Academic Momentum Campaign

From Dr. Atta Ceesay, Associate Provost, Student Success and Retention:

As we begin the Fall 2026 semester, Buffalo State continues the implementation of Academic Momentum, our coordinated, campus-wide effort to strengthen student persistence, credit accumulation, and timely degree completion. 

Academic Momentum was introduced last spring, and several components of the plan move into implementation this semester. While the initiative has a particular focus on our incoming first-year cohort, the practices that support student success extend across the entire university community. 

BSC 100: A New Approach to the First-Year Transition

One key component of Academic Momentum is BSC 100, which serves as a foundational element of our first-year academic experience and Buffalo State's overarching retention strategy. 

The course intentionally focuses on helping first-year students cultivate the academic behaviors, skills, connections, and institutional knowledge necessary for long-term persistence and degree progress. To support this transition directly, BSC 100 will be facilitated through group advising sessions led by our professional advisers. Students will learn to navigate university expectations and resources, track their academic responsibilities, build meaningful campus connections, and establish habits that sustain success throughout their time at Buffalo State. 

Importantly, BSC 100 is one element of a comprehensive first-year framework, not a standalone solution. The behaviors and connections introduced in BSC 100 must be actively reinforced through ongoing coursework, advising relationships, and daily interactions with faculty and staff across campus. 

Navigate360: Identifying Concerns and Connecting Students Earlier

Navigate360 provides a shared platform for faculty, advisers, and student-support professionals to identify concerns, communicate with students, issue referrals, and coordinate care. 

This fall, the Early Alert Progress Report window shifts earlier in the semester September 14–28—enabling us to recognize concerns and intervene faster. However, faculty need not wait for a formal progress report window to request assistance for a student. Whenever you identify a potential challenge, connect with the student directly and utilize Navigate to initiate additional outreach or support. 

Banner Attendance Tracking: An Early-Intervention Tool

Beginning this semester, instructors are expected to maintain attendance records in Banner. Please refer to the detailed attendance guidance document recently circulated via email for specific instructions, submission timelines, and setting-specific methods. 

Across all of these efforts, our core framework remains straightforward:

Notice → Connect → Encourage → Refer

Academic Momentum is not the responsibility of a single office or division. Faculty, advisers, staff, and student-support professionals each play a vital role in helping students establish and sustain progress toward their academic goals.