Awards and Honors

Photo of the arch on the Lefton Esplanade at Kent State University

Kent State University’s College of Business Administration offers one of the nation’s most outstanding online Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs, according to The Princeton Review. The education services company profiles the college in its Top 50 Online MBA Programs for 2021 ranking.

Kent State University’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) Center holds a safe, physically distant small group kickoff event at the start of the 2020 Fall Semester. 

Campus Pride has released its 2020 Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges and Universities list, and for the first time in school history, Kent State University has landed on the distinctive list as one of 40 institutions recognized over six U.S. regions.

Graphic for Kent State Alumni Awards

Kent State University is proud to announce its 2020 Alumni Award recipients. Recipients are chosen based on their exceptional contributions in their chosen profession, in their communities and at Kent State. Sponsored by the alumni association, the Alumni Awards are the university’s most prestigious honors given to alumni.

A Kent State University student walks on the K in Risman Plaza.

Kent State University shines again in the new 2021 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. Kent State is the highest-ranking public university in Northern Ohio on the Top Public Schools and Best National Universities lists in the newly released rankings.

Kent State University Assistant Professor Scott Hallgren from the School of Media and Journalism teaches a class in an auditorium during the 2020 Fall Semester.

Kent State University is being recognized for the ninth time as a “Great College to Work For” by The Chronicle of Higher Education, a top trade publication for colleges and universities, and ModernThink LLC, a consulting firm. Now in its 13th year, the “Great Colleges to Work For” annual report recognizes the colleges that get top ratings from their employees on workforce practices and policies.

Michelle Bebber sprays an air freshener in a bathroom.

In 2019, a team of researchers in Kent State’s Department of Anthropology published its “prize-winning” research article titled “Experimental replication shows knives manufactured from frozen human feces do not work” in the Journal of Archaeological Science. (Yes, the jokes are seemingly endless, but seriously folks, there is an important underlying message here about evidence-based research and fact-checking!)

Kent State University’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) Center holds a safe, physically distant small group kickoff event at the start of the 2020 Fall Semester. 

Kent State University’s commitment to maintaining a diverse and inclusive campus has received acknowledgement from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education, for an eighth consecutive year. INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine has selected Kent State as a recipient of the 2020 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award.

Rami Daud and Nathaniel Bailey, photographers with University Communications and Marketing, smile after receiving their Silver ADDY Awards. (Photo credit: Smithberger Photography)

Kent State University brought home the gold after this year’s Akron ADDY Awards, with both professionals and students being recognized for their work. The ADDYs, put on by the Akron Chapter of the American Advertising Federation, celebrate the area’s best creative work in advertising.

Photo collage of Kent State women's teams

Kent State University has won the Mid-American Conference’s Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) for women’s sports award for the first time in school history.