Kent State Today

For most of her life, Kent State junior visual communication design major Jasmine McCulley, has built her identity around community, the arts and competition, whether through The Touch of Gold Twirlers or competitive baton twirling. Sixteen years after she first picked up a baton, she will represent Team USA this August in Paris at the IBTF World Competition.

Kent State University is partnering with Osh State University in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, to help reduce rising cancer rates in the Central Asian nation.

A future Kent State University president and a past Kent State administrator were serving at universities in Dayton and Texas on May 4, 1970, and had to find ways to manage student protests in reaction to the shootings.

The nationally and internationally ranked Kent State University School of Fashion is thrilled to announce its acclaimed Annual Fashion Show will take place April 30-May 2, in Crawford Hall on the Kent Campus.

A $1.8 million gift from the Bedford Falls Foundation will fund 150 scholarships for Kent State nursing students over three years, addressing the national nursing shortage.

U.S. News & World Report has named 20 Kent State University graduate programs among the nation’s best in its 2026 rankings, with seven programs placing in the top 100 nationally.

Kent State University celebrates outstanding student employees and supervisors during National Student Employment Week, recognizing their impact across campus through the annual Student Employee Awards Celebration. Celebrate with us the 2026 winners.

Scholarships remain one of the most powerful ways to make higher education more affordable. They don’t just lighten the financial load; they open doors, expand opportunities and help students focus more on learning and less on financial stress. At Kent State, students have access to tools that make the search easier and more strategic, especially through ScholarshipUniverse, the university's personalized, scholarship-matching platform.

Unlike a lot of college students who spend spring break on sunny beaches distracted from  thinking about their studies, a small group of animation and game design students from the Tuscarawas Campus spent their break fully immersed in activities that kept their attention focused on their degree and potential career options.

Laurie Ann Moennich, Ph.D., didn't arrive at Kent State University planning to change healthcare. She came to study graphic design. But Kent State had a way of opening doors she didn't even know existed.

Kent State University graduate Emma Sherrie, '09, always had a feeling she would study anthropology, but still she took the time to check out all the other options available before finally settling on her original plan. Kent State’s Exploratory Program, which helps undecided students sample different disciplines before committing to a major, was a key part of Sherrie’s experience, and the main reason she chose Kent State in the first place.

Kent State University and the Civil Aviation Academy in Almaty, Kazakhstan, have signed an agreement to be strategic partners in establishing a joint international aviation university in Kazakhstan, to support the rapid growth of aviation throughout Central Asia.

Kent State graduate Luana Johnson highlights how the American Academy partnership and the university's elite design labs provided the professional access needed to launch a global career.

In December 2025, Francis Rubagumya, 37, walked across the stage at Kent State's commencement with a Master of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language — and a plan to take every lesson he had learned back to the country he loves Rwanda.

Two Kent State University undergraduates brought national-level research experience to campus this year as featured presenters at the 2026 Exercise Science Summit. Liliana St. Germain and Olivia Snedeker delivered their work after using performance and biometric data collected from the Kent State women’s soccer team.

Kent State University's research impact continues to expand, with many faculty members recognized among the top 2% of the most-cited scientists worldwide, according to research metrics compiled by Stanford University scholars.

Allyson Tessin, Ph.D., assistant professor in Kent State University’s Department of Earth Sciences, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award to support her research on how the seafloor and ocean interact in rapidly changing Arctic environments.

Saloni Christian, a third-year student at Kent State University’s College of Podiatric Medicine who received her undergraduate degree in biology from Kent State, reflects on the challenges and rewards of answering a calling that was shaped by a lifetime of watching others serve.

Meet Hannah Fletcher, a senior history major and anthropology minor, from Ravenna, Ohio. This history major thrives on creating powerful connections between visitors and the stories that shaped a generation.

Thanks to nearly $2.3 million in grant funding from the Ohio Department of Education, Kent State is training and endorsing K-12 teachers in computer science instruction across every grade level and subject area. The teachers arriving in these courses are not who you might picture. And what they leave with has started to surprise even their instructors.

When Michael Bugary looks at his first published book, "The Disease of Me," he still feels a little surprised. “I was reading the final edit and thought, ‘Who wrote this?’” he said with a laugh.

Journalism is not often perceived as an emotionally challenging career, but journalists can experience any number of traumatic stress symptoms from stories that they cover, especially those involving death or human suffering. These are the topics Gretchen Hoak, Ph.D., associate professor of journalism at Kent State University, explores in her new podcast “Informed Reporting,” which launched March 16.  

Kent State Vice President and Director of Athletics Randale L. Richmond announced that women's basketball head coach Todd Starkey will depart for another coaching opportunity and is naming associate head coach Fran Recchia as the program's seventh head coach.

Lou Holtz, a Kent State University alumnus who became one of college football's most successful and charismatic coaches, leading the University of Notre Dame to a national championship and six different programs to bowl games during his storied career, has died. He was 89. 

Delrecco Gillespie, senior professional studies major and member of Kent State’s men's basketball team, was recently featured in a recent NCAA article that detailed how setbacks like injury and grief fueled Gillespie’s drive to play as if it were his last chance to be on the court.