Year of the City: March in Review

During March, the synergy between Buffalo State and the city of Buffalo was evident in many ways.

On March 20, “Voices of the Arts in Education” took place at Buffalo State’s Community Academic Center on Grant Street. The event featured a panel of speakers discussing art in the community. Artist Augustina Droze, who will work with the community to create a four-story mural on Lorigo’s Meating Place this summer, was a panel member.

Author Thomas Reigstad, professor emeritus of English, presented Buffalo to the world through his biography of Twain’s time in the city, Scribblin’ for a Livin'. Jeff Simon, arts editor at the Buffalo News arts editor, called it “…the exhaustive, extraordinary history of Mark Twain in Buffalo that so many have wanted for so long.” Reigstad notes that it was during his time in Buffalo that Twain decided to turn from newspaper writing to novel writing, a decision that gave America one of its most important authors.

M&T established a $250,000 endowed fund for the new Science and Mathematics Complex, which will go toward the repair and replacement of science equipment used by students in the new building.

Jevon D. Hunter, assistant professor of elementary education and reading, presented “Situating Community Relevant Learning: Toward the Development of a Pedagogy of Urban Promise.” His presentation, part of the Year of the City Emerging Scholars Lecture Series, argued for “the importance of identifying and incorporating community assets” into the learning experiences of youth attending urban elementary and secondary schools.

While the presentations, panels, and publications demonstrate the ongoing symbiotic relationship between the institution and the community to which it belongs, the heart of that relationship is Buffalo State’s student body. Buffalo State students and Western New York give and take, back and forth, in thousands of ways As more than 11,000 students pursue higher education on this campus.

For example, 16 of those students—seniors in the coordinated dietetics program—are completing their senior practica in dietetics this semester in Western New York; two more are out of state. “These students provide nutritional counseling to clients in a variety of settings,” explained Donna Hayes, assistant professor of dietetics and nutrition. “They work under the supervision of a registered dietician, doing what he or she does.”

This semester, dietetics students worked at ECMC’s kidney transplant center and HIV clinic, at Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo’s general pediatric and intensive care units, and at Buffalo General Hospital’s bariatric unit. In the community, they did nutritional analysis for Meals on Wheels recipients and presentations on nutrition in the Buffalo Public Schools through Kaleida Health. “Juniors do clinical rotations, at different sites, working with children in daycare, people with diabetes, and people undergoing dialysis,” said Hayes.

In the community, they did nutritional analysis for Meals on Wheels recipients and presentations on nutrition in the Buffalo Public Schools through Kaleida Health. “Juniors do clinical rotations at different sites working with children in daycare, people with diabetes, and people undergoing dialysis,” said Hayes.

Synergy comes from the Greek word for “working together.” It’s hard to imagine a better example than Buffalo State and Western New York.