Buffalo State College's improv comedy student troupe Friday Night Live! will host its first free performance of the spring semester tomorrow, February 19, at 10:00 p.m. on the streaming platform Twitch.

Theater Department alumnus Lee Becker, ’13, will lead student actors Ezra Bedoya, Corey Gorski, Ian Hagerty, Jake Jasie, Kenny Lam, and Colin Taylor in what is sure to be an entertaining evening of hilarious storytelling and interactive fun. All students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend.

Sign up for a Twitch account and tune in.

Take an additional 50 percent off clearance merchandise during the Barnes & Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore's flash sale February 16–18. Includes clothing, accessories, and school supplies—clearance merchandise only.

All faculty and staff members at Buffalo State College are invited to a Bible study on Friday, February 19, at noon via Zoom. We are currently in the middle of a 13-week study of 1 Corinthians. We usually have about a half-hour of study and then 15 minutes of sharing and prayer. If interested, please e-mail David Ettestad, professor of physics, for the link.

Members of the School of Arts and Humanities and the School of Natural and Social Sciences are reminded to register for the Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting, which will be held via Zoom on Friday, February 19, at 3:30 p.m. We need your participation at this meeting to finalize the bylaws before the digital vote by the membership. There are four main motions and some consent agenda items for the meeting. Please be sure to review the Special Rules of Order for the meeting. In addition to the four main motions, the agenda contains one side-motion to establish initial elections for A&S.

Members and guests are encouraged to register online for the meeting. All registered voting members will receive an e-mail with the link to the Zoom meeting on February 18. Guests are welcome to view the meeting through a live-stream feed. Guests should also register online to receive a link to the live-stream feed. If you would like to receive accopy of the agenda for the meeting, including the main motions and consent agenda, or the Special Rules of Order, please contact Susan Maguire, associate professor of anthropology, or David Ben-Merre, professor of English. Please remember that once we have a foundational set of bylaws in place, we will be able to amend them in the future.

We look forward to seeing you all on February 19 at 3:30 p.m.

The Barnes & Noble Starbucks Café has a Fabulous February Deal now through Friday, February 26. Stop in and get a stuffed pretzel and a soup for just $6! Choose from our stuffed pizza pretzel or stuffed spinach and feta pretzel. Our soup schedule is as follows:*

February 16–19

• Tuesday - chicken noodle
• Wednesday - cheesy chicken tortilla
• Thursday - broccoli and cheddar
• Friday - chili

February 22–26

• Monday - chicken noodle
• Tuesday - “café manager’s choice”
• Wednesday - cheesy chicken tortilla
• Thursday - broccoli and cheddar
• Friday - chili

*Soup schedule subject to change

One of the most exciting features of the Bengal Success Portal is the Student Progress Report. This early intervention tool enables faculty members to inform advisers and students about signs of academic difficulty early on in the term. Upon receiving an alert generated from their instructor's report, students can take immediate steps to improve their performance. When a pattern of concerns arises in relation to a single student, faculty and staff advisers can conduct early outreach so that students can make positive changes to their academic habits.

The Student Progress Report will deploy to all instructors on Friday, February 12, and will remain open until Wednesday, February 24. An e-mail notification with the link to the survey will be sent to all faculty members. Instructors are able to view their class lists and mark whether a student has encountered an issue, or award students “kudos” for a job well done. Students will receive e-mails, and students' advisers will be made aware of this feedback as well. If a cause for concern is identified, students will know that actions need to be taken. By the same token, advisers can then conduct proactive outreach to assist students in helping them to meet their academic goals.

Instructors, please complete the Student Progress Report. Your feedback just might be that extra little “nudge” that students need to put them on the path to success.

Have a question about the Bengal Success Portal? Please e-mail bengalsuccess@buffalostate.edu or refer to the online user guides.

The Civic and Community Engagement Office will host Civic Engagement Week March 29–April 2. This week will feature opportunities for the campus community to learn about community concerns during virtual presentations and identify ways to take action.

Please register to join one of three virtual presentations:

• Food Security in the Wake of Covid-19 in 14207
  Monday, March 29, Noon–1:00 p.m., with Talia Rodriguez of West Side Promise Neighborhood
• What AmeriCorps and National Service Can Do for You
  Tuesday, March 30, 2:00–3:00 p.m., with Juweria Dahir of City of Buffalo, Division of Citizen Services 
• Education Access for Multi-Lingual Learners
  Wednesday, March 31, Noon–1:00 p.m., with Jennifer Serniuk of Community Academic Center 

Presentations will be recorded for access after the live sessions conclude. 

Two additional pre-recorded presentations are available on the Civic Engagement Week website:

• Talking Public Transit with Doug Funke of Citizens for Regional Transit on the Public Good
• Redefining Safety and Exploring Alternatives to Policing with Charis Humphrey of Black Love Resists in the Rust; Emma Fabian of Evergreen Health; and Jalonda Hill of the Fair Fines + Fees Coalition; moderated by Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, Executive Director at Partnership for the Public Good. 

More information regarding each community concern and opportunities for action are listed on the website.

The Early Undergraduate Research Opportunity (EURO) Program, which provides lower-division students with the opportunity to serve as a research or creative assistant to a faculty mentor, is accepting applications for the spring 2021 semester through Friday, February 19. Stipends of $1,000 (full EURO award) and $500 (EURO micro-projects) are provided for student participation, with an additional $100 available for supplies. Students must be classified as freshmen or sophomores with at least 12 and no more than 60 earned Buffalo State College credit hours at the time of application. Student contributions to a faculty research or creative project will be presented virtually at the 23rd annual Student Research and Creativity Conference in May. For more details on spring semester programs, please visit the Undergraduate Research website.

Friday, March 5, is the deadline for departments and programs to submit their graduating student awards for the annual listing in the Commencement program. Lists may be submitted according to the instructions provided on the Commencement website.

Notices were e-mailed to individual departments during the past few weeks. Please contact Patricia Alessandra in the Academic Affairs Office with any questions regarding bachelor's degree candidates awards lists, and contact Marnie Letzelter in the Graduate School for questions regarding graduate programs awards.

Thank you very much for your time and energy in recognizing outstanding Buffalo State College students in this meaningful way. The graduating class and their families really do appreciate it.

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "The Quest for Authentic Community Engagement: How Market Forces Shape Community Engagement and What to Do about It" on Thursday, February 25, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. This event is presented by Campus Compact as part of its National Webinar Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State College community. Speakers are Gavin Luter, Henry Taylor, Kent Koth, and Ken Reardon.

It is no secret that market forces play an important role in shaping almost everything in the world, and the higher education civic engagement movement (CEM) is no exception. Market forces have created pressures within higher education that have created the “entrepreneurial university” driven by neoliberalism, which imbues the business creed across the university. How did this happen? What does it mean for the CEM? How does it shape the quest for authentically building just, neighborly communities centered on equity and voices of those most marginalized? What can be done about it? This multidimensional session involves a historical background from an activist urban historian, followed by a panel of practitioner-scholars sharing their perspectives about how to do authentic engagement work within this context. Practical suggestions for how to incorporate this work into civic action planning will also be explored. There will also be an opportunity for people to think collaboratively about what agency they have in countering these market forces and to formulate concrete actions for when they return to their campuses. The point is to motivate civic engagement professionals to know their history, understand the forces shaping higher education, and learn how they can respond.

Please register online for this webinar and for as many others in the National Webinar Series as you would like.