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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.

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.

• first place: Fillmore Central
• second place: Genesee Valley
• third place: Scio

• 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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.