Roof repair work on Butler Library has begun and will continue through mid-October. A crane will be located at the east end of Lot I-34, near Butler Library. Contractor safety personnel will be present to monitor pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area.

Preparations for roof work on Upton Hall will begin Friday, September 16. This large-scale repair and replacement project includes replacement of skylights and is expected to continue through November. A crane will be located near Lot I-37. A portion of Lot I-37 will be offline for the duration of the work period. The Upton Hall accessible entrance on the north side of the building will be closed, but the south- and west-facing accessible entrances will remain open throughout the project. Contractor safety personnel will be present to monitor pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area.

This work is of an urgent nature and is scheduled at this time to protect against continuing water damage. We greatly appreciate the patience and understanding of the campus community as these critical repairs proceed.

Please join the Newman Center for a half hour of reflection as we observe the International Day of Peace on Wednesday, September 21, at 12:05 p.m. in Butler Library 210. This is a time devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace through observing 24 hours of nonviolence and cease-fire. All are welcome.

Please join the Newman Center tonight, September 15, for a discussion about issues that come with college transitions, based on the book The Freshman Survival Guide. Bring your questions and concerns for a fruitful discussion with your peers. Enjoy a free copy of the book along with a free dinner! Dinner starts at 6:00 p.m., discussion at 7:00 p.m.

The Newman Center is located at 1219 Elmwood Avenue, across from the Burchfield Penney Art Center.

As Buffalo State celebrates National Hispanic Heritage Month, please note that today, September 16, is Mexican Independence Day. This day is celebrated by people of Mexican heritage all over the world, recognizing Mexico’s declaration of independence from Spain in 1810. Similar to July 4 festivities in the United States, the day is filled with events celebrating national pride, including colorful parades, mariachi concerts, and food.

On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a priest in the Mexican town of Dolores, rang his church bell and gave a powerful speech known as the Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores), setting the War of Independence from Spain in motion. The war lasted 11 years, ending with the signing of a treaty that formally recognized Mexican independence after nearly three centuries of Spanish colonial rule.

Today, Father Costilla is known as the Father of Mexican Independence. Many people mistake Cinco de Mayo (the fifth of May) for Mexico’s Independence Day; however, Cinco de Mayo is a separate holiday commemorating the Mexican army’s victory over France at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, during the Franco-Mexican War.

ˇViva Mexico! (Long Live Mexico!)

The Buffalo State English Department Drop Hammer Student Reading Series will hold an open mic session on Thursday, September 29, during Bengal Pause (12:15–1:30 p.m.) in the Fleischmann Writing and Publication Suite, Ketchum Hall 302. This event is free and open to the public. Bring your piece(s) to read for a slot of up to 10 minutes. Poetry, fiction, nonfiction, or surprise us. All writers are welcome. We want to hear your story.

The Student Progress Survey will be deployed via the Bengal Success Portal twice during the semester. The first survey will be deployed during the first three weeks of the semester, starting Sunday, September 18, and closing Thursday, October 6. The second survey will be deployed before midterms and ahead of the course withdrawal deadline, starting Monday, October 24, and closing Monday, October 31. Each survey will be accompanied by specific kudos, flags, and referrals that are relevant at that particular point in the semester. 

Raising kudos, flags, and referrals is the first step in alerting other campus members of the status of students, enabling professional staff members to follow up with students and close the loop of communication with faculty; however, before raising any flag, please make every attempt to communicate and resolve an issue with a student. If your attempt is unsuccessful, please proceed with raising flags in the Bengal Success Portal so the appropriate staff member can provide support.

It is expected that all faculty members (full time and adjunct) will raise kudos, flags, or referrals for each course survey, acknowledging where students stand in their respective courses so support staff can proactively reach out and respond to student needs and concerns. If no kudos, flags, or referrals are raised for your course(s), please simply open your course survey and click the submit button to mark your course survey(s) complete.

A video on how to complete the Student Progress Survey for courses is available online. Please email Bob Hudson, coordinator of advisement student systems and senior academic adviser, with questions about completing course surveys or raising kudos, flags and referrals.

Thank you all for caring about the success of our students. It is essential that we continue to work collaboratively as a campus community, making every effort to increase students’ academic achievement, persistence, retention, and graduation rates.

Please join us for a Constitution Day discussion, “A Tectonic Shift at the U.S. Supreme Court: A Conservative Majority Takes the Gloves Off,” presented by Peter Yacobucci, associate professor of political science and public administration, on Tuesday, September 20, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Bulger Communication Center 214. Dr. Yacobucci will lead a discussion of last year’s U.S. Supreme Court term and its dramatic shift to the right, and suggest where the court is expected to go in the near future. Many of the decisions the court has recently rendered and is likely to render will have significant impacts on the Buffalo State community and you! Please join us.

The English Department book sale has resumed, with hundreds of volumes of fiction, biography, nonfiction, mysteries, poetry, plays, and art books available. Prices range from 50 cents to $2. The book sale is held in Ketchum Hall 327 on Mondays from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. and Tuesdays from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. (except the first Tuesday of the month). Proceeds benefit student research and travel.

Please join us for the Teaching and Learning Center session "Alternative Learning Materials Initiative and Zero Textbook Cost," presented by Chris Hulsman, electronic and educational resources librarian, on Tuesday, October 25, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 318.

Does your course have no additional costs for textbooks or learning materials? Find out how to tag your course as zero textbook cost (ZTC) in Banner. This short workshop will reveal the possibilities of reusing, remixing, retaining, revising, and redistributing content to fit your course. Explore the possibilities of open educational resources (OER) and alternative learning materials. We will discuss the use of OER, library subscription content, and courseware available through SUNY OER Services. Discover Butler Library’s new OER repository for Buffalo State faculty to share openly licensed learning materials and track downloads and usage. Please join us in uncovering the possibilities of using and creating materials for your course.

• ZTC Attribute
• Survey through Qualtrics
• Sharing Materials
• Examples of OER/ALM
• Third-Party Software: Lumen and Pressbooks
• OER DC Repository

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Ensemble Video will be unavailable Wednesday, September 14, from 5:00 to 5:30 a.m. while the systems hosting the servers undergo required maintenance.

As a reminder, Ensemble Video will continue transitioning to the YuJa Video platform this semester. For more information on using YuJa, please see Instructional Design and Distance Learning’s YuJa Enterprise Video Platform page or the Information Technology Knowledge Base article.

For training, please refer to the resources on our site and the Workshop Registration System for upcoming sessions. You may also book an individual appointment with our staff.