Diverse Kent State
On Friday, Kent State's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) Center will celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility with an event from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at the center, located in Room 024 of the Kent Student Center. The event speaker will be Jacob Nash, founder of Margie's Hope, an organization dedicated to providing resources and services to enrich the lives of transgender, nonbinary and gender expansive people in Northeast Ohio. March 31 is the official date of the International Transgender Day of Visibilty, but as it occurs during Ke...
LaTisha Culler is the first of her siblings to complete a degree at a four-year university. She’s married (she met her husband at Kent State), with three children. Her oldest daughter has just begun her first year of college. Culler’s path to graduating from Kent State in fall 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in integrated studies and a minor concentration in human development and family studies, had a long series of twists, turns and challenges, spanning more than 20 years. The winding road to her goal She began her academic career on Kent State’s Kent Campus but soon had to move back h...
In honor of Women’s History Month, Kent State Today will be looking at the accomplishments of Kent State women who have advanced the cause of women, broken glass ceilings and left a lasting impact on women’s history. Judy Devine has been called the matriarch of Kent State University athletics. She arrived at Kent State in 1969 as a graduate assistant, coming from Colorado State University, where she played five varsity sports, earned 18 letters and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in health and physical education. She earned her master’s degree in heal...
Before the Golden Flashes took on the Akron Zips (and won 89-84!) Friday evening, Lamar R. Hylton, senior vice president for Kent State's Division of Student Affairs, inspired the fans at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center with his passionate performance of the national anthem and the hymn "Lift Every Voice and Sing." Want to see one of YOUR photos in “IN A FLASH?” Submit your Kent State-related photos to InAFlash@kent.edu and you may see them in a future Kent State Today post. Photos should be framed -horizontally - and include a brief description of what’s hap...
Many Kent State University students are interested in leadership positions both on campus and professionally. Ramona Hood, president and CEO of FedEx Custom Critical, started her journey as an entry-level employee and made her way up from there. In 2020 she became the first Black female president and CEO of a FedEx operating company. On Feb. 21, Hood spoke with Kent State’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and an array of College of Communication and Information students, staff and faculty. More than 100 guests eagerly crowded into FirstEnergy Interactive Auditorium in Fr...
Joshua R. Beacom, of Hartville, Ohio, is a junior in Kent State's Glauser School of Music. He said his major is music composition, so he "really doesn't sing or play guitar often." He was, however, singing and playing guitar very skillfully at Tuesday's Kent State Farmers' Market at the DI Hub. Beacom picked up some fans during his performance, as one shouted, "Play 'Wonderwall'!" as he returned from a break. Want to see one of YOUR photos in “IN A FLASH?” Submit your Kent State-related photos to InAFlash@kent.edu and you may see them in a future Kent State Today...
On Monday, students gathered inside Kent State's E. Timothy Moore Student Multicultural Center(SMC) for an event designed to nourish both body and spirit. “Feeding the Body and Soul” was a guided discussion about soul food that featured southern creole dishes from Kent State alumnus Will Matthews, ’19. Matthews is the owner and chef of Southern Comfort Kitchen restaurant and food truck. “Soul food is kind of what comes with the name: comforting,” said Matthews. “You, know, it warms you up inside. Soul food is like the bark of conversation, family unity. Everyone gathers a...
On Saturday, the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center on Kent State University's Kent Campus hosted the Ohio Interscholastic Wheelchair Basketball State Championship Game, presented by Adaptive Sports Ohio. Photo by Lisa Followay, CEO and president, Adaptive Sports Ohio The four-time champion, and defending champion, Wooster Generals faced off against the Austintown Falcons. "It was a defensive game," said Lisa Followay, CEO and president of Adapative Sports Ohio. The Generals outscored the Falcons 18-9. Want to see one of YOUR photos in “IN A FLASH?” Submi...
One of the leaders of Kent State University’s Anti-Racism Task Force is reflecting on the group’s success with an eye to the past. “The accomplishments of the task force are really grounded in the historic work of the Department of Africana Studies, Black United Students and many others,” said Amoaba Gooden, Ph.D., vice president for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, who heads the task force. President Todd Diacon announced the formation of the task force in fall 2020, challenging the university community to do better when addressing “racism and violence against Black Amer...
On a recent visit to the Western Reserve Historical Society, Sandra Morgan, director of external affairs and communications in Kent State's College of Arts and Sciences, came face-to-mask with a replica of one of her grandfather's inventions. The safety hood on display is a replica of one created by Cleveland inventor Garrett Morgan. In 1916, Morgan used his invention to rescue several workers trapped in a gas-filled waterworks tunnel under Lake Erie after an explosion. Morgan was a leader in Cleveland's Black community and his accomplishments include the invention of a traffic signal and h...