eInside Briefs
News Briefs
- President’s Symposium on Student Retention Takes Place Nov. 29
- Six Educators Honored At 18th Annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference
- Kent State, Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine Make Progress in Merger Talks
- Submit Your Photos from the 60s for Kent State’s May 4 Visitors Center Exhibit
- Kent State Presidents — Past and Present
- Wick Poetry Center Presents Poets Maggie Anderson and Mira Rosenthal
- Kent State Dodgeball Club Plays for a Good Cause
- UCommute Offers Commuter Students Home Away From Home
- Psychology Professor Addresses Hoarding Disorder at Kent State Event
President’s Symposium on Student Retention Takes Place Nov. 29
Dr. George Kuh will speak about student
success and retention at the President's
Symposium on Nov. 29.
Members of the Kent State community are invited to join a universitywide discussion about student success on Tuesday, Nov. 29, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Kent Student Center Ballroom.
Dr. George Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, will discuss “Building a Blueprint to Graduation: Retention and Persistence” at the symposium. Kuh is the founding director of the Center for Postsecondary Research and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Lunch will be provided.
RSVP at www.kent.edu/provost between Monday, Nov. 7, and Monday, Nov. 21.
The symposium is sponsored by the Office of the President and Academic Affairs.
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Six Educators Honored At 18th Annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference
Six Kent State educators were honored for their achievements in the classroom during the 18th annual Celebrating College Teaching conference on Oct. 28.
Three faculty members received the Kent State University Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award (DTA), for demonstrating extraordinary teaching in the classroom and a commitment to impacting the lives of students.
Three faculty members also received the Outstanding Teaching Award (OTA), sponsored by the University Teaching Council, which honors full-time, nontenure-track and part-time faculty who consistently demonstrate extraordinary skill in classroom teaching.
Recipients of the DTA awards are:
George Garrison, Department of Pan-African Studies, Kent Campus
Gary Hanson, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Kent Campus
Susan Taft, College of Nursing, Kent Campus
Recipients of the OTA awards are:
Paula Dancie, School of Fashion Design and Merchandising, Kent Campus
David Dumpe, Department of Finance, Kent Campus
Richard Stanislaw, Department of Political Science, Kent Campus
More information about each recipient will be featured in future issues of e-Inside.
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Kent State, Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine Make Progress in Merger Talks
Kent State University and the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine (OCPM) issued a statement acknowledging that their two organizations are making significant progress in talks designed to merge OCPM into Kent State. For OCPM, a merger with a comprehensive research university is part of its strategic plan to take the podiatric school to the next level in teaching and research. Kent State views a merger with the podiatric school as having strategic research and teaching synergies with the university’s health and science departments. There is not a specific timeline for finalizing the talks, but both organizations are highly motivated to quickly complete the necessary due diligence that would bring a full proposal to their boards for final approval.
Founded in 1916, OCPM is the only accredited podiatry school in Ohio. It is one of eight accredited podiatric schools in the United States and is a private, not-for-profit, four-year, graduate-level medical college, granting the degree of Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (DPM). OCPM has graduated more than 5,000 podiatrists. Currently, the school maintains an average four-year total enrollment of 430 students. OCPM annually graduates approximately 110 students with the DPM degree.
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Submit Your Photos from the 60s for Kent State’s May 4 Visitors Center Exhibit
The May 4 Visitors Center at Kent State will tell the May 4
story, set against the political and cultural changes of the
1960s.
Kent State faculty, staff, alumni and community members are asked to contribute to the development of the new May 4 Visitors Center by uploading pictures that show what people looked like, what they experienced and what they cared about in the 60s.
The May 4 Visitors Center at Kent State will tell the May 4 story, set against the political and cultural changes of the 1960s. The center will be located in Taylor Hall, adjacent to the May 4 Memorial on the Kent Campus.
“Selected photos will be displayed in the May 4 Visitors Center’s first gallery, which sets the May 4 story in its time,” says Laura Davis, professor of English and faculty coordinator for May 4 initiatives. “We’re looking for home photos taken between 1950 and 1970. We’d like to show people from all walks of life, engaging in their everyday lives in the 60s.”
Photos will be reviewed weekly, and a prize will be awarded for the favorite photo of the week. The winner will receive a May 4 40th commemoration T-shirt, which was designed by a student. The deadline to submit your photos is Monday, Nov. 21.
For guidelines and to upload a picture, visit www.kent.edu/about/history/may4/virtualtour/photos/.
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Kent State Presidents — Past and Present
Kent State President Lester A. Lefton with past presidents
Carol Cartwright and Michael Schwartz at Dix Stadium during
a football match between the Golden Flashes and Bowling
Green State University.
Kent State University President Lester A. Lefton was joined by his predecessors, former Kent State presidents Carol Cartwright (1991-2006) and Michael Schwartz (1982-1991), at Dix Stadium to watch the Kent State Golden Flashes football team. The Golden Flashes beat Bowling Green State University on Oct. 29 by a score of 27-15. Coincidentally, Cartwright also served as Bowling Green’s president up until her retirement this past June.
Between Lefton, Cartwright and Schwartz, their combined leadership of the university spans almost three decades. Their contributions have led to making Kent State the number one public university in Northeast Ohio with the largest enrollment and highest graduation rate in the region.
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Wick Poetry Center Presents Poets Maggie Anderson and Mira Rosenthal
Wick Poetry founder and former director
Maggie Anderson returns to Kent State
on Nov. 16.
On Wednesday, Nov. 16, the Wick Poetry Center will host poets Maggie Anderson and Mira Rosenthal at 7:30 p.m. at the Kent Student Center Kiva.
Anderson, who recently judged Kent State’s annual Wick Poetry Prize in 2010, is a Kent State professor emerita. She has four books of poems, including most recently, Windfall: New and Selected Poems, and served as editor to four anthologies of poetry.
Anderson was the founder and director of the Wick Poetry Center, and also served as an editor for Wick Poetry and Kent State University Press from 1992-2010. She was presented with numerous fellowships for her poetry, and her return to the university is highly anticipated.
Rosenthal, currently a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, is a previous 2010 Wick Poetry Prize winner for her book the Local World. Along with this piece, she has also written two volumes of poetry translations. Many of those translations, as well as various poems, have been published in both literary journals and anthologies.
Rosenthal has also been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the PEN American Center, the MacDowell Colony and the Fulbright Commission.
For more information, please visit www.kent.edu/wick or call the Wick Poetry Center at 330-672-2067.
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Kent State Dodgeball Club Plays for a Good Cause
Club seeks faculty and staff involvement in tournaments
Kent State dodgeballer Josh Sayre goes on the offensive
during a match.
More than 40 Kent State University students have banded together with the Student Recreation and Wellness Center to form the university’s official Dodgeball Club.
While the club has been around since 2002, more student and faculty members get involved each year either as players or spectators.
This semester, the club has several events planned to keep that momentum, including a charity event in partnership with Alpha Phi Omega, a service fraternity.
Kyle Fitzpatrick, senior zoology major and dodgeball captain, along with Kaitlin Forister, senior fashion design major and fraternity treasurer, planned the event to raise money for a charity of the players’ choice. Those without a charity in mind were able to choose from a list.
“I’m excited to be able to play one of my childhood games for a great cause,” says Forister.
Dodgeball is a regular club on campus that practices most Tuesday nights from 8:30-10 p.m. Practice tournaments are played every Friday from 4-7 p.m. The club’s first official tournament of the semester was played at Bowling Green State University on Oct. 23. Competitors included Bowing Green, The Ohio State University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University and Saginaw Valley State University. Kent State was victorious against Bowling Green’s team, and a close second to the others.
“Dodgeball gives people a chance to compete on a collegiate level without the high demands of your traditional sport,” says Ryan Menn, who serves as the student co-captain. “We’d really like to try and get more students and faculty involved.”
All are welcome to support the Dodgeball team at home tournaments, or visit the center to participate in the heated matches. For more information and admission costs, visit the center’s website at www.kent.edu/recservices/index.cfm or contact Fitzpatrick at kfitzpa2@kent.edu. Just be sure to bring your game face!
For more general information about dodgeball clubs, visit www.ncdadodgeball.com.
For more information about Alpha Phi Omega and its upcoming benefits, contact Forister at kforiste@kent.edu.
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UCommute Offers Commuter Students Home Away From Home
Students study and relax in the Fab Fourth commuter
lounge on the fourth floor of the University Library.
Seventy-five percent of students on the Kent Campus are commuters. Because student success is a top priority, the university provides services and resources that serve those students’ particular needs. In August, a new office called UCommute opened to support off-campus and commuter students, with the mission to engage commuter students in campus life and to advocate for their unique needs.
Rebecca Kapler, a recent graduate of the higher education and student personnel master’s program at Kent State, is the coordinator of the UCommute office. Kapler’s office is located on the fourth floor of University Library in Room 418C, next to the Writing Commons. Kapler's work involves shaping programming and developing resources for commuter students.
“UCommute is here to provide a home away from home for commuter and off-campus students,” says Kapler. “We are providing a place where they can meet other students outside of classes and learn more about the opportunities and resources available to them on campus.”
The UCommute office is sponsoring a brown-bag lunch program, where students are welcome to bring their lunch to the fourth floor of University Library and hear from different offices around campus on what they have to offer students. On Nov. 10, students will hear from the Career Services Canter, and on Nov. 16, University Health Services will speak to the students.
The UCommute office is open on the following days and times:
Monday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Tuesday: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Wednesday: 10 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Thursday: 9 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
For more information about UCommute and its programs, contact Kapler by email at rkapler@kent.edu.
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Psychology Professor Addresses Hoarding Disorder at Kent State Event
We’ve all had that cherished item we just couldn’t let go of; something that in its own way had significant value to us. But, where do we draw the line between keeping a few mementos here and there and developing a condition known as hoarding?
Dr. Randy Frost, professor of psychology at Smith College, discussed what is slated to become the newest mental disorder: hoarding, on Oct. 20 at Kent Hall. Kent State University’s Department of Psychology brought Frost to campus.
One of the hoarding cases he discussed involved a woman named Irene who has a case of moderate hoarding and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). According to Frost, when given a tour of her home, one might assume that the seemingly random mess about her home was just an abundance of worthless junk that simply needed to be thrown away, but to her this was her entire livelihood — organized and arranged exactly how she prefers.
“Irene organized her paper clippings every day for three hours, but the enormous pile never got smaller or better organized,” says Frost. “In addition to saving almost everything, she couldn’t seem to organize any of it.”
Frost discussed variations of this psychological disease, as well as potential cures and therapies for those victimized by the disorder. Currently, there are few known cases of hoarding in Kent, though it’s quite possible that there are many with the disorder. Hoarders have a tendency to buy or collect compulsively and are often unable to refuse free things. Some have even resorted to stealing things they covet.
Many in the past have tried to classify hoarding as a symptom of OCD, but recently, psychologists have reconsidered the severity of the disease, and it will be submitted into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Volume 5 (DSM-V) as its own separate disorder.
Students felt Frost’s presentation was a useful and educational experience.
“It's astounding to see how something that was formerly looked at as a hobby has now been recognized as a mental health issue,” says Katelynn Komara, senior psychology major. The fact that hoarding will even be classified under its own category in the DSM-V really brings to life the severity of the unhealthy hobby.”
For help with psychological issues such as hoarding, visit Kent State’s Psychological Services Web page at www.kent.edu/uhs/Psych/index.cfm.
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