Are you looking for a student leadership position where you can gain experience and earn some income? Consider applying for one of the paid campus positions for the 2021–2022 academic year listed below.

Visit the Bengal Connect website (log-in required) to fill out an application. The deadline to submit applications is Friday, February 12. Descriptions and requirements of the positions are also available online.

• President
• Executive Vice President
• Treasurer
• Vice President for Advocacy
• Vice President for Organization Relations
• Vice President for Public Relations
• Vice President for Campus Programming

If time is a concern, please consider one of the following positions. These positions are not paid but involve less of a time commitment and still give you the résumé boost and experience:

• USG Senator (30 positions, one-year term)
• Faculty-Student Association Board Member (two positions, two-year term)
• College Senator (10 positions, one-year term)
• College Council (one position, one-year term)
• Student Assembly Delegate (two positions, one-year term)
• Intercollegiate Athletics Board (non-competitor and at-large position available, one-year term)
• Auxiliary Services Advisory Committee (one position, one-year term)
• Grant Allocation Committee (three undergraduate positions, two-year term)

Students will vote in the 2021 student elections March 15–19. Please check Bengal Connect for more information.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Microsoft Teams Meetings," presented by Todd Benzin, educational technology specialist, and Jonathan Hulbert, director of leadership and organizational development, on Thursday, January 14, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m.

Microsoft Teams is an alternative way to conduct online meetings covered under Buffalo State’s educational license with Microsoft. These meetings include audio, video, screen sharing, and more and can be created directly from Outlook. You don’t need to be a member of an organization or even have a Teams account to join a Teams meeting—just look in the invitation for instructions about calling in. Register to see if using Teams in this pilot setting can be useful to you. 

Access the webinar using our Microsoft Teams meeting link. The session can be joined from the Teams desktop app, the web version of Teams, or the Teams mobile app. Please use the Teams desktop for full features.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

The President’s Institutional Innovation Advisory Council (IIAC) is offering more focus groups to provide a forum to gather additional ideas and input from the campus community to inform focus areas in the next strategic plan. More specifically, the IIAC is interested in connecting with faculty and staff members to learn more about the many ways our work environment and culture have shifted, what has stayed the same since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and ideas for what Buffalo State College should focus on in the strategic plan being created during the spring 2021 semester. Please click of the focus groups links below within your employment category to register for a focus group through the Workshop Registration System.

Focus Groups for Professional Staff (United University Professions)

Thursday, January 7, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

Friday, January 8, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.  

Tuesday, January 12, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Thursday, January 14, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Friday, January 15, 9:00–10:30 a.m.

Friday, January 15, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, January 19, 10:00–11:30 a.m.

Wednesday, January 20, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

Thursday, January 21, 1:00–2:30 p.m.

Friday, January 22, Noon–1:30 p.m.

Focus Group for AVPs, Deans, Associate Deans, and Directors

Monday, January 11, 4:00–5:30 p.m.

Focus Group for Classified Staff

Thursday, January 14, 3:00–4:30 p.m.

Please contact the Professional Development Center with questions.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Conversation: A Day in the Life of a Department Chair," presented by John Draeger, director of the Teaching and Learning Center, on Thursday, January 14, from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m.

This session invites department chairs (past and present) to join in a conversation. It will be a mix of strategies and support. We’ll explore logistical topics (e.g., scheduling, personnel actions, framing effective meetings), thorny issues (e.g., shifting relationships), and success stories (e.g., a crisis averted, a student saved). There’s only so much that can be accomplished in a webinar, but this session will be an effort to celebrate (or at least commiserate with) a day in the life of a department chair.

You can access the webinar using the Teaching and Learning Center meeting room. Please review the BbCollaborate website to become familiar with using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra as a participant, if you'd like.?

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Creating Video-Based Discussion on Flipgrid," presented by Katrina Fulcher, associate professor of speech-language pathology, on Thursday, January 14, from 3:00 to 3:50 p.m.

This webinar will introduce and teach you how to use Flipgrid as a mechanism for online discussions in your online learning community.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Online Readiness Checklist Discussion," presented by Brooke Winckelmann, instructional designer, on Thursday, January 14, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Developed from the Open SUNY Course Quality Review (OSCQR) tool, the Online Readiness Checklist (PDF, 92 KB) provides guidance for faculty members designing, developing, or reviewing their online courses. 

This session will introduce participants to the Online Readiness Checklist and will provide guidance on how it can be used. Please review the Online Readiness Checklist (PDF, 92 KB) before the session and come to the session with your questions.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Metacognition: Students Learning about Learning So They Don’t Need Us," presented by John Draeger, director of the Teaching and Learning Center, on Thursday, January 14, from 10:00 to 10:50 a.m.

This session explores metacognition in remote environments. Metacognition encourages us to be intentional about the processes we engage in (e.g., driving, cooking, building a business, teaching, learning). Those engaged in metacognition are aware of what’s working, what’s not, and when they need to make adjustments. This session will offer ways to help students learn about their own learning. 

You can access the webinar using the Teaching and Learning Center meeting room. Please review the BbCollaborate website to become familiar with using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra as a participant, if you'd like.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Proctoring/Alternatives, presented by John Draeger, director of the Teaching and Learning Center, and Meghan Pereira, director of instructional design and training, on Wednesday, January 13, from 3:00 to 3:50 p.m.

This session considers issues of academic integrity related to online environments. We’ll consider ways to create authentic assessments that make cheating exceedingly difficult as well as various proctoring solutions.

You can access the webinar using the Teaching and Learning Center meeting room. Please review the BbCollaborate website to become familiar with using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra as a participant, if you'd like.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Using Structured Reflection for Authentic Assessment and Evaluation," presented by Ann Emo, chair and professor of theater, on Wednesday, January 13, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

One of the backbones of high-impact practices is structured reflection. In the absence of face-to-face interaction, we may be struggling to gauge students’ connections with our materials. This session will discuss ways to design effective assignments that can be used to evaluate student learning and engagement. A short presentation will be followed by discussion and supplemented with worksheets.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

As we prepare for spring 2021, please join us for the webinar "Blackboard Ally," presented by Sumana Silverheels, technology accommodations coordinator, on Wednesday, January 13, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

Ally is embedded within Blackboard Learn to assist content creators in making files such as Word, PowerPoint, images, and PDFs more accessible and helping students work with their digital course content.

•  Receive feedback on the accessibility of your content
•  Improve content accessibility with Ally step-by-step instructions
•  Provide students with alternative formats to support personalized learning

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.