Open enrollment for the 2022 NYS Flex Spending Account (FSA) ends at 10:00 p.m. Monday, November 29. The program helps eligible state employees save money on necessary health- or dependent-care expenses because the money set aside in these accounts is not subject to federal, state, or Social Security taxes. 

The Flex Spending Account offers three benefits:

The Health Care Spending Account (HCSA) lets employees set aside any amount from $100 to $2,750 for the 2022 plan year to pay for health-care expenses that are not reimbursed by their health insurance or other benefit plan. Please note: only medically necessary medical, hospital, dental, vision, hearing, and prescription drug expenses for the employee, their spouse, and eligible dependents can be reimbursed by the HCSA.

The Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAA) allows families to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax income for eligible custodial child care, elder care, or disabled dependent care expenses that are necessary for the employee and, if married, their spouse, to work.

The Adoption Advantage Account allows employees to set aside up to $14,440 to pay for expenses related to the adoption of an eligible child with pre-tax dollars. This benefit is available to M/C employees and those represented by CSEA, PEF, UUP, NYSCOPBA, and PBA.

Complete information on the Flex Spending Account can be found on the Governor's Office of Employee Relations website. If you wish to take advantage of this benefit, submit your application for enrollment online or by telephone at (800) 358-7202. You will need your NYS EMPLID number, which is located on your pay stub, to complete your application. Please be sure to enroll by 10:00 p.m. November 29. If you are enrolled for the 2021 plan year, you must re-enroll to continue your benefits in 2022.

Important note: Employees who do not work for 26 consecutive pay periods should consider electing a shorter time frame for their deductions, so they do not lose coverage while off the payroll.  For example, faculty members who are not paid through the summer should elect to have all deductions taken in the spring semester to have coverage for all of 2022.

The deadline of 10:00 p.m. Monday, November 29, for 2022 enrollment will be strictly enforced.

Open enrollment for the 2022 NYS Flex Spending Account (FSA) ends at 10:00 p.m. today, November 29. The program helps eligible state employees save money on necessary health- or dependent-care expenses because the money set aside in these accounts is not subject to federal, state, or Social Security taxes. 

The Flex Spending Account offers three benefits:

The Health Care Spending Account (HCSA) lets employees set aside any amount from $100 to $2,750 for the 2022 plan year to pay for health-care expenses that are not reimbursed by their health insurance or other benefit plan. Please note: only medically necessary medical, hospital, dental, vision, hearing, and prescription drug expenses for the employee, their spouse, and eligible dependents can be reimbursed by the HCSA.

The Dependent Care Advantage Account (DCAA) allows families to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax income for eligible custodial child care, elder care, or disabled dependent care expenses that are necessary for the employee and, if married, their spouse, to work.

The Adoption Advantage Account allows employees to set aside up to $14,440 to pay for expenses related to the adoption of an eligible child with pre-tax dollars. This benefit is available to M/C employees and those represented by CSEA, PEF, UUP, NYSCOPBA, and PBA.

Complete information on the Flex Spending Account can be found on the Governor's Office of Employee Relations website. If you wish to take advantage of this benefit, submit your application for enrollment online or by telephone at (800) 358-7202. You will need your NYS EMPLID number, which is located on your pay stub, to complete your application. Please be sure to enroll by 10:00 p.m. today. If you are enrolled for the 2021 plan year, you must re-enroll to continue your benefits in 2022.

Important note: Employees who do not work for 26 consecutive pay periods should consider electing a shorter time frame for their deductions, so they do not lose coverage while off the payroll.  For example, faculty members who are not paid through the summer should elect to have all deductions taken in the spring semester to have coverage for all of 2022.

The deadline of 10:00 p.m. today, November 29, for 2022 enrollment will be strictly enforced.

Today is the last day to enroll in the Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) for 2022. PEP allows eligible CSEA, UUP, PEF, and M/C employees to exchange previously accrued vacation or personal leave for a credit toward their biweekly New York State health insurance costs. Sick leave credits cannot be exchanged under this program.

To participate, eligible employees must file an election form with the Human Resource Management Office, Cleveland Hall 403, by the close of business today, November 29. Employees who participated in PEP for 2021 must file a new election form to re-enroll in the 2022 program. Details and enrollment forms can be found on the Human Resource Management website.

For program details, please select your bargaining unit:

• CSEA Program Details and Election Form (DOCX, 26 KB)
• UUP and M/C Program Details and Election Form (DOCX, 22 KB)

Only one week to go until our end-of-semester Bengal Study Nights—December 6, 7, and 8 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in Butler Library.

This three-evening event will prepare students for finals academically, emotionally, and physically. It includes finals reviews, extended tutoring, relaxation activities, yoga, meditation, therapy dogs, games, FOOD, and finals survival kits for the entire student body!

For more details and for the Bengal Study Nights flier, visit the Bengal Study Nights website.

Please contact Lauren Copeland, coordinator of tutoring services, with questions.

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "Storytelling in Community Engagement," presented by Helga Lister from the University of Pretoria, on Thursday, December 2, at 2:00 pm.

In 2021, the University of Pretoria in South Africa initiated a storytelling project aimed at amplifying citizens’ voices and ensuring that the firsthand experiences of community members would reach those in positions of power, to influence and adjust policies so that they are truly person-centered. The UNICEF-One Health for Change project involved the disciplines of occupational therapy, family medicine (COPC Research Unit), information science, interior architecture, School of the Arts, and theology (Centre for Contextual Ministry). Using the participatory action research process as a guiding framework, the students collected stories from the community members throughout their service learning as well as facilitated the conceptual development of the social hubs. Information science students are currently converting the stories into digital e-books. This multi-stakeholder, interdisciplinary, and interprofessional community engagement project has continuously adapted to the ever-changing environment, feedback loops, and challenges that have arisen, including shifting students between blocks which influences handover, understanding of the need, community ownership, COVID regulations, availability of resources, and communication limitations. However, the passion of all coordinators in the various programmes and the importance of the work being done, as well as the awareness of initiative requirements, enabled the project to achieve much in the hearts and minds of all involved. Lessons learned include the benefits of partnerships and university-wide community engagement coordination, which can be implemented in other settings as well. This is an ongoing project. They are hoping that in 2022, the co-creation of hubs across the community will enable storytelling to be re-ignited as a community value, thus enabling societal change through shared connections.

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Immediately following will be "Be Equipped:Tools for Difficult Conversations," presented by Maya Thomas Fernandez from Dallas College. Learn ways to remain calm during a difficult conversation. Words to use and words to avoid will be discussed. Come with an open mind to learn in this quick 10-minute powerful presentation!

Next is "Envisioning Equity," presented by Holly Burchett and Cuevas Peacock from Baylor University. Envisioning Equity, created during the fall of 2020, is a program designed to encourage learning from local and national leaders in a variety of fields that impact education, health, criminal justice, and economic development. To this date, the program has been implemented through a virtual platform; however, plans are in place to provide in-person programming this year.

Next is "Case Competitions and Engaging Students in an Institutional Climate Agenda," presented by Jen Britton of Drexel University. As Drexel has launched an effort to build a comprehensive climate and sustainability strategy, it has created opportunities for students to be part of the work of both problem solving and creating a vision of a climate-friendly campus culture. One of these opportunities is a case competition in which they invited students to participate on interdisciplinary teams to generate creative solutions to a challenge in a short amount of time. These high-impact experiences have given students—including incoming first-year students—peer networking opportunities as well as a way to get invested in shaping Drexel’s identity in climate problem solving. In this presentation, they'll share how they designed their competition challenges and what students have had to say about their experiences.

The final discussion is "University of Nebraska Omaha Service Learning Faculty Fellows: Increasing Bidirectional Connections," presented by Mitzi Ritzman from the University of Nebraska Omaha. This presentation will describe how the University of Nebraska Omaha Service-Learning Faculty Fellows increase bidirectional connections between colleges, Service Learning Academy, and community engagement efforts; explain ways in which the Faculty Fellows serve as peer facilitators to increase experiential learning and community engagement opportunities within each academic college; and list methods used to recruit diverse new faculty to service learning.

This five-part event is presented by the CUMU Learning and Sharing Virtual Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State community. Please register online for this event and any others in the series as you would like.

The campus community is invited to the 24th annual Student Art Sale on Wednesday, December 8, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Thursday, December 9, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. This wonderful School of Arts and Sciences event will be held for the first time in the Burchfield Penney Art Center on the second floor (reception area). A wide range of student work in various media from the Art and Design Department will be for sale at reasonable prices. Decorate your home or office, or find the perfect holiday gift—either way, you will be supporting our students! Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted.

For more information, please contact Jozef Bajus, associate professor of art and design, (716) 878-4133.

The State University of New York (SUNY) provides employees with the opportunity to save for their retirement through the SUNY Voluntary 403(b) Savings Plan. Participation in the SUNY Voluntary Savings Plan is a great way to build your retirement savings through pre-tax or post-tax payroll deduction contributions.

Whether you want to enroll in the plan for the first time or you are already enrolled but wish to change the amount of your deferral, you can do so through the SUNY online enrollment and management system. For more information, please call the Employee Benefits Office at (716) 878-4821 or visit the SUNY Benefits website.

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Eligibility
All employees of SUNY who receive compensation reportable on an IRS form W-2 are eligible to participate in the plan.

Please take a moment to review the plan materials before enrolling. Once you are enrolled, you can review and change the amount of your contributions as often as once per pay period, in accordance with your campus payroll deadlines for submitting changes, through the SUNY online enrollment and management system.

The exact date that your investment allocations will take effect may vary depending on payroll system deadlines and the policies of the investment provider you chose for plan contributions.

In addition to the SUNY 403(b) Plan, the NYS Deferred Compensation Plan (NYSDCP) also provides a way for you to contribute to a retirement account on both a pre-tax (traditional) and post-tax (Roth) basis through payroll deduction.

Through the pre-tax options (traditional), your contributions plus earnings are not taxed until you withdraw the funds. Distributions are considered ordinary income for tax purposes.

Through the post-tax (Roth) option, your contributions are taxed at the time you make them. Earnings are income tax-free upon qualified distribution if you are 59˝ (for the 403(b) plan) or separated from service (for both 403(b) and 457 plans) and it has been at least five taxable years since the initial Roth deposit.

How Much Can I Contribute?
For 2022, you can contribute up to $20,500 per year. If you are age 50 or older anytime in 2022, you can contribute an additional $6,500, for a maximum of $27,000.

Each participant is limited to these maximum contribution amounts for all 403(b) and 457 plans, respectively. SUNY employees are able to maximize contributions to both the SUNY 403(b) Plan and the NYS Deferred Compensation Plan (457) concurrently. However, if you also participate in a 403(b) or 457 plan with another employer, you are responsible for tracking and reporting the amount of all of your contributions to the plans so that the total amount of all your annual contributions to all plans in which you participate does not exceed the limit. Deferred Compensation (457) plans may also offer, for eligible participants, the Special Retirement Catch-up Provision for contributions within three years of your elected normal retirement age.

A special limit may apply to your contributions if you “control” (meaning you have more than a 50 percent ownership interest) in another business and you participate in its retirement plan. In determining the annual limit for all contributions described above, you must include all contributions made on your behalf under any defined contribution plans maintained by the other business that you control. You are required to inform the Benefits Office if this situation applies to you. Failure to do so can result in adverse tax consequences to you.

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What Are My Savings Options?
There are several plan options and investment providers to choose from through the SUNY 403(b) Plan. NYSDCP also offers its own investment options. Authorized investment providers offer a wide choice of investment options, including stock, bond, and guaranteed funds. Each provider offers individual counseling and assistance on investment information and can review the pre- and post-tax contribution options to best meet your retirement planning needs.

The following authorized plans and investment providers are available to you within the SUNY 403(b) Plan:

AIG Retirement
(800) 448-2542 or (888) 569-7055
https://suny.aigrs.com/home

Fidelity Investments (403(b)(7) Mutual Funds)
(844) FOR-SUNY (844) 367-7869
www.netbenefits.com/SUNY

Teachers Insurance Annuity Associate (TIAA)
(800) 662-7945
www.tiaa.org/suny

Voya Financial
(800) 584-6001
https://suny.beready2retire.com/

NYS Deferred Compensation Plan (457)
(800) 422-8463
www.nysdcp.com

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What Do I Need to Do?
If you wish to enroll or change your enrollment in the NYS Deferred Compensation Plan (NYSDCP), you must contact NYSDCP directly.

If you are enrolling in SUNY’s 403(b) plan for the first time, you can do so by using the SUNY online enrollment and management system. For assistance with the enrollment process, please contact the Benefits Office for more information.

If you are currently enrolled and wish to contribute the same biweekly amount in 2022, no action on your part is necessary unless you are currently contributing additional monies under the "age 50" rule outlined above. Please check your pay stub to be sure your current biweekly contribution for 403(b) deductions with any investment providers with whom you are investing multiplied by the number of remaining pay periods in the year does not exceed the allowable limit. Please be mindful that if you made a change mid-year, you must make sure that your current biweekly amount will result in the correct annual amount you want deferred for 2022.

To change the amount you are now contributing, please do so by using the SUNY online enrollment and management system. For assistance with this process or if you have questions, please contact the Benefits Office.

Teacher Education Unit (TEU) faculty members, it's time to register for the TEU Program Improvement Retreat on Friday, January 28, 2022, from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the LoRusso Alumni and Visitor Center (corner of Rockwell Road and Grant Street). All teacher education faculty members are needed!

This year, your attendance is more important than ever, as our CAEP accreditation site visit will take place March 13–15, 2022. This retreat will help us prepare to highlight our excellence in teacher and leader preparation.

Please register online.

Retreat Objectives

• Dig deep into your program-level data with colleagues using newly redesigned and updated program dashboards.
• Explore candidate performance on state and unit assessments.
• Develop and revise action plans to capture the work you do.
• Discover the importance of your role during our CAEP site visit

All TEU faculty are invited to join. Please e-mail Shannon Budin, professor of exceptional education, with questions.

The COVID-19 Testing Center, located in the Buckham Hall D-Wing gym, will have the following limited hours this week, November 22–26:

• Monday, November 22: 9:00–11:30 a.m. and 1:00–4:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, November 23: 6:00–11:30 a.m. and 1:00–6:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 24: 9:00–11:30 a.m. and 1:00–2:00 p.m. (closing early)
• Thursday, November 25: Closed
• Friday, November 26: Closed

The Buffalo State College community is saddened by the death of Lori M. Christmastree, professor emerita of design, who died October 16, 2019. Ms. Christmastree joined the college in 1981 and retired in 2001. She is survived by her husband, Vladimir “Misha” Tomic; five children; and eight grandchildren. More information is available online (PDF, 570 KB).