Purchase requisitions for supplies, materials, services, office supplies, and equipment from fiscal year 2021–2022 funds must be received in the Procurement Office by the close of business on the following dates:

Furniture orders
Monday, April 25, 2022

Software orders
Friday, May 13, 2022

Office supply orders
Tuesday, June 14, 2022

All other orders requiring a purchase requisition
Friday, May 13, 2022

To make ordering at the end of fiscal year effective for everyone, please plan departmental needs as far in advance as possible to ensure that orders for goods and services are placed before the cutoff dates. Submitting requisitions well before the cutoff dates will provide Procurement Services with the necessary time to place orders before the deadlines.

It is the responsibility of departments to ensure that all requisitions for fiscal year 2021–2022 are received in the Procurement Office by 4:00 p.m. by the deadline dates listed above. Requests received after the deadlines will be held until the start of the next fiscal year.

Important note regarding Division Procurement Cards (P-Cards): Active P-Cards may continue to be used throughout the transition period for authorized transactions without interruption.

Please contact Bonnie Heim, director of non-contract procurement, with questions related to these deadlines, or about the P-Card program. Please refer to the Procurement Office website for more information.

Blackboard will deploy its Collaborate Ultra v22.10 release on Thursday, June 9, between 2:00 and 6:00 a.m. Collaborate Ultra customers will experience intermittent availability during the maintenance window.

For more information on the update, please see Blackboard's Release Notes for Collaborate Ultra.

As a reminder, Blackboard Collaborate will be unavailable for use after June 30, the official end-of-contract date. Please see the Sunsetting Blackboard Collaborate Ultra Knowledge Base article for resources regarding this change.

Summer Session ES ends Friday, July 1. Students can continue to late add courses offered in Session ES but will need instructor permission to register. Other overrides may be required as well.

Students can continue to register for courses in Summer Session LS, which runs July 11–August 12.

There may also be courses in Summer Session VS that haven't started yet. If a student wishes to register for a Session VS course that hasn't yet started, he or she will also need instructor permission to register. Other overrides may be required as well.

Students can search for courses directly in Banner.

Please keep the Summer 2022 Deadline Calendar (PDF, 143 KB) bookmarked for easy reference.

No late add fees are assessed for late course adds during summer sessions only.

The Buffalo State College community is saddened by the death of Carmen J. Iannaccone, professor emeritus of exceptional education, who died May 20, 2022. Dr. Iannaccone joined the college in 1966 and retired in 2002. He is survived by his partner, Bonnie Butcheri; and two sons. A celebration of life was held June 6. More information is available online.

From the Head of the Teacher Education Unit
It is my pleasure to announce that in recognition of her outstanding work on the Urban Teacher Academy, the Buffalo Urban Teacher Pipeline Residency Program, the My Brother’s Keeper/Teacher Opportunity Corps II grant, and the 21st Century After-School Tutoring program, as well as her ongoing leadership of the Recruitment Committee of the Teacher Education Council, Kathy Wood will continue to develop and expand her critical work as the School of Education’s associate dean for recruitment and teacher diversity.

Diversifying the teacher workforce has been a high priority for many years, yet few have managed to accomplish all that Dr. Wood has demonstrated in moving the needle forward toward a more representative percentage of faculty from diverse backgrounds. More than $2 million of grant and legislative funding already supports these programs, allowing us to develop exemplary programming that will qualify the college for additional funding resources from local, state, and federal funds that are currently focused on diversifying the teacher workforce. The goal of focusing these efforts under Dr. Wood’s leadership is to continue the positive impact these programs have already shown on enrollment in teacher education, and to provide continuous and effective service to our Western New York school districts.

Jevon Hunter, Woods-Beals Endowed Chair in Urban Education, will return from his ACE Fellowship to assume the role of associate dean in the School of Education beginning in the fall 2022 semester. His duties will be commensurate with his colleague associate deans in the schools of Arts and Sciences and the Professions. Dr. Hunter will retain the office of endowed chair.

These critical changes to support enrollment and increase diversity in the teacher workforce are high priorities in SUNY and at Buffalo State. These structural changes involve no increase in salaries or expenditures. For additional information on these programs and those of the Woods-Beals Endowed Chair, please visit the SOE website.

Wendy A. Paterson, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean, School of Education

The Western New York Writing Project—a branch of the National Writing Project housed in the Center for English Teaching at Buffalo State College and led by English faculty members Katherine Macro, Maggie Herb, and Hilary Lochte—will hold its Summer Institute at the Writing Center in E. H. Butler Library from July 11 to 15. The institute—a weeklong workshop for teachers at all levels—will focus on the theme “Writing to Process,” exploring how writing can be a critical tool for students and teachers to process and navigate challenging and tumultuous times. The institute will feature interactive workshops and lesson-planning sessions, as well as time for participants to do their own writing and research. Teachers from across the region, at any grade level, with any level of experience, who have an interest in and commitment to advancing writing and the teaching of writing are welcome. Interested participants should register online by Thursday, June 15. Please email wnywriting@gmail.com with questions or for more information.

Buffalo State College faculty and staff members are invited to attend the webinar "Retirement Planning Advice: Tools to Stay on Track," offered by SUNY and TIAA, on Tuesday, June 28, from noon to 1:00 p.m. Please register online to attend.

When it comes to investing for retirement, you do not have to go it alone. Retirement Plan Portfolio Manager is a managed account service available through SUNY that provides personalized investment allocations based on your unique situation and goals.

This workshop will discuss ways for you to become actively engaged in your retirement planning process through your TIAA and SUNY retirement plans, including Retirement Plan Portfolio Manager. With Retirement Plan Portfolio Manager, you will receive customized selections, ongoing oversight, quarterly updates, and online access.

Michael Spogli from TIAA will be on campus for individual consultations with Buffalo State faculty and staff members between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Thursday, June 16, in the Grande Conference Room, Cleveland Hall 418. Appointments are required.

Discuss your financial situation with an experienced TIAA consultant to help you plan for your future and pursue your financial goals. Take this opportunity to review your retirement savings or to increase or start a tax-deferred annuity.

Don't delay. Sign up today. Visit the TIAA website to schedule an appointment.

First Friday Mass on June 3 will be held at 12:05 p.m. in Butler Library 210.

As previously announced, at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the New York State Division of Budget and SUNY System Administration required spending controls to be enacted across all funds at state institutions, including SUNY campuses. At that time, in April 2020, Buffalo State established Procedures for Spending Controls: COVID-19 and Post-COVID-19 and has been operating under these procedures ever since.

With the full return to in-person operations, the procedures have been updated in consideration of conserving employee time and effort while ensuring continued compliance with existing regulations.

To reduce consumption of staff effort:

The Spending Constraints Attestation Form (SCAF) (DOCX, 72 KB) has been updated to reflect a new higher threshold. Previously required for all purchases, the updated SCAF must accompany purchase requests at or above $30,000. In turn, the threshold for proposed purchases to be reviewed by the Spending Constraints Oversight Committee for recommendation to the Budget Committee will also be $30,000. Starting May 27, 2022, requests for purchases below this threshold can be sent to Procurement Services in keeping with the general purchasing process.

To summarize existing compliance requirements:

Rather than repeatedly completing SCAFs for proposed purchases between $1 and $30,000, staff members are instead required to agree to follow all applicable regulations. These regulations have been compiled into one document, the Acknowledgment of Financial Resource Stewardship (DOCX, 51 KB), which must be completed annually and on file according to division requirements. The process for filing the completed acknowledgment may be updated to enhance efficiency. Any such updates will be shared in the Daily Bulletin and noted on the Finance and Management website. Once an employee has signed the acknowledgment, he or she may proceed with requesting purchases in keeping with the general guidelines.

To ensure continued compliance with existing regulations:

Randomized post-audits will be conducted quarterly, where requestors will be accountable for justification and reasonableness of expenditure.

More information is available at the Finance and Management website. Questions about these changes can be sent to vpfm@buffalostate.edu. We are hopeful that these updates will ameliorate the procurement process as we move toward standard operation procedures.