| News BriefsReturn to Issue of Aug. 17, 2009
Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Search Progresses to Candidate Visits The Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion search committee has recommended four candidates to President Lester A. Lefton for campus interviews. All members of the university and broader communities are invited to attend open sessions with each of the candidates, all of which will be held in the University Library on the Kent Campus. The candidates and their open session times are as follows:
For additional information about the position, see the e-Inside article or contact Dr. Charlene Reed at creed2@kent.edu. Volunteers Needed for Home Football Concessions 
Volunteer to help raise funds for a good cause and be part of football excitement.
Volunteers are needed to staff the concession stands at Kent State’s home football games. A percent of the proceeds will go to Kent State United Way Special Events. Six to eight volunteers are needed per game. Volunteers need to arrive an hour and a half to two hours before the game begins and should expect to be there for five to seven hours. Volunteers are needed at the following games:
Those interested in volunteering should contact Barbara Boltz at bboltz@kent.edu or 330-672-1306 at least one week prior to the game at which you are interested in volunteering.
Kent State Auctions Offers Two Tickets to Centennial Starner Distinguished Speaker Series Reception
Bidding has now started on tickets to meet one of Kent State University’s most famous alums: Lou Holtz. Ticket winners will have the opportunity to attend a pre-speech reception on Sept. 9 in the Kent Student Center at 5:30 p.m. with Holtz before his sold-out Starner address. Heavy hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will be served and reserved seating for the speech will be available for all reception guests. Holtz, a 1959 graduate, is one of Kent State’s most successful and well-known alumni. He is the only coach to lead six different football programs to bowl games and won the title of National Coach of the Year three times. Individuals interested in placing a bid may visit the Kent State Auctions site. All proceeds from Kent State Auctions go to benefit Golden Flash student athletes. Bidding on the tickets will close Aug. 20 at 3 p.m. Legal Briefs: What You Need to Know About the Family and Medical Leave Act “Legal Briefs” appears in e-Inside monthly to keep faculty and staff informed of legal issues and their implications. Content is provided by the Office of the University Counsel, whose mission is to ensure high-quality legal services to Kent State University in a timely, cost-effective manner, to reduce litigation and to ensure legal compliance. An archive of Legal Briefs from 2008 and past years is available online. What is FMLA? The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides Kent State faculty and staff the opportunity to balance the demands of the workplace and family by providing paid or unpaid leave for certain medical reasons. The FMLA is federal legislation that requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of regular unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for certain family and medical reasons. Additional legislation in 2008 provides for “Military Family Leave,” which entitles up to 26 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees to care for an injured covered U.S. service member. Who’s eligible for FMLA leave and how is it taken? Eligible Kent State employees must have been employed by the university for at least 12 months (not consecutively and subsequent to any five-year break in service) and have worked 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the FMLA leave request. An eligible employee may take up to 12 weeks (480 hours) of leave during a rolling-calendar year (the rolling-calendar year begins from the date of the first approved FMLA absence) for qualified FMLA absences. The 12 weeks are prorated for eligible part-time employees. The leave may be taken all at once or on an intermittent basis if medically necessary. What events qualify for FMLA Leave? The following situations are eligible for FMLA leave:
Is FMLA leave paid? In general, any work absence that meets the standards for FMLA is considered to be unpaid leave. However, the FMLA leave will run concurrently with the employee’s accrued sick, personal, vacation and/or unpaid temporary disability/child care leave. Employees who make use of FMLA are required to use any accrued sick hours for their own serious health condition and may use accrued vacation or sick hours if the leave is for covered family members. Once all accrued leave has been exhausted employees will then be placed on unpaid FMLA leave. How much notice is the employee required to give? If possible, the employee must give a 30-day notice that FMLA is needed. In all other cases, the employee should provide notice as soon as possible after becoming aware of the need for leave. What documentation must be provided? Employees must submit written certification from a licensed health care provider to verify the need for FMLA. If medical certification is not provided, the request may be denied. The employee must provide the documentation to the Benefits Office within 15 calendar days from the time the FMLA request is made.
Additional information regarding FMLA leave can be found online or by reading administrative policy 3342-6-11.11 . For questions, contact the Benefits Office at 330-672-3107 or benefits@kent.edu .
Fifth Annual Poynter Kent State Media Ethics Workshop Comes to Franklin Hall Sept. 17 
Janet Leach
“What Values?” is the theme of the Fifth Annual Poynter Kent State Media Ethics Workshop, to be held by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Franklin Hall. The program takes place Sept. 17, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Franklin Hall’s First Energy Interactive Auditorium, which offers live video streaming, televised recordings of the proceedings, live blogging and cyber-links for distant guests. This year’s workshop will be “wired and wireless,” meaning some speakers will join the conversation virtually and some will be in Franklin Hall in person. The Poynter Institute, Kent State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Kent’s Media Law Center for Ethics and Access together produce the annual Ethics Workshop with support from local media. The Online News Association is the program’s partner.
The registration fee for faculty and staff is $15. Students are free, but they must register. Contact Darlene Contrucci at dcontruc@kent.edu or call 330-672-2623 to complete the registration process. National Science Foundation Requesting Merit Reviewers 
The National Science Foundation is in need of expertise in a wide range of fields to evaluate the proposals submitted to this competition. If you have an interest in participating in the merit review, go to the program Web site. Northeast Ohio Universities’ Business Competition Provides Varied Experiences 
Entrepreneurship Immersion Week provided varied experiences.
Teams of students from Ashland University, Baldwin Wallace College, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, John Carroll University, Kent State University and The University of Akron were involved in an intense, weeklong Entrepreneurship Education Consortium that culminated with each team developing a business plan and being judged by an outside panel of entrepreneurs. On the evening of Tuesday, Aug. 12, the Entrepreneurship Immersion Week students had the chance to participate in a murder mystery dinner as part of the team-building component of the educational experience. Actors made the experience more real. At the end of the evening, everyone had to guess the identity of the murderer. Entrepreneurship and Education Consortium Board members attended the awards luncheon on Friday, Aug. 14, where the scholastic teams were honored.
The first place team received $4,000 for its winning concept called Greenolies, described as “edible utensils with a bite.” The team represented Cleveland State University but was formed out of students from four universities. Members included Nader Baraty and Michael Matousek from Kent State University, John Adams from Cleveland State University, Ryan Kinnan from The University of Akron and Molly Gabriel from Baldwin-Wallace College. Return to Issue of Aug. 17, 2009  |
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Mary Grace A. Almandrez is assistant dean, multicultural student services, at the University of San Francisco. Her open session will be Aug. 25 from 2:00-3:00 p.m. in the Urban Conference Room (note time and room change). 
Dr. Alfreda Brown, most recently interim chief diversity officer, Office of the President, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). Her open session will be Aug. 24 from 12:45-1:45 p.m., in the Urban Conference Room. 
Dr. Sumita Furlong, founder, Institutional Globalization Consultants (IGC). Her open session will be Aug. 20 from 4:15-5:15 p.m., in the Urban Conference Room. 
Dr. M. Cookie Newsom, is the director of diversity education and assessment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her open session will be Aug. 21 from 12:45-1:45 p.m. in the Urban Conference Room.