St. Bonaventure University has received a grant of almost $9,000 to establish a physical space at Friedsam Library for its Faculty Resource Center.

The university received news of the grant this week from Ron Sutton, senior vice president and trust officer at Key Bank. Sutton oversees the F.T. and Anna C. Manley Trust, which awarded the $8,874 grant.

The proposal was authored by Dr. Michael Hoffman, associate provost and chief information officer and Ann Tenglund, director of the library and the Faculty Resource Center.

“I want to thank the Manley Trust and Ron Sutton for their continued support of St. Bonaventure University,” Hoffman said. “This grant will allow us to establish a physical home for our Faculty Resource Center, an important next step in the development of the center.”

Established in 1989, the Manley Trust provides grants to charitable causes, organizations and educational institutions in Cattaraugus and Allegany counties.

The Faculty Resource Center connects any interested faculty member with resources to enhance teaching, research, classroom assessment, advising, technology use, grant seeking, and department chair work.

The center also provides support to new faculty through an orientation program. But the center lacked a physical space.

To be named the Manley Faculty Collaboration Center, the space will be equipped with furniture, technology and software to facilitate faculty collaboration and development. The new space will allow faculty to:

• Collaborate on research and peer-reviewed publications in areas such as finance, biology, public health, education and cybersecurity.
• Further partner with local high school instructors to offer college-level courses to secondary school students.
• Have multi-disciplinary reading, research and curriculum design groups.
• Participate in one-on-one and small group faculty development workshops.
• Engage with Olean area community members in bi-directional thought sharing, research, grant opportunities and professional development.
• Facilitate conversations and networking on topics including assessment, curriculum design, academic leadership, research agendas and pedagogy.
• Access the latest software on state-of-the-art computers to support their SBU campus and community research, teaching and engagement.

St. Bonaventure has received a number of Manley grants over the last few years, including ones for a Psychology Collaboration/Research Center, School of Education Collaboration Center, video conferencing center, SBU’s Veterans Center, equipment for the university’s Health and Human Performance Lab, and new technology for the digital media center in the library.

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About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. In 2020, St. Bonaventure was named the #2 regional university value in New York and #3 in the North by U.S. News and World Report.