Please join Weigel Health Promotions and Pure Life Therapy for a discussion of tips and techniques to prevent screen-time burnout on Wednesday, November 18, at noon via Zoom videoconference. We will cover mindfulness techniques such as meditation and mindful movement. The movement will be demonstrated, and you will be encouraged to participate (camera can be turned off for the movement).

Please register online.

Please e-mail Paula Madrigal, assistant director of prevention and health promotion, with questions.

Follow us on social media for updates and cancellations. Like us on Facebook (Buffalo State Health Promotions), follow us on Twitter (@BSCHealthPromo), and find us on Instagram (@Buffalostate_healthpromotions) and YouTube.

Out of an abundance of caution and in careful consideration of the health of all members of our community, SUNY System Administration has canceled all university-sponsored student travel programs, including all study-abroad and National Student Exchange, for the upcoming winter and spring terms. We remain optimistic that these necessary restrictions may be rolled back for summer 2021, and will pass along any news as we receive it.

In the meantime, the International Education Office remains committed to the Buffalo State community’s international and intercultural enrichment and development, and welcomes students to explore a host of on-campus and SUNY-wide virtual programming options by accessing our website or by attending one of the following information sessions through Blackboard Collaborate:

Thursday, October 22, 12:30 p.m.

Tuesday, October 27, 12:30 p.m.

Thursday, November 12, 12:30 p.m.

Monday, November 23, 2:00 p.m.

A virtual Study-Away Fair will be held Tuesday, November 17, at 12:30 p.m. More information and the meeting link will be posted soon. 

Faculty members are encouraged to contact the office to discuss the planning process for future study-abroad programs and to explore the Faculty-Led Program Handbook (PDF, 552 KB) on the Study Away website. Additional resources for implementing cultural programming in the COVID era can be found on the SUNY COIL Center website.

Need a break? Join Performing Arts Center director Andy Binder as he hosts a virtual Zoom trivia contest for Buffalo State College faculty and staff members on Thursday, November 5, from noon to 1:00 p.m. Questions will cover a wide variety of topics, including geography, pop culture, history, science, and random facts.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Residence Life will host virtual information sessions for a resident assistant (RA) position for 2021–2022. The RA position is a student leadership opportunity designed to foster personal and professional development. Resident assistants must be full-time students, maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.50 each semester, and sustain a good conduct standing with Buffalo State College. To be able to apply for the position, each candidate must attend one of the following information sessions. Please contact Residence Life with questions or visit the RA Employment web page. 

All information sessions will be held virtually:

Saturday, October 24: 1:00–2:00 p.m.

Wednesday, October 28: 8:00–9:00 p.m.

Thursday, November 5: 7:00–8:00 p.m.

Tuesday, November 10: 11:00 a.m.–Noon

Friday, November 13: 3:00–4:00 p.m.

Wednesday, November 18: 8:00–9:00 p.m.

Friday, November 20: 1:00–2:00 p.m. 

Monday, December 7: 2:00–3:00 p.m. 

Tuesday, December 15: 10:00–11:00 a.m.

Register for an information session online.

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "Measuring Mutual Benefit and Reciprocity in Community Engagement and Public Service Activities" on Thursday, November 19, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. The 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 Emily Janke, Kristin Medlin, and Kristin Norris.

Mutual benefit and reciprocity are arguably the defining characteristics and principles of the Carnegie Foundation's definition for community engagement partnerships. In this session, we examine how these two characteristics and principles are often conflated as synonyms by researchers, administrators, and practitioners (Dostilio, et. al, 2012; Janke, 2018), and offer definitions and measures that demonstrate their distinctiveness. We will share an emerging research program that is aimed at creating greater conceptual clarity and operationalization of these two terms in how we measure and track community engagement activities and partnerships. We explicate the terms (mutual benefit and reciprocity), describe measures developed to track these aspects of partnerships, and share initial findings of and reflections on more than 800 partnerships tracked using Collaboratory.

Participants will engage in dialogue around the emerging results to further the development of a construct for measuring reciprocity and mutual benefit, with the hope that it will allow researchers to better establish parameters for inclusion or exclusion of partnerships in studies, allowing larger samples of “apples to apples” comparisons, and help scholar-administrators establish baselines and goals for engagement, as differentiated from service.

Guiding research questions:

• If reciprocity and mutual benefit are two distinguishing features of CE, then how can we measure each one individually?
• What types of roles and moments of community participation demonstrate reciprocity?
• What outputs and outcomes demonstrate mutual benefit for community and academic partners?
• In what ways do community engagement partnerships differ from public service partnerships with regard to reciprocity and mutual benefit?

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

Please join us for the final installation of the Data Science and Analytics Fall 2020 Seminar Series, "Open Data Buffalo," presented by Kirk McLean, the city of Buffalo’s first director of open data, on Wednesday, November 11, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m.

Mr. McLean will talk about navigating Open Data Buffalo.

Talking Points

• Data Catalog
• Metadata
• Data Filtering
• Data Visualization
• User Accounts

Please join the session through Blackboard Collaborate.

This webinar was rescheduled from October 20.

Please join us for the webinar "Strategies for Synchronous Engagement in the Classroom and within Your Department," presented by Ashley Martin, director of student achievement programs in Academic Success, on Tuesday, October 27, from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m.

Did you know you can transform virtually any activity you would do in person into one you can deliver in a synchronous? remote setting? During this session, you will learn strategies for improving student and staff engagement during synchronous classes and meetings. You will acquire skills that will allow you to foster learning and productivity while also creating a fun and supportive environment through the use of collaborative learning strategies, free online tools, and breakout groups. This session will be delivered by the director of student achievement programs and student staff running the programs. Additionally, participants will be encouraged to share their own advice for engaging students in the remote setting.

Please register through the Workshop Registration System.

Student Leadership and Engagement invites students and the campus community to participate in the For Freedoms Lawn Sign Art Project taking place October 20, 22, and 27. Inspired by Norman Rockwell’s 1943 paintings on the four universal freedoms articulated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear—the project seeks to use art to deepen public discussions on civic issues and core values, and to clarify that citizenship is defined by participation, not by ideology.

When Norman Rockwell and FDR began to articulate these freedoms, they did not apply to everyone. The lawn signs will allow participants to define freedom in their own way and to articulate a vision of freedom that reflects our diverse campus community.

The For Freedoms art project encourages students, faculty, and staff members to produce their own definition of freedom by filling in the blanks:

• Freedom Of ___________
• Freedom From ___________
• Freedom For ___________
• Freedom To ___________

Opportunities to create signs will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union lobby on Tuesday, October 20; Thursday, October 22; and Tuesday, October 27. Please join us for this interactive art project. Lawn signs will be displayed publicly outside the Campbell Student Union the week of the national election, November 2–6.

If you are unable to attend, you are welcome to participate virtually in the following ways:

• E-mail Student Leadership and Engagement to share your own definitions of freedom (Freedom Of, Freedom From, Freedom For, and Freedom To), and an SLE staff member will make a sign for you to display on campus.
• Make a custom sign yourself at home and post it on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and tag @LifeatBuffState. An SLE staff member will still make an official sign for you to display on campus.

Please join us for the next podcast discussion in our Podcast, Walk, and Talk Series, "Voting Rights: Looking to Our Past to Understand Our Present," facilitated by Laura Hill Rao, director of civic and community engagement, on Friday, October 30, from noon to 1:15 p.m. via Zoom.

Election Day 2020 is right around the corner! Let’s consider how history affects how we vote today, particularly for Black and Brown members of our community. Think about your own experiences voting as you listen to the podcast, then join in the discussion to share your thoughts and learn from others.

Take some time away from your desk to go for a walk from noon to 12:30 p.m. and listen to the free Apple Podcast Vote! "Voting Rights: Looking to Our Past to Understand Our Present."

After your walk, join the Zoom call and engage with your colleagues in a virtual discussion until 1:15 p.m. about how we can apply what we learned from the podcast to our own lives. The Zoom link will be sent two hours before the event.

We look to the past to understand our present (and future). Kat's mom asks us to dig into voting rights history. (Did you know Native American and Black citizens, practically speaking, have only been able to vote for about 50 years?) Plus, we'll talk about how a 2013 Supreme Court case has resulted in the rise of some pretty nasty voter suppression.

For more information and to register, please visit the Workshop Registration System.

The Early Undergraduate Research Opportunity (EURO) Program, sponsored by the Undergraduate Research Office, is accepting micro-project funding applications for the fall 2020 semester through Monday, October 26. EURO provides lower-division students with the opportunity to participate in research and creative activities by serving as an assistant under a faculty mentor. Faculty members must identify a micro-project task (or set of tasks) to be performed within a time frame of approximately five weeks during the semester. Stipends of $500 are provided for students, with an additional $100 available for supplies. Digital projects are encouraged, and all awards are subject to prevailing COVID-19 guidelines, IRB restrictions, and funding availability. Student assistants must be classified as freshmen or sophomores with at least 12 and no more than 60 earned credit hours at the time of application.