The enrollment period for the 2022 Productivity Enhancement Program (PEP) is now open and runs through Friday, November 26. 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 close of business Friday, November 26. Employees who participated in PEP for 2021 must file a new election form to 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, 30 KB)
• UUP and M/C Program Details and Election Form (DOCX, 23 KB)

The Continuing Professional Studies Office will offer two new programs this fall:

"Applied Imagination: Proven Practices for Creative Thinking," a four-hour virtual program offered in partnership with the International Center for Studies in Creativity, on Thursday, December 9, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Instructors include Gerard Puccio, chair of the Creative Studies Department, and Kristin Fields, director of Continuing Professional Studies. Registration opens today, November 1, and closes Wednesday, November 24. For more information and to register, please visit our website.

"Negotiate Anything: Finding Confidence in Conflict," offered in partnership with the American Negotiation Institute. This freestanding program can be completed on your own schedule over a six-month period; participants receive a 10 percent discount when registering through our site. For more information and program registration, please visit our website.

We also invite you to peruse our inaugural newsletter to learn about our current and upcoming programming.

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "Supporting Employee Homeownership through Shared Equity Down-Payment Assistance," featuring Ian Magruder and Sekou Mapp from Landed, on Thursday, November 4, at 2:30 p.m. This event is presented by the CUMU Learning and Sharing Virtual Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State College community. 

As housing prices continue to increase in most urban areas, universities are looking to new solutions and partnerships to provide housing support for employees. One option aimed squarely at improving recruitment and retention is a shared equity down-payment program, providing faculty, staff, and administrators with co-investment capital to access challenging housing markets.Through an impact-investor financed program, Landed has partnered with several CUMU member institutions to provide this support to their employees. This session will provide an overview of the model alongside outcome metrics from universities that have participated. 

Please register online for this webinar and any others in the series you may be interested in.

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "PSU Next: Building Community on Campus and Beyond," featuring Cynthia Gomez and Kelly Gonzales from Portland State University, on Thursday, November 4, at 2:00 p.m. This event is presented by the CUMU Learning and Sharing Virtual Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State College community.

During the pandemic, we have discovered deep differences in how the members of our university community think, how we experience our work, the questions we ask, and whose perspectives we value. In this session, the presenters will share their experiences with “PSU Next.” PSU Next engaged a dozen faculty members, administrators, and students in several institution-shaping projects that have been launched since May 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They met regularly for conversation during the academic year to (1) explore new ideas through their different perspectives, (2) reflect on what they have learned from their  experiences this year in the context of the pandemic and (3) practice behaviors intended to prepare them to be responsive and resilient as they pursue their urban-serving mission in a changing world.

They initiated and supported these growth efforts by creating a new space on campus where they shared experiences, reset and reoriented themselves, and listened to each other. They began in relationship. The members of PSU Next practiced behaviors that can help them create an institution shaped by all their voices and responsive to the needs and expectations of both the members of their campus community and of society as a whole. They wanted to understand how their campus culture shapes who they interact with on campus and in the broader community, the roles they usually play, and the assumptions they make that may no longer be true or perhaps have never been true. By not having a set agenda or a particular problem to solve, they could use their time together to explore ideas and make sense of their experiences. They did not rely on their usual ways of thinking or traditional roles that affect how they usually interact with others. They practiced ways of working together that they will need when dealing with complexity.

Please register online for this webinar and any others in the series you may be interested in.

Weigel Health Promotions has a new Outlook Events Calendar! Click on individual events in the calendar for information, fliers, and links. You can copy and paste the various programs into your own calendars as well. This is an easy way to keep up to date on all the great programming Weigel has to offer. This is a new service and is still being updated. We welcome any and all feedback and suggestions.

Please contact?Paula Madrigal, assistant director of prevention and health promotions, with questions.

Follow us on social media for updates or cancellations. 

Like us?on Facebook?(Buffalo State Health Promotions) 
Follow us on Twitter?(@BSCHealthPromo) 
Watch us on YouTube??(BSCHealthPromotions) 
Find us on Instagram??(@Buffalostate_healthpromotions) 
Follow us on Pinterest?(bschealthpromo) 

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "Addressing Basic Needs through Bridge-Building Cross-Campus," featuring Susan Larkin and Heather Campbell from Virginia Wesleyan University, today, November 2, from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m. This event is presented by the CUMU Learning and Sharing Virtual Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State College community. 

Virginia Wesleyan University has been striving to develop more holistic and structured support for students with a variety of needs. In August, VWU piloted its WesBridge Program to help meet some basic student needs. The goal for the program is to bring at-risk students to campus ahead of the fall semester and have them complete coursework; develop skills to help them succeed academically; build a cohort; and build relationships with faculty, staff, and student mentors to connect and become comfortable with the campus and surrounding community.

The pilot year of this program has yielded some good successes and also provided useful lessons for the program going forward. They have already begun recruiting for the 2022 program, which will feature some substantial changes. This session will discuss the partnership between Enrollment and Academic Affairs in building relationships with and providing support to students, the evolution of the program, successful strategies for building bridge programs, and challenges and opportunities that presented themselves.

Please register online for this event (scroll down) and any others in the series as you would like.

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "More Than a Diversity Statement: Infusing EDI in the Everyday," featuring James Wilkening from the University of Central Florida, Nikki Vance from the University of Oregon, and Sean Foley from the University of Arizona, today, November 2, from 1:00 to 1:30 p.m. This event is presented by the CUMU Learning and Sharing Virtual Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State College community.

Cultivating diversity and inclusiveness is not just a goal or a check mark at the UCF Recreation and Wellness Center. For current and past members of the team, it is has become a way of life. As white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied folx, Wilkening, Vance, and Foley believe it’s important to live out EDI personally and professionally. Diversity is a huge part of their work and a major point of passion for them. Simply having a diversity statement is not enough. Join this webinar to learn more about their journeys with diversity, how they have learned to infuse EDI efforts into the everyday, and how student affairs professionals can do the same.

Please register online for this event and any others in this series you wish to attend.

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "The Apex Project: Creating Stronger, More Resilient, and More Community-Engaged Universities," featuring Terri Taylor from the Lumina Foundation and Alexander Flachsbart from Opportunity Alabama, on Monday, November 1, from 2:00 to 2:30 p.m. This event is presented by the CUMU Learning and Sharing Virtual Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State community. 

Over the last decade, two big questions have arisen in parallel on college campuses across the U.S.: (1) How do we engage in public-private partnerships to better leverage our assets? (2) How do we more fully engage with the community around us—particularly underserved portions of that community? The Apex Project provides a suite of tools and case studies to help colleges and universities approach these questions more strategically. This session will provide a chance to hear about the Apex Project, lessons learned in its development, and possible applications for CUMU members interested in creating local economic resiliency.

Please register online for this webinar and any others in the series you may be interested in.

Stop by the Campbell Student Union lobby on Wednesday, November 3, between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to talk with representatives of the American Red Cross and learn how you can support and volunteer alongside one of Buffalo State's community partner organizations. Be a part of Buffalo State’s civic and community engagement mission!

The humanitarian work that is done at the American Red Cross would not be possible without its volunteers. They have a variety of disaster relief volunteer opportunities available, as well as potential positions focused on facility management, health and safety, service to the Armed Forces, and professional specialties like photography, IT, and more.

If you have questions or comments, feel free to email the Civic and Community Engagement Office or call (716) 878-3919.

The Global Engagement Office needs faculty members and their families to host our international students this Thanksgiving. We have 15 students who have expressed interest in celebrating a traditional American Thanksgiving. We are looking for hosts to provide transportation from Cleveland Circle and dinner for the student(s) they host. This year, we have students from 22 countries. You will be notified one week prior with the name(s) of the student(s) you are hosting. Please respond by Monday, November 15, if you are able to help. For more information, pleases email Tricia Herritt, director of international student and scholar services.