eInside Events

Owners of Successful Snack Dip Business to Speak at Kent State’s Michael D. Solomon Entrepreneurship Speaker Series

Successful entrepreneurs and creators of popular snack
dips-- Back 9 Dips-- David and Nique Mealey will share their
success story at the Michael D. Solomon Entrepreneurship
Speaker Series on April 16.

David and Nique Mealey, owners of Back 9 Dips, will present their entrepreneurial success story at the Michael D. Solomon Entrepreneurship Speaker Series on Tuesday, April 16, at 6:30 p.m. in the Kent Student Center Kiva. The event is free and open to the public.

Back 9 Dips is a popular line of snack dips derived from products the Mealeys created for their barbeque catering business. The entrepreneurs will share their story about how a passion for making dips turned into a successful business.

The event is designed to “expose Kent State students and the community to success stories of entrepreneurs and what lessons they learned along the way,” says Mary Heidler, operations manager for Kent State’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation. “It will encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs to take a risk, use the resources around them, follow their passions and become the next successful entrepreneur.”

Friends and satisfied customers influenced the couple to turn their favorite recipe, Bubba’s Buffalo Chicken Dip -“the Chicken Wing on a Chip”- into an entrepreneurial endeavor that grew into a lucrative business in less than four years.

They took a risk and transformed their small catering business into a company that sells products in 4,000 retail outlets nationwide and ships to customers from coast to coast.

Heidler says students can relate to the Mealeys because “they’re young, they’ve overcome adversity and they took a risk on something they were passionate about.”

She says all students and community members can benefit from the event.

“You don’t necessarily have to be a business major or know exactly how to start a business, but you do have to have a mindset, a passion and the ability to execute your idea,” Heidler says. “The entrepreneurial culture at Kent State is one that urges students to think entrepreneurially in all disciplines.”

Heidler says the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation and the Department of Entrepreneurship and Marketing in the College of Business Administration, and Blackstone LaunchPad, housed in the Kent Student Center, encourages any student at Kent State - as well as community members – to embrace entrepreneurship as a viable career path regardless of the discipline they choose to major in at Kent State.

The Mealeys and Back 9 Chips have been heard on “Bubba the Love Sponge” syndicated radio program and seen on ABC-TV’s “Shark Tank,” “The List” and “Good Day, Tampa Bay.” The couple has also been profiled in Entrepreneur Magazine.

Heidler says the couple will inspire students to take risks, problem-solve when faced with adversity and believe in what they are passionate about.

“Everybody has the ability to be an entrepreneur; they just need to know how to get the idea going,” she says.

The event is sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Innovation in Kent State’s College of Business Administration. For more information and to register for the event, visit www.kent.edu/cebi/2013michaelsolomonspeakerseries.cfm.

The Michael D. Solomon Entrepreneurship Speaker Series
Michael D. Solomon Entrepreneurship Speaker Series is made possible through an endowed gift from Michael D. Solomon, a 1974 graduate of the College of Business Administration at Kent State University. Through Mr. Solomon’s generosity, entrepreneurs are brought to campus each year to share their experiences with students, faculty and the business community. Students are given the opportunity to meet the speaker providing a connection with the world of business and entrepreneurship outside the classroom.

Second Annual Organic Photovoltaics Symposium to be held at Kent State, April 17

Jean-Luc Brédas, Ph.D., will give the
morning keynote presentation at the
second annual Symposium on Advances
in Organic Photovoltaics on April 17 at
Kent State.

Kent State University will host its second annual Symposium on Advances in Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs) on April 17 from 9 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. in the Moulton Hall Ballroom on the Kent Campus. The symposium is a platform for discussions about OPV research, opportunities and development. The focus of this year’s symposium is on the progress made in recent years; it will provide a perspective on breakthroughs that are imminent in the OPV field in coming years. The symposium is free and open to the public.

OPVs are specialized, carbon-based materials used in solar cells and unlike typical solar cells that are silicon or thin-film-based. OPVs are flexible and have the potential to be produced at much lower costs than conventional solar cells using processes such as jet-printing, spray painting and roll-to-roll manufacturing.

The symposium’s morning keynote speaker is Jean-Luc Brédas, Ph.D., a Regents Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the Georgia Institute of Technology who holds the Vasser-Woolley and Georgia Research Alliance Chair in Molecular Design. His most recent awards include the 2010 Charles H. Stone Award of the American Chemical Society and the 2013 David Adler Award in Materials Physics of the American Physical Society.

Brédas’ presentation, “Electronic and Optical Processes in Organic Solar Cells,” will provide insights from a multiscale computational approach to provide a molecular picture of the packing configurations at the interface between the donor and acceptor components.

The afternoon keynote speaker is Arthur Nozik, Ph.D., a senior research fellow (emeritus) of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and professor adjoint at the University of Colorado’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. His research interests include size quantization effects in semiconductor quantum dots, multiple exciton generation, photogenerated carrier relaxation dynamics, and photoelectrochemistry of interfaces. He has been awarded the 2013 Heinz Gerischer Award (Electrochemical Society), the 2011 Gustavus Esselen Award (American Chemical Society), the 2009 Science and Technology Award (UN affiliated Intergovernmental Renewable Energy Organization) and the 2008 Eni Award (President of Italy).

Nozik will present “Multiple Exciton Generation in Quantum Dots, Quantum Dot Arrays, Quantum Dot Solar Cells, and via Molecular Singlet Fission: Application to Next Generation Solar Photon Conversion” at 1:30 p.m.

Arthur Nozik, Ph.D., will give the afternoon
keynote presentation at the second annual
Symposium on Advances in Organic
Photovoltaics on April 17 at Kent State.

Kent State’s initiative on OPVs started in 2009 when a group of its faculty members from the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Physics, and the College of Technology developed a proposal under the Coordinated Research Hiring Initiative to create three new faculty positions. One of those positions was filled last year and the search for the second position is currently underway.

“For several years, researchers at Kent State have been conducting OPV research in a niche area of small organic OPV molecules that exhibit one or more partially ordered phases at elevated temperatures,” says Satyendra Kumar, Ph.D., associate vice president for research, and symposium chairperson. “This symposium provides us an opportunity to exchange ideas with regional and international leaders in the field of OPVs.”

Kent State is launching a major research and development initiative in organic photovoltaics, called "flexPV™," which focuses on flexible solar cell technology enabled by OPV materials. The technology is based on self-organizing organic small molecules, nanostructured polymers and dyes, conventional silicon and thin film-based technologies.

“Kent State sees a high potential for the research and development of OPV and will continue to hire new faculty and build labs specifically for research opportunities in the field,” says Grant McGimpsey, Ph.D., Kent State’s vice president for research. “OPV fits well with our focus on sustainability at the university.”

The symposium features invited presentations from professionals in the region, including Liming Dai, Ph.D., of Case Western Reserve University, Max Shtein, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, Xiong Gong, Ph.D., of the University of Akron, and Randy Ellingson, Ph.D., of the University of Toledo. Kent State faculty members Barry Dunietz, Ph.D., and Qi-Huo Wei, Ph.D., also will present at the symposium. Rick Earles of NorTech will wrap up the symposium presentations with an update on NorTech’s role in fostering commercial opportunities for flexPV™. A poster session and reception will follow the presentations starting at 5 p.m.

For more information and to register, visit www.kent.edu/opv.

Guest of Honor University Artist/Lecture Series Welcomes Author Etgar Keret

Author Etgar Keret will speak at the
Guest of Honor University Artist/Lecture
Series on April 24.

The Guest of Honor University Artist/Lecture Series will host author Etgar Keret at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24, in the Kent Student Center Kiva for a lecture titled “The Dark and the Surreal: The Fiction of Etgar Keret.” Following the lecture, there will be a reception and book-signing at 8:30 p.m. in Room 204 in the Kent Student Center. Both events are free and open to the public.

Deborah Craig, coordinator of the Guest of Honor Series, says she chose Keret because her focus is to bring diversity to campus.

“I like to bring people to campus that students wouldn’t normally get to meet,” says Craig.

Keret, who was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, is nationally acclaimed for his book The Nimrod Flipout (2006). The book contains 32 short stories that capture the crazy life of Israelis today. The stories are three to four pages and offer a surreal world that is funny, yet sad at the same time. Keret comes from a family with diverse views. His brother heads an Israeli group that lobbies for legalization of marijuana and his sister is an Orthodox Jew and the mother of 10 children.

Keret is the third and final speaker for the Guest of Honor University Artist/Lecture Series this school year. The series is sponsored by the Office of the Provost and coordinated by the Honors College. If special accommodations for disabilities are needed, please contact the Honors College as soon as possible at 330-672-2312.

Annual Fashion Show Offers Discounted Tickets to Faculty and Staff

Kent State faculty, staff and students are invited to the
special dress performance of the 2013 Fashion School
Fashion Show. Discounted tickets are available.

The 2013 Fashion School Fashion Show invites all Kent State faculty, staff and students to a special dress performance on Friday, April 26, at 6 p.m. in E. Turner Stump Theatre. Featuring the collections of 24 senior design students, the highly anticipated fashion show is an event that should not be missed!

Tickets are affordably priced at $10 per person. There is a two-ticket limit for faculty and staff members. Please call the Performing Arts Box Office at 330-672-ARTS (2787) or visit the box office in the Roe Green Center lobby, weekdays from noon – 5 p.m. The box office accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover. For more information about the fashion show, visit www.kent.edu/artscollege.

Tickets ($40 per person) are also available for the matinee show at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 27. The 6 p.m. evening awards show is sold out.

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins to Visit Kent State University

Kent State University's Wick Poetry Center will host former
U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins during a reading to celebrate
National Poetry Month on April 18.

Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins will visit Kent State University on April 18 at 7:30 p.m. at the Kent Student Center Ballroom as part of the Wick Poetry Center’s annual U.S. Poet Laureate Reading in celebration of National Poetry Month. The reading is free and open to the public.

“Billy Collins is probably the most popular contemporary poet in the United States, and we are delighted that he has agreed to be the featured reader for the second Annual U.S. Poet Laureate Reading,” says Jessica Jewell, program coordinator for the Wick Poetry Center. “Not only is he an accomplished poet, he is also a dedicated educator who has spent a large part of his career trying to demystify poetry and make it accessible to a larger audience.”

Collins is the author of several books of poetry, including Ballistics, Nine Horses, Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems and Questions About Angels, which was selected for the National Poetry Series.

Collins’ works have appeared in textbooks, anthologies and periodicals like Poetry, American Poetry Review and The New Yorker. He has edited Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry, an anthology of modern poetry used in schools. Collins has received awards and recognition from the New York Foundation of the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation.

“Collins is known as being a wonderful and engaging reader and speaker, and we are anticipating an audience that may top 800,” says Jewell. “I can't think of a better evening of poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month.”

The U.S. Poet Laureate Series is a collaboration between the Wick Poetry Center and University Libraries, with sponsorship from the Honors College, Department of History and Department of English.

A U.S. Poet Laureate exhibit will be on display in the library throughout the month of April.

For more information, visit www.kent.edu/wick.

Kent State Jazz Ensembles Will Electrify With Swing, Big Band, Salsa and Fusion During Spring for the Arts

Free concert Wednesday, April 24, in the University Auditorium at Cartwright Hall

A free concert presented by the Kent
State University Jazz Ensembles will take
place April 24 at the University Auditorium
at Cartwright Hall.

The Kent State University Jazz Ensembles will host a free performance on Wednesday, April 24, at 8 p.m. in the University Auditorium at Cartwright Hall, located at 650 Hilltop Drive, with free parking located off of Terrace Drive in Kent.

Jazz Ensembles 1 and 2, two groups of approximately 18 students each, will perform a variety of works.

Jazz Ensemble 1’s performance will include Miles Davis and Gil Evans’ “Blues for Pablo,” Duke Ellington’s “Happy-Go-Lucky Local” and Pat Metheny’s “Minuano.”

Jazz Ensemble 2 will perform such works as Neal Hefti’s “Li’l Darlin’,” Ann Ronell’s “Willow Weep for Me” and Duke Ellington’s “Harlem Air Shaft.”

“The audience will have a chance to hear our Kent State University Jazz Ensembles perform historically significant and artistically creative music, including original music by Northeast Ohio jazz musicians,” says Robert Selvaggio, assistant professor in jazz studies.

The work of Northeast Ohio composers featured in the concert will include “If Thou” by Paul Ferguson and “Wags Chili” by Mark Russo. Russo, a trumpet player, will also perform as a guest soloist at the concert.

The Jazz Ensemble is composed of both undergraduate and graduate students interested in learning about and performing jazz music. The students are a combination of music performance and education majors, jazz minors and students with majors outside of music.

The group works in a variety of jazz styles, including Dixieland, swing, be-bop, contemporary big band, salsa and fusion.

Kent State students can earn 500 FLASHperks points by attending this performance.

For more information about the Jazz Ensembles and the many other ensembles in the School of Music, visit www.kent.edu/music.

Kent State Holds Third Annual Hablemos (Let’s Talk) Conference on April 19

Juan Andrade Jr., Ph.D., president of the United States
Hispanic Leadership Institute, will speak at Kent State during
the third annual Hablemos (Let’s Talk) Conference on April 19.

Kent State University organizations the Latino Networking Caucus and the Spanish and Latino Student Association proudly invite the community to the third annual Hablemos (Let’s Talk) Conference in the Kent Student Center on April 19. Registration and check-in for the conference begins at 9:30 a.m.

The Latino Networking Caucus, and the Spanish and Latino Student Association have made Hablemos an annual spring event for the campus community.

“Hispanics are the largest minority population in the United States, therefore these types of conferences that focus on Hispanic/Latino issues are significantly important,” says T. David Garcia, Kent State’s associate vice president for enrollment management and chair of the Latino Networking Caucus. “I believe our society needs to have more constructive dialogues related to many issues. Hablemos (Let’s Talk) allows people to share their thoughts and ideas related to the topics selected for the conference.”

The conference’s first speaker is Juan Andrade Jr., Ph.D., president of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute located in Chicago. Andrade will address the socioeconomic and political impact Latinos play in our society. In addition, he will provide best practices for organizations to follow with this emerging population.

Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi,
the sole representative of Puerto Rico in
Congress, will give a keynote address
on the possibility of Puerto Rico becoming
the 51st state.

The second speaker of the conference is Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi, the sole representative of Puerto Rico in Congress. Pierluisi will follow Andrade’s presentation. Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences along with the Multicultural Center are sponsoring a keynote address and panel discussion regarding the possibility of Puerto Rico becoming the 51st state. Pierluisi will provide the keynote address, and a panelist of experts will follow with more discussion on the topic.

The conference sessions are open to anyone to attend, but reservations for the luncheon is required and can be made by sending an email to lnc@kent.edu. Space for the luncheon is limited. Reservations will be accepted until Tuesday, April 16.

Registration and check-in begins at 9:30 a.m. in the Kent Student Center Kiva. The conference opens with Andrade’s speech. The luncheon takes place in Room 306 of the Kent Student Center. The conference will close with Pierluisi and a panel discussion back in the Kent Student Center Kiva.

For more information, call Garcia at 330-672-4050.

Kent State Men’s and Women’s Choruses Hold Concert April 19

The Kent State University Hugh A. Glauser School of Music will present a performance by the Kent State Men’s Chorus and Women’s Chorus on Friday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m. at Kent United Church of Christ. The Kent United Church of Christ is located at 1400 E. Main St. in Kent on the southeast corner of State Route 59 and Horning Road.

The Women’s Chorus is led by graduate conducting student Dawn Casey, and the Men’s Chorus is led by graduate music education student Douglas Beery.

Casey describes this performance as the “pinnacle concert of the semester” for the men’s and women’s choruses. The ensembles will perform works by composers, including Hans Leo Hassler, George Frideric Handel, Robert Schumann, Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, David Childs, Joseph Martin and Arthur Sullivan.

The men’s and women’s choruses will also perform versions of the Kent State University Alma Mater in memory of men’s chorus alumni member Gary Larkin, for whom the concert has been dedicated.

The performance is free for all students with ID, $5 for seniors and $8 for adults.

Both the men's and women's choruses tour regularly and frequently collaborate with other Kent State ensembles. Students from a variety of disciplines and majors participate in the Kent State Men's and Women's Choruses.

The Kent State Women's Chorus performs works selected from a variety of periods and musical styles. The Kent State Men's Chorus repertoire includes many styles with special emphasis on the standards of male chorus literature.

Tickets are available by visiting www.kent.edu/music, calling 330-672-ARTS (2787) or visiting the Performing Arts Box Office, located in the lobby of the Roe Green Center in the Music and Speech Building at 1325 Theatre Drive on the Kent Campus. The Performing Arts Box Office accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover, in addition to cash and checks.

Tickets are also available the day of the show at the door, cash only.

Kent State Students to Celebrate at FlashFest 2013, April 18

FlashFest 2013 will take place on April 18
and features artists Kendrick Lamar, Steve
Aoki, Bad Rabbits and 5 & A Dime.

FlashFest 2013, an annual event for Kent State students featuring performers, food and prizes, will be held on Thursday, April 18, beginning at noon on the Student Green.

Kent State’s Undergraduate Student Government has announced the four artists who will perform at this year’s FlashFest: Kendrick Lamar, Steve Aoki, Bad Rabbits and 5 & A Dime. The performances will begin at 6 p.m. at the main stage on Manchester Field. The back-up stage will be the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (MAC Center) in case of inclement weather.

“FlashFest serves as an end-of-the-year bash for all students,” says Kent State student Kayli Gatts, who is in charge of social media and publicity for the Undergraduate Student Government. “It’s a sign that the end of the spring semester is near and summer is coming.”

FlashFest also serves as the biggest event for FLASHperks giveaways of the year. FLASHperks will award four grand prizes at this year’s FlashFest, including free tuition for one year, six months of free rent to Campus Pointe Apartments, a Surly Pugsley bike from Portage Cyclery and free pizza from Domino’s for one year. FLASHperks is an incentive program through Kent State that offers students prizes for attending university-sponsored events.

“The FLASHperks team works throughout the year to make sure students are rewarded for their involvement on campus,” says Amy Kittle, a Kent State graduate assistant at the Center for Student Involvement. “FlashFest is the biggest event of the year for FLASHperks because we get to award our grand prizes to students who have participated in the many events and activities Kent State has to offer.”

Karmaloop’s Verge Campus 2013 Spring Tour presents FlashFest 2013 at Kent State. The event is free and no ticket purchase is necessary, however a Kent State student ID is required. Sponsors of the tour include Karmaloop, Neff Headwear and e Muze.

Kent State Child Development Center Holds Dinner/Dance and Silent Auction

Kids from Kent State's Child Development Center engage
in creative activities during a community festival to mark
the center's 40th anniversary. The center will continue the
celebration with a dinner/dance and silent auction on
April 20.

Kent State University’s Child Development Center continues its 40th anniversary celebration with a dinner/dance event themed “Imagine” on Saturday, April 20, from 6-11 p.m. at the Kent Student Center. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m. and dinner will be served at 7 p.m. Cocktail attire is recommended. The celebration also will feature a silent auction with donations benefiting the center’s Robin McManus Scholarship Fund for Children.

“The Child Development Center has never been just one person’s vision, but our collective hopes and dreams for children,” says Monica Miller Marsh, Ph.D., associate professor and director of Kent State’s Child Development Center. “As we celebrate our past and look to the future, we are just beginning to imagine the possibilities.”

The cost to attend the event is $80 per person and $150 per couple. The cost to reserve a sponsored table of eight is $1,000. To purchase tickets, including sponsored tables, or to make a contribution to the scholarship fund, visit http://commerce.cashnet.com/ksu_cdc or make checks payable to the Kent State Foundation (please write fund #10241 in the memo section) and mail it to:

Kent State University Child Development Center
775 Loop Rd.
Kent, OH 44242
Attn.: 40th Anniversary

Information about opportunities to support the Outdoor Learning Laboratory enhancement project also will be available at the event.

For more information about the event, contact the Child Development Center at 330-672-2559. For more information about the Child Development Center, visit www.kent.edu/ehhs/cdc.

Reggae Festival Comes to Downtown Kent, April 19

Reggae Meltdown – an island music festival – comes to the streets of Kent on Friday, April 19, at several downtown bars, pubs and coffee shops.

“There is a real spirit of celebration and excitement in the city,” says Ann VerWiebe, marketing associate at WKSU and attendee at last year’s Reggae Meltdown. “There were bands playing outside and inside and people walking the streets and really enjoying themselves. People know if they want to have a good time to come downtown.”

The performances take place throughout the evening at venues within easy walking distance of one another. The businesses taking part in Reggae Meltdown include 157 Lounge, Bar 145, Dominick’s, The Kent Stage, The Loft, Mugs, Ohio Music Shop, The Pub, Pufferbelly, Ray’s Place, Tree City Coffee, Water Street Tavern and Zephyr Pub. The first events will take place at 5 p.m. with performances at The Pub and The Loft.

“I think all of the venues want to be a part of this,” says Charlie Thomas, owner of Ray’s Place. “When you are a part of something like this, people get to go into all different types of places and see what Kent has to offer.”

Thomas started Reggae Meltdown in 2010 after realizing the need for a music festival in the spring. “In the spring, the weather is getting better, everyone is in a better mood and reggae is feel-good music,” says Thomas.

“Going last year was a great experience,” says Christian Dohar, a reggae enthusiast from Lakewood, Ohio. “It was nice to be able to park in one central location and walk around and see all of the scheduled bands.”

Dohar makes the hour-long drive from Lakewood to Kent to enjoy the reggae atmosphere. He says he thinks the festival attracts so many people because “reggae speaks to different types of religions, ages and groups of people.” Dohar says this year he is looking forward to seeing Gato’s Gullah Gumbo, Umojah Nation, Carlos Jones & the P.L.U.S. Band, as well as other performances.

All shows are free to the public, excluding the performances at The Kent Stage with an $8 cover charge. The Kent Stage will feature Cleveland reggae favorites Carlos Jones & the P.L.U.S. Band, along with Tropidelic and the B-Side Dubs.

Reggae Meltdown is sponsored by Red Stripe, Apollo Heating & Cooling, Hungry Howie’s, PARTA and Kent Apartments.

For more information about Reggae Meltdown and to view the schedule, visit www.reggaemeltdown.com.

Lil’ Sibs Weekend Takes Place April 19-21

Lil’ Sibs Weekend is a weekend of fun activities for members
of the Kent State community and their families.

Kent Interhall Council (KIC) hosts the 2013 Lil’ Sibs Weekend from April 19-21. Lil’ Sibs is a weekend-long event that has been a Kent State tradition for more than 35 years. The event is open to all Kent State faculty, staff and students and their families.

“Last year, we had more than 2,000 people in attendance and we are again looking forward to having record numbers in attendance at Lil’ Sibs weekend,” says Leah Carothers, resident hall director at Kent State.

The theme of this year’s event is “Sibs-a-lodeon,” and throughout the weekend there will be lots of Nickelodeon-inspired events. Traditional activities will include the dive-in movie on Friday night featuring “The Spongebob Squarepants Movie,” and inflatables on Saturday afternoon, both occurring at the Student Recreation and Wellness Center. A magician, the movie “Rise of the Guardians” showing three times throughout the weekend, ice skating at the rink and bowling at the bowling alley in Eastway, will also take place. In addition, all residence halls will have Nickelodeon-inspired events throughout the weekend.

Some new events include “An Evening with Pixar,” where people can come to hear a Pixar animator speak and give demonstrations about animation. The Archeological Club will sponsor an Archeological Dig on Saturday morning. The Kent State softball team also will sponsor a run-the-bases event at the softball court on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night will feature crafting with the Kent Interhall Council, “Figure It Out” sponsored by TV2 and Sibs Bingo where Kent State siblings will be able to win great prizes.

Sunday will be Family Day that will start with a family day brunch in Eastway Cafeteria and an opportunity to explore downtown Kent either by walking, driving or riding on Lolly the Trolley. Kent Interhall Council has been working with the downtown merchants to have fun activities throughout the afternoon.

“We look forward to this weekend being a fun-filled weekend to enjoy the Kent Campus and downtown Kent!” Carothers says.

Registration is required for participation in the weekend activities. To register, visit http://kic.kent.edu
and look for more information under the Lil’ Sibs tab.

For more information, email kic@kent.edu or call the Kent Interhall Council office at 330-672-2131.

Kent State School of Theatre and Dance Presents A Midsummer Night’s Dream, April 19-28

Kent State's School of Theatre and Dance
will perform Shakespeare’s A Midsummer
Night’s Dream from April 19-28.

Kent State University’s School of Theatre and Dance will close its 2012-2013 season with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The show will run April 19 through 28 in Kent State’s Wright-Curtis Theatre at the Music and Speech Building, 1325 Theatre Dr., in Kent.

The April 21 and 28 performances will be held at 2 p.m.; all others will be held at 8 p.m. Assistant Professor of Theatre Mark Monday will direct the production.

Mortal and fairy worlds collide in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an enchanted, light-hearted romantic tale. The play features the interwoven adventures of four young lovers, a comic group of amateur actors and the mischievous antics of woodland fairies.

“Our production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream focuses on the theme of love and all that love entails: Love is blind, magical, mysterious, painful, physical and fun,” Monday says.

Audience members will also enjoy a unique take on another traditional Shakespearian theme.

“In many of his plays, Shakespeare explores the theme of man’s dominance over women. Midsummer is one of these plays,” Monday says. “We have chosen to highlight this theme and have come to some interesting conclusions our audience may find surprising.”

Graduate theatre student Bevin Bell-Hall will play Hippolyta/Titania; graduate theatre student Nathan Wood will play Theseus/Oberon and senior theatre major John Liptak will play Puck.

Graduate theatre student Ben Williams will serve as scenic designer, graduate theatre student Cyndi Hoffman will serve as lighting designer and senior theatre major Carly Shiner will serve as sound designer.

Single tickets for A Midsummer Night’s Dream are free for full-time undergraduate Kent State students, $8 for non-Kent State students with valid I.D. or students under 18, $14 for Kent State faculty, staff and Alumni Association members, $12 for seniors (60+) and $16 for adults. Groups of 10 or more are $10 per person.

Kent State students can earn FLASHperks by attending the Saturday, April 20, performance.

Tickets are available at the Performing Arts Box Office (PABO), located in the lobby of the Roe Green Center in the Music and Speech Building at 1325 Theatre Dr. on the Kent Campus. The Performing Arts Box Office accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover, in addition to cash and checks. The box office hours are weekdays noon to 5 p.m., and one hour prior to each performance.

For tickets and more information, call 330-672-ARTS (2787) or visit http://theatre.kent.edu.

“Who’s Your Mama?” Environmental Film Festival Returns to Kent State

Kent State’s Office of Sustainability and
the Standing Rock Cultural Arts present
the 7th annual “Who’s Your Mama?”
Environmental Film Festival on April 19.

The 7th annual “Who’s Your Mama?” Environmental Film Festival will be held on Friday, April 19, at the Kent Student Center Kiva from 4 to 9 p.m. The event is hosted by Kent State University’s Office of Sustainability and the Standing Rock Cultural Arts.

The festival will feature screenings of short films, animated shorts and documentaries from a variety of producers. Tickets for the film festival can be purchased at the door. The cost is $5 for students and seniors, and $7 for general admission. Kids 12 and under are free.

Jeffrey Ingram, co-founder and executive director of Standing Rock Cultural Arts, says they want to provide a forum for anyone interested in the environment.

“Our goal is to help educate the public about environmental protection,” says Ingram.

The festival is part of a week-long series of Earth Day activities sponsored by Standing Rock Cultural Arts.

The series continues on Saturday, April 20, with the Main Street Block Party, featuring music and dance performances, alternative energy displays, ecological vendors and more. Main Street in downtown Kent will be closed between Depeyster and Water streets for the free event, which runs from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m.

The festival concludes on Monday, April 22, with a Vegan Iron Chef Competition at Canal Park, Akron Aeros Stadium in Downtown Akron.

“I hope the community wants to get involved because this is about our future and the next seven generations,” says Ingram. “We need to do what we can to preserve the Earth.”

For more information on the “Who’s Your Mama?” Environmental Film Festival, visit www.whosyourmama.org.