forum will be held Thursday, December 1, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Houston Gym. All faculty and staff members are invited to present an exhibit that highlights current research, activities, or scholarship.

Faculty and staff members who need help from the Design and Print Center in designing their posters for this event should submit the design and print form no later than Monday, November 14. Those who need the center’s services for the printing of posters only should submit the print only form no later than Wednesday, November 23. Poster templates are available for download. Posters should be 30 x 40 in. format whenever possible.

Please contact Kimberly Kamper-DeMarco, assistant professor of psychology, with questions.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8. You can vote in person on Election Day, by absentee ballot, or during the early voting period.

The Civic and Community Engagement Office (CCE) and the Political Science and Public Administration Department (PSPA) invite you to “Walk to the Polls: 2022” on Tuesday, November 8. Choose from four departure times. We will depart from the lower lobby outside the Barnes & Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore and make the accompanied five-minute walk over to the Asarese-Matters Community Center, 50 Rees Street, Buffalo, NY 14213 to vote. Rain or shine, come with comfortable shoes and an umbrella if needed.

Please follow these steps to ensure a successful voting experience:

1. RSVP online (preferably by 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, November 8) and select a departure time:

9:30 a.m.
12:30 p.m.
1:00 p.m.
4:30 p.m.

2. Verify your voter registration and find your polling location for the November 8 election on the New York State Board of Elections website. If your polling location is not the Asarese Matters Community Center, you will need an absentee ballot to vote there.

3. Request an absentee ballot from the CCE on Election Day to allow you to vote by absentee ballot at Asarese-Matters. Additional information is available online.

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New York voters can also vote early in person from October 29 to November 6. Learn more about early voting, find your early voting location, and learn about the candidates on your ballot.

After voting, join us at the PSPA Election Watch Party!

If you have questions about voting in the November 8 election, please contact the CCE office or see the resources on the CCE website.

In the meantime, RSVP for “Walk to the Polls,” and let us know you will be coming.

This year's celebration of National Distance Learning Week (NDLW) is November 7–11. All sectors of the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA), SUNY Online Teaching, and Buffalo State will host sessions to show the amazing growth in distance learning and showcase accomplishments during NDLW.

The USDLA will host two sessions each day (1:00 and 3:00 p.m.). All sessions are free. Registration for one session grants access to the platform and all the other sessions (no need to register for each).
View the schedule and register online.

SUNY Online will host sessions related to Brightspace, connecting with students, hyflex, and online course quality. View all upcoming webinars on the SUNY Online Teaching website and register on the SUNY Center for Professional Development website. Slides and recordings will be available after the events. 

Buffalo State's Instructional Design and Distance Learning will host sessions on topics such as Brightspace, hyflex teaching, online course development, and reviews. Register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please join the Great Lakes Center for the seminar "The Benthic Nepheloid Layer in the Great Lakes: What Is It, and Where Did It Go?" presented by Richard Barbiero, former senior environmental scientist at General Dynamics Information Technology, on Thursday, November 17, at 11:00 a.m. in Science and Mathematics Complex 172. All are welcome.

Abstract
The existence of near-bottom layers of increased turbidity (benthic nepheloid layers - BNLs) are a widespread and persistent feature of many regions of the ocean. Such regions have also been reported from the deeper parts of all five Laurentian Great Lakes; however, there have previously been no consistent comparative studies across all five lakes documenting their extent and magnitude. Neither has the potential impact of dreissenid colonization on BNLs been examined across all five lakes. Using long-term monitoring data from GLNPO’s water quality surveys, Dr. Barbiero's research has shown the BNL to be a consistent and extensive pre-dreissenid feature of the offshore, stratified waters of all Great Lakes except Lake Superior. In recent years, though, the BNL has been all but eliminated in all areas except for central Lake Erie, with reductions in bottom phosphorus also seen. Initiation of changes in the BNL almost invariably preceded the appearance of Dreissena in the offshore, suggesting that dreissenid impacts on the reductions in the BNL were largely remote. These post-invasion reductions in the BNL have the potential to alter both overall phosphorus dynamics in the lakes and competitive outcomes among benthic species.

The Phi Alpha social work community is hosting a Winter Coat Drive through Friday, November 11, at 6:00 p.m. The drop-off location is Caudell Hall 354 (third floor). Please consider donating clean, new or unused adult coats, kids coats, scarves, gloves, hats, or blankets to help the less fortunate. Thank you!

A special memorial for Wanda Slawinska, former associate librarian and curator of the Fronczak Room and Polonia Collections in E. H. Butler Library, will be celebrated during a Mass of the Polish Arts Club of Buffalo on Sunday, November 6, at 11:00 a.m. in St. Francis of Assisi Friary Chapel, 4214 St. Francis Drive (off Rt. 75 and Lake Shore Dr.), Hamburg, New York. Mrs. Slawinska worked at Buffalo State from 1973 until her death on February 26 this year. More information is available online.