Thank you so much for participating in Bengals Dare to Care 2020 and joining us on this journey toward racial justice. We had over 1,100 participants during the live sessions and the recorded sessions.  

If you were unable to join any of the presentations facilitated by some incredible community activists, you can watch them on our website and YouTube Channel.

We want to encourage the campus community to not just learn from the presentations but also engage and act. A full list of engagement and Take Action materials for each week’s topic can be found on the Bengals Dare to Care website. Please continue to engage and take action for racial justice.

Hopefully, you found these sessions to be a great first step toward addressing these issues in our communities and you feel inspired to continue to take action for racial justice in the weeks, months, and years to come.

From the Co-chairs of the Search Committee for the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences
The search committee for the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences is pleased to announce that it has selected four candidates for a second round of interviews. The committee invites the campus community to attend the following open forums, during which the candidates will make a short presentation on their vision for the School of Arts and Sciences and answer questions:

Candidate 1: 2:00–3:00 p.m., Tuesday, December 1

Candidate 2: 10:00–11:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 2

Candidate 3: 4:00–5:00 p.m., Monday, December 7

Candidate 4: 10:00–11:00 a.m., Wednesday, December 9

The name and curriculum vitae of each candidate, as well as a Zoom link for the open forum, will be shared with the campus community in the Daily Bulletin the day before each event. Attendees will be invited to share feedback on the candidates with the committee via a Qualtrics poll that will be active December 10 and 11.

Search Committee Co-chairs Julian C. Cole, Interim Associate Dean, School of Arts and Humanities; and Jill Norvilitis, Professor, Psychology

Please join the Applied Learning team for a conversation about community-engaged applied learning experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday, December 9, from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. We will review the SUNY COVID guidance if you do plan to have students in the community, share strategies for providing engaging academic experiences for students that connect and support community priority, and discuss challenges you may be experiencing with community-engaged learning. Bring your reflections, concerns, and effective strategies to share with the group.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) is releasing a series of five data-informed research projects, each containing timely and useful data, interactive dashboards, insights to the data, and institution stories. The first, Building a Sense of Community for All, focuses on student belonging. Buffalo State College's own interactive NSSE Institutional Dashboard is available for anyone who would like to learn more about students' sense of belonging on our campus.

Develop a better understanding of the hyflex learning model during this free weeklong webinar series, "Hyflex: Considerations, Challenges, and Opportunities for SUNY Campuses," hosted by the SUNY Center for Professional Development, from noon to 1:00 p.m. every day from November 30 to December 4 via Zoom. Please register online.

Brian Beatty, a pioneer in the hyflex movement, will kick off the week as the keynote speaker. Then a series of targeted panel discussions will explore the lessons learned, challenges, and opportunities encountered in implementing this modality on SUNY campuses. Panelists will include hyflex-experienced SUNY campus administrators, IT/learning environment specialists, faculty, and faculty support personnel as well as those who are in the process of implementing the hyflex learning model.

• November 30: Keynote with Dr. Beatty
• December 1: Administrators Panel
• December 2: IT/Learning Environments Panel
• December 3: Faculty Panel
• December 4: Faculty Supports Panel

For more information, or if you have questions, please contact Jamie Heron, SUNY Online program manager.

A Promised Land, the much-anticipated book by former president Barack Obama, is now on sale at 30 percent off the list price at the Barnes & Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore.

Experts tell us to ramp us studying three weeks before finals. That's now! A tutor can help guide you through this process. Make an appointment with your tutor through your Bengal Success Portal. Visit the Tutoring website for more tutoring details. A handy resource is the "Top 5 Midterm/Final Exam Prep Tips" handout, which can be found on the bottom of the Resources tab of the Tutoring website.

E-mail Lauren Copeland with your tutoring questions. No question is too small!

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "Co-Producing Knowledge in Environmental Justice Research and Teaching" on Tuesday, December 1, 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 Deland Chan, Derek Ouyang, Violet Saena, and Esther Conrad.

The twenty-first century is an era of rapid environmental change, from rising sea levels to the growth of cities. Globally, low-income communities and youth constitute a majority of the urban population and experience disproportionate impacts, yet their perspectives are often not included in the planning or design of their environments.

Advancing environmental justice requires critically examining what counts as knowledge and applying inclusive and equitable approaches to nurturing knowledge in the next generation. Community-engaged teaching and research offer valuable opportunities to recognize multiple ways of knowing, such as local expertise held by community members. Yet, putting this into practice can often be challenging.

Drawing on a framework that elevates and recognizes multiple forms of knowing, this interactive session will examine how community-engaged teaching and research integrates these ways of knowing alongside more traditional forms of academic knowledge. Instructors in the fields of urban studies and civil engineering, along with a community partner focused on climate change resilience, will share their experiences in environmental justice-oriented research and teaching in the context of this framework. Working in small groups, session participants will share and reflect on their own experiences with integrating multiple forms of knowledge through community engagement and discuss practical strategies for prioritizing inclusive ways to co-produce knowledge with community partners.

Please register online for this webinar and any other upcoming presentations you would like in this National Webinar Series.

Once again, SUNY has reminded us of the following:

• Never use a password for more than one account. Each account should have its own unique password.
• Never use your phone number, address, birthday, or other private information in your password.
• Never use patterns like QWERTY or 13579 or 54321 or ABCDE.
• Never share your password with anyone, in any form, ever. Not even your most trusted confidante or colleague.
• Do use a passphrase. Read more about creating secure passphrases.

None Like You/We Care, a longtime community partner of Buffalo State College, is coordinating an effort to "adopt" children for the holidays to ensure that families across the city are able to celebrate. Offices or individuals are invited to "adopt" a child or family for the holidays and purchase gifts listed on their wish list by Sunday, December 20. Many of the children have requested items such as winter weather gear, clothing, and board games. If you are interested and able to lend your support, please call Elizabeth Triggs at (716) 533-9753.