Do you want @lifeatbuffstate to promote your special message or upcoming program? If the answer is yes, please complete this required form for all campus departments and student organizations. Submissions should be made at least one week (seven calendar days) before the event. The earlier a submission is made, the more the message can be promoted. Please note: it is up to the discretion of Student Leadership and Engagement to promote any materials through the @Lifeatbuffstate accounts. Promotion will be completed as availability allows. Additionally, all promotional materials (e.g., fliers, posters) must be provided and formatted correctly by the submitting party. Student Leadership and Engagement will not create or edit any materials. 

From the Chair of the College Senate
The first meeting of the College Senate for fall 2022 will be held Friday, September 9, at 3:00 p.m. in Newman Lecture Hall, Bulger Communication Center 215. Kimberly Kline, professor of higher education administration, will serve as chair of the College Senate for the 2022–2023 academic year. Please contact Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, with questions.

Buffalo State College’s Anne Frank Project is pleased to announce that registration is now open for the 14th annual social justice festival, AFP 2022: Healing through Stories, in person October 12–14. Because our annual social justice festivals are open and free to everyone, we are requiring only groups to register. Individual registration will be provided upon arrival at your selected sessions. Please see the schedule of events.

New York Times best-selling author Nic Stone, the first in the Donn Youngstrom featured speaker series, will kick off the festival with a community keynote on Tuesday, October 11, at 7:00 p.m. in Burchfield Penney Art Center’s Tower Auditorium. A Q&A and book signing will follow the lecture.

AFP’s annual festival is an experiential exchange of ideas with a focus on processing theory into practice. We share diverse performances, workshops, and exhibits that actively engage participants in kinesthetic learning opportunities that connect to the festival's theme, AFP’s mission, and the story of Anne Frank.

As we make our way into our new post-COVID lives, the wounds of the past two years surface regularly. We cannot ignore the multiple impacts of isolation, loss, grief, anxiety, and frustration. The 14th annual social justice festival features how broken stories can be put back together. Sessions focus on what has healed and what can heal the individual, group, national, and global wounds. This sharing of unique skill sets, knowledge, and approaches to healing is in direct alignment with President Conway-Turner’s JEDI commitment (justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion).

Remember, it was Anne Frank’s wish to “repair the world.” Participating in this year’s festival is a way to actively respond to this challenge.

To learn more about the Anne Frank Project, please visit the AFP website. Follow us on Instagram @annefrankproject and Twitter @annefrankprjct for regular updates about events and presenters. Please contact Jonise Hall, festival coordinator, with questions about the festival or schedule.

Please join us for the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) session "How Metacognitive Instructors Can Use Their Learning Management System to Facilitate Student Learning," facilitated by John Draeger, director of the TLC, and Brooke Winckelmann, instructional designer, on Thursday, September 29, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 318.

This session explores ways instructors can be metacognitive about course design and delivery, especially when it comes to their use of a learning management system (LMS). The model (Draeger & Winckelmann, 2020) offers strategies for being intentional about how learning materials are organized to facilitate learning (e.g., self-contained, student-directed, stand-alone) and provides instructors with opportunities to monitor student progress, adjust their instructional method, and offer students opportunities to learn about their own learning.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please join President Conway-Turner and the Buffalo State community in Bengals Dare to Care Day?on Saturday, October 1, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Bengals Dare to Care Day is a morning of service in the community where we show our Bengal colors and demonstrate our commitment to the community.

As SUNY’s urban-engaged anchor institution, Buffalo State highlights its civic mission in many important ways, and Bengals Dare to Care Day is one more way to exemplify how Buffalo State fulfills its goal of community collaborations that benefit student learning and community priorities. 

Bengals Dare to Care Day projects are identified in partnership with community organizations across the city of Buffalo. Transportation and lunch are provided—all you have to do is?register! There’s something for everyone, including some behind-the-scenes work and plenty of leadership opportunities. A complete list of projects and registration information can be found on the?Civic and Community Engagement website.

Please join us for the Teaching and Learning Center session "Seizing the Teachable Moment: Stepping Out of Our Comfort Zones to Respond to Classroom Microaggressions," facilitated by Berg Miller, assistant professor of social work, on Wednesday, September 28, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. in Butler Library 318.

Are you committed to reducing microaggressions in your classroom, and do you want to strategize with like-minded faculty members across disciplines? Do you wish to foster an environment that neither marginalizes nor shames your students? Microaggressions are most likely to proliferate when we do not acknowledge their inevitability and potential value as growth opportunities. Join this practical and vulnerable dialogue to share success stories and deconstruct missed opportunities. This workshop will include research-informed recommendations and best practices based on current microaggression scholarship.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Please join us for the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) session "Decoding Our Disciplines and Making the Most of Learning Management Systems, facilitated by John Draeger, professor of philosophy and director of the TLC, on Thursday, September 22, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. in Butler Library 318.

This conversation about a faculty development model, “decoding the disciplines” (Pace & Middendorf, 2004), will encourage faculty members to focus on the topics and skills with which significant numbers of students struggle. These are often places where things seem obvious to faculty and yet are missed by students. The model provides a process by which faculty members can identify these bottlenecks and find ways of getting around them. We will also consider how to use the lessons learned as we move to a new learning management system.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

When working with students on their schedules in Banner, please be aware that the abbreviation for the Savage Theater and Communication Building in Banner has been changed from THEA to SAVA. This change is effective with the current (fall 2022) semester. Please be sure to bookmark the Banner Legend to use as a quick reference for reading schedules generated from Banner.

The deadline to submit applications for the SUNY B-140W Tuition Assistance Program for the fall 2022 semester is Friday, September 30.

Staff members may apply for tuition assistance after six months of service; faculty members may apply after one semester of service. The following employees are eligible:

• Full-time Buffalo State College faculty members and professional or classified employees
• Part-time or temporary Buffalo State faculty members and professional or classified employees who are employed at least half time (faculty must teach at least two courses in the semester)
• Full-time Research Foundation employees, provided they work on the Buffalo State campus

Program funds may be used for courses at SUNY campuses only. Eligible employees may apply for up to 50 percent waiver of SUNY tuition for up to two courses a semester, to a maximum of 15 credit hours an academic year depending on available funding. Tuition assistance is limited to regular in-state undergraduate or graduate tuition rates. The level of support may be adjusted when necessary if funding is not adequate to cover applications received.

Employees who decide to drop a class or find it has been covered by another source after submitting an application are asked to please notify Human Resource Management immediately to update their applications.

Please contact Human Resource Management, (716) 878-3042, for applications or program guidelines.

Buffalo State College will soon transition from the Citibank Commercial Card Program to the J. P. Morgan Commercial Card Program.

New cards are expected to be distributed in September. There is a new billing cycle for the procurement card program, which will end on the 5th of every month (instead of the 6th). It is expected that the campus will cut over to JPMC transactions on October 6, 2022.

Procurement cardholders will most likely receive a legitimate email from the JPMC mailbox (see example). Cardholders may then go to the PaymentNet website, change the temporary password, and register to use the site.

As a reminder, requests for additional procurement cards will be considered at the President’s Cabinet level. This includes accounts that are currently inactive.

Cardholders should contact Bonnie Heim, director of non-contract procurement, with questions or concerns.