Arts & Culture

Three photos featuring scene from May 4, 1970

The Kent State University School of Music returns to Severance Music Center on Monday, May 2, at 7 p.m. featuring nearly 300 students from across the university performing a rich lineup of genres and styles from classical and jazz to gospel and world music. It will also feature collaborations with the School of Theatre and Dance and the Wick Poetry Center.

Black Lightning Comic Book: He is a Kent State Grad

DC Comics’ superhero Black Lightning has been part of popular culture, and Black history, for more than 40 years. Since his debut in 1977 as DC’s very first “headline” Black character, Black Lightning has appeared in comic books, animated TV series, video games and, in 2017, a live-action TV series that ran for four seasons on The CW Network. In his secret identity, Jefferson Pierce (shh, don’t tell anyone), he also appeared on the Kent Campus to get his teaching degree. Yes – Black Lightning is a Kent State alumnus. 

Audrey Notle, William Baughman and David Mendieta Headshots

Three soloists, students of the Glauser School of Music, will be featured in performance with the Kent State University Orchestra on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. David Mendieta, Audrey Nolte and William Baughman are all winners of the 2021-2022 Concerto Competition.

Five Golden Flashes Entrepreneurs

Kent State Golden Flashes excel in a range of activities, and some students are forging their own paths by owning and operating small businesses during their college years. With endless opportunities and resources at their fingertips, Kent State students have found success as entrepreneurs across a range of industries. Here are five of them.

Four bottles of Kent State Ashtabula Wines

Kent State Ashtabula’s Viticulture and Enology programs were recently awarded a $180,000 grant from the Ohio Grape Industries Committee for a pair of research projects to be conducted over the next two years. Kent State Ashtabula is partnering with the Ashtabula Agricultural Research Station, a division of the Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, to conduct the projects at Markko Vineyards in Conneaut, Ohio.

Love in Reserve is a play written by Eric Mansfield

The Rubber City Theatre in Akron, Ohio, will host the play "Love in Reserve" by career storyteller, U.S. Army veteran, award-winning journalist and playwright Eric Mansfield. At Kent State University, many know Mansfield from his role as assistant vice president for content strategy and communications in the Division of University Communications and Marketing.

NEA Big Read Northeast Ohio Celebrate Joy Harjo

“An American Sunrise” by Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, the first Native American poet laureate of the United States, will be the focal point as Kent State kicks off the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read Northeast Ohio community reading program. The kickoff event will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 12, beginning promptly at 7 p.m. in the Kiva. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is appreciated.

Mark Lomax II playing on drumkit

On Saturday, Oct. 23, the Kent State University Glauser School of Music New Music Ensemble will present “Voices of Protest.” Composer, drummer and activist Mark Lomax II, D.M.A., will also be featured performing as part of the Ogún Meji Duo with saxophonist Edwin Bayard. 

Kent State University’s School of Fashion once again ranks as one of the best fashion programs in the United States according to Fashion-Schools.org. 

Digital Green Book landing page with description and TEXTURES logo

The Kent State University Museum and the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State announce the launch of the “Digital Green Book” created in support of the exhibition “TEXTURES: the history and art of Black hair.”