News Briefs

The STAR committee reminds the campus community of the STAR (Service Tradition Awards Recognition) program that honors faculty and staff who exhibit outstanding quality service within the University community. Anyone can nominate a person for the award and self-nomination is also encouraged. Those recognized receive a STAR pin, a check for $50 and a letter from President Magrath. Click on http://www2.binghamton.edu/human-resources/star-award.html for more information regarding the program.

The College of Community and Public Affairs is in the process of relocating to the third floor of the Engineering Building. Department locations are as follows:
• CCPA Dean’s Office – R Pod
• Human Development – S Pod
• Public Administration – P Pod
• Social Work – Q Pod
• Student Affairs – R Pod
• BU Initiative for Best Practice in Full Service Schools – Q Pod
• Center for Applied Community Research and Development – R Pod
• SHARE – Q Pod  
All phone numbers will remain the same.             

COEUS, which provides Binghamton University faculty members with an efficient, electronic way to manage sponsored program activity, will soon expand. An Institutional Review Board module is the latest addition to COEUS. The Human Subjects Office has begun to implement the IRB module and will open the online application process to researchers this fall. Until everyone is comfortable with this process, the office will run the COEUS application and its old system side-by-side to avoid any difficulties. Visit http://research.binghamton.edu/coeus or call the Human Subjects Office at 607-777-3818 for more information.

The upgrade of Blackboard software to version 9.1 has been completed and the system is now available. Information on the new release can be found at http://www2.binghamton.edu/uctd/blackboard/bb91whatnew.pdf. Questions or concerns may be addressed to Carol Bell at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Don Loewen at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or Blackboard support at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Vice President James Van Voorst announces that Timothy Faughnan has been appointed Binghamton University Chief of Police, effective Monday, Aug. 1. Faughnan has served in the Binghamton University Police Department for the past 29 years.

“Tim’s wealth of experience in law enforcement, particularly at Binghamton University, and his demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with students, faculty, staff and his fellow officers has served the University well and will continue to in the years to come,” Van Voorst said.

Jeff Gates has been promoted to director of Enrollment Management Operations, Technology and Communications. He will work closely with the director of Financial Aid and Student Records and director of Undergraduate Admissions to insure timely processing of applications, aid packaging, registration and academic support. Gates will also assist in the development of the technology strategic plan and lead technology initiatives for the offices within Enrollment Management. 

The provost has announced the third round of the Academic Program and Faculty Development Fund to promote the University’s instructional, research, and outreach activities. Paragraphs of Intent are due Friday, Sept. 23. Each paragraph of intent, outlining the objectives of the project and an approximate cost of the project, should be sent to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

For more information about the program, visit http://www2.binghamton.edu/academics/provost/development-fund.html.

Have you made your contribution to this year’s Binghamton University Faculty and Staff appeal? While our contributions of time and energy have made this University one of the nation’s best, Binghamton’s needs require more resources than state funding can provide.

The Foundation’s Faculty and Staff appeal provides an opportunity for our dedicated employees to bridge this gap, allowing Binghamton to continue to provide the outstanding education that we all work to give our students each and every day. This annual initiative helps to raise funds for important programs and services across campus, and all gifts count toward Bold. Brilliant. Binghamton — The Campaign for Binghamton University.

Donations are tax deductible (per tax law) and may be designated to the campus department or area of your choice. To make a secure gift online, go to www.giving.binghamton.edu. You may also sign up for payroll deduction at http://www2.binghamton.edu/giving/making-a-gift/Payroll%20Deduction%20Form%202010.pdf – a few dollars a pay period goes a long way. For more information about the Faculty and Staff appeal, visit http://www2.binghamton.edu/giving/making-a-gift/faculty-staff.html or contact the Binghamton Fund office at 777-6209.

Three graduate students in the Department of Anthropology are the recipients of travel awards created through funds donated in memory of Professor of Anthropology Richard Antoun. The students each received $400 to enable them to travel to research sites or further their professional development at annual meetings:
• Miriam Dominguez will conduct research and collaborate with assistant professors Kathleen Sterling and Sebastien Lacombe when she travels to Ariege, France for an archaeological excavation of Peyre Blanque.
• Jieun Kim used travel funds to present a paper: “A Study of Transition Analysis Applied to Korean Skeletal Samples From the Joseon Dynasty Period” at the Paleopathology Association Meeting in Minneappolis, Minn. in April.
• Jackson Malle traveled in November 2010 to New Orleans to the American Anthropological Association Meetings to present “Regulatory Landscapes: Trans-Atlantic Dialogues and Harmonized Action Between California and the EU.”

Funding is available for introducing entrepreneurship into your course. Courses in all Binghamton University schools are eligible. As part of an ongoing effort to incorporate entrepreneurship topics throughout the curriculum at Binghamton University, the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships and the New York State Center of Excellence are sponsoring the second round of the “Entrepreneurship Across the Curriculum” (ExC) initiative.

Awards of $1,000 will be offered for faculty with continuing appointments to significantly revise an existing course to include an entrepreneurship-related component, or to include a significant entrepreneurial component in a new course being developed.

For more information, click on the Entrepreneurship Across the Curriculum link at http://research.binghamton.edu/Innovation/.

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” -Edith Wharton. Thank you to the campus community for your response to the PEC’s request for nominations for its annual award, which was developed for the purpose of shining a light on exemplary campus professionals.  The recipients of the 2011 Distinguished Service Award are:

·  Katie Ellis, Communications and Marketing (as nominated by Rachel Coker)
·  Bonnie Jenson, Human Resources (as nominated by Sara Declemente-Hammoud)
·  Krista Medionte-Phillips, Enrollment Management (as nominated by Sandra Starke)

These exceptional professionals will be honored officially at the PEC’s fall constituency luncheon on Nov. 9.  An invitation with further details will be posted closer to the date of the event.

Binghamton University is expected to surpass the financial goals of the “Bold. Brilliant. Binghamton” campaign, Vice President for External Affairs Marcia Craner told the University Council at its May 13 meeting.

“Fifteen months remain until the conclusion of the campaign,” Craner said. “We are working not just to meet our ($95 million) goal, but we are going to exceed it. We plan to finish strong by creating additional opportunities to engage our many dedicated campaign volunteers.”

The “Bold. Brilliant. Binghamton” campaign, which had an online public launch in April 2010, has raised nearly $91 million. The previous campaign, “Believe,” had a $36 million goal and eventually raised $43.69 million. The current campaign has seen the average size of gifts nearly double since “Believe,” Craner said. Some of the gifts include $45 million from Siemens/UGS, an anonymous $6 million donation, $1.5 million from the Decker Foundation and $1 million from Charles ’98 and Jean Kim.

“If someone had asked me in May 2007 whether I believed we could overcome the challenges of an international economic downturn and continue to raise dollars in a successful campaign, I don’t know how I would’ve answered,” said Craner, who added that the University’s endowment is at its highest level ever: $82 million.

“The work of the Division of External Affairs, in my opinion, has never been more important to the University,” she said. “By strengthening external support and engagement, Binghamton University can face current challenges and pursue new opportunities.”

President C. Peter Magrath provided the Faculty Senate with an overview of the NYSUNY 2020 Challenge Grant Program during its May 17 meeting.

“NYSUNY2020,” unveiled earlier this month by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, would provide $35 million in capital funding to the four university centers. The campuses will submit long-term economic and academic plans to receive the Phase 1 funding. Other possibilities, Magrath said, include a five-year rational tuition plan and differential tuition.

“If this legislation moves forward, it would be a big, big win for this University and good for the university centers,” Magrath said.

In other business, the Senate approved the following nominees to positions on the 2011-12 Faculty Senate Procedures Committee: Chair – Susan Strehle (English); Vice Chair – Alistar Lees (chemistry); and Secretary – Erin Rushton (Library). The Senate also approved guidelines for assessment of General Education and Evaluation Coordinating Committee procedures.

On May 10, the Senate voted to thank all faculty who have served to date on the Presidential Search Committee, to reaffirm those previously elected faculty representatives and to follow the same electoral process in selecting any replacements necessary.

According to Faculty Senate Executive Committee Chair Richard Lee, two faculty are no longer able to serve on the committee: Dawnie Steadman of anthropology because she is taking a position at the University of Tennessee, and Tim Perry of music, so he can oversee his department’s reaccreditation. A nomination and election process is underway.

Corine Omole was introduced as the 2011-12 Couper Fellow during a reception May 12 for the 19th Annual Edgar W. Couper Lecture.

Omole’s studies will focus on culture, curriculum and schooling in post-colonial Africa.

“I am happy to be a recipient of the Couper Fellowship award,” she said. “I thank the Couper family for establishing the fund and the School of Education for considering me worthy of the award.

“I appreciate all of the professors in the School of Education whose courses I have taken. Each of these courses has contributed to my ability to question what I have all my life accepted as normal.”

The Edgar W. Couper Endowment Fund for Educational Excellence provides Couper Fellowships annually to one or more full-time students in SOE’s doctoral program in Educational Theory and Practice.

The fellowships and lecture honor Couper, a former chancellor of the New York state Board of Regents, who helped bring Binghamton into the State University of New York system in 1950.

The reception also served as introduction to the school’s 13 new doctoral students. The students include Randall Edouard, director of Binghamton University’s Educational Opportunity Program.

The Couper Lecture was given by Russell Skiba, professor of counseling and educational psychology at Indiana University. He discussed “Race is Not Neutral: Addressing Racial and Ethnic Disproportionality in Discipline.”

The Binghamton University Philanthropy Incubator has announced this year’s grant recipients.

This year, the Incubator has awarded more than $13,000 to the following local nonprofit agencies:
· Southern Tier Alternative Therapies, $1,500
· Family Enrichment Network, $3,000
· Broome County Urban League, $3,250
· Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service, Ithaca $1,500
· Children’s Home of Wyoming Conference, $2,250
· Mom’s House, $1,500

Agencies were selected for funding based upon student research and were expected to meet various qualifications for the grant. This semester, students worked diligently to focus on key initiatives centered on the Incubator’s mission, strategy, revenue generation and organizational structure.

The Philanthropy Incubator, which is funded by The Sunshine Lady Foundation, student fundraising and the Campus Compact/Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, is a mechanism to teach students in the Binghamton University Scholars Program, Masters of Public Administration (MPA) and Social Work (MSW) programs about philanthropy and nonprofit management.

Under the direction of MPA faculty member David Campbell, students designed and implemented the grant-making process, as well as the fund-raising efforts to support the project.