Do you have a student in your course who is concerned about social justice issues? Please encourage them to apply for the Student Civic Leadership Board! The SCLB is recruiting students for the 2020–2021 academic year to address social and environmental issues facing our community and world. Even through COVID-19, we are dedicated to organizing projects that promote awareness and support our community partners. To participate, members must be current Buffalo State College students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0.

Applications are available on the Civic and Community Engagement website and will be accepted on a rolling basis. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail the CCE or call 878-3919.

Learn how to strengthen your online and hybrid skills to enhance your course design and increase student engagement with the self-paced Online Course Development Series. This series prepares instructors to design, teach, and enhance online or hybrid courses using best practices of online teaching and learning.

To access this series, please self-enroll in the “Online Course Development - Self-Paced” organization in Blackboard. 

You may enroll in the self-paced Online Course Development series at any time, and can complete each module at your own pace. Information for earning the Online Course Development Certificate can be found in the self-paced series in Blackboard Learn.

For more information about the Online Course Development Series, please visit the Instructional Design and Training website. Other self-paced learning opportunities can be found in the Workshop Registration System. If you have questions or would like more information, please contact Brooke Winckelmann, instructional designer.

Way to go, Bengals! We are officially one-third of the way through the semester, and that means unit tests and midterms are right around the corner. The excellent tutors in the Math Center can help you attack your math tests and midterms head-on. We'll help you come up with a study plan, review your notes and homework assignments, and even assist you in making a study guide. Schedule some appointments in advance and we'll help you be successful.

Did you know you can also get immediate help? If you're stuck on a homework assignment or have a question about class, jump onto Bengal Success Portal to see who is available for an appointment right now. We'll help you make sense of your homework problems and show you some useful strategies for reading math textbooks and reviewing your notes.

Math tutoring is available from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday. Please visit our website for more information and to meet your math tutors.

Given the financial hardship on campus during the COVID-19 closure, Butler Library, along with other departments, has been asked to reduce its spending costs in anticipation of an expected budget shortfall.

Consequently, we must make difficult decisions for the renewal of library resources, and regrettably may need to cancel some high-cost products until we can confirm budget stability. 

Librarians and staff members will put forth every effort to justify our costs based on historical feedback from faculty and departments, and we promise to review any reduced services a year from now, when more reliable financial forecasts are available.

The following packages have been canceled because of low use or duplication:

• Elibro
• Morningstar
• Music Online Classical Scores Library
• Natural Medicines
• Portico

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "Pathways of Public Service and Civic Engagement" today, October 8, 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. 

Stanford University's Haas Center for Public Service has collaborated with 55 public and private two- and four-year institutions since 2013 to develop an innovative holistic framework: "Pathways of Public Service and Civic Engagement." The pathways describe a range of possibilities by which students can contribute to the common good: community-engaged learning and research; community organizing and activism; direct service; philanthropy; policy and governance; and social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility.

The framework guides students in exploring how the pathways differ from each other in language, practice, and impact, and how pathways might intersect to effect social change. A free online survey surfaces student predispositions and interests toward the pathways; opens students' eyes to lifelong career, engagement, and leadership opportunities; and assists community engagement practitioners in developing relevant programming.

Presenters Gail Robinson, Tom Schnaubelt, and Annabel Wong will share multi-institution research resulting from the survey. Survey data informs practitioners, who can place students in community settings where they have strong pathway inclinations, encourage students to explore pathways they hadn't considered, or ensure they experience all six pathways in multiple placements during college. Each pathway provides students with experience they can use with high-impact practices in curricular and co-curricular settings, and in the workplace and civil society.

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

Instructional Design and Training will provide opportunities next week for faculty and staff members to ask questions about campus-supported technologies for teaching and learning. Attend a session to ask about a feature of the program or how you might use it to support instruction. 

Blackboard Collaborate Q&A - Monday, October 5; 1:00–3:00 p.m.

Ensemble Video Q&A - Tuesday, October 6; 9:00–11:00 a.m.

Blackboard Learn Q&A - October 8; 1:00–3:00 p.m.

Additional upcoming workshops are listed on the Workshop Registration System. 

The Registrar's Office reminds the campus community that important changes to the Leave of Absence (LOA) policy were enacted on April 10, 2020. Students cannot request an LOA for the current semester after the Drop/Add date has passed. This significant change was made in order for the college to fully comply with federal (Title IV) financial aid requirements.

As a result, students who do not wish to continue to be enrolled during the fall 2020 semester should withdraw from all their courses through Banner before the course withdrawal deadline date of November 6, 2020. Note: Students are inactivated when they have had two consecutive major semesters without any registrations. Once a student is inactivated, he or she must apply for readmission to Buffalo State College.

Additionally, the campus community is reminded that there hasn’t been a “medical leave of absence” for many years. Students who find themselves in this situation may want to consider a Leave of Absence for the next term (fall or spring only) after they have withdrawn from all of their courses in the current term.

Lastly, the academic appeal form(s) are now available online on the Academic Standards website.

As part of the New York Votes Challenge, Buffalo State College encourages all its students to pledge to vote in the upcoming election. Through ALL IN to Vote, students can Take the Pledge and receive important reminders about the upcoming election directly to their e-mail and phone, including access to candidate platforms.

Please share the ALL IN to Vote link with your students and encourage them to select “SUNY: Buffalo State” from the drop-down list of campuses so we can keep track of the number of students pledging to vote from our campus for the SUNY Challenge.

Additional voter registration, education, and mobilization resources can be found on the Civic and Community Engagement website. 

Please contact the Civic and Community Engagement Office, 878-3919, with questions.

The deadline for all New York state residents to register to vote is next Friday, October 9. To register to vote:

• Complete the voter registration form (PDF, 300 KB) and mail or drop it off to your Board of Elections office.
• Complete the online voter registration form through NYS DMV.
• Pick up, complete, and drop off a voter registration form to the Civic and Community Engagement Office, South Wing 120, Monday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

All campus community members can drop off a voter registration form for delivery to the Board of Elections office at the Civic and Community Engagement Office, South Wing 120, by 5:00 p.m. Thursday, October 8.

If you are unsure how to complete the voter registration form, please use the videos created by Civic and Community Engagement:

• How to Complete the Voter Registration Form
• How to Register to Vote Using the Online DMV System

Additional voter registration, education, and mobilization resources can be found on the Civic and Community Engagement website. 

Please contact the Civic and Community Engagement Office, 878-3919, with questions.

The 2020 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) includes a Multiyear Report (PDF, 177 KB). This report compares institutional results across our three most recent NSSE datasets (2015, 2017, 2020). Comparisons are made on several indicators for both first-year students and seniors. This report and many others are available on the Surveys and Reports page of the Institutional Effectiveness website.