Road work on Summit Street will stop for the next few months, but it will resume again in the spring as the two-year project comes to a close.     Two-way traffic is scheduled to resume throughout the entire construction area in time for the start of the spring semester on Jan. 16, providing better access for motorists and pedestrians during the winter months. Contractors will be doing work on other parts of the project as weather permits, but there should be minimal disruption to the flow of traffic.    In the spring, the remaining part of Summit Street, from J...

Kent State University will hold its 16th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration on Jan. 25 at 3:30 p.m. in the Kent Student Center Ballroom. The keynote speaker for the event is Bertice Berry, Ph.D. A Kent State alumna and sociologist, she is also an award-winning entertainer, lecturer and comedienne. Dr. Berry’s vision is to enable, empower and uplift others to live an intentional life of purpose and joy. Her mission is to inspire change and transformation through life-long learning, diversity, values and excellence. Dr. Berry was the host and co-executive producer of her own nationally...

The lower floor of Main Hall was familiar to Carl Linder, a military veteran, firefighter and EMT, before he ever enrolled at Kent State University at Stark. As a child, he played there quietly while his mother took evening classes. It was the 1970s and while the single mom of two never completed her degree, Mr. Linder is happy to accomplish a dream that was once hers. The 47-year-old graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology as part of Kent State Stark’s record-setting fall commencement ceremony held last month. Mr. Linder was one of nearly 200 students who were awarded bachelor’s d...

Kent State University President Emerita Carol Cartwright, Ph.D., and her husband, G. Phillip Cartwright, Ph.D., have made a $1 million estate gift that will create scholarships at Kent State to support students who wish to engage in the arts. The Cartwright Family Fund for Opportunities in the Arts is an unrestricted endowment that will enable underrepresented populations to participate in arts education who might not otherwise be able to do so. In addition to their planned gift, the Cartwrights have pledged $10,000 per year to begin making an impact on students immediately through scholarship...

A film made by Kent State University students and professors about the diverse Akron neighborhood, Highland Square, has had its international debut. The documentary, “Highland Lives” aired this week on the UK television program, “Tales From the Margins,” an LGBTQ program broadcast on the Latest TV network, based in Brighton. The film was made in 2013 as part of the class, Special Topics: LGBTQ Methods, said Molly Merryman, Ph.D., director of Kent State’s Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality and an associate professor of sociology. Merryman said the class was a collaborative te...

Highland Lives, an LGBTQ documentary about a gayborhood in Akron has been picked up by Tales from the Margins, a UK-based LGBTQ program that airs on the Latest TV network which is based out of Brighton but watched throughout England—the station viewership is in the millions. Check out the video: vimeo.com/151825729 ...

Doctoral student plants gardens atop Cleveland buildings to bridge urban design with natural biology A bird’s-eye view of most cities captures the barren landscape of asphalt-covered rooftops, sprawling from one high-rise structure to another. As the sunshine makes its way across the city, the intense rays bake the dark roofs; and when the sun turns to rainfall, it floods the concrete sidewalks below. Urban architecture in most areas across the United States is not ecofriendly - after all - many buildings date back generations, long before the green movement started making its way from Euro...