Success Stories

The pain of moving from one home to the next, time and time again, for four years straight is helping Keri Richmond speak out for other foster children without a voice. Richmond, a Kent State University junior majoring in public relations in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, shared her story with members of Congress and child welfare advocates during a Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill in late July.

Anything is possible. Theresa Medrano, a Kent State University senior from Westlake, Ohio, is living proof of this. At age 17, like most high school seniors, Medrano should have been thinking about senior prom and graduation. But she became a victim of domestic violence and was forced to withdraw from high school.  Instead of planning the next chapter of her life, she suddenly found herself homeless. Still, she found the strength to remain hopeful, and today she’s a full-time student, on track to graduate.  

Kent State University held its Summer 2015 Commencement ceremonies for the Kent Campus on Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (MAC Center). Kent State conferred 1,476 degrees, including 931 bachelor’s degrees, 453 master’s degrees, 76 doctoral degrees and 16 educational specialist degrees.  Across the university’s eight-campus system, 1,651 students graduated from Kent State this summer, including those receiving associate degrees.

Scholar of the Month David Hacker Associate Professor of Geology College of Arts and Sciences Kent State University at Trumbull 2000-present

Anna Hoffman, a Kent State University global communication studies and political science major from Kent, Ohio, traveled to Ireland this summer to study the country’s efforts to save its national language. Her research project was funded through a fellowship from the  Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Hoffman was one of only 28 students nationwide to receive a fellowship for an international reporting assignment as part of the center’s Campus Consortium educational initiative.

Kent State University has been named to the 2014 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, which is the highest federal recognition an institution can receive for its commitment to community, service-learning and civic engagement. 

The opportunity to travel abroad for the first time for some Kent State University students came through a summer internship program in Florence, Italy.  “I had been waiting for an opportunity to travel abroad,” said Andrea Sutton, a Kent State hospitality management student. “And now I’ve been able to fulfill my dream, and it was everything I imagined and more.”

Sarah Hider, a Kent State University graduate student from Wooster, Ohio, has been crowned Miss Ohio 2015 after competing at the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield, Ohio, on June 20. Hider is the second Kent State student in the past two years to win the title. Heather Wells, a Kent State broadcast journalism graduate, won the competition in 2013.

Scholar of the Month Andrew Shahriari Associate Professor of Music College of the Arts 2008-present Andrew Shahriari has been recently promoted to associate professor for the 2015-2016 academic year. He also serves as coordinator of online classes for music in the Hugh A. Glauser School of Music in the College of the Arts. His current research focuses on ethnomusicology, music and autism, and online world music education.

In the gym of the MAC Center Annex, you can hear the voices of student trainers echo from one end to the other.  “Nice long strides with those feet,” shouts one student trainer. “Let’s lunge to me,” encourages another. Kent State University exercise physiology graduate students are playing a key role in Fit for Life, an expanded version of the former Faculty/Staff Exercise Program.