eInside Briefs

Kent State Organizations Step Up to Help Japanese People Affected by Earthquake, Tsunami

In the early hours of March 11, a 9.0-magnitude offshore earthquake caused widespread damage to the island nation of Japan. It is estimated that the quake was the most powerful known earthquake to impact that country.

The six-minute earthquake triggered tsunami waves that struck Japan minutes after the quake, in some cases traveling up to six miles inland, with smaller waves reaching many other countries after several hours.

By the beginning of April, the Japanese national police officially confirmed more than 11,000 deaths,nearly 3,000 injuries and thousands still missing. In addition, more than 125,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, and other structural damage was reported, including heavy damage to roads and railways and a dam collapse.

Millions of households in northeastern Japan were left without electricity and without water. Phone service was spotty or nonexistent for days after the natural disasters, cutting off the Japanese people from loved ones around the globe. Significantly and still widely reported, at least three nuclear reactors suffered severe damage.

Even though the events transpired shortly before Kent State’s spring break, numerous student organizations made plans for fundraising events to support the recovery effort in Japan.

A fundraiser was recently held by the new organization Kent for Japan, which included music and food, but also a raffle of Japanese art and a wristband sale. For more information about the fundraising efforts of that group, email co-founder Zach Drenski at kentforjapanbenefit@gmail.com , or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kentforjapan .

Coming up this week, and continuing until April 15, the UNICEF Kent State organization will collect donations to support humanitarian recovery efforts in Japan.

One hundred percent of donations will go to programs in Japan. However, should America's generosity exceed Japan's needs, the remaining dollars will be allocated to assist children most in need around the globe. Though still assessing the situation, UNICEF staff members in Japan have identified some initial areas in need of support, especially helping Japanese families and children prepare for a new school year, which begins this month.

Check out the UNICEF tables in the Kent Student Center to learn how you can help to support UNICEF's role in Japan’s relief efforts.

Provost’s Fellowships Announced; Applications Due April 15

The Kent State University Office of the Provost is announcing Fellowships openings for the 2011-2012 academic year. The duration of the fellowship is half-time and will begin in fall 2011 or spring 2012 and last for one semester. Mid-career and senior faculty members are welcome for this administrative role within the Office of the Provost.

The purpose of the fellowship is to not only develop faculty leaders, but also allow faculty members who have an interest in academic administration to experience working in an administrative environment, giving them the opportunity to hone their skills and become successful. The fellowship will also assist Kent State University by extending its administrative resources and providing faculty involvement and input into the activities of the Office of the Provost.

Carey McDougall, a Provost Fellow in 2009, recommends the fellowship.

“It is an opportunity to understand the various constituencies that the university entails and how they are affected by each other,” McDougall says.

The fellow will work with senior administrators on a variety of upcoming initiatives. Some of these may include sustainability, budgeting and process improvements, and cross-disciplinary collaborations. McDougall is an associate professor of art at Kent State University at Stark but was able to work with the Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness office on the Kent Campus.

“I had the opportunity to work on a space allocation project with Research, Planning and Institutional Effectiveness, and since then have further worked with that office for other projects. The fellowship greatly expanded my understanding of the university.” McDougall says.

The fellow will participate in regular office meetings, and also meet bi-weekly with senior administrators. An essential component of the experience is working on select administrative matters and special projects important to faculty. Gregory Blase, a Provost Fellow in 2009, was able to observe how important decisions are made at a large university by attending those meetings.

“You attend a lot of high-level meetings and really get a sense of how decisions are made and what various administrators have to say about a multitude of university issues. You can even chime in if you want to,” Blase says.

The fellow will also have access to professional development funds for things like books or local travel, and will have his or her regular salary and benefits. The fellow’s primary office will remain in his or her home college or school, although limited space and staff support for administrative projects will be available.

Each Provost’s fellow will be selected by the provost. Applications will be accepted from all full-time faculty members, including tenured, tenure-track and full-time nontenure-track. Applicants should submit a letter of interest and their current curriculum vitae by April 15, 2011 to Sue Averill, associate provost for faculty affairs. A second letter signed by the applicant’s administrator and academic college dean, if applicable, must also be submitted by April 15.

For more information, please visit https://www.kent.edu/news/newsdetail.cfm?newsitem=BFA21BE3-C932-D281-6C53AEF356DEE8FB.

Questions should be directed to Terri Christensen at tchrist7@kent.edu.

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. This 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 year-long 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 SoTL

• 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.

Ample Harvest and The Campus Kitchen at Kent State Team Up to Feed Local Residents

The Campus Kitchen at Kent State University has recently teamed up with AmpleHarvest.org to feed the hungry in the Kent area.

AmpleHarvest.org is a networking system that matches growers with kitchens and food banks across the nation to collect the raw materials used to create meals for the needy.

“The purpose is to create a bank where kitchens can find produce from farmers and get their excess produce,” says Michelle Casto, a staff volunteer for The Campus Kitchen at Kent State.

Instead of throwing away fruits and vegetables, local growers, farmers and anyone who has a garden can now donate their extra produce to The Campus Kitchen at Kent State.

People who have gardens and extra produce during harvesting season can go to AmpleHarvest.org, register as a grower and then be matched with a kitchen in their area. The growers then contact the kitchens and set up a schedule to transfer the produce.

AmpleHarvest.org also provides seeds, tips and help to anyone who wishes to start a garden to grow fresh produce for local food banks or for projects such as The Campus Kitchen at Kent State.

The Campus Kitchen at Kent State is a student-run food pantry and kitchen. The organization currently provides one meal a week to Kent Social Services and is always looking for food donations.

Register at www.AmpleHarvest.org to become a grower, and click here for more information about The Campus Kitchen at Kent State.

Kent State Begins Coaching Search After Ford Accepts Position at Bradley

Kent State University will begin the search for its 24th men's basketball head coach with the announcement last week that Geno Ford has accepted a similar position at Bradley University.  
  
"I'd like to thank Geno for the seven years he gave to Kent State — the last three as our head coach," says Kent State Director of Athletics Joel Nielsen. "He has left the program in tremendous shape and with a very bright future. I'm confident that we will find a replacement to maintain our winning tradition."

Kent State Associate Head Coach Rob Senderoff has been named interim head coach. A national search for a new head coach will begin immediately.  

In only three seasons at the helm of the Golden Flashes program, Ford led the team to three consecutive postseason appearances and a pair of Mid-American Conference regular season titles.  

In 2010-11 alone, Ford took a Kent State team that entered the season with 10 first-year student-athletes and only three players that had previous experience in the program to a 25-12 overall record and a trip to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. Along the way, the Golden Flashes became the first MAC team in 21 years and just the second in 48 years to win back-to-back outright regular season championships.  

Ford compiled a 68-37 (.648) overall record and a 35-13 (.729) mark in MAC play during his Kent State tenure which saw him earn MAC Coach of the Year honors each of the last two seasons. By leading the Golden Flashes to their championship this year, he became the first MAC coach in 48 years to lead his team to consecutive outright regular season titles. He is one of only four head coaches in the 64-year history of the league to accomplish the feat joining a select group that includes Harold Anderson (Bowling Green, 1962 and 1963), Bill Roher (Miami, 1952 and 1953) and John Wiethe (Cincinnati, 1948, 1949, 1950 and 1951).  

For more information on Kent State athletics, visit www.kentstatesports.com.

Entrepreneurship Majors Open the Vault

Members of the Kent State community can now admire and purchase student artwork as a result of the entrepreneurial efforts of three students.

Entrepreneurship majors Sara Gans, Brittany Gorrell and Brittani Petersonlaunched a student art shop in Room 221 of the Kent Student Center on Jan. 21. The Vault sells artwork from Kent State glassblowers, painters, potters and other crafters.

The Vault began in the entrepreneurship experience class, taught by Julie Messing, lecturer, Department of Marketing; Denise Easterling, lecturer, entrepreneurship program and Craig Zamary, also an instructor in the entrepreneurship program.

Gans, Gorrell and Peterson wanted to display student work to showcase the various ways Kent State students express themselves.

"Kent has one of the top art and fashion schools in the country, and we wanted to give students a place to show their work," Peterson says.

"People seem really interested in what we sell, and they love having original pieces of artwork from Kent State students," Gans says.

The group solicited art clubs to find students to fill the shop. All work is sold on commission. The Vault accepts professional-quality work and draws up contracts with artists. All student work is kept for three months. If the artwork sells, the artist receives 70 percent and the Vault keeps 30 percent.

Jacqueline Parsons, executive director of the Kent Student Center and University Dining Services, mentors the entrepreneurs. Gans says Parsons helps them with marketing and financing.

"There has been a lot of discussion about how to best promote our students and the School of Art, and joining their talents with the talents of the students in the entrepreneurship program seemed like the perfect fit," Gans says. "I think that Kent State is absolutely supportive of our student artists, and every person I've spoken with is thrilled to have an opportunity to purchase and support student work."

• Mondays, noon to 3 p.m.
• Tuesdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Wednesdays noon to 5 p.m.
• Thursdays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Fridays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, visit the Vault's Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/eI4x2k or contact Gans at 330-672-8137.

By Sarah James

Katharine Hepburn Class, Movie Offered

In cooperation with the Kent State University Museum's nationally recognized exhibition Katharine Hepburn: Dressed for Stage and Screen, the Kent State University Women's Studies Program is offering a special course during the 2011 Spring Semester on the life and work of the great film star. The popular course is likely to be repeated in the summer. Hepburn fans can also see her work on the big screen April 28 during a screening of Pat and Mike, one of the actress's favorite films.

The Women's Studies Program offers undergraduates an interdisciplinary minor that engages in relevant scholarly inquiry and timely discussion on women-centered issues and subjects. The program also conducts its own colloquium, creates a wide range of special topics courses and works collaboratively with other departments on their women-centered programming and classes.

The Women's Studies course now being offered, Katharine Hepburn: A Rarity, examines Hepburn as a distinct American personality, a feminist and a cultural influence. Winner of four Best Actress Academy Awards, KatharineHepburn is listed by the American Film Institute as the number one female screen legend in the world, and she is still recognized as a role model for generations of women. 

"Our spring course 'sold out the house' – a record enrollment, in fact, for Women's Studies," says Women's Studies program director Suzanne Holt, who is also teaching the course. "Because of its tremendous appeal and engaging subject matter, we will do an encore of Katharine Hepburn: A Rarity this summer."

For those who do not want to wait until summer, Women's Studies and the Kent State University Museum are co-presenting classic Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn romantic comedies. Pat and Mike (1952, directed by George Cukor), will be open to the public, as well as students; admission to the movie is free upon admittance to the museum.

Pat and Mike, scheduled for Thursday, April 28, at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., was Tracy and Hepburn's seventh film and Hepburn's favorite. In it, Hepburn plays a woman athlete, a first for a major Hollywood picture.

The popular comedy helped generate a wider acceptance of women's informal dress and sportswear as suitable public attire, and Patricia Campbell Warner, author of Whenthe Girls Came Out to Play: The Birth of American Sportswear (University of Massachusetts Press, 2006), will make a special visit to Kent State to talk about Hepburn's fashion influence in conjunction with the 6 p.m. screening. Her talk is also being co-sponsored by the university's Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the College of Arts and Sciences.

For more about the Kent State University Museum, call 330-672-3450, friend www.facebook.com/ksumuseum or visit www.kent.edu/museum. For summer session registration for the Women's StudiesHepburn course, call 330-672-8042 or email slholt@kent.edu.