From the Chair of the College Senate Bylaws and Elections Committee
The College Senate will hold elections May 3–7 to fill three at-large College Senate seats (two for academics and one for professionals or academics) and one alternate University Faculty Senate seat. All elections are for three-year terms (2021–2024). Voting will begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday, May 3, and continue until 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 7. The College Senate Bylaws and Elections Committee will again use an electronic voting system supplemented by paper ballots to conduct the elections.

Our primary goals are to encourage participation in the shared governance of Buffalo State College and to share information on each candidate. If you have not already visited the College Senate’s Elections Information site to review the candidates’ qualifications, please do so.

Voter Eligibility
All full-time academics and professionals (NU = 8; negotiating unit 8) are eligible to vote; managerial employees (NU = 13; negotiating unit 13) can vote for the alternate UFS.

We urge everyone to vote electronically. Paper ballots will be sent only to voters who request them.

Electronic Ballot

• Visit the election voting portal link (log-in required), located on the College Senate’s Elections Information site.
• Log in using your e-mail username and password.
• When you log in, the system will identify the election(s) in which you are eligible to vote. If you think you have been misidentified or some other issue arises, please contact Slade Gellin, College Senate parliamentarian.
• With general questions only, please contact Vincent Masci, assistant to the College Senate, 878-5139.

Paper Ballot
Paper ballots will be sent only to voters who request them. Please e-mail Vince Masci, assistant to the College Senate, to request a paper ballot. Please provide your name and phone number. Requested paper ballots will be distributed before or during election week (May 3–7) and must be returned to the College Senate Office by 4:00 p.m. Friday, May 7, to be counted.

Thank you for your participation in this year’s election. Please share any feedback, questions, or concerns with Ramona Santa Maria, chair of the College Senate Bylaws and Elections Committee.

Please join the Theater Department for a presentation of SHE: A Choreoplay by Buffalo native and award-winning director and choreographer Jinah Parker, on Thursday, April 29. The show begins at 7:00 p.m. followed by a live post-show discussion with the cast and director, moderated by Naila Ansari, assistant professor of theater. Tickets are available online. The post-show discussion will take place on Zoom.

Deemed as "passionate and necessary" by the New York Times, SHE might best be described as The Vagina Monologues meets For Colored Girls in the twenty-first century. SHE is about ending violence against women and girls. It is about what happens to women like Sandra Bland, it is about all female-identified individuals, and it is about healing and empowerment. There is dance, there are monologues and dialogue between the women, there is music, there is film, and there is truth-telling in ways that break new ground in theater. SHE is indeed a work of art, but it also doubles as a powerful movement, extending beyond the stage with educational tools, workshops, and a curriculum and study guide. It is an artistic mirror for our past and present political social climate. SHE’s power lies in its ability to say the unsaid. It attaches to the voice in your head, your heart, and your soul by operating on what is most difficult for us to say out loud—this truth.

SHE supporters include well-known artists such as Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues; actress and best-selling author Gabrielle Union; and NBA Hall of Famer Grant Hill, as well as Elle magazine and the National Organization for Women.

Ready up and relax for your finals during our free virtual Bengal Study Nights event on Monday, May 3, and Tuesday, May 4, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The event will feature final exam reviews, extended tutoring, games, and relaxation activities.

Find the link(s) to your session(s) on the Bengal Study Night web page. The page is updated continuously, so check back often! For more information, please download the Bengal Study Night flier. A text-only version of the flier is available on the Tutoring website.

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

Brought to you by the Buffalo State Student Achievement Programs and Tutoring Centers.

Ready up and relax for your finals during our free virtual Bengal Study Nights event on Monday, May 3, and Tuesday, May 4, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. The event will feature final exam reviews, extended tutoring, games, and relaxation activities.

Find the link(s) to your session(s) on the Bengal Study Night web page. The page is updated continuously, so check back often! For more information, please download the Bengal Study Night flier. A text-only version of the flier is available on the Tutoring website.

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

Brought to you by the Buffalo State Student Achievement Programs and Tutoring Centers.

The Institutional Advancement Office and Global Engagement are holding a virtual fundraiser for a new Buffalo State College student award, the Dr. Jean François Gounard Award. An anonymous donor has generously offered to match the first $500 raised to provide $1,000 in seed money for this emergency fund.

Dr. Jean François Gounard served at Buffalo State College for more 39 years in the International Student Affairs Office, now housed under Global Engagement. Dr. Gounard was an advocate for all students studying in the United States on visas. He himself studied in the United States for his doctorate and knew firsthand what international students experience in the American educational system.

This scholarship is being funded by friends and alumni of Buffalo State to support the college's international students, fellow Bengals, while they are studying here in the Buffalo area. The Dr. Jean François Gounard Award fund provides a one-time gift to the recipient to supplement needs that may arise while studying in the U.S. Suggested uses for this award include books and supplies, medical needs, travel costs, certification, or membership fees in the student's professional field. 

With COVID-19 affecting students on a worldwide scale, Buffalo State students are facing greater economic need than ever. The CARES Act and stimulus funds cannot be awarded to our international student population based on citizenship. Please consider honoring Dr. Gounard’s memory by making a donation to the Dr. Jean François Gounard Award. Thank you for your generosity.

The Spring 2021 Critique and Evaluation Period (CEP) Schedule with Block Exams (PDF, 148 KB) has been posted on the Registrar's Office Courses web page.

Please be aware that the campus will no longer be able to order office supplies from Gholkar's or Office Depot. Office Depot has terminated its Sourcing Alliance Participation Agreement with SUNY as of Sunday, April 25, 2021.

All orders for office supplies must now be placed with one of the state’s preferred sources (NYSPSP or NYSID). If a particular item is not available from one of these providers, Proftech (Staples) can be used to make the purchase. 

We recognize that this is short notice and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. For more information regarding office supplies purchases, please visit the Procurement Services website or contact Penny Reusch, program aide, 878-4113, for assistance.

Steam service to most campus buildings will be shut down from about 11:00 p.m. Sunday, May 16, to about 11:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, as part of the heating plant upgrade project.

Only the LoRusso Alumni and Visitor Center, the Student Apartment Complex, and the Burchfield Penney Art Center will be unaffected.

During this time, there will be no heat, no process steam for cooking or dishwashing, and no hot water, including for showering in the Sports Arena, Houston Gymnasium, or residence halls.

In buildings with cooling, members of the campus community may experience lower than usual building temperatures—because systems will not be able to reheat the cooling air—and are asked to dress accordingly.

Questions about this project may be addressed to vpfm@buffalostate.edu. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we make these necessary repairs to the steam service.

Please join us online for Buffalo State College’s annual Arbor Day and Environmental Information Fair on Friday, April 30, from noon to 12:30 p.m.

This year’s event will feature a ceremonial tree planting in celebration of the beautiful Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum at Buffalo State, and information about the future of this important campus learning environment. An arboretum is a diverse collection of distinctive trees and shrubs that are maintained and curated, at least in part, for educational or research purposes.

Brief educational sessions will inform members of the campus community about existing programs and new initiatives at Buffalo State that will improve the ecological sustainability of the campus and surrounding community. These will feature the Friends of the Maud Gordon Holmes Arboretum, the volunteer group that supports the arboretum; the reinvigoration of Buffalo State’s Sustainability Committee; and storm water management initiatives that help protect our campus and nearby Scajaquada Creek.

Please use this Zoom information (PDF, 69 KB) to join us on April 30. Thank you!

An Outlook distribution list (also called a contact group or contact list) is a single email address that delivers to a designated group of individual email recipients. Distribution lists for Buffalo State College exist for schools, offices, and departments. A single email message sent to one distribution list delivers to the entire group of individuals contained in the list. For example, an email message sent to the Office of Information Technology distribution list will deliver to all individual employees in Information Technology. An email message sent to the Dept of Criminal Justice distribution list will deliver to all individuals in the Criminal Justice Department. Note: distribution lists appear in boldface in the Global Address List and display the two people icon on the left.

Distribution lists are manually created and maintained; therefore, it is up to each department or office to regularly inform Information Technology Services when individual employees should be added or removed from the list. This is extremely important, as email is an official communication channel. You must tell IT when to add new office members or to delete those who have moved to other departments or separated from service at Buffalo State College.

To remove or add an individual to your office directory, please complete the IT Service Request: Department/Office Email Distribution List – Update Membership.

If you are requesting an update to the office list because someone has separated from the college, please also complete the IT Service Request for separated employees. If you’re completing the request because you have a new employee, you may wish to also review the IT Service Request for Onboarding New Employees.