hyde park

The Kent State University School of Communication Studies will host the Spring 2018 Hyde Park Forum on Tuesday, April 24 in the Kent Student Center Ballroom at 7 p.m.

The event is an opportunity for students enrolled in the Introduction to Human Communication course to participate in a speech competition in front of an audience of peers, family and faculty. Judges rate students' performances to designate first, second, third and honorable mentions.

The forum will pit three students from the Fall 2017 semester against three students enrolled in the course this semester. The top three Fall 2017 qualifiers and their speech topics are Alexa Kwiatkowski, Sustainability in Fashion; Javon Miller, Basic Income Guarantee; and Rachel Eldering, Meditation.

The forum attracts an audience of about 900 people who then cast their votes to select the winner of the "Audience Choice Award."

This year’s Hyde Park Forum judges are:

• Robin Clark, APR, director of marketing at Akron Children’s Hospital. She directs advertising and marketing strategies to develop compelling messaging to grow the brand’s strength and sales.
• Tamara Frazier, 2017 Hyde Park Forum champion. Frazier is an advertising student at Kent State University and is currently interning with Aramark as a marketing intern. She lives by the quote, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are usually the ones that do.”
• Barbara Hatala, APR, communications manager, Americas Operations at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. She has set strategy and managed million dollar budgets for the company, while influencing behavior and perceptions through strategic communication programs.
• Lamar Hylton, Ph.D., Dean of Students, Kent State University. Hylton previously served as assistant vice provost for student life in the office for student affairs at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He is a first-generation college student and received his bachelor’s degree in vocal music-performance from Morgan State University before attending Ohio University for his master’s in college student personnel. He went on to obtain his doctorate in higher education administration from Morgan State.
• Mr. Ned Parks, Toastmaster extraordinaire, founder of Aegis360 Consulting and New Directions Learning & Development, a global provider of business consulting services. He also authored the book The Simple & Easy Manager: What Managers Need to Know Before They Need to Know It.

Kent State University’s School of Communication Studies has undergraduate degree programs with concentrations in organizational, applied, public, global, interpersonal and health communication. Graduate programs include master’s degrees in global, health, mediated/mass and interpersonal communication.

The Kent State University School of Communication Studies hosted its annual Hyde Park Forum on April 12, 2016, in the Kent Student Center Ballroom of the Kent State Campus. The forum is an opportunity for students enrolled in the Introduction to Human Communication class to engage in persuasive public discourse for an audience of peers, family and faculty. 

Students enrolled in the class during the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semester of the current academic year are eligible to compete in Hyde Park, providing a slate of speakers that can best present a persuasive speech within a five minute time frame. 

Judges rated student performances to designate first, second and third place as well as honorable mentions. This year’s forum included six speakers from a variety of majors to present to an audience of 900 students and guests.  

Speakers were presented scholarships ranging from $500 to $50. Winners of this year's Hyde Park Forum, their topic and instructors included:

• First place, Nicholas Larson: Modern Slavery and Fair Trade: Being a Voice to the Voiceless (Phillip Reed)
• Second place, Faith Medlock: On Drugs and Addiction: End the War, Start the Fight (Zachary Humphries)
• Third Place, Arkayla Tenney: Laughter is the Best Medicine (Shayna Fischer)

Receiving Honorable Mentions were:

• Dartalia Alati, Stigmatization of Mental Illness (Shayna Fischer)
• Molly Evans: The Sour Side of Sweet School Lunches (Kristen Hilfiger)
• John Wroblewski III: Too Little, Too Late (Sanguk Lee) 

Nicholas Larson was also selected as the recipient for the People’s Choice award. For the first time, attendees were able to vote for the People’s Choice award using the online app, Vox Vote, which made the voting process faster and more efficient.
Judges for the panel included:

• Jeff Child, Interim Director for the School of Communication Studies
• Erin Hollenbaugh, associate professor for the School of Communication Studies at the Stark Campus 
•  Amy Reynolds, Dean of the College of Communication and Information
• Dave Trebing, associate professor for the School of Communication Studies
• Lori Wemhoff, Executive Director of the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce and Central Portage County Visitors and Convention Bureau

The video recording of the speeches can be found online. 

The Kent State University School of Communication Studies will host its annual Hyde Park Forum on April 12, 2016, in the Student Center Ballroom on the Kent State Campus beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The event is an opportunity for students enrolled in the Introduction to Human Communication class to engage in persuasive public discourse for an audience of peers, family and faculty. Six students have been selected to compete from a variety of majors. Judges rate student performances to designate first, second, third and honorable mention. The forum, which typically draws around 900 people to the event, includes audience members casting their votes to select a speaker to receive the People’s Choice Award.  This year, attendees will be able to vote for their speaker choice using a new app, Vote Vox, to make the voting process faster and more efficient.

“Students enrolled during the Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 semester of the current academic year are eligible to compete, providing us a slate of speakers that can best present a persuasive speech within a five minute time frame,” Jennifer McCullough, Ph.D., basic course director and assistant professor in the School of Communication Studies, said.

The six students, their topics and instructors are as follows:

• Dartalia Alati: Stigmatization of Mental Illness (Shayna Fischer)
• Molly Evans: The Sour Side of Sweet School Lunches (Kristen Hilfiger)
• Nicholas Larson: Modern Slavery and Fair Trade: Being a Voice to the Voiceless (Phillip Reed)
• Faith Medlock: On Drugs and Addiction: End the War, Start the Fight (Zachary Humphries)
• Arkayla Tenney: Laughter is the Best Medicine ( Shayna Fischer)
• John Wroblewski III: Too Little, Too Late (Sanguk Lee)

Judges representing local civic and educational organizations will join the panel this year including:

• Amy Reynolds, dean of the College of Communication and Information
• Jeff Child, interim director for the School of Communication Studies
• Erin Hollenbaugh, associate professor for the School of Communication Studies at the Stark Campus
• Dave Trebing, associate professor for the School of Communication Studies
• Lori Wemhoff, executive director of the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce and Central Portage County Visitors and Convention Bureau

Kent State University’s School of Communication Studies has undergraduate degree programs with concentrations in Organizational, Applied, Public, Global, Interpersonal and Health Communication. Graduate programs include master’s degrees in Global, Health, Mediated/Mass and Interpersonal Communication.