December is the final month of the year and the time to welcome the winter season. December can be a time of reflection on past experiences and, for others, it is a time of celebration. While everyone will have different emotions about this season, acknowledging this allow everybody to seek a better understanding of one another.

The Fall 2023 round of the Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity Grant application/review process resulted in seven proposals selected for funding by members of the Scholarly and Creative Activity Committee, and ultimately approved for funding by Provost Scott Furlong. The funded proposals added up to nearly $19,000.

The funded proposals are as follows:

The fall 2023 round of the Student Scholarly and Creative Activity Grant application/review process has concluded, with eight proposals approved for a combined total of nearly $7,900 in funding. Members of the Student Subcommittee of the Scholarly and Creative Activity Committee reviewed all the proposals and ultimately approved the following for funding via Provost Scott Furlong:

Subnivean, SUNY Oswego’s globally popular digital publication, has opened two literary competitions. Poet Major Jackson, recipient the 2023 Academy of American Poets Fellowship for distinguished poetic achievement, will serve as final judge of the 2023-24 Subnivean Awards in Poetry, open to writers around the world. Gish Jen, praised in Oprah Magazine and recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship, will judge in fiction.

The Public Ceremonies Committee is seeking volunteer ushers to welcome graduating students' families, friends and other supporters to the December Commencement ceremony on Saturday, Dec. 16.

Ushers help with overall crowd control and seating people with special needs at the ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m. in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena and Convocation Hall in Marano Campus Center. Ushers are asked to arrive by 8:30 a.m. because doors open at 9. The ceremony is expected to end around noon.

The campus community can visit the HR Announcements webpage to check out a variety of important information posted recently regarding vacation accruals, benefits, workshops, a new online learning platform and more.

A pair of student-directed one-act plays, "Foreplay or: The Art of the Fugue" and "Screaming, Humming," will run through this weekend with performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1; 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2; and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec 3 in Tyler Hall's lab theatre.

First-year students from the CRW 198 "The Spoken Word" class will present a spoken-word poetry reading at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 30,  in the Marano Campus Center auditorium (room 132).

At the event, titled "I Just Wanna Talk," students will perform their original spoken word poems as part of this First-Year Signature Course.

Please email Stephanie Pritchard (stephanie.pritchard@oswego.edu) if you have questions or need accommodations to attend.

Letters from Home is back for the holidays, as on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 29 and 30, Student Orientation and Family Engagement will table in the Marano Campus Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

This event allows Lakers to fill out a postcard of their choosing to their supporters back home ("supporters" can be any caring individual in their life -- meaning friends, family and more). To show any supporters some extra love, Lakers can add a Polaroid taken by staff to their envelope to send out.