CCI News & Events Center

With fake news running rampant across the country, organizations like the News Literacy Project are on a mission to create better informed, more engaged and more empowered individuals. This spring, Kent State public relations students earned national recognition for their work creating a campaign that advanced this non-profit’s mission.

At Hyde Park's famous Speaker's Corner in London, citizens come together to discuss social issues they are passionate about. A similar tradition exists at Kent State: The Hyde Park Forum is a long-standing public speaking competition, featuring student finalists from COMM 15000: Intro to Human Communication, who perform their persuasive speeches from class. COMM 15000 is open to all Kent State students. This year’s forum, which took place April 12, was the first to be held since 2019 due to the pandemic.

As a Producer for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kent State alumna Crystal Smith, ’18, never imagined the career path she is currently on and the opportu

Sophie Young, ’23, a senior in the School of Media and Journalism, has always admired the New York Times and everything about it (including the Wordle).
“It’s a lot of what I consume,” she says. “I get three different New York Times emails in my Inbox every day, and I’ve been reading them for a long time.”

Catherine Smith, a professor in the School of Emerging Media and Technology and School of Information, said she remembers the days of male-dominated tech conferences with so little space for women, even the restrooms were exclusive to men.

In America, conversations about grief and loss are often avoided, and in art, tend to be sugarcoated, or even “corny.”
Kent State Assistant Professor and independent filmmaker Dana White is changing that narrative through her work, and was recently recognized by the Ohio Arts Council.

As a digital media production student, Ailene Joven, '21, began creating the short film “Define” during the early days of COVID-19. Several years later, that film is set to be screened at the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) on March 28, 2023.

Kent State alumna Courtney Flickinger, ’20, has been using communication skills to advocate for aging populations since her senior year of college. In 2019, she was a communications intern with Direction Home Akron Canton Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities, and has since begun her career there as a communication specialist. This semester, she’s sharing her knowledge and experiences with students in two Communication Studies courses.

Peter Bobkowski will join the School of Media and Journalism this fall as Kent State University’s second Knight Chair in Scholastic Journalism, dedicated to leading national efforts to revitalize journalism in the nation's high schools.

The Kent State School of Media and Journalism (MDJ) welcomed Mizell Stewart III, award winning reporter, corporate news executive and president and CEO of Emerging Leaders LLC, to give the third annual Dix Media Ethics Lecture, “Journalism as a Civic Good,” on March 1, 2023.