- Open
Information Meeting on Climate Change Policy
- SIFE
students mentor area high schoolers in Entrepreneurship
Challenge
- Spring
Weekend events begin today with softball tournament
- Accounting
students help VITA hit $1.6 million in refunds
- Career
Center
- Friday
Forum
- Newsmakers
- Campus
luncheon honors faculty and staff donors
____________________
Open Information Meeting on Climate Change
Policy
WHEN: 2
p.m. Thursday, May 1 WHERE: Murphy Building, Auditorium C
As
announced on Earth Day by Sister Margaret, we are embarking on an
ambitious planning project. “Green” consciousness for a university now
goes substantially beyond recycling containers and buying green products.
What is under discussion in today’s world is the need to control climate
change by drastically reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses. This
cannot be achieved without seriously reconsidering energy use in society
as a whole.
Shortly, we will form a commission to consider the
proper role for a Franciscan university in this process. Whether or not
you have already volunteered to participate, you are invited to attend
this informational meeting.
How
much carbon dioxide is SBU responsible for emitting? What are the
reduction targets and strategies currently under discussion here,
nationally, or worldwide? What are universities doing about this —
educationally, in campus life, and in their facility
operations?
What kind of help is needed?
For more
information, please e-mail Phil
Winger.
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SIFE students
mentor area high schoolers in Entrepreneurship
Challenge
Local
high school students may have walked away with trophies in Tuesday’s
Social Entrepreneurship Challenge, but communities across Cattaraugus and
Allegany counties were the true winners.
The
objective: implement a service learning project partnering St. Bonaventure
University SIFE students and area high school students to increase blood
donations to the Community Blood Bank.
The result:
dozens of local high school students helped organize eight blood drives
this spring that netted 250 pints of blood.
Eight high
schools formed teams to take on the entrepreneurship challenge and create
marketing plans for a blood drive in their community that would assist the
non-profit Community Blood Bank, which provides about 40,000 units of
blood per year to hospitals in Western New York and Northwest
Pennsylvania.
Team members
obtained sponsors for their themed blood drive; developed radio, video and
print advertising; surveyed donors and non-donors; and researched the
blood bank and its competition.
Participating
schools were Belfast, Bolivar-Richburg, Fillmore, Friendship, Genesee
Valley, Olean, Scio and Whitesville.
The students’
projects were judged on the development of a plans book and Tuesday’s
presentation of their project to a panel of judges.
Schools earning
prizes in the overall competition were:
• first place:
Fillmore Central • second place: Genesee Valley • third place:
Scio
Recipients of
individual awards were:
• Marketing plan:
Genesee Valley • Theme: Fillmore • TV ad: Genesee Valley • Radio
ad: Fillmore • Print ad: Fillmore and Genesee Valley •
Non-traditional: Genesee Valley
Dr. Todd Palmer,
adviser to Bona’s Students in Free Enterprise organization, described the
service learning competition as a reinvention of the high school blood
drive.
“It’s different
from anything I’ve ever seen before,” he said. “The response (to the
drives) has been overwhelming. Each of these schools had great blood
drives, extracting approximately 35 percent more blood than in traditional
drives.”
In addition to
building marketing and communications skills, “It gave students a chance
to reach out and appreciate their communities,” said Hallie Steube, a
graduate assistant with SIFE. Students at one of the schools received
internship offers from television and radio stations they interacted with
for the project.
Colleen Myers,
who served as adviser of the Fillmore Central team, was impressed as she
watched students at her school “going out of their comfort zone” to make
contacts and organize Fillmore’s blood drive.
“These are kids
who are really motivated and really trying to focus on a cohesive theme,”
said Myers, who is a math teacher at Fillmore and a 1981 graduate of St.
Bonaventure.
Groundwork for
the blood drives began last fall with a leadership training day for the
teachers and student leaders. St. Bonaventure business and education
students followed up by visiting each school several times over the past
few months.
In addition to
cash prizes, which were provided by CBB, members of the winning team will
have the opportunity to spend a day in Erie, Pa., talking with top
marketing executives. Joining SIFE and Community Blood Bank in sponsoring
the Social Entrepreneurship Challenge were New York Real, which promotes
entrepreneurship throughout Allegany and Cattaraugus counties through
project-based learning and teacher training, and Cattaraugus-Allegany
BOCES.
The Community
Blood Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania and New York is the exclusive
supplier of blood to all the hospitals in Erie, Warren, McKean and Elk
counties and provides about 90 percent of all the blood used in
Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties in Western New
York.
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_____________________
Spring Weekend events begin today
with softball tournament
Foam
dance parties, an all-day concert series and inflatable games are just a
few activities in store for St. Bonaventure’s Spring Weekend.
St. Bonaventure
University will host its annual Spring Weekend celebration beginning on
Thursday, April 24, through Sunday, April 27.
The traditional
Rick Farina Memorial Softball Tournament kicks off festivities on
Thursday. Hosted by the Sandra A. and William M. Richter Center and SBU
Intramurals, 64 teams compete throughout the weekend for the title of
Spring Weekend softball champion. All games take place on the fields
behind the Reilly Center.
All other Spring
Weekend events will be located on the basketball courts outside of the
Richter Center. The celebration continues at 4 p.m. on Friday with
inflatable games and barbequed foods. An inflatable riding bull, obstacle
course and jousting ring are free and open to the campus.
ARAMAK Dining
Services will provide hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled-pork sandwiches, pasta
salads and other barbeque favorites on Friday and throughout the weekend.
Students can receive a dining wristband prior to the weekend for $18.50.
Students with platinum, gold, or silver meal plans receive a wristband for
free.
The festivities
continue on Friday night at 6 with a Foam Dance Party sponsored by the
Campus Activities Board and WSBU-FM 88.3 The Buzz. Students can dance to
their favorite songs in an inflatable bouncing pit filled with foam and
bubbles. The dance party will also take place on the basketball courts
located outside of the Richter Center.
CAB, WSBU and
Student Activities will sponsor a Spring Weekend concert series beginning
at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. Dj.dstar of Buffalo will play between each
musical act, bringing an infusion of classic rock and hip-hop to the
stage.
Standard of
Living will return to St. Bonaventure to kick off the series at 1 p.m.,
followed by the indie-band The Jaguar Club at 2:30 p.m. Session, a “jam
band” from Valley Stream, NY, will perform at 4 p.m.
Rap artist
Freeway will headline the concert series at 6 p.m. Freeway, a member of
Rockafella Records and native of Philadelphia, has worked with recording
artists such as Jay-Z and 50 Cent.
A caricature
artist, a scavenger hunt and a tie-dye booth are just a few of the other
activities available to students on Saturday. The Buzz will also have a
booth set up with music and prizes.
The night will
end with a black-light dance party in the Rathskeller from 8 p.m. to 2
a.m. Students can wear white T-shirts into the ‘Skeller, and CAB will
provide highlights and the black-lights for students to draw on
each-other.
Spring Weekend
will conclude with the softball tournament championship on Sunday
afternoon.
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_____________________
Accounting students help VITA hit $1.6 million in
refunds
lThe hard work of St.
Bonaventure University accounting students has paid off immensely for
residents of Cattaraugus County.
After five years
of assisting with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program,
accounting students have helped generate approximately $1,600,000 in
cumulative tax refunds. This exceeds expected totals from the start of the
program.
The VITA program
provides free income tax preparation and e-filing to people with low or
moderate incomes, which helps them receive state and federal income tax
benefits. VITA was created by New York state as a way for low-income
taxpayers to receive 100 percent of their refund without having to pay a
tax preparer.
Working more than
2,000 hours, a total of 25 student volunteers were certified this year as
tax preparers under IRS requirements. There were 450 total tax returns
prepared this year, compared to an average of 150 over the past two years.
This brought the cumulative total to 1,000 tax returns over the past five
years.
In total, VITA
generated $600,000 in total refunds this year, far exceeding the previous
average of $250,000. Two students, Brian McCabe and Nicholas Bohdanowycz,
are responsible for almost one-third of the total tax returns, McCabe
being responsible for generating $100,000 of the $600,000
refunded.
Dr. Susan Anders,
associate professor of accounting, estimated that in addition to this
year’s tax refunds, prepared tax returns will bring in a minimum of
$150,000 to $200,000 in Stimulus Payment rebates.
Anders became
involved with VITA when the students pushed to help with the program five
years ago. Anders has 15 years of experience as a practicing Certified
Public
Accountant and
tax specialist. She says that assisting low-income people through VITA is
a different type of tax practice than most CPA’s will experience, albeit a
rewarding one.
“Very few
accountants realize how much the community needs the accounting and
business skills that we (accountants) take for granted,” Anders
said.
This year, VITA
worked at a new tax preparation site at the Olean Center Mall. Volunteers
worked at the site from January 30 to April 15.
SIFE helped take
over management of the program this year. Its contributions included
marketing and promotions for VITA’s new location.
Students work
with those who are eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable
income tax credit available to low-income workers with earned income. The
students work in pairs and meet with clients to prepare and review their
tax returns.
In addition to
the work done locally, four volunteer students also helped taxpayers in
Houston, as part of a trip funded by Tony Annunziato, a 1971 St.
Bonaventure graduate, for the second straight year. A total of 60 tax
returns generated $60,000 in total refunds, bringing the two-year total to
$100,000.
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_____________________
Career Center
News
Detailed information on upcoming Career Center events such
as NACE’s Virtual Career Fair for International Students, other career
fairs, SBU College Central, and BonaConnection is available in Directions,
the Career Center’s monthly newsletter, located on the Career Center’s
Events’ page.
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_____________________
Join us for this week's FRIDAY FORUM!
All SBU faculty, staff and administrators
are welcome to all the Friday Forums.
Date: Friday, April 25, 2008 Time: 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Place: Robert R. Jones Board of Trustees Room
Topic: "Student
Research and Creative Endeavors Exposition 2008"
Reception Abstract: All SBU faculty, staff and
administrators are invited to view posters and paintings summarizing the
wonderful projects of students in the School of Arts and Sciences. The
posters will be displayed in Trustees Room from Friday to Monday. The
students will be present to answer questions about their projects during
the reception on Friday from 12:30–2 p.m. During the reception, hors
d’oeuvres and beverages will be served. Cost: Free!
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_____________________
Newsmakers
Dr. Carl
J. Case, professor of management science, and Donald J. Swanz, professor
of accounting, had a paper titled “A Decision Support Model for the China
Studies Program” published in the journal Business Research Yearbook. The
paper was also presented at Annual Meeting of the International Academy of
Business Disciplines in Houston on April 3, 2008.
Dr. Leslie
Sabina, professor of music, presented a paper, “Arranging Jazz Standards
for the SATB Saxophone Quartet,” at the 2008 Biennial Conference of the
North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA), April 16-19, 2008, at the
University of South Carolina in Columbia. Sabina also presented a clinic,
“Writing About Jazz,” at the International Association for Jazz
Education’s 2008 International Conference in Toronto, Canada, on Jan. 11,
2008.
Dr. Carol B.
Wittmeyer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Management Sciences, presented
“An Examination of Trustee Participation in Institutional Policy and
Financial Decision Making” in Houston at the April 3-5, 2008, Annual
Conference of the International Academy of Business Disciplines. In
addition, she had published “Pritchett Foods: From Basement Production to
Thriving Innovative Enterprise in Two Generations, in the Family Business
Casebook Annual 2007 (Atlanta). Wittmeyer also presented her case “The
Rise and Fall of the Raymond Institute: Inside a Tail of Unfulfilled
Promises” at the United States Association for Small Business and
Entrepreneurship Conference 2008, held Jan. 10-13, 2008, in San Antonio,
Texas.
Dr. René Wroblewski
and elementary education student Amy Gibson authored an article in the
March issue of Exceptional Individuals. The article, titled “Plunging into
learning: A college class’ experience with the Polar Plunge” outlined
their experiences participating in the Polar Plunge to raise funds for
Special Olympics last November.
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_____________________
Campus luncheon honors faculty and staff
donors
The University
honored the many faculty and staff members who made financial
contributions during this fiscal year with its annual Faculty and Staff
Donor Appreciation Luncheon on Wednesday in Doyle Dining Hall. More than
60 faculty and staff donors attended the event.
“No one understands St.
Bonaventure — our needs, our opportunities, our past and our future —
better than the people who work here,” said Mary Driscoll, associate vice
president for Advancement, adding that employees play an “incredible role”
in the life of the University.
According to Driscoll, St.
Bonaventure enjoyed the financial support of 138 faculty and staff members
during 2007 and 2008, with gifts to such areas as the unrestricted
Bonaventure Fund, athletics, scholarships and academic
programs.
Faculty and staff gifts for this fiscal year (June 1,
2007 through May 31, 2008) stand at $65,902.66 as of April 23, Driscoll
said. This figure represents a 9.5 percent increase from last year at this
time.
“Our internal campaign is an opportunity for all faculty and
staff to participate in the 150th Anniversary Campaign,” Driscoll said,
noting that more than $88 million has been raised toward the campaign’s
$90 million goal.
Ann Tenglund,
coordinator of Library Computer Services, Information Literacy Instruction
& Curriculum Center, and Doug Cashing, Ph.D., professor of
mathematics, served as co-chairs of the 2008 Faculty and Staff
Campaign.
Tenglund, guest
speaker at the event, noted that faculty and staff donations demonstrate
to the outside world “that those who work here are the first to show their
support. That means a lot.” She encouraged colleagues to get involved,
adding that she continues to “contribute financially to the University
because it will help other students achieve the same experiences that I
was fortunate to have as a student.”
For information about donating
to the Faculty and Staff Campaign, please contact Andrea Bidell, executive
director of the Annual Fund and Alumni Services, at (716) 375-2301 or at
abidell@sbu.edu. |