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Student wants changes to Engineering Council constitution

A UB transfer student has proposed changes to a Student Association policy that he said denies undergraduates who come to Buffalo from other schools the ability to serve as Engineering Council coordinator. Omran Albarazanchi, a junior chemical engineering major, said current Student Association election rules discriminate against transfer students.


The Veggie Van hosts weekly mobile farmers markets, offering underserved neighborhoods access to cheap, healthy produce. Left: Bins of fresh produce at one of the van’s sales.
NEWS

Everyday I’m brusselin’

Normally, people might be skeptical of a big white van trying to lure them toward its cargo. But the Veggie Van is different. Underprivileged neighborhoods across the nation struggle to afford fresh produce and often don’t have access to grocery stores. That’s why numerous cities are investing in mobile markets, like the Veggie Van, to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to low-income neighborhoods.


Photos of UB Engineering Dean Liesl Folks at Davis Hall

Photographer: Douglas Levere
NEWS

Project helps female STEM students overcome gender discrimination in workforce

Before she was Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at UB, Liesl Folks dealt with gender discrimination in the workplace. In a sit-down interview with The Spectrum, Folks recalled specifically avoiding a male colleague at work. He’d often walk up behind her and start massaging her shoulders when she had to perform electron microscopes in dark, soundproof rooms.


Students standing in front of “Big Blue” food truck to order their lunch. The “Big Blue” and “Little Blue” food trucks are owned by the Faculty-Student Association and are the only trucks allowed to serve on UB’s campus.
NEWS

UB community weighs in on bringing food trucks to campus

Food truck vendors have the rare opportunity to pull onto North Campus Sunday for the Student Association’s Buffalo Untapped event. Over the last several years, food trucks have gained popularity in Buffalo with events like Food Truck Tuesdays at Larkin Square in downtown Buffalo, but the Faculty-Student Association relegates their presence on campus to the FSA-run Big Blue and Little Blue trucks.


NEWS

UB Police Blotter

4/4 12:03 p.m. A student reported her wallet was stolen from her backpack in Crosby Hall. 4/5 3:49 p.m.


NEWS

News briefs

Campus UB to host annual Refugee Health Summit UB will host its fifth annual refugee health summit on April 20, bringing together clinicians, resettlement caseworkers, community health workers, researchers, students, municipal leaders and refugees to raise awareness to the factors affecting the health and well-being of Buffalo’s refugee population.


Students wait in line to pay for food. Roughly 16 percent of student meals go unused, according to Campus Dining & Shops officials.
NEWS

Campus Dining & Shops budgets for students’ missed meals

The nonprofit organization overseeing dining at UB counts on students not to use all the meals they buy. Budget officials at Campus Dining & Shops, which reported nearly $5 million in profits in 2015-16, say they can’t introduce a rollover or refund system for unused meals because the money students paid for the meals is reinvested.


Graduate student Alexa Russo stands in front of a model constructed from her affordable housing design. Russo designed the one-story row-house as a model for students to eventually build a home for a Buffalo family.
NEWS

Affordable housing projects underway at architecture school

On Tuesday, UB will host a symposium to begin an effort in the architecture school to address Buffalo’s affordable housing shortage. As graduate students wrap up a semester-long design project focused on creating affordable, inclusive housing, Tuesday marks the beginning of a more collaborative effort to bring together alumni, interested donors and experts in affordable housing development.


UB alumni Andrew Mingola is the creator of Spot Swapper, a free app allowing students leaving campus to match with a student looking for parking. He hopes pairing students together will save them time when searching for a parking spot.
NEWS

UB alum hopes app will help campus parking problem

While UB officials have said there are several hundred parking spaces free at any given time, students have long complained about driving from lot to lot searching for a spot in time for class. UB alum Andrew Mingola wants to help with the parking problem with the launch of his new app, Spot Swapper.


SA Senate Chair Devashish Agarwal speaking on the phone with newly appointed Vice President Ben Harper at the Thursday night Senate Meeting.
NEWS

SA Senate elects new vice president

The Student Association appointed a new SA vice president on Thursday, after the SA Senate approved current Director of Club Services Benjamin Harper to take over the role. The position had been left vacant since Feb. 2.


NEWS

News briefs

Campus Women in STEM Summit to focus on roles of females in advancing sustainability The fourth annual Women in STEM Summit, coinciding with Earth Day on April 18, will focus on the roles of women in advancing sustainability and how local leaders are influencing sustainable change.


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