eInside Briefs

Westfield Insurance Foundation Pledges $500,000 to Endow Insurance Studies Program at Kent State

Kent State University has announced that the Westfield Insurance Foundation has made a commitment of $500,000 to the university. These funds will be used to support the Bachelor of Science Insurance Studies Program at Kent State, and to promote career opportunities within the insurance industry. In recognition of this donation, the Campus Tour Center located in the Kent Student Center has been named Westfield Insurance Campus Tour Center.

Training and retaining Ohio’s top talent is the goal of the new Insurance Studies Program at Kent State.

“The insurance industry provides a number of viable options for students interested in long-term career opportunities, including roles in accounting, entrepreneurship, finance, human resources, marketing, risk management and underwriting,” says Jim Clay, chairman and CEO of Westfield Insurance.

According to the 2016 Job Outlook, published by the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, Ohio’s insurance industry workforce is projected to grow by 7.1 percent. Kent State’s market research projects that the Ohio insurance industry will need nearly 17,000 more professionals by 2016, including more than 2,200 in Northeast Ohio.

“As the latest generation of insurance industries professionals begins to retire, we need a new group of talented individuals to carry on the mission of enabling our customers’ peace of mind and financial stability,” Clay adds.

“The Westfield Insurance endowment will support industry awareness and scholarships as part of the Insurance Studies Program,” says Steve Sokany, Kent State’s interim vice president for institutional advancement and executive director of the Kent State University Foundation. “As more students enroll in and complete the program, more career exploration and placement programming will be added to sustain student enrollment and job placement after graduation.”

“The new Insurance Studies Program offers our students long-term career opportunities in a major growth industry,” says Kent State President Beverly Warren. “This gift from Westfield Insurance is the cornerstone of a collaborative partnership that will provide the industry with well-trained and knowledgeable professionals who will become tomorrow’s business leaders.”

Westfield has served as a national leader in the insurance and banking industries for more than 166 years. The company serves as a leading advocate for the development of educational initiatives to encourage individuals to pursue careers in the insurance industry. Clay serves as co-chair of the Insurance Industry Resource Council (IIRC), a collaboration of 13 Ohio insurance companies focused on increasing statewide career awareness of the industry talent gap, formed in 2012 by Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Since 2010, Westfield, along with other industry representatives, has worked closely with Kent State University at Salem to establish an educational program linked to Ohio’s insurance industry.

For more information about Westfield Insurance, visit www.westfieldinsurance.com.

For more information about Kent State’s Insurance Studies Program, visit www.columbiana.kent.edu/academics/programs/insurance.

State of Ohio Presents Police Dog to Kent State

New K-9 unit joins Coco to patrol campus and aid neighboring communities

Officer Miguel Witt of Kent State's
Police Services poses with Dexter, Kent
State's new police dog.

(Photo credit: Ohio Department of Public
Safety)

Coco isn’t the only police dog on campus — anymore.

Kent State University’s Police Services is adding a second explosives detection K-9 unit with Dexter, an 18-month-old male Belgian Malinois, thanks to Ohio Homeland Security, a division within the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Together, Dexter, Coco and their handlers will patrol campus and also be available to assist neighboring communities as needed. Coco, a three-year-old German shepherd, became Kent State’s first police dog last fall.

“We had a wonderful opportunity to bring another K-9 unit to Kent State,” says John Peach, Kent State’s director of public safety and chief of police. “The Ohio Department of Public Safety used a homeland security grant to fund Dexter’s training and all of his expenses during his service as a police dog.”

Dexter will partner with Officer Miguel H. Witt, who is a 14-year veteran of Kent State’s Police Services. Witt and Dexter have been training together in Columbus, Ohio, for seven hours a day for the past five weeks. They will be patrolling campus starting mid-November.

“It’s been an incredible journey learning how to work together as a team,” Witt says. “You have to learn how to read the dog and what he’s telling you to do.”

Kent State will hold a news conference with the Ohio Department of Public Safety to introduce Dexter to the Kent State community on Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. in the Kent Student Center Ballroom Balcony, which is located on the third floor of the Kent Student Center. John Born, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and Richard Baron, executive director of Ohio Homeland Security, will present Dexter to the university. All are welcome to attend.

Peach says Dexter will be the third explosives detection dog in Portage County.

“Having Dexter provides a better ring of safety for neighboring communities who don’t have an explosives detection dog,” he says. “The primary focus is to keep the university safe, but there are multiple requests for our K-9 unit to help out elsewhere, whether it’s a sporting event or a large convention, like the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016, which we have committed to assist.”

For more information about Kent State Police Services, visit www.kent.edu/police.

Employee Discounts for Fashion School Store and Kent State Museum

Kent State University employees will receive a 25 percent
discount off anything at the Fashion School Store located
in downtown Kent on Dark-Grey Friday Discount Day,
Friday, Nov. 21, from noon to 7 p.m.

The Kent State University Fashion School Store invites Kent State employees to shop on Dark-Grey Friday Discount Day on Friday, Nov. 21, from noon to 7 p.m. Kent State employees receive 25 percent off anything in the store. The Fashion School Store is located in downtown Kent’s Acorn Alley II, next to Popped!

For more information about the Kent State Fashion School Store, visit http://www2.kent.edu/artscollege/fashion/FSStore/index.cfm.

The Kent State University Museum also is offering a 20-percent discount to Kent State employees on items in the Museum Store. The museum also offers free admission to Kent State employees.

For more information about the Kent State Museum, visit http://www2.kent.edu/museum/index.cfm.

Kent State Recycling Survey: Win a $20 Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Bottle or $10 Pint Cup

Kent State’s Office of Sustainability is
conducting an online survey of the Kent
Campus community.

Kent State University’s Office of Sustainability is conducting an online survey of students, faculty and staff members at the Kent Campus. The purpose of this survey is to gain insight into attitudes toward recycling, perspectives on the environment, awareness of on-campus waste-disposal options and related promotional campaigns, and relevant media-use habits among Kent State students, staff and faculty. Responses will be kept confidential.

Please visit http://kentstate.az1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_etji8ZINdqILzN3 by Dec. 7 to take our 15- to 20-minute survey. You must finish the survey in the same browsing session that you open it in. Once you have completed the survey, you may enter your email address to be entered into a random drawing for sustainability-related prizes, such as a $20 Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottle, a $10 Klean Kanteen stainless steel pint cup, a sustainability T-shirt, etc. A total of 12 bottles and 20 cups will be awarded in addition to other prizes. Please only take the survey one time.

Thank you for your participation. If you have any technical issues accessing the survey, please email wkelvin@kent.edu.

Kent State Partners With Portage County Health Department and EMA on Disaster Simulation Exercise, Nov. 18

Kent State University’s College of Nursing and College of
Public Health will collaborate with the Portage County
Health Department and the Emergency Management
Agency to stage a disaster simulation exercise at the
Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

Kent State University’s College of Nursing and College of Public Health are collaborating with the Portage County Health Department and the Emergency Management Agency (EMA) to stage a disaster simulation exercise. The “Point-of-Dispensing Exercise,” which involves a mock Anthrax release, triage and treatment site, will take place Tuesday, Nov. 18, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center.

The mock exercise allows the Portage County Health Department and the EMA to test the effectiveness of Portage County’s disaster plan. The event also offers training for Kent State community health nursing and public health students. Volunteers from the Medical Reserve Corps and Kent State faculty, staff and students will participate by acting as victims going through the triage and treatment stations during the simulation exercise. 

“This disaster simulation exercise is an excellent opportunity for nursing students to practice their triage and screening skills in a real-life situation and in a community setting,” says Pamela Rafferty-Semon, M.S.N., RN and lecturer at Kent State’s College of Nursing.

“This is a great learning experience to see how the incident command system goes into effect during a disaster event, and how local partners and agencies work to help people who are impacted by a disaster,” says John Staley, Ph.D., assistant professor in Kent State’s College of Public Health.

For more information about the Portage County Health Department, visit www.co.portage.oh.us/healthdepartment.htm.

For more information about Kent State’s College of Nursing, visit http://www2.kent.edu/nursing/.

For more information about Kent State’s College of Public Health, visit http://www2.kent.edu/publichealth/.