Meetings to share data on finances with faculty

This semester, Gerald Hector, vice president of finance and administration, will be hosting “Dollars and $ense” meetings to increase transparency about financial matters related to Ithaca College. The meetings are open to faculty and staff. Faculty and staff are encouraged to join the discussion by asking questions and providing feedback and comments. The initiative was offered last semester, and its continuation was announced during the all-college meeting in January, which was  only open to faculty and staff.

There will be three presentations over the course of the semester. The first will be held at 9 a.m. Feb. 19 in the Ithaca Falls Room. The second will be held at 9 a.m. March 12 in the Taughannock Falls Room and the third will be held at 9 a.m. April 14 in the Ithaca Falls Room.

Chinese New Year to be celebrated with dance

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association will be hosting a Chinese New Year concert and celebration at 7 p.m Feb. 21 in the Hockett Family Recital Hall. It is the CSSA’s largest event of the academic year.

The event will feature Chinese music and dance performances by Wenbo Yin, Junwen Liang, Chuang Li, Chan Wei En, Chenqiu Wang, Ni Zhang, Pan Shuo, Richard Li, Gladys Wong, Shan Jiang, Matthew Stookey and Ian Herbon.

They will be joined by the Cornell Amber Dance Troupe, who will perform a feature act. There will be a reception at which authentic Chinese food will be served after the celebration.

London Center names 2016 sabbatical faculty

The Office of International Programs and the Ithaca College London Center  announced Professor Srijana Bajracharya has been selected for London Sabbatical for Spring 2016. She will be teaching a course titled “Sustainable Living: A Holistic Approach to Health,” which is within the Integrative Core Curriculum theme Quest for a Sustainable Future. Her research will include a study of perspectives on environmental sustainability across cultures as well as the way different countries approach sustainability  behaviors and policies.

She is a professor in the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education, and the recipient of the 2014 Faculty Excellence Award, rewarded for teaching, scholarship and service.

ITS warns of suspicious new email messages

Information Technology Services has recently seen a number of examples of suspicious email messages that have a Microsoft Word document attached. This attachment may contain a harmful
“macro,” which could possibly damage the computer.

ITS said the most recent examples of this have involved some type of financial transaction, such as an invoice or payment due from an organization the recipient may or may not have heard of. If such an email with the attached Word document is received, especially if it’s coming from an unfamiliar company or a familiar but unexpected company, ITS advises the recipient to be highly cautious.

Harmful macros were popular several years ago and appear to be making a comeback. A macro comprises a set of commands and directions that could be used for a legitimate purpose within a document, but are usually used for damaging purposes. They are disabled by default within Microsoft Office, so if the recipient attempts to open the attachment, they may encounter a message telling them to enable the macros in order to see the full content.

Anyone with questions is encouraged to contact the ITS Helpdesk at helpdesk@ithaca.edu.

REMP announces new sustainability program

The Ithaca College Resource and Environmental Management Program is creating a new initiative that encourages departments to share unwanted but still usable supplies with other departments that may need them. The project, titled “Office Supply Collection and Reuse” aims to collect and redistribute office supplies among Ithaca College departments, offices and
student organizations.

To create an OSCAR box, departments are encouraged to get a plain box and designate it. Once full, REMP Eco-Reps will pick it up and bring it to the OSCAR room in Phillips Hall.

REMP is an initiative of the Office of Energy Management and Sustainability.

Superintendent to visit IC to speak on diversity

Barry Derfel, assistant superintendent for instruction of Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services, will speak in the third installment of the Department of Health Promotion and Physical Education speaker series. He will present a speech, “Affirming Diversity in 21st Century Classrooms and Schools” at 6 p.m. Feb. 25 in Hill Center Room 104.

This year’s topic is “Teaching, Learning, and Diversity in the 21st Century.”

Future events  include a speech titled  “Teaching Leadership and Success in Sustainability: The Power of Personal Will, Trust and Accountability” by Mark C. Coleman, president of Convergence Mitigation Management. Coleman’s speech will be at 6 p.m. March 3 in Hill Center Room 104. Derek Cabrera’s speech on “Seeing Systems Thinking” will be held at 6 p.m. March 25 in Hill Center Room 104.