eInside Briefs

Kent State President Announces Leadership Transitions

Dear Members of the Kent State Family:

Among our university's greatest assets are the dedicated individuals who serve in academic and administrative leadership roles. I write today to let you know that two of these able and astute leaders have decided to begin new chapters in their lives and will be retiring from the university. Gregg Floyd will step down as senior vice president for Finance and Administration after the completion of a national search for his successor and a transitional period; and Greg Jarvie, vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Affairs (and a proud Kent State alumnus) will be leaving us at the end of July.

I know I speak for many of you as I express my deep gratitude to Vice Presidents Floyd and Jarvie for their years of outstanding service. They have always approached their roles with great integrity and with the best interests of the university — especially our students — foremost in mind. There will be ample opportunity for you to extend your own pats on the back and best wishes to these longtime leaders in the months ahead. In the meantime, you can be assured that I will work closely with each of them to ensure that the coming transitions in leadership are smooth, seamless and successful.

Best regards,

Beverly Warren
President, Kent State University

Kent State to Test Mass Notification System on March 24

The Kent State University Mass Notification System will
undergo campuswide testing on Tuesday, March 24,
between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

The Kent State University Mass Notification System will undergo campuswide testing on Tuesday, March 24, between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

The testing is required due to updates to the system that will expedite the process of alerting campus to threats and improve the overall ease of use. Select office phones marked with a red sticker that reads “MNS” will now display a written message in addition to the recording that plays on campus. Additionally, the changes will simplify the process for dispatchers when alerting the campus community.

"We are making it easier for dispatchers to activate the emergency alert system with a touch of a button," says Jeff Futo, Kent State police officer and emergency and safety specialist. "Integrating these systems to a touch of a button allows the dispatcher to send emergency alerts quickly and easily, and frees them up to perform all the other important tasks they need to do when a quickly evolving emergency occurs."

Futo also says the new feature will improve communication to those who are deaf or hearing impaired during an emergency.

The test, which should last between five to 10 minutes, will broadcast a test message, a lockdown/ active threat message, a tornado warning message and an all-clear message. Between these messages, Kent State Police Services will provide additional notifications indicating that these alerts are just a drill.

If problems with the Tuesday test occur, the system will be tested on Thursday, March 26, between 6 and
6:30 p.m.

If you have questions, contact Futo at jfuto@kent.edu or 330-672-1494.

Kent State’s Speech-language Therapy Services Provided to 100 Rural Students Via Video Conferencing

A student at Montpelier Schools receives
speech therapy services through
videoconferencing from a speech-language
pathologist, Robin Alvares, in Kent. The
student is accompanied by the eHelper, a
trained assistant, who is available during
the videoconferencing sessions.

Rural and underserved Ohio students are able to receive speech-language therapy services through Kent State University via an innovative online videoconferencing system. More than 100 children enrolled in preschool through high school with identified communication impairments from Montpelier Exempted Village Schools in northwest Ohio and Greenfield Exempted Village Schools in southeast Ohio are receiving speech-language therapy services through Kent State’s telepractice project.

Kent State faculty members Patty Chafin and Robin Alvares, Ph.D., are part of the telepractice project and provide needed therapy services through live, two-way interactive video conferencing to children five days a week.

Nationally and statewide, speech-language pathologists are in short supply, and these two school districts have had a difficult time recruiting and retaining qualified speech-language pathologists. Telepractice allows for their students to acquire much-needed services that they would otherwise not receive.

The students attend their sessions individually or in small groups of two to three students.  At the school site, the children are accompanied to their sessions by an assistant known as an eHelper who ensures that the technology is working, that the children are in view of the Web camera and also assists with other troubleshooting duties. 

As a pioneer in this field, Kent State’s Speech Pathology and Audiology program has trained five to six graduate students each semester to learn how to provide speech-language therapy services using the telepractice service delivery model since 2008. This opportunity helps to prepare students for a future work environment that will include a telehealth/telepractice model.

Future plans for the program include experimenting with telepresence robots to provide services directly within the regular education classroom and to increase collaboration among other professionals. 

For more information about Kent State’s Speech Pathology and Audiology program, visit www.kent.edu/ehhs/hs/spa.

Kent State Women’s Center Offers Digital Mammogram Screenings, April 1-3

The Kent State University Women’s Center will offer digital
mammogram screenings to qualified Kent State employees,
spouses and students at the DeWeese Health Center on
April 1, 2 and 3. Registration is required by March 30.

The Kent State University Women’s Center will offer digital mammogram screenings to qualified Kent State employees, spouses and students on April 1, 2 and 3. Registration is required by March 30.

A new provider Severance Radiology Services will make use of upgraded digital technology for the screenings. Mammograms will take 15 minutes and will be done in Room 135 of the DeWeese Health Center on the Kent Campus.

Each participant’s health insurance will be billed, or participants may self-pay.

If you have questions or want to schedule an appointment, call the Women’s Center at 330-672-9230.

Kent State Signs Agreements With South Korean University, Expanding Global Connections

Dankook University President Chang Ho-sung shakes
hands with Kent State University President Beverly
Warren after signing new agreements that expand the
relationship between the two institutions. Dankook
University is a private comprehensive research university
located in South Korea.

Kent State University President Beverly Warren signed two agreements with Dankook University of Seoul, South Korea, expanding existing partnerships. Dankook University President Chang Ho-sung joined Warren at the signing, which took place on March 12. “A top priority for Kent State is to expand our global reach and enhance opportunities for international exchange and collaboration,” Warren says.

Three formal agreements are currently in place between the two institutions: a Memorandum of Agreement, a Student Exchange amendment and an International Storytelling amendment. Kent State exchanges both students and faculty through the exchange program. Kent State students participate in Dankook University’s summer institute where Kent State faculty members are invited to teach. In exchange, Kent State hosts Dankook students.

Kent State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication has an award-winning course called International Storytelling. Dankook University will host student journalists from this Kent State program during the upcoming spring break.

The university presidents signed two new agreements. The first one is the “Visiting Student and Faculty Program Description.” This agreement is similar to the exchange program, but it will enable more students to attend Kent State as visiting, fee-paying students. The second agreement is the “Co-branding and Partnership Agreement-Florence Center.” This pact will allow Dankook University to use Kent State’s Florence Center as one of its study abroad locations.

Kent State’s original partnership with Dankook University was formally established in November 2013. 

“Our success with these activities created the opportunity for more collaboration,” says Sarah Malcolm, director of international partnerships, marketing and communications in Kent State’s Office of Global Education.

During the visit by the Dankook delegation, university officials explored additional areas of collaboration with Kent State’s College of Business Administration, College of the Arts and the School of Fashion, College of Architecture and Environmental Design, the College of Arts and Sciences and the Liquid Crystal Institute®. These areas of collaboration may range from degree programs to research initiatives.

One of the members of the South Korean group that visited is a Kent State alumnus. Jaedong Lee, associate vice president of Dankook University, received his Ph.D. in computer science from Kent State in 1996.

Dankook University is a private comprehensive research university. Its two-campus system is home to more than 29,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Dankook University boasts a strong tradition of research with more than 20 research institutes. Notable academic programs include the natural sciences, fashion, journalism, business and display engineering.

There are currently 32 South Korean students enrolled at Kent State. There have been 421 South Korean students enrolled since 2008. Since last summer, Kent State has sent five students to study at Dankook University. Kent State has sent 22 students to study in South Korea since fall 2011.

For additional information about Dankook University, visit www.dankook.ac.kr/web/eng.

For more information about Kent State’s Office of Global Education, visit www.kent.edu/globaleducation.