eInside Events

New Faculty Series Starts Aug. 24

The Faculty Professional Development Center (FPDC) is delighted to help welcome our new faculty colleagues in just a few weeks. We look forward to connecting them to the great people and resources at Kent State. The official start of the New Faculty Series is Wednesday, Aug. 24, from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. The FPDC coordinates the New Faculty Series, with support from the Office of the Provost, and is available to assist staff and faculty in sharing resources with these new members of the university community.

Since it isn't practical to share all of the information within the first week of classes, FPDC staffers are happy to work with individual units in preparing and distributing information. There will be regular meetings throughout the fall to do this, with the purpose of providing timely and manageable chunks of information to our new colleagues.

Kent State’s Summer Commencement Ceremonies Occur Aug. 11 and 13

Summer 2011 Commencement Ceremonies
at Kent State University are scheduled for
Thursday, Aug. 11, at 6 p.m. and Saturday,
Aug. 13, at 10 a.m.

Summer 2011 Commencement Ceremonies at Kent State University are scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 11, at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 13, at 10 a.m. The Thursday evening ceremony for those receiving doctoral degrees will be held in the E. Turner Stump Theatre in the Music and Speech Center, which is located on Theatre Drive. The Saturday ceremony for those receiving master’s and baccalaureate degrees will occur in the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center.

Approximately 1,500 degrees will be granted.


DOCTORAL COMMENCEMENT CEREMONY - Watch Video:

Thursday, Aug. 11, at 6 p.m.
Location: E. Turner Stump Theatre, Music and Speech Center
Speaker: Dr. Oleg Lavrentovich, Trustees Research Professor, Kent State University

About the Speaker:
Dr. Oleg D. Lavrentovich graduated from the Department of Physics at Kiev State University in 1980 and received his Ph.D. (1984) and Doctor of Sciences (1990) degrees in physics and mathematics from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Lavrentovich has held visiting scientist and invited professor positions in France, United Kingdom and Republic of Korea. He came to Kent State in 1992 as a senior research fellow at the Liquid Crystal Institute. For eight years, from 2003 till 2011, he led the Liquid Crystal Institute as its director. He is currently the Trustees Research Professor at Kent State. He has secured more than $20 million in research grants.

Dr. Lavrentovich received the Distinguished Scholar award at Kent State and directed 15 Ph.D. dissertations. His current research focuses on new applications of liquid crystals, ranging from electrophoresis to transformation optics and biological sensing.


MASTER’S AND BACCALAUREATE CEREMONY - Watch Video:

Saturday, Aug. 13, at 10 a.m.
Location: Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center
Speaker: Dr. Linda I. Moore, Vice President for Academic Affairs, Emerson College

About the Speaker:
Dr. Linda I. Moore has served as vice president for Academic Affairs at Emerson College since the fall of 2003. Previously, she served as the dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she was also a tenured professor of communication. Moore served as a tenured professor at the University of Akron, where she held several administrative positions, including the dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts.

She holds degrees from Bradley University and Kent State University and also has held American Council on Education and Ford Foundation fellowships. Her responsibilities include budget space and the college’s academic programs, including the School of the Arts, School of Communication and the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies; the Library; the Department of Professional Studies and Special Programs; the Department of External Programs and Study Abroad, which includes the Los Angeles Program and the Castle Well semester-abroad program in Holland.

For more information, visit the commencement website at www.kent.edu/commencement.

Last Chance to See Porthouse Theatre’s Hello, Dolly!

Hello, Dolly! will play through Aug. 14
at Kent State University's Porthouse
Theatre.

Cool Cleveland theater critic Roy Berko says the Porthouse production of Hello, Dolly! is “a love affair between Terri Kent and the audience.”

Kent State University’s Porthouse Theatre, Northeast Ohio’s premiere outdoor professional summer theatre, will perform the musical comedy Hello, Dolly! through Aug. 14. Starring as leading lady Dolly Levi is Porthouse Theatre Artistic Director Terri Kent who ends her 13-year acting hiatus with this role.

Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955. Hello, Dolly! was first produced on Broadway by David Merrick in 1964, winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and nine other Tonys. The show has become one of the most enduring musical theatre hits, enjoying three Broadway revivals and international success. It was also made into a 1969 film that was nominated for seven Academy Awards. Most recently, the musical won three Olivier Awards for its 2010 revival.

Show director, Victoria Bussert serves as director of the Baldwin-Wallace College musical theatre program and is a well-known director in both the Cleveland and New York City area. Joining Bussert is seasoned choreographer John R. Crawford, who currently serves as the dean of Kent State’s College of the Arts; and musical director Jonathan Swoboda who serves as musical director for Kent State’s School of Theatre and Dance, as well as being the featured keyboard artist for Mannheim Steamroller.

Lighting design for Hello, Dolly! is by seasoned lighting professional Cynthia Stillings, who also wears multiple hats as Porthouse’s producing director and school director of Kent State’s School of Theatre and Dance. Scenic design by Nolan O’Dell and sound design by Jason Potts, both of whom are alumni of the School of Theatre and Dance at Kent State University.

The part of Horace Vandergelder is played by Chuck Richie, a professor with Kent State’s School of Theatre and Dance, who is familiar to audiences throughout the Cleveland area.

Shows run Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets are $33 - $17 on Saturday, $30 - $16 Tues. through Friday and $30 - $17 Sunday matinee. Group prices are available for 20 or more people. Cash, check, Visa, MasterCard and Discover are accepted.

The box office is located in the Music and Speech Center on the corner of Main Street and Horning Road on the Kent Campus. The box office on the grounds of Porthouse Theatre opens 90 minutes prior to curtain.

Box dinners are available for pre-order 48 hours prior to the scheduled performance. Porthouse Theatre also has a full concession stand featuring sandwiches, salads, snacks, drinks and ice cream.

For more information, call 330-672-3884 or visit www.porthousetheatre.com.