On Monday, February 12, the New Buffalo Institute hosted its first Mission Mondays event of the semester!
Mission Mondays allow students the opportunity to create a DIY volunteer project that will benefit a local community partner. This past Monday, students created Valentine’s Day cards and decorated bags that they then packed with hygiene products. The hygiene bags will be donated to Compass House, an emergency shelter and resource center for displaced youth.
Thank you to everyone who stopped by the Commuter Lounge to decorate bags and create cards that offer words of affirmation and encouragement to the youth at Compass House!
Submitted by: Shana Richardson, Director, New Buffalo Institute
A quick reminder to anyone who crosses the street when leaving – or – going to Science Hall that you use the flashing beacons.
Submitted by: Matthew Moje, safety coordinator, Facilities
Due to lifeguard staffing shortages, Athletic Facilities is canceling open swim from today, Friday, February 16 through Sunday, February 18. Open swim will resume Monday, February 19.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Submitted by: Pat Clarke, assistant athletic director, Athletic Facilities
Generative Artificial Intelligence presents new challenges and possibilities for curriculum. The AI and Society Initiative and the College of Arts and Sciences offer a series of meetups for faculty to discuss AI and its relationship to their courses and disciplines. Our next AI and Teaching Meetup is 9:30 a.m., Thursday, February 22, in the Old Main Faculty Lounge.
Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Instructional Designer, COLI
With midterms coming up, it may be useful to review these features of D2L Quizzes and Dropboxes.
D2L Quizzes provides a robust tool to grade quizzes easier and quicker. Some features can help prevent cheating to a degree, like basic question randomization and advanced question randomization. If you want to use questions from a previous exam or quiz, the Question Library lets you copy questions to the mid-term. Additionally, for faster grading, you can connect the Quiz to the gradebook. You can also have your students sign an Academic Integrity Pledge before continuing to the Midterm. Customize the Quiz Result display to show students what questions they got and see where they need to brush up on their studying.
Please note that if you allow automatic grading of your exam, D2L will not automatically grade written responses. Those need to be graded manually. Inform your students that the grade they have immediately after completing the exam is not reflective of their overall grade. If you want to see all of the tutorials on the D2L Quiz tool that COLI has compiled, check the Online Quizzes and Exams in the Quizzes Tool Section.
D2L Dropboxes are a great way to receive student work in various formats but more notably PDFs, Microsoft Office files, JPGs or PNGs. You can also restrict the types of files the dropbox will accept. Attach the dropbox to the grade book or use a D2L Rubric and attach it to the dropbox for faster grading.
For more information on D2L Dropboxes, check out the Collecting Assignments in Dropboxes Section. For tutorials on D2L Rubrics, check out the Using Rubrics Section. If you would prefer, you can also sign up for COLI workshops or sign up for a Consultation with one of COLI’s staff members.
COLI has compiled other resources on the various tool sets in D2L. Check the D2L Self-paced Training for Faculty and Staff Wiki page.
Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Instructional Designer, COLI
Canisius faculty, alumni, students and friends gathered in Christ the King Chapel this past Sunday, February 11 to celebrate World Marriage Day.
University Chaplain Rev. Fred Betti, SJ, invited all married couples in attendance to circle the alter, where he renewed their marriage vows. Couples of all generations participated in the vow renewal, many of whom were married in the Chapel as much as 50 years ago.
The celebration continued after Mass, as all were welcomed to Loyola Hall for a Pascki party to commemorate the start of Lent.
Submitted by: Rev. Fred Betti, SJ, chaplain, Canisius University
Just a reminder that The Dome will not publish on Monday, February 19 due to the President’s Day holiday.
The employee E-letter will return on Wednesday, February 21. Submissions for this edition are due by 2:00 p.m. the day prior.
Submitted by: University Communications
Join Campus Ministry in observing Ash Wednesday.
Faculty, staff, students and alumni are invited to receive ashes, as a tangible symbol of our shared journey through Lent. Ashes will be distributed at the following times and locations on February 14, 2024:
12:05 p.m. – Mass
12:45-4:00 p.m. – Christ the King Chapel
1:00-2:00 p.m. – Science Hall Atrium
5:15 p.m. – Mass
7:15 p.m. – Mass
In addition to the distribution of ashes, confession will be offered on Ash Wednesday from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in Christ the King Chapel.
Submitted by: University Communications
A four-person team from the Canisius University Golden Griffin Fund (GGF) secured first place in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute Research Challenge of Western New York, held Saturday, February 10. Canisius University has dominated the CFA Research Challenge in Western New York since its inception in 2010. This year marks the 14th consecutive first-place win for Canisius.
The Canisius team overcame competitors including SUNY Geneseo, University at Buffalo, University of Rochester (2 teams), Ithaca College and St. John Fisher to take home the first-place prize. The team now advances to the sub-regional challenge for the Eastern portion of the U.S.
The Golden Griffin Fund team that competed in the CFA Research Challenge in Western New York is comprised of Garet Long ’24, Maura Jordan ’24, Max Kouznetsov ’24 and Andrew Finnerty ’24 (team captain).
The CFA Institute Research Challenge is an annual global competition that provides university-sponsored teams with hands-on mentoring and intensive training in financial analysis. The competition tests the analytic, valuation, reporting, writing and presentation skills of students studying business, finance, and economics. Teams are challenged to research a publicly traded company and write a written report with a buy, sell, or hold recommendation. Teams must then present and defend their analysis to a panel of industry professionals who serve as judges in the competition.
Housed within the Richard J. Wehle School of Business and established in 2003, the GGF was one of the region’s first real-money, equity investment funds managed by undergraduate and graduate business majors. GGF students select potential companies in which to invest, manage and analyze portfolio holdings, and evaluate and recommend companies to add to the portfolio.
Click here to learn more.
Submitted by: Richard J. Wehle School of Business
The Office of Alumni Engagement invites you to submit nominations for the 2024 Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Faculty Award.
Individuals eligible for nomination must meet the following criteria:
The Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Faculty Award recognizes outstanding full-time faculty members of the university who are distinguished for contributions to the academic world and teaching excellence. One award may be given per year.
The Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Faculty Award is presented at the Honors Convocation on May 17, 2024, at 2:00 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center.
Please submit nominations to the Office of Alumni Engagement no later than Friday, March 8, 2024.
The nomination form is available ONLINE. Please complete the section of the form that corresponds to the Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Faculty award.
Questions? Please reach out to Lauren Orlowski, director of Alumni and Constituent Engagement, at orlowskl@canisius.edu.
Submitted by: Sarah Sterzinger, assistant director, Alumni and Constituent Engagement
Celebrate International Women’s Day with the Women of Canisius!
Today is your last chance to register for the Women of Sport Panel that highlights amazing Canisius women from the sporting world!
Canisius will welcome Robin Wall Kimmerer to campus on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 6:00 p.m. in the Montante Cultural Center.
A scientist, author and educator, Kimmerer is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She will discuss her widely acclaimed book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. The event is held under the auspices of the university’s William H. Fitzpatrick Chair of Political Science Lecture Series and is free and open to the public.
Kimmerer is a SUNY distinguished teaching professor of environmental biology and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. The center creates programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for shared goals of sustainability.
As a writer and a scientist, Kimmerer’s interests in restoration include not only restoration of ecological communities but restoration of our relationships to land. She is the author of numerous scientific papers on plant ecology, bryophyte ecology, traditional knowledge and restoration ecology.
Read more here.
Click here to add this event to your calendar.
For more information, contact Richard A. Bailey, PhD, Fitzpatrick professor of history, at Ext. 2684 or bailey22@canisius.edu.
Submitted by: University Communications
Thanks to the generous funding from the Benedict Silverman Foundation, Canisius University is able to bring Reading Ready to Buffalo in two, transformative ways: paid tutoring opportunities and embedded field work tutoring.
Eleven paid tutors have been paired with 37 second and third graders at Buffalo Public School #89. In addition, 15 students in ECCH 221: Emergent Literacy with Professor Joyce Fanning, have been placed in grades K-2 at Buffalo Public School #17. Here, Reading Ready is implemented during the 20 hours of field experience, with 30 students in their assigned classrooms. Students receive one-on-one literacy tutoring three days each week.
Finally, three teacher residents in the Canisius University Teacher Residency Program (CUTR) will be implementing Reading Ready in their residency classrooms. Together, Elizabeth Turner and Joyce Fanning will continue to support and grow the Canisius University Reading Corps through the Reading Ready tutoring initiative. Tutors can be any major at Canisius and are hired and trained at the beginning of each semester.
Submitted by: Elizabeth Turner, Director of Educational Partnerships, Teacher Education & Leadership Department
Biochemistry major Jeb Braunscheidel received a grant to support his research into the synthesis of Rhytismatones A and B, in Professor Tim Gregg’s lab in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
Jeb spent the summer of 2023 working on a novel synthesis procedure for these fungal-derived natural compounds that originated in a Canadian spruce forest. The molecules have a complicated dihydropyran-2-one structure, have never been synthesized before, and have interesting biological activity that can only be investigated further if a lab procedure makes them available in suitable quantity.
The award, from the Rochester Academy of Science (RAS), will help with materials needed to complete the synthesis that Jeb detailed in his proposal to RAS. Jeb’s research project was one of nine funded this year by the RAS Undergraduate Student Research Grant Fund. The Rochester Academy of Science is an affiliate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Submitted by: Phil Sheridan, Professor and Chair, Chemistry and Biochemistry
The month of February is Black History Month. The ALANA Student Center has a variety of posters highlighting various individuals who identify as black and have made contributions to our society.
If an office or department would like a poster to put in their area for the month of February, please send a representative to the ALANA Student Center to get one. There is a limited supply so the posters will be given out on a first come-first served basis.
The ALANA Student Center is located in the lower level of the Richard E. Winter ’42 Student Center next to the commuter lounge and bookstore. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at Ext. 2787 or via Email at asc@canisius.edu.
Submitted by: Bennie D. Williams, Assistant Dean of Students, ALANA Student Center
The New Buffalo Institute extends its sincerest gratitude to all those who showed up for its inaugural Community Engagement and Volunteer Fair last week. We had more than 10 community partners in attendance to share their respective missions and available volunteer and internship opportunities, and the Canisius community was all ears!
Thank you to all the faculty and staff who encouraged their students to attend and to all those who stopped by the fair to support! We appreciate you!
Submitted by: Shana Richardson, director, New Buffalo Institute
We are pleased to announce that Academic Affairs will sponsor the 2024 Winter Faculty Writing Retreat on campus, Tuesday, February 20.
Faculty scholarship is critical to the academic excellence of Canisius, and time for scholarship has been far too lean in the past four years. With this opportunity, we hope to provide the gift of time and recognize the importance of scholarship at the university.
Breakfast, lunch and childcare will be provided. Participants will be invited to work at Loyola Hall and enjoy a number of spaces for individual work and/or group work. We hope that the retreat gives a chance to further our scholarly and creative projects as well as get to know our colleagues a bit better.
Applications are due by today, Wednesday, February 14. Click here to apply.
Please direct any questions to Yvonne Widenor, assistant vice president of Academic Affairs at widenory@canisius.edu.
Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Instructional Designer, COLI
The Mission in Curriculum website is happy to announce an addition to our case studies!
Dr. Shyam Sriram, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, writes about the students from his Spring 2023 PSC338: Refugee Resettlement in the United States course helping with the Jewish Family Services (JFS) of Western New York.
Click on the image below to view an introductory video that Dr. Sriram recorded:
If you are interested in further exploring Dr. Sriram’s case study, click this link to view it in full.
To explore other case studies, check out the Case Studies page on the Mission in Curriculum site.
Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Instructional Designer, COLI
The 17th annual Ignatian Scholarship Day (ISD) is Wednesday, April 17 from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
This event is an opportunity for students to submit accomplished work from the current or previous semester for an exhibit, presentation or performance in a conference environment.
Students can apply for ISD 2024 using the online application located in myCanisius.
Applications will be accepted Monday, February 12 through Friday, March 15 at 5:00 p.m. and faculty members are asked to review and endorse applications by Wednesday, March 20.
To apply for Ignatian Scholarship Day, please visit the Ignatian Scholarship Day page on the academic affairs community page. For more information, contact the Office of Event Services at Ext. 2180.
As a reminder, classes that normally meet on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday pattern will not meet on Ignatian Scholarship Day. Classes that normally meet on Wednesday only or on a Monday and Wednesday pattern will still meet on April 17.
Click here to add this event to your calendar.
Submitted by: Connie M. Pileri, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs/Director, Office of Event Services
The OFDC (Online Faculty Development Course) offered by COLI is for full-time and part-time faculty, whether new to D2L, or experienced with technology for teaching. This five-week mini-course prepares instructors to teach online and hybrid courses. The OFDC provides many practical tips for teaching online but more importantly, helps faculty explore new pedagogies for active learning, social presence, and community in courses on the internet.
Additionally, the updated OFDC offers insights on what Regular and Substantive Interactions (RSI) are and how to incorporate RSI into your courses. It also includes information on Panopto, Canisius’s new video content management system, how it works, and how to best fit Panopto into your courses.
The OFDC can help professors craft engaging, interactive online experiences for students, either for all-online courses, or hybrid courses that feature limited use of the classroom.
This semester, we are offering one starting February 12th and ending on March 15th.
To RSVP, please check out the COLI faculty development events here.
Stay tuned to the COLI Blog and the Dome for more sessions!
Submitted by: Tyler Kron-Piatek, Instructional Designer, COLI
Immigrants have come to New York State for many reasons: to escape persecution, to improve their economic outlook, and to build new lives. Arrival of European immigrants into New York, like today, was also cause for discussion, disruption and practical challenges. For a state and nation built by immigrants, new arrivals were not always welcomed. Despite those challenges and injustices, immigrants’ experiences, knowledge, and cultures have enriched our state and shaped our history, Immigrants continue to build a vibrant, diverse, and modern New York State. At Canisius. an institution founded in part with the ideal of helping to acclimate and educate new immigrants, we continue that tradition into the 21st century.
Andrew L. Bouwhuis, S.J. Library is hosting a panel exhibit that focuses on European immigration to New York State from 1650 to 1950.The exhibit, created with content from New York State Digital Collections https://nyheritage.org/ is designed as a resource to enrich engagement and discussion. The exhibit begins begins with the arrival of Dutch settlers and continues through the end of the World Wars. The exhibit is located on the main floor of the Bouwhuis Library, and available for viewing during library hours.
Immigration in New York State, 1650-1950 is designed and sponsored by the Empire State Library Network, Western New York Library Resource Council, New York State Historic Newspapers, and New York State Library and Archives.
Submitted by: Kathleen DeLaney, University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian
The default theme in Canisius Qualtrics has been updated! The theme applied to all new surveys features a simple white background, with a single-color blue logo for the university. With mild gray highlights for question options, and our Canisius blue as the primary color, this is optimized for both desktop and mobile browser use.
Additionally, the new Canisius logos are available in the Look and Feel Library for all Canisius users, so you can modify this or other themes for your survey. The old theme is still available within the Look and Feel Tools.
Philosophy Professor Philip Reed, PhD, published an article in the latest edition of PSYCHE Magazine. The piece, titled “Why so Many Plagiarists are in Denial About What They Did Wrong,” can be read by clicking here.
Submitted by: University Communications
A great night of hockey just became even better – and more affordable!
All faculty and staff receive two free tickets to Saturday night’s crucial hockey game between Canisius and Bentley.
Game time is 6:00 p.m. at the LECOM Harborcenter in downtown Buffalo on Saturday, February 10.
After the game, skate rental is available to skate with the team and Petey, as well as 250 Tim Hortons gift cards.
Submitted by: Mike Kochczynski, Assistant Athletic Director, Department of Athletics
