eInside Briefs

Sculpture Walk to be Dedicated April 13

On Wednesday, April 13, Kent State University will hold a dedication ceremony for the Kent State University Sculpture Walk. The sculpture walk currently consists of four works of art along the University Esplanade, the pedestrian walkway through campus, with plans to add more pieces on campus and extending into the city of Kent.

Free and open to the public, the dedication begins at 10 a.m. in the Kent Student Center Kiva during the university's annual Spring for the Arts week. A coffee bar and refreshments will be available prior to the start of the program. The program includes a slideshow of the public art pieces and brief comments from a representative from the Ohio Arts Council and the four artists whose art appears along the sculpture walk. The artists are:

• Cleveland sculptor Giancarlo Calicchia – The piece, titled Athleta, is part of Calicchia's series The Witnesses. The stones used in the piece were all created from boulders left behind after the glaciers retreated. Calicchia excavated the granite monoliths, some as deep as 12 feet, from his vineyard and surrounding farm in Madison Township in Lake County.

• Kenyon College art professor Barry Gunderson of Gambier, Ohio – His piece is called Eye to Eye and is a response to the human mind and how it works. It also is a tribute to the Department of Psychology.

• Susan Ewing, associate dean of the School of Fine Arts at Miami University and resident of Oxford, Ohio – Her piece, titled Starsphere 2010, relates to the First Amendment of the Constitution and is aptly located near the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the north end of Franklin Hall in the University Esplanade Circle.

• Sculptor Jarrett Hawkins of Deer Park, Ohio – His abstract piece, Limits of Spoken Language: Congeries, made of Corten Steel is located in Risman Plaza (the plaza in front of the Kent Student Center).

Following the program, attendees will be encouraged to visit the public art pieces and learn more about them from the artists responsible for these works, weather permitting.

The four works of art that appear along the University Esplanade are part of the Ohio Percent for Art Program. A 13-member committee that included staff members from Kent State's Office of the University Architect, university employees, two members from the local art community and a regional member from the Cleveland area, along with the Ohio Arts Council, chose the artists from a pool of applicants, all of whom are artists from Ohio. The finalists were chosen after presenting their sculpture concept proposals.

The Ohio Percent for Art Program requires that one percent of state funds of $4 million or more for building or renovation be used for the commissioning or acquiring and installing art works. The law was established in 1990 by the Ohio Legislature, and it is administered by the Ohio Arts Council. Kent State's project, the Kent State University Sculpture Walk, was the idea of Tom Euclide, the university's associate vice president for facilities planning and operations.

The city and community will be adding more art to the walk as Kent's downtown development project continues. Several pieces have already been commissioned by Kent developer Ron Burbick for inclusion within Acorn Alley, a retail development in downtown Kent.

To watch a video about the sculpture walk, visit www.kent.edu/news/video/sculpturewalk.cfm. To view an interactive map of all of the sculptures on the Kent Campus, visit http://maps.kent.edu/sculptures.html.

For more information on the Kent State University Sculpture Walk dedication event, contact Lashonda Taylor at 330-672-2220 or ltaylo33@kent.edu. Posted April 11, 2011

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Nominate Your Favorite Faculty Member for the Distinguished Teaching Award

Honor that unforgettable faculty member and share your favorite classroom memories of how he or she inspired you — submit a nomination for the Distinguished Teaching Award today.

Sponsored by the Kent State Alumni Association, the Distinguished Teaching Award is the university's most prestigious honor in teaching for full-time, tenure-track faculty. The award is presented annually to three full-time faculty members who demonstrate extraordinary teaching in the classroom and a devotion to touching the lives of students. Qualified nominees include Kent State tenure-track faculty who are currently employed by the university.

Submit a nomination now!

Eligibility requirements include:

1. A faculty member must have been on a full-time teaching contract at anyKent State University campus for a minimum of seven years, including the current academic year.

2. A faculty member must have taught at least one course in two of the three semesters during each of those seven academic years. (For purpose of the awards, summer sessions are considered one semester and the academic year extends from the beginning of fall semester through summer session of the following calendar year.)

3. Current Distinguished Teaching Award recipients are not eligible. View a list of past recipients here.

You can nominate your favorite professor NOWby visiting the online form or by clicking on the golden
apple icon on the front page of the Kent State alumni online community.
 
Deadline for nominations is June 30, 2011.

Posted April 11, 2011

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Today’s Students Help Publish an Ancient Work

Kent State University students will soon have the chance to analyze and decipher an original Greek papyrus from antiquity, as part of a research project through the Green Scholars Initiative.

Dr. Scott Carroll, curator of the Green collection and principal investigator, visited campus last month to meet the participating students and show them the artifact.

The Green Collection is among the world's largest collections of ancient texts including papyri, medieval manuscripts and cuneiform tablets. The Green Scholars Initiative was founded in order to involve undergraduates in the study of ancient manuscripts.

“The Green Scholars Initiative represents a major paradigm shift in the world of scholarship,” Carroll says. “We place priceless, important unpublished items in the hands of capable professors who predominately work with undergraduates. These professors and students follow the direction of the world's leading scholars to bring these priceless items to publication.”

Jennifer Larson, Ph. D., chairperson and faculty member in the Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies, was selected to serve as the scholar-mentor on this project.

Larson, who specializes in ancient Mediterranean religions and mythologies and Greek poetry, will be working with a group of honors undergraduates to publish the ancient Greek papyrus. She said undergraduates rarely get this type of opportunity, which is usually reserved for graduate students and professionals.

“They’ll get first-hand experience working with a text that’s thousands of years old,” Larson says. “This initiative turns the usual academic process on its head by getting undergraduates involved in the research and publication of a papyrus.”

Larson and Victoria Bocchicchio, special assistant in the Honors College, held an essay competition to select four deserving honors students based on their aptitude, interest and enthusiasm for learning.

Freshman Heather Benya, a pure mathematics major, said she was “floored” when she found out she was chosen to participate in the project.

“I could only dream of being able to handle an original ancient Greek document at the age of 19,” Benya says. “I am so honored to not only be able to be a part of the team that will be identifying and publishing the ancient Greek papyri, but also to be able to work with Dr. Carroll and Dr. Larson.”

Kayla Zatezalo, a freshman crafts major concentrating in jewelry, is grateful she was selected for this experience because of her passion for history.

“I love the Greco-Roman time period because of their unique religion and culture, and it is just overwhelming to think that we will be holding and translating a text that was possibly written by Plato,” Zatezalo says. “I guess my passion for the subject is what won them in the end, and I am looking forward to living up to their expectations.”

Students will determine what time period the papyrus is from and what it says. Right now it’s a mystery.

The Green Scholars Initiative will provide specialized training through seminars and webinars to teach scholar-mentors and junior scholars how to handle, analyze and decipher an ancient handwritten document.

“Whether or not they use this research in their careers in the future, it is still something that they’ll remember,” Larson says.

Kent State is among a group of 10 universities selected to participate in the Green Scholars Initiative. Other universities include Baylor University, Bethel University, Biola University, Gordon College, North Central University, Oklahoma University, Rice University, Trinity Western University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

This project is a collaborative effort between the College of Arts and Sciences, The Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies and the Honors College.

For more information about the Green Scholars Initiative, visit http://www.greenscholarsinitiative.org/

By Stefanie Moore

 

Posted April 11, 2011

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Incomplete Grading Default Deadline Approaching

Effective Spring 2011, the Office of the University Registrar will no longer allow a one-week grace period for the finalization of incomplete grades before those grades default. From now on, those grades will default at the end of the grading window, as part of the end-of-term processing conducted by the Office of the University Registrar. The change is being made in order to provide academic departments and colleges with more complete and accurate information to be used in the evaluation of students who may be subject to academic probation or dismissal.

All grade changes are to be completed through the Grade Change workflow, found on the "Faculty and Advisor Tools" tab of FlashLine. Please remember that the grade change process includes multiple approval levels before reaching the Office of the University Registrar for processing. Therefore, we ask that all changes to incomplete grades be initiated within the workflow by April 29, when the grading window opens for spring semester courses.

Incomplete grades default on the following schedule:

• Undergraduate courses — incompletes assigned for spring and summer term courses default at the end of the fall semester. Incompletes assigned for fall semester default at the end of the spring semester.
• Graduate courses — incompletes default at the end of the corresponding term one year later.

Once an incomplete grade has defaulted, no requests for late changes to this grade will be honored without proof of significant extenuating circumstances.

For additional information, contact Jeff Gardner, associate registrar, at 330-672-1615.
Posted April 11, 2011

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Kent State Completes App Availability to Smart Phone Users

All major smart phone users now have access to Kent State's mobile application, KSUMobile, with the addition of the BlackBerry.

Reflecting the features of the iPhone and Android app, BlackBerry users have access to news, events, the university directory, maps, videos and images.

The application was initially released in October for the iPhone, and has currently been downloaded to 2,486 iPhones. Phase two, coming soon, will allow users to obtain library materials, sports scores and a list of courses. Phase three arrives later this spring with a virtual tour of the university, as well as a bus schedule.

This past July, the Division of Information Services and University Communications and Marketing partnered with Blackboard, a company that works to transform the educational experience, to develop the free apps.

Recent Kent State Web visitor statistics show that nearly 67,000 visits to kent.edu came from mobile devices. Almost half of those visits came from users of Android smart phones.

For more information about the Kent State mobile apps, contact the Web Team at webteam@kent.edu.

By Erin Orsini

Posted April 11, 2011

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Teaching Scholars Faculty Program Expands, Seeks Applicants by April 18

The Teaching Scholars Faculty Program promotes shared scholarly inquiry into teaching and learning. The 2011-2012 cohort will be the first to include all full-time faculty at Kent State University. Those interested in conducting scholarly examinations of strategies designed to enhance student learning are encouraged to apply. The program continues to be built around collaborative relationships with interdisciplinary faculty colleagues and student associates engaging in the scholarly examination of learning.

The primary goal of this newly re-formatted program is to support faculty in the design, implementation and assessment of scholarly projects that identify and create significant learning environments.

The broad aims of the program include:

• Assessing, developing and enhancing student learning
• Building an interdisciplinary community of scholars around learning and teaching

• Building strategies for the scholarly study of student learning

• Identifying, through research, elements of significant learning environments 

The benefits of the program for participants include: 

• Participating in a yearlong program that focuses on the scholarship of learning and teaching

• The development of collegial relationships across disciplines

• Participation at one funded conference on learning, teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning

• A one-course load reallocation in teaching during either the fall or spring semester of the program year

• Working with a student associate of the participant's choice

• Developing methods for studying, documenting and assessing learning and teaching.

Eligibility: All full-time faculty members of any rank within Kent State University.

Application: Due on or before Monday, April 18, 2011. CLICK HERE to apply.

Notification will be sent out by Monday, May 2, 2011.

For additional information, contact David Dees at ddees@kent.edu.

Posted April 11, 2011

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Does Your Department Charge for Goods and Services? Campus Departments Now Can Accept Online Payments

The Bursar's Office provides eMarket software that assists campus departments with the flexibility of conducting business online by using storefronts or checkouts.  Higher One's CashNet suite of payment services is the software that is used to set up various storefronts and checkouts.  There are currently more than 60 campus departments set up to accept payments online. 

To find out more, plan to attend an eMarket online payment presentation at the next Business Administrator Services Forum on April 13, 2011, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Kent Student Center's Governance Chambers.

Campus departments can use CashNet for various purposes such as:

Conference and Event Registration

• Planning a conference, workshop, banquet or other types of events.  Your department can provide an online registration for event planning.

Products

•  T-shirts, posters, calendars, books, journals, papers, videos and CDs, etc. 

If your department has a product, sell it via the department website to reach a large customer base and automate the credit card verification and settlement process.

CashNet is payment card industry compliant, protects our customer's financial information, personal privacy and protects the university's assets.  CashNet's many user benefits include:

•          Payments accepted are Visa, Mastercard, Discover and ACH (electronic check)
•          Post photos and description of items
•          Create, manage and operate a storefront using you own department URL
•          Retrieve detailed department reports
•          Departments determine what general ledger funds will be credited
•         All transactions will be stored in the CashNet database for auditing and reporting.

For more information on setting up a storefront/checkout, please contact Pamela Wilkes at pwilkes@kent.edu or Les Carter at lcarter@kent.edu or call the Office of the Bursar at 330-672-2626.

Posted April 11, 2011

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College of Education, Health and Human Services to Pilot Program on Student Support

Kent State University was selected as one of 27 universities nationally to receive funding from the U.S. Department of Higher Education to develop a program known as "Transition in Postsecondary Settings for Students with Intellectual Disabilities."  This program allows youth with intellectual disabilities who would otherwise not be eligible to live on a campus to use the university setting as a safe place to become independent. Currently, only 27 percent of students with intellectual disabilities go on to become employed and even fewer learn to live outside of their parent's home.

The program, known as the Career and Community Studies Program on campus, will include 20 students with intellectual disabilities between the ages of 18 and 22.  The students will participate in university coursework, employment, recreation and independent living experiences that are designed to help these students become employed and live more independently after graduation. They will audit or attend courses related to their career interests, participate in university recreational and cultural offerings and earn income by working on campus. 

By the end of federal funding, it is anticipated that all students with intellectual disabilities who want to attend Kent State's Career and Community Studies Program will be eligible for financial aid available to other university students.

The Career and Community Studies Program will not only benefit students with intellectual disabilities, but it also will provide valuable training and experience to Kent State students who are in training as special education teachers and rehabilitation specialists.

This program will be directed by the Center for Innovation in Transition and Employment at Kent State under the direction of Robert Baer, Ph.D. and Robert Flexer, Ph.D. 

Applications are currently being accepted for the pilot phase of this program through April 15, 2011. 

For more information, contact Yvonne Hale at yhale@kent.edu or 330-672-0729. The website for Career and Community Studies is www.CollegeforID.com. Posted April 11, 2011

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