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With construction beginning this April, the Heart of the Campus project (a UB 2020 initiative) will give core areas on each of UB’s three campuses a fresh ticker. First up are improvements to Capen, Talbert and Norton halls, including a new cybrary, more open, collaborative study spaces and, best of all, an overall friendlier feel to the somewhat imposing façade of the North Campus.

To discourage consumption of sugar, the School of Dental Medicine has stepped up, passing a policy this past winter banning sugary drinks at all school-sponsored activities, meetings and other functions. Let’s hope the ruling has some teeth to it!

Following new head coach Rex Ryan’s promise to shape the Buffalo Bills into a “bully,” UB anti-bullying expert Amanda Nickerson wrote an op-ed gently noting that associating the word “bully” with a winning spirit (when every school in the nation is working tirelessly to foster an anti-bullying culture) may not be the best idea—and promptly got bullied online by several Bills fans for doing so. Guess there’s still some work to do.

Last October, prominent women in UB’s STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) community hosted a “tweetathon” to spur dialogue on the subject of women in STEM fields. Using the hashtag #5050by2050, tweeters discussed how to ensure that 50 percent of STEM jobs are held by women by 2050 (currently, women compose about a quarter of the STEM workforce). We’ll have come a long way, baby!