Global Reach

Although Kent State alumna and current graduate student Lydia Lisowsky has never visited Ukraine, she feels a deep sense of obligation and responsibility to help those who have been injured in the war. The Kent State community helped Lisowsky pack and donate medical supplies on the Kent Campus and in the larger Kent community to send to Ukraine. 

Two significant environmental issues our nation faces today include invasive plant species and a lack of sustainable materials. Invasive plant species are detrimental to host environments for multiple reasons. Kent State students are working to turn invasive plant species into a sustainable material that can help protect the environment through the 2022 Biodesign Challenge, a course and national competition to create sustainable solutions to real world problems.

Born from inside Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, “Dear Vaccine” gives citizens a chance to process the pandemic through poetry. The poetry center collaborated with the University of Arizona to expand on poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Dear Vaccine.” The poem became a catalyst for respondents around the world to share their own poems.

In an impressive close to her undergraduate career, Kent State University Honors College senior Mallory Woods was recently awarded the prestigious Fulbright English Teaching Award (ETA). A native of Fairview, Pennsylvania, Woods is completing a major in translation with a Spanish concentration and minors in economics and Italian studies while also finishing a certificate program in teaching English as a foreign language. 

Although Kent State alumna and current graduate student Lydia Lisowsky has never visited Ukraine, she feels a deep sense of obligation and responsibility to help those who have been injured in the war. Lisowsky recently began a campaign to collect medical supplies on the Kent Campus and in the larger Kent community to send to Ukraine. 

Moira Armstrong, undergraduate in the College of Arts and Sciences and research assistant on the Queer Pandemic Project, collaborated with Molly Merryman, associate professor in the School of Peace and Conflict Studies, to compile digital, video-based oral interviews for the Queer Pandemic Project in a partnership between Kent State University, Goldsmith’s University of London and Queer Britain. These interviews feature people in queer communities across the United Kingdom, discussing the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has impacted their lives as queer people.

Kent State University’s diligence in integrating international education throughout its programs and culture is in the spotlight. Kent State is the sole university in the U.S. to receive the prestigious 2022 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization. Meet two students currently displaying the university's excellence in global education. 

Tang Tang, Ph.D., professor in the College of Communication and Information at Kent State University, recently shared her expertise with the New York Times in the article "Beijing Olympic Ratings Were the Worst of Any Winter Games."

Kent State University is the sole university in the U.S. to receive the prestigious 2022 Senator Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization from NAFSA: Association of International Educators. The honor recognizes Kent State for overall excellence in integrating international education throughout all facets of the university and its campuses.

Kent State University has been recognized in Newsweek's 2021 list of the Best Maker Schools in Higher Education.