eInside Briefs

Kent State’s Geraldine Hayes-Nelson Named President of Portage County NAACP

Geraldine Hayes-Nelson, executive
director of employee engagement,
climate and outreach in Kent State
University’s Division of Human
Resources, has been named president
of the Portage County NAACP.

Geraldine Hayes-Nelson, executive director of employee engagement, climate and outreach in Kent State University’s Division of Human Resources, has been named president of the Portage County NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Portage County Auditor Janet Esposito swore her in at a ceremony last month.

Hayes-Nelson, who has been deeply involved with the Portage County NAACP for years, was pleasantly surprised by the honor but quickly thought of the work that needs to be done.

“I love the NAACP, but in light of today’s times, I thought to myself, ‘This is going to take some work,’” she says with a laugh. “It’s a challenging time, and as I began to contemplate more, what really set in is that this is all about us working together for justice and equality.”

In her employee engagement role, Hayes-Nelson brings together the Division of Human Resources in collaboration with campus divisions and units in the delivery of employee appreciation and recognition programs. As an educator, Hayes-Nelson is proactive in engaging higher education and Ohio citizens at all levels in working together for change, and seeks avenues to address discrimination and social injustice.

Hayes-Nelson, who joined Kent State in 1993, has held various leadership roles, including serving as a board member of the Kent State President’s Commission on Inclusion, President of the Ohio Education Association Program Personnel (OEAOPP) for the Federal TRIO programs and chair of the Educational Committee of the Portage County NAACP, among many others. She has been the recipient of numerous honors including the Portage County NAACP Improving Educational Excellence Award.

Despite daunting challenges, Hayes-Nelson is anxious to get to work. She is committed to the overall mission of the NAACP. She joins the continued struggle to eradicate the tough issues related to racism, sexism, classism and all the injustices that impact the forward progress of equality and justice for all humankind.

“At the recent MLK prayer breakfast, we had nearly 20 Portage County ministers of all faiths come together,” she says. “To me, that was important because our future is with the young people, so working through faith-based organizations and their youth is one way to break down barriers.”

Hayes-Nelson is married to Donald F. Nelson. She is the mother of three, all of whom are proud Kent State graduates. She resides in Stow, Ohio.

For more information about Kent State’s Division of Human Resources, visit www.kent.edu/hr.

Show off Your Kent State Spirit

Join the Homecoming Committee

Do you have school spirit? The Kent State University Alumni Association is looking for motivated and enthusiastic faculty and staff members from every campus to serve on the 2015 Homecoming Committee.

This committee is responsible for the planning, coordination and promotion of Homecoming. Committee members are expected to attend four committee meetings and either plan an event or assist in promoting events. Interested individuals can contact Joy Wesoloski, Homecoming Committee chair, at jforema3@kent.edu or 330-672-5368.

Kent State Competes in RecycleMania Challenge for Sixth Year in a Row

Kent State University mascot Flash encourages members
of the university community to recycle. Kent State is
competing in this year's RecycleMania Challenge, which
promotes waste reduction activities on college campuses.

For the sixth year in a row, Kent State University is competing in the RecycleMania Challenge. RecycleMania is a competition for college and university recycling programs that helps to promote waste reduction activities in their campus communities.

The competition started on Feb. 1 and runs for eight weeks. Colleges report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are then ranked based on various categories. With each week’s rankings, schools track their own performance against each other. 

A regional tournament also is underway during the eight-week period between Kent State and the University of Akron based on the school that recycles the most per capita. The winner will receive the Braggin’ Wheel, a trophy made of recyclable materials, and bragging rights for a year.

Kent State has internal RecycleMania competitions including a Hall vs. Hall Challenge, a custodial area challenge, and weekly competitions for faculty and staff as well as weekly competitions for students with prize drawings.

Everyone at Kent State is a participant in RecycleMania. Those who reduce, reuse and recycle become part of the effort to prevent waste from going to landfills and contribute to Kent State’s standings in RecycleMania.

Kent State has improved each year it has participated in RecycleMania, says Melanie Knowles, Kent State’s sustainability manager. The goal this year, she adds, is to increase the diversion rate – the percentage of waste stream that is recycled instead of landfilled – from last year’s 23 percent to 35 percent.

“Each year, we increase our outreach around RecycleMania,” Knowles says. “New this year is a social media competition, including weekly challenges for faculty, staff and students. We really want to get people interested in RecycleMania and excited about the weekly competitions.”

Students can get involved in the social media competition by using #KSUrecycles on social media. Once students start hashtagging, they will be able to view what others are doing on a live tagboard. Students will be allowed to submit entries on Twitter and Instagram to participate in the weekly competitions.

“We hope that by adding the weekly competitions this year, it will make it easier for students to participate,” says Leah Graham, outreach and recycling coordinator at Kent State. “The prize rewards are a fun way for us to thank the campus community for the action everyone does every day to minimize waste on campus.”

At the end of the eight-week period, national recognition will be given to the winning schools in each category on the RecycleMania website and in a national press release. Each winning school also will receive an award made out of recyclable materials.

For more information about Kent State’s RecycleMania, visit www.kent.edu/sustainability/recyclemania.

Important Information about Final Grading of Spring 2015 First 5 Weeks (F1) Classes

Online final grading for Spring 2015 First 5 Weeks (F1) courses meeting from Jan. 12 through Feb. 15, 2015, begins Thursday, Feb. 12, via FlashFAST. Grading is also now available for any spring 2015 course section that was flexibly scheduled and has an end date no later than Feb. 15, 2015. The deadline for grading submission is midnight on Tuesday, Feb. 17. Any final grades for Spring 2015 First 5 Weeks (F1) courses not reported in FlashFAST by the grades processing deadline will have to be submitted using the Grade Change Workflow. These Spring 2015 First 5 Weeks (F1) courses will be available in the Workflow on Thursday, Feb. 19.

Incomplete Mark and NF/SF Grades

The administrative mark of IN (Incomplete) may be given to students who are unable to complete the work due to extenuating circumstances. To be eligible, undergraduate students must be currently passing and have completed at least 12 weeks of the semester. The timeline shall be adjusted appropriately for flexibly scheduled courses. Graduate students must be currently earning a C or better grade and are unable to complete the required work between the course withdrawal deadline and the end of classes. Instructors are required to complete and submit an Incomplete Mark Form to the department chair when an incomplete mark is assigned. Access the form from your Faculty Toolbox in FlashLine.

The grade NF (Never Attended–Fail) denotes that the student neither attended one class session nor formally withdrew from the course.

The grade SF (Stopped Attending–Fail) denotes that the student stopped attending the course and did not formally withdraw and must be accompanied by a date of last attendance in the course.

For complete information on university grading policies including Incomplete Mark and NF/SF grading policies, procedures and timelines, please visit the Grading Policies and Procedures section in the university catalog at www.kent.edu/catalog.

To access FlashFAST, login to FlashLine from www.kent.edu (click FlashLine Login from top right menu bar) then click the Faculty & Advisor Tools tab. Locate the Faculty Toolbox, and select Final under the Submit Grades heading.

Troubleshooting TIP: FlashFAST is accessible from any Internet-capable computer that has the cookies function enabled. We recommend that you clean out your cookie and cache files regularly to help your computer run faster, and to potentially restore and/or improve your access to FlashFAST and/or FlashLine by improving your connection to the server. Our Helpdesk is prepared to offer assistance with these issues. Please contact them at 330-672-HELP (4357) for one-on-one assistance and technical issues.

Kent State in Running for $200,000 in “Together for Safer Schools” Grant Program

The Kent State University community is encouraged to
vote for the university in Stanley Security’s “Together for
Safer Schools” grant program where two winners share
up to $275,000 in Stanley Security products and services.
The grant will enhance safety for Kent State's residence
halls.

Kent State University is a finalist in Stanley Security’s “Together for Safer Schools” grant program in which two winners share up to $275,000 in Stanley Security products and services.

The winner of the grant is determined by the number of votes the university receives by Feb. 13. Students, faculty, administrators, parents, alumni and members of the campus community are encouraged to vote for Kent State daily via three different channels:

• Text “kentedu” to 334455
  
• Tweet #STANLEYSecurity and #kentedu on Twitter
• Search and vote for Kent State at www.StanleySaferSchools.com
  

Participants get one vote per person per method of voting per day. 

The top two colleges or universities with the most votes in each of three size categories will be selected as grant winners. Kent State is in Tier 3. The college or university with the most votes will win one grand prize of $200,000 in Stanley Security products and services. One runner-up will win a prize of $75,000 in Stanley Security installed products and services. Winners will be notified in March.

Jill Church, Kent State’s director of residence services, says the grant will benefit the university because safety is a top priority, and the money will help the university enhance safety efforts.

“We want to stay on top of the latest and greatest to ensure we continue to have safe residence halls,” Church says.

If selected as the winner, Kent State will use the grant money to continue to update and replace security and lock systems in its 25 residence halls. This includes systems like video surveillance in public areas, panic buttons, advanced locks on residence hall doors and automatic entrances.

“The grant is an avenue to help defray some of the costs associated with our current and future access and security in the residence halls,” says Church.