The secretary in your department is your first point of contact in assisting you with office and phone assignment, computer assignment, and obtaining department chair signatures and verification for office keys, e-mail account, etc.
New York State employees are paid bi-weekly. Payment is made either two or three weeks following the completion of the pay period. Those on an administrative payroll (e.g., faculty, librarians, graduate assistants) receive their first check or direct deposit advice at the end of the second pay period after they begin working. For most employees, it is approximately four weeks after they begin work. Therefore, the first paycheck may reflect only two weeks of salary, not four.
See Payroll for complete information, including:
Paperwork: The Human Resource Management office provides an Employee Orientation Toolkit.
Office Assignment: Full-time faculty are assigned an office space within the department. Part-time faculty will be assigned shared office space. Office assignments depend on space availability and are determined by the department chair. Consult department secretary for your office assignment.
Keys: Key Policy ● Facilities Key forms
Computer: Full-time faculty are assigned a computer, financed through the faculty/staff replacement fund. Part-time faculty share a computer as assigned by the department.
Mailbox: Consult department secretary.
Phone: Consult department secretary. Adjuncts often share a phone line and voice mail. Full-time lecturers may be assigned an individual phone and voicemail when available.
Photocopying:
Class Materials-In general, departments expect faculty to post reading assignments and other handouts through Blackboard Learn rather than printing and distributing paper copies. Some departments do allow faculty to make small quantities of copies using departmental copiers on an occasional basis. Consult your department for specifics.
Copy Center- Consult with your department for guidelines and procedures for making requests for Copy Center services. You need to plan in advance, especially if you are on campus only once or twice a week. Make Copy Center requests ahead of tome, and the materials should be waiting for your when you return to campus.
The Copy Center provides guidelines for acceptable materials, services provided, copyrighted materials, and procedures for submitting requests and pickup times. It is located in the basement of Cleveland Hall, Room 111, (716) 878-4509.
Word Processing Assistance and Secretarial Support: Generally, instructors are expected to undertake their own word processing needs. While departments are not able to provide extensive support for instructors, secretaries or work study students will typically take messages for instructors and place them in office mailboxes and assist in other ways. Consult your chair or department secretary for office procedures.
Faculty and Staff Resource Page
The campus wayfinding system is an integrated coordinating system of campus entrances, parking lots, pathways, quads, and landmarks.
Parking and Permits: All vehicles parked on campus, except those in metered areas, are required to display valid college parking permits according to permit instructions. A vehicle may not display more than one permit at a time. Permits can be ordered online and delivered via U.S. Mail or picked up in person at Parking Services Office, Moot Hall 260. Valid photo ID required for pickup.
Campus Dining: Dining Services, provided by Chartwells with a variety of options across campus for faculty and staff.
Identification Card: The Bengal Card is the multipurpose photo I.D. issued to students, faculty, and staff at Buffalo State. Each card has a unique identification number assigned to the cardholder. It is the official I.D. for the use of college services and facilities. Faculty and staff can submit Bengal I.D. Card applications online. Bengal cards are processed and fulfilled by the library, as are replacement cards and replacement fees.
The official website is http://suny.buffalostate.edu
A variety of announcements (policy, procedural, events, accomplishments, etc.) are distributed each weekday via the Daily Bulletin e-newsletter, administered by the Marketing and Communications Office. Faculty and staff are encouraged to subscribe for automatic delivery to your inbox.
IT Help Desk (716) 878-4357 | Appointment Online Booking
Workshop Registration
A wide range of trainings - technology, academic and classroom development, professional development, personal growth, etc. - are offered regularly.
Departments will provide instructors with expectations of students within their departments to help you develop your course content, assignments, and student evaluation procedures. The department can also share with you the Course Proposal used by the College Senate in its approval process (with course description and requirements), and can usually share with you syllabi from previous faculty offerings of the courses you will teach. Faculty are required to adhere to the learning outcomes and course content identified in the course proposal/revision, which have been approved by faculty and curriculum committees and endorsed by the provost and president.
Refer to Instruction Policies and Procedures for greater detail. The following highlight some important issues to start.
Banner and Student Registration. It is very important that faculty know how to respond to students who seek registration in your classes and are blocked because the class is filled or a student does not meet a requirement for the class. Become familiar with Registration Add Error Messages and Override Procedures.
Important: There is not one override that "just lets a student into a course." Each override is specific to the reason the registration is blocked and has its own process to allow a student to register. It is possible for a student to have more than on Registration Add Error message, e.g., the student is given an override for "prerequisite" but cannot register because the class is now "closed."
Any student who attempts to register in Banner and receives a Registration Add Error response will automatically receive an e-mail at the student’s Buffalo State e-mail account (Gmail). This e-mail will provide detailed information including the actual error message the student received and the instructor’s Buffalo State e-mail address. The student can then forward this e-mail to the instructor to request an override. The e-mail will contain all relevant information related to the student, the Registration Add Error, and the course/CRN. The instructor can then grant the override if the student meets the necessary criteria to be registered in the course. These e-mails have the subject heading Request for Registration Override.
Registration Overrides | Registration Overrides Video
Waitlisting Option | waitlisting video
Time Conflict Enforcement in Banner: Banner will prevent a student from registering for two courses that are being offered at the same day/time or from registering for a section that starts at the same time a course for which the student is already registered ends.
Upon employment, new tenure-track faculty and adjuncts should contact the Barnes and Noble at Buffalo State Bookstore for textbook and supply ordering information, as the times of hire may not meet the standard ordering deadlines.
Contact the bookstore for textbook and supply ordering information or use the AIP located under Faculty Resources in Blackboard for ordering. (716) 878-5509 ● sm337@bncollege.com
In the event that a class or classes must be canceled, or the meeting place is changed, the department secretary MUST BE NOTIFIED. Faculty should also, if possible, attempt to notify students via e-mail or Blackboard Learn. See Class Meeting Times and Cancelling Classes Unexpectedly.
Distribute your course syllabus to students during the first week of classes. Electronic distribution through Blackboard Learn is strongly encouraged. Provide two copies to the department, or as your department requests. Review syllabus content requirements and guidelines.
Hold office hours as required by your department, according to full-time or part-time appointment expectations. Full-time faculty are generally expected to schedule office hours twice a week. Part-time adjuncts typically hold office hours before or after their scheduled class times.
Conduct student advisement if required by your department, according to full-time or part-time appointment expectations and according to your contract. Adjuncts teaching only one class typically do not conduct student advisement. See Student advisement | DOPS Student Advisement Policy.
Attend department meetings if required by your department and according to full-time or part-time appointment expectations. Some departments do not include adjuncts in their meetings. Part-time adjuncts are not required to attend campuswide faculty meetings, but may be encouraged to do so.
Administer course evaluations, completed by students, at designated times following departmental procedures.
Participate in assessment when your course section is selected as part of a department or campuswide process. See Assessment and Continuous Improvement.
Final grading is done electronically through Banner. It is important to become proficient in using Banner and to adhere to deadlines for submitting grades.
Detailed documentation for entering grades is available online. Assistance is also available by contacting the IT Help Desk, (716) 878-4357.
Midterm appraisal of students regarding their academic standing is required. Faculty are to enter midterm grades and how regularly a student has attended a course (0: never attended, 1: sporadic, unsatisfactory attendance; or 2: consistent, satisfactory attendance in the “Hours Attended” field) in Banner during the midterm grading timeframe. Faculty appraisal of students assists with the campuswide academic intervention and retention efforts. Students have the opportunity to assess their academic performance as soon as midterm grades are posted in Banner and Degree Works. Midterm Grading Window dates are announced in the Daily Bulletin.
The Registrar’s Office provides a faculty grading support page, including a video, “How to Grade in Banner,” a grading tip sheet to help with successful end-of-term grading, a schedule of faculty window grading dates, and an explanation of both undergraduate and graduate grades. The explanation pages are also linked on each of the faculty grading rosters.
Provide students with feedback on their academic performance regularly during the semester. See Grading, Evaluation.
The Undergraduate and Graduate catalogs (under Academic Policies, Grading) states that instructors will inform students of their standing in each course by the end of the ninth week of the semester, or two-thirds of a Summer Session or January Term. Banner is capable of accepting mid-semester grades. Mid-term grades are available in Degree Works and Banner for students when submitted by the instructor. This allows students to gauge their probable success in their courses prior to the published deadlines for course withdrawals. Midterm grading windows are listed in the Academic Calendar.
Meet classes during assigned times for Critique and Evaluation Period (CEP) during the last week of the fall and spring semesters. It is Buffalo State policy to conduct final student evaluations during CEP, and instructors are not to do so during the final week of classes. CEP schedules are listed by semester on the Course Offerings page.
Handbook for Faculty and Librarians
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