Dinner with Friends is a new program hosted by Civic and Community Engagement in the Center for Student Involvement, Kent State Votes, and Undergraduate Student Government that is designed to connect different members of our community—students, faculty, and staff—through engaging, facilitated conversations over dinner. The program’s core idea isn’t about being an expert on any given subject or even producing a plan at the end of the conversation but instead prioritizes the act of conversing and building connections with people you might not ordinarily meet.
College of Communication & Information
In 2026, The Kent Stater turns 100. Searchlight was the first student newspaper, beginning in February 1926. A few months later, Searchlight disbanded and was replaced by The Kent Stater, which published its first issue July 29, 1926, under the leadership of its first editor-in-chief, Peg Hayes. Since that time, The Kent Stater has remained an independent, fully student-run news source, training generations of journalists, designers, photographers and media leaders.To mark the centennial, Student Media and The Kent Stater are planning a year of celebration and reflection. This spring, ori...
College of Communication & Information
As another semester comes to a close, Kent State Student Media enters a season of transition, one that brings both heartfelt goodbyes and exciting new beginnings. This semester, we celebrate two graduating student leaders who stepped into their roles for just one term and made an extraordinary impact: Kay Simmons, audience engagement director, and Adriana Gasiewski, The Burr editor-in-chief.Adriana joined The Burr after working in other spaces such as The Kent Stater and Her Campus, bringing with her a renewed energy and vision. In just one semester, she grew the magazine's staff to nearly 30 ...
Sydney Roche is thriving as a first-year law student at Case Western Reserve University on a full-ride scholarship, and she credits much of her success to the foundation she built at Kent State University. Originally from Erie, Pennsylvania, the 2025 graduate discovered Kent State through a friend's enthusiastic recommendation. Though the university hadn't been on her radar initially, one campus tour changed everything."I went and I toured and I loved it, and I noticed that they had a pre-law center," Roche said. "They had the degrees I was looking for."She enrolled in fall 2022, was acce...
Welcome to Flash Focus! In this series, we introduce you to fascinating student Flashes from all walks of life.Meet Monica Fencil, a junior exercise science major with a concentration in pre-physical therapy, from Butler, Pennsylvania. Fencil’s interest in the health field began early, shaped by being surrounded by family members who worked in healthcare. Fencil’s mother and sister were nurses, but Fencil had always been active in sports and wanted to help others recover from injuries or setbacks. “Physical therapy felt like the perfect way to build relationships with patients whil...
President’s List: The following students have distinguished themselves by achieving a 4.00 grade point average for 15 or more regular letter–graded semester credit hours this past Fall Semester 2025 at Kent State University at Tuscarawas.Akron – Lauren SchroederAurora – Jacob P. TanskiBarnesville – Ava McFarlandCarrollton – Payton A. WilliamsonCincinnati – Eugene MurvinCoshocton – Emma J. SprowlCuyahoga Falls – Ian D. RiccilloDellroy – Jillian E. BonnerDennison – Laura A. BourneDover – Zane G. Conner, Cade E. McGarry, Clay M. Phillips, Madison A. Reed, Liz R. Vasbinder, Emma R. WatsonEast Live...
From a 30-year law enforcement career to retirement, police Officer Rick Sprague returned to the job, not for recognition, but to ensure Kent State students could learn in a safe environment.“For 29 years, I always said if I could help just one person, change one life, then it’s worth it,” Rick Sprague told Kent State Today. “Maybe here I’ll deter that one thing, that one catastrophe that could have happened.”After retiring as an Ohio State Trooper in 2021, Rick Sprague joined Kent State as a groundskeeper with University Facilities Management, later moving into higher positions within the dep...
Kent State faculty composer/pianist Adam Roberts will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Morton Feldman (1926-1987) with a performance of the hour-long For Bunita Marcus (1985), Feldman's second-to-last piano composition. Like many of his late works, For Bunita Marcus is a crystalline labyrinth of pattern and resonance, inviting listeners to enter into a contemplative dream.
The 2026 Student Annual Gallery will be open Feb. 27-March 19 at the CVA Gallery. Join us on March 19 from 5-7 p.m. for a reception. Awards will be presented at 6 p.m.
Nicole Williford
“I had the privilege of attending Blossom in 2023 and was greatly impacted by my short time spent at KSU. This studio intensive was an incubator of creative energy and was just what I needed to get out of a creative rut. The program brought together people in so many different phases of professional life - teachers, graduate and undergraduate students, emerging and seasoned artists. Through conversation, studio visits and lectures, and most of all - dedicated studio time - I was able to give my work the time and space it needed to move towards the next level of my creative practice.”