We have an announcement to make…

Malala Yousafzai to lead off 31st annual Distinguished Speakers Series.

“Renowned across the globe for her courage and convictions, Malala offers our university and our community the opportunity to engage with one of the foremost advocates for the education of girls and young women. Her visit to UB will mark the seventh appearance by a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the Distinguished Speakers Series and will continue our proud tradition of bringing compelling public figures to campus to spark provocative discussions about the defining issues of our time.” – UB President Satish K. Tripathi

Human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafzai, will open the 31st annual Distinguished Speakers Series at the University at Buffalo on Tuesday, Sept. 19, in Alumni Arena on the UB North Campus.

A champion since the age of 10 for the right for girls to receive an education, Malala made headlines when she was shoot by the Taliban in 2012 at the age of 15 while traveling home from school on the bus with her friends in Pakistan.

Now living with her family Birmingham, England, she is internationally known for her courage in refusing to be silenced and continues to campaign for the right of every child to go to school.

Malala is the co-recipient with Kailash Satyarthi of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and children’s educational rights. Aged 17 at the time, she was the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate.

Earlier this year, Malala received honorary Canadian citizenship – only the sixth person, and the youngest, to receive the honor – and also became the youngest person to address the House of Commons of Canada. In addition, this year she also became the youngest person ever to become a United Nations Messenger of Peace.  Malala was named to TIME Magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In 2012, she was the recipient of Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize and the 2013 Sakharov Prize.

She is the author of “I Am Malala” (2013), an international bestseller that has been translated into 40 languages.

Following the outpouring of support that Malala received after the Taliban’s attempt on her life in 2012, she set up an international fund – the Malala fund – dedicated to help promote education for girls throughout the world.

Tickets for Malala and the series are not yet available for sale. Sale dates for series subscriptions and individual lecture tickets will be announced when the entire series schedule is set.

Dear Colleague:

The Mark Diamond Research Fund (MDRF) is currently searching for graduate students to serve on the Summer 2017 review council. Additionally, we are looking for 5 alternate council members.

Your responsibilities include serving on a one review council, with adequate time to review the grant(s) you are given. It will additionally include one council meeting where you will be given a full brunch/lunch as a thank you for your time. The council will be reviewing approximately 20 applications in each meeting. Each reviewer will be asked to read three to four complete applications as a primary reviewer and six to eight summaries (abstract, budget, and budget justification, and supporting documents) as a secondary reviewer. Primary reviewers should be prepared to give a three to five minute informal presentation on each full application. Secondary reviewers should be prepared to add to the discussion.

Summer 2017 review council meetings are scheduled for:

Thursday, June 15, 2017 from 10:00am to 2:00pm
Friday, June 16, 2017 from 12:00pm to 4:00pm

If you are willing to serve on the council, please fill out this survey: https://goo.gl/forms/3Dwxd9HmKRlC9ZtZ2

We will contact you to confirm the committee meeting you are assigned to. Please feel free to contact us at gsa-mdrf@buffalo.edu should you need more information, or have any questions.

All the best,

Jennifer Schechter, MDRF Director
Brittany Kenyon, MDRF Assistant
Graduate Student Association
310 Student Union

Dear President, Provost, Vice President for Student Life, and Deans:

As the representative of over 7,000 graduate students, and with the full support of all student government leaders representing the entire student body at the University at Buffalo, we send you a report on the status of students with care responsibilities, with a focus on parenting students. As student government leaders, we are concerned with the lack of support and the manifold access barriers that students who are parents face, especially in light of the freedom from discrimination based on familial status, marital status, and gender that UB promises under Title IX.

Based on a preliminary survey of parenting students, and as a result of conversations with key stakeholders across campus, we recommend UB implement a task force this summer whose sole purpose is to assess the access barriers that students with care responsibilities face. We call on UB to broaden its support of parenting students campus-wide by instituting a universal parental leave policy, expanding childcare assistance and hours, reducing spatial access barriers (such as the lack of lactation rooms and changing tables, as well as subsidized family-friendly on-campus housing), providing funding increases and creating an emergency loan program, and offering free or reduced family attendance at UB events and facilities. Other comparable R-1 universities offer far more support for students who are parents, and as a leader in higher education in New York state we would like to see UB continue to attract and retain the highest qualified students independent of their familial status. This can only be realized if UB reduces the access barriers that parenting students currently face.

Attached you will find a preliminary report, a plan for action, as well as student testimonials and the GSA resolution calling for support for parenting students at UB. We sincerely hope that this will propel UB’s conversation about discrimination and inclusive excellence into action, and look forward to being part of the university’s efforts to reduce access barriers for parenting students.

Sincerely,

Tanja Aho

—

Tanja N. Aho
Department of Transnational Studies
PhD Candidate in American Studies
GSA President
University at Buffalo (SUNY)
310 Student Union (GSA) / 1010 Clemens Hall (TNS)
Buffalo, NY 14260
https://buffalo.academia.edu/TanjaAho

Buffalo Out of the Darkness Walk for Suicide Prevention

The UB Student Wellness Team (Counseling, Health and Wellness) has played a huge roll in planning and staffing the Buffalo Out of the Darkness Walk since its inception 10 years ago.  On September 9th, 2017, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – Western New York Chapter (AFSP-WNY) will host its Tenth Annual Out of the Darkness Community Walk in Buffalo.  The walk will take place at Delaware Park, near the Buffalo Zoo. Funds raised from this event will facilitate suicide prevention research, educational programs, community outreach and survivor support. The walk will raise awareness about depression and mental illness, and the toll suicide takes on our community and on society. Suicide is a major national health concern that touches millions of people each year, taking an enormous toll on family, friends, co-workers, and the entire community.  Every year, nearly 1 million Americans attempt suicide, more than 40,000 die by suicide, and more than 20 million are affected by depression

Walk Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wOD4dpv2oo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmjmr1pt3KE&feature=youtu.be

We need you! Please consider creating a team or join as an individual walker at: https://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eventID=4482

Or join the UB Walkin’ Team at https://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&teamID=133892

If you have any questions you can contact me at the email address below.

Best,

Carissa

Carissa Uschold, LCSW-R, RYT
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Eating Disorder Treatment Team Coordinator
University at Buffalo Counseling Services
120 Richmond Quad
Buffalo, New York 14261
cuschold@buffalo.edu
office. 716.645-2720
fax.716.645-2175

The English Department has begun an attempt to secure a living stipend for Teaching Assistants. We are beginning to reach out to other departments, as we feel this is an issue for many TAs that would garner widespread support from graduate students and faculty.

Our hope is that this increase for which we are advocating might eventually apply to TAs within the SUNY system, but we also want to create awareness and support on this campus. We are hoping to bring this issue to the GSEU, but we also understand that stipend levels are different at different universities, and that the floor for TA stipends is quite low generally. Additionally, our GSEU staff here is limited and overworked.

For more information, please view the Petition: https://goo.gl/forms/dotI66OCdXUnoA902

The Department of Sociology at the University at Buffalo is hosting a series of two-day research methods workshops in May. The links below describe the Summer Research Institute and the five modules that will be offered.

For more information: http://www.cas.buffalo.edu/summer-research-institute

To register: https://www.ubevents.org/event/research2017

Please feel free to contact us directly via email at soc-sri@buffalo.edu or at adelman4@buffalo.edu.

Voting for the 2017 election for the University Council Representative is officially open and will close on Thursday, April 27 at 5:00pm. All University at Buffalo students are eligible to vote through UBLinked below.

https://buffalo.collegiatelink.net/election/start/127737

Responsibilities of the University Council Representative include:

• Sit on the University Council, which serves as the primary oversight and advisory body to the University at Buffalo and its president and senior officers.
• Represent the 30,000 students who attend the University at Buffalo.
• Chair of the Council of Advocacy and Leadership (COAL), a committee consisting of leadership from UB’s 7 student governments.
• Serve as an ex-officio member of the Faculty Staff Senate.

More information on the University at Buffalo Council can be found at http://www.buffalo.edu/ubcouncil.html.

The GSA Election Committee is pleased to announce the results of the 2017-2018 GSA Officer Elections and Referendum vote:

President:

Tanja Aho: 478
(190 abstentions)

Vice President:

Amy Miu: 509
(159 abstentions)

Treasurer:

Anastasia Stepanova: 322
Tilottama Turkar: 263
(83 abstentions)

These elected candidates will officially take office as of June 1, 2017.

Referendum:

That the student activity fee be MANDATORY for all graduate students: 378
That the student activity fee be VOLUNTARY for all graduate students: 290

I support raising the student activity fee $4.00 from $64.00 to $68.00

No: 348
Yes: 320

Thank you to all of the graduate students who participated in these votes!

Sincerely,

GSA Election Committee

Alexandra Agostinelli (EC Chair)
Connor Walters (EC)
Tanvi Jain  (EC)
Roberto Azaretto (EC)
Shawn Rooney (EC)