eInside Briefs

Faculty Media Impact Rankings Recognize Kent State for Sharing Research With the Public

A new survey that focuses on faculty involvement with the public through the news media recognizes Kent State University on its inaugural lists. The Faculty Media Impact Project, developed by the Center for a Public Anthropology, ranks social science departments at nearly 100 universities based on the number of times faculty members were cited in the news media.

Recently released and posted at http://facultyimpact.publicanthropology.org, the rankings “allow readers to assess the degree to which faculty at various universities and departments, especially those that receive public funding, share their research with the broad public,” says Rob Borofsky, Ph.D., director of the Center for a Public Anthropology.

The Faculty Media Impact Project is based on more than 50,000 search queries that involve more than 6,000 news sources relating to nearly 12,800 professors at 94 universities in the social sciences (anthropology, economics, political science, psychology and sociology). It examines the degree to which these faculty are cited in the Google News Archive over a six-year period, from 2006-2011. The project calculates which departments and universities had the highest citation averages in relations to federal funding.

“These rankings are very interesting because it looks at faculty citations in the public media, rather than citations in scholarly, academic journals,” says Todd Diacon, Kent State’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “The rankings indicate that our faculty members’ research has broad appeal and resonates with the general public. I salute our faculty as well as the university’s communications staff who help promote our faculty members’ great work.”

Kent State’s Department of Economics received the highest ranking for most media impact of the five Kent State departments cited in the Faculty Media Impact Project. It ranks 16 out of 94 universities.

Richard Kent, chair of Kent State’s Department of Economics, says receiving this ranking from the Faculty Media Impact Project is an honor.

“I think it just shows that the work the faculty in the economics department do is both interesting and important, and not just to academics, but also to the greater community,” Kent says.

Also included in the survey are Kent State’s Department of Anthropology ranking at 26, Department of Political Science ranking at 35, Department of Psychology ranking at 64 and Department of Sociology ranking at 92.

The Faculty Media Project also provides an overall university ranking, with Kent State coming in at 44, one spot above the University of Washington and one spot behind Johns Hopkins University.

For more information about the Faculty Media Impact Project, visit http://facultyimpact.publicanthropology.org.

For more information about Kent State’s academic departments, visit www.kent.edu/academics/colleges-and-schools.cfm.

Kent State University Board of Trustees Meeting, Dec. 4

The Kent State University Board of Trustees will hold its next regular business meeting Wednesday, Dec. 4. The Board will convene at 1:30 p.m. in the third floor boardroom at the Kent State University College of Podiatric Medicine, which is located at 6000 Rockside Woods Blvd. in Independence, Ohio. The Board will meet as a committee of the whole. No individual committee meetings will be held.

Trustees will retire into executive session at 8 a.m. in the third floor boardroom to consider specific topics as provided for under Ohio’s “Sunshine Law.”

The Board meeting agenda will be made available at www.kent.edu/bot/meetings/index.cfm.

Entrepreneurship Laboratory Expansion Unveiled at Kent State’s College of Business Administration

Kent State University alumnus John S. Brinzo, '64, cuts
the ribbon during the unveiling of the university’s newly
expanded Center for Entrepreneurship and Business
Innovation’s John S. Brinzo Entrepreneurship Laboratory
in the College of Business Administration. Brinzo funded
both the initial construction of the Entrepreneurship
Laboratory and its recent expansion. Watching Brinzo
cut the ribbon are Todd Diacon, Kent State’s senior vice
president for academic affairs and provost, and Deborah
Spake, dean of the College of Business Administration.

Kent State University faculty, students and administrators gathered Nov. 5 to witness the unveiling of the university’s newly expanded Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation’s John S. Brinzo Entrepreneurship Laboratory in the College of Business Administration.

The laboratory, which opened in 2009, is a place for faculty, students and entrepreneurs to collaborate.

John S. Brinzo, who graduated from Kent State in 1964 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, funded both the initial construction of the Entrepreneurship Laboratory and its recent expansion.

“Entrepreneurship students and faculty will benefit greatly from the generous support of John Brinzo,” says Deborah F. Spake, Ph.D., dean of Kent State’s College of Business Administration. “His initial gift established the John S. Brinzo Laboratory in the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation. As the program has grown, there was a need for additional space for student-faculty-entrepreneur interaction. The lab expansion will allow for dedicated space for this purpose, as well as access to data resources and a creative space for idea generation and business incubation.”

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation’s mission is based on three pillars: student experiences and education, entrepreneurship research and outreach.

“The impact of research coming out of Kent State is undeniable,” says Sergey Anokhin, Ph.D., interim director of Kent State’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation. “Its excellence advances the entrepreneurship agenda, propelling the College of Business Administration and the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation to the national and international arena. I am excited by the challenge to leverage the center’s research and outreach, and with the help of alumni like Mr. Brinzo, I am confident that we can advance the entrepreneurship agenda at Kent State University and beyond.”

Brinzo began his successful career in 1969 as a financial analyst with Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., the leading supplier of iron ore products in North America. Through the years, Brinzo worked his way up through Cleveland-Cliffs until he was named chairman in 2000, where he remained until he retired in 2006.

As he addressed the crowd at the ribbon-cutting event, Brinzo said entrepreneurship was what America was built on and that the only way to build on entrepreneurship was through brainpower. He says he was proud to support the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation at Kent State and watch it nurture and grow.

“I may have written the check, but this program succeeds because of the students, the faculty and the administrators,” Brinzo says.

For more information about the John S. Brinzo Entrepreneurship Laboratory and the College of Business Administration at Kent State, visit www.kent.edu/business.

Kent State Students’ Cartoon Will Fight to Eliminate Stereotypes

Kent State University student Chris
Hicks strikes a pose with Afro Panda,
a character in his cartoon show. Hicks
and his brothers launched their business
with help from Kent State University's
Blackstone LaunchPad program.

Kent State University students Chris Hicks, Jimmie Hicks III, Stephen Hicks and their younger brother Jonathon Hicks started their own business, Afro Panda, nearly two years ago with the help of Kent State’s Blackstone LaunchPad.

Afro Panda, which originated as a cartoon version of Chris Hicks, matured into a vision for the brothers. Chris started incorporating Afro Panda in his daily activities.

“My brother and I preform hip-hop music, and we gave a concert at the Kent Stage with ‘Afro-man,’ and so many people loved it,” says Chris. “A woman came up to me and said she loved the little man on stage. So, I couldn’t ignore it anymore, and we took it from an image and turned it into vision.”

The brothers’ goal is to turn Afro Panda into a cartoon show where he fights to eliminate stereotypes.

“We’re going into a more globally aware world,” Chris says. “We figure by exposing racial differences to children and other viewers, it will prep them for a globally aware world.”

Chris and his brothers are ready to go public with their business plan and hope to raise enough money to pitch a cartoon show to major companies.

“It can stand for more than just a cartoon,” Chris says. “We hope that people latch on to the vision as well.”

It has been two years since the Hicks brother began the idea of Afro Panda, but it has only been one year since the team joined up with Blackstone LaunchPad. Blackstone LaunchPad is an innovative program that helps Kent State students, faculty, staff and alumni transform their business ideas into actual businesses.

For more information about Afro Panda, visit www.afro-panda.com.

For more information about Kent State’s Blackstone LaunchPad, visit www.kent.edu/blackstonelaunchpad.

New Sustainability Minor Offered at Kent State

Kent State University’s College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology introduced a sustainability minor to undergraduate students at the beginning of the Fall 2013 Semester. The new minor in sustainability, according to Kent State’s website, gives “students a basic understanding of sustainability and allows them to address a specific area within sustainability.”

The minor has one required course in the College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology, and elective course options in 12 departments. Many of the elective courses are Kent Core requirements.

“Sustainability is multidisciplinary by nature,” says Cathy DuBois, chair of the academic program subcommittee of the Sustainability Task Force. “It is a team sport, because in order to do it well, you have to pull people from different disciplines. That’s why the sustainability minor involves so many degree programs.”

DuBois says the minor will undergo changes and updates to accommodate the fast-changing field of study.

Full-time faculty members may submit proposals for courses they think should be integrated into the sustainability minor. The 2013 summer Sustainability Enhancement Grant will provide money toward the development of courses for the minor.

“I think that sustainability is an important field of education and is a great asset to any degree,” says Daniel Dobrilovic, senior technology major minoring in sustainability. “Any time we can save our natural resources, the planet will be a better place for all.”

Roberto M. Uribe, coordinator of the minor and professor in the College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology, says the knowledge of sustainability is a high priority for many academic programs.

“Many departments in the university deal with sustainability,” says Uribe. “I encourage students to talk to faculty in their departments and find out how they are involved in sustainability.”

For more information about the sustainability minor, visit www.kent.edu/catalog/2013/AT/minors/SUST.
 

Student Media Wins Multiple Awards at National College Media Convention

A TV2 floor director gives a signal to the on-air news team
before the start of the 5:30 p.m. broadcast. 

It was a big week in the Big Easy for independent student media of Kent State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Associated College Press/College Media Association (ACP/CMA) National College Media Convention, that took place recently in New Orleans, resulted in several major awards.

Pinnacle Awards:

• TV2 won 2013 TV Station of the Year for the second year in a row.
• The Agenda, TV2’s topical comedy-satire show won Best TV Entertainment Program.
• TV2 also was a finalist in four of five TV categories in the 2013 national competition, including Best Sportscast and Best Newscast. 
  

Best of Show Awards:

• The Daily Kent Stater and The Burr both placed in the top 10 in Best of Show
• The Burr placed fourth overall in the feature magazine competition, and the Daily Kent Stater was ninth in the four-year daily broadsheet competition.
  

Best of College Design Awards:

• The Daily Kent Stater also won third place for Newspaper Editorials/Opinions in CMA’s Best of College Design competition for its post-presidential election opinion page.

The ACP/CMA national convention is the largest gathering of college journalists and advisors in the world.

Last e-Inside Issue for the Fall 2013 Semester

The last e-Inside issue for the Fall 2013 Semester will be published Dec. 9. Copy submissions for this issue should be emailed to einside@kent.edu by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3. e-Inside will resume production on Jan. 13.