eInside Events

Kent State Hosts its Inaugural Neuroscience Symposium on April 29

Randy Nelson, Ph.D., will give the morning
keynote presentation at the inaugural
Neuroscience Symposium at Kent State
University on April 29.

Kent State University hosts its inaugural Neuroscience Symposium “The Neuroscience of Mental Health” on April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. in the Kent Student Center, Kiva Auditorium on the Kent Campus.

The purpose of this symposium is to bring together nationally renowned neuroscience researchers, clinical practitioners, students and the public to discuss leading-edge university research on mechanisms underlying mood and addiction, injury, disease and the brain. The symposium is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

With nearly 40 neuroscientists working across multiple departments, Kent State conducts research in molecular biology to behavior, producing interdisciplinary research on neurological diseases and conditions including: traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic street disorder, the effects of aging, addiction and pain management.

“This symposium provides a venue for exchange of the scientific ideas that must take place to solve and treat these critical healthcare problems,” says Grant McGimpsey, Ph.D., Kent State’s vice president for research.

The symposium’s morning keynote speaker is Randy Nelson, Ph.D., Brumbaugh Chair in Brain Research and Teaching; professor and chair, Department of Neuroscience; and distinguished professor, College of Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. He has published more than 350 research papers and several books describing studies in seasonality, behavioral endocrinology, biological rhythms, immune function, sex behavior and aggressive behaviors.

Nelson’s presentation, “Effects of Light at Night on Neuroinflammation, Metabolism and Mood,” will provide insight into the disruptive effects of light at night on several core clock genes and the resulting neuroinflammation, which may be a potent mechanism through which light at night affects mood and food intake.

Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., will give the
evening keynote presentation at the
inaugural Neuroscience Symposium at
Kent State University on April 29.

The evening keynote speaker is Kevin Guskiewicz, Ph.D., Kenan Distinguished Professor and director of the Matthew Gfeller Sport-Related Traumatic Brain Injury Research Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Over the past 17 years, he has focused his research on the effect of sport-related concussion on balance and neuropsychological function in high school and collegiate athletes, and the long-term neurological issues related to playing sports. In 2011, he was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

In his keynote, “Making Sport Safer Through Innovative Science,” Guskiewicz will discuss how to better understand the long-term consequences of concussive and sub-concussive impacts to athletes.

The symposium features invited presentations from nationally renowned neuroscientists including J. David Glass, Ph.D., Kent State University; Colleen McClung, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh; and Michela Marinelli, Ph.D., Rosalind Franklin University; Stephen Rao, Ph.D., Cleveland Clinic; John Gunstad, Ph.D., Kent State University; and Jennifer Vasterling, Ph.D., Boston University. Panel discussions will be held at the end of each session. A reception will be held in the Kent Student Center Ballroom Balcony from 4:15-5:15 p.m.

For more information about the symposium and to register, visit www.kent.edu/neuroscience or call 330-672-2692.

Kent State’s Fashion School Spring Fashion Show Highlights Cream of the Crop Design Students

Discounted tickets available for faculty, staff and students attending the dress rehearsal performance

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

Kent State University’s Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising will celebrate its 30th anniversary during the 2013 Fashion School Fashion Show, “FS2” on Saturday, April 27, at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. at the E. Turner Stump Theatre in the Music and Speech Building on 1325 Theatre Drive at the Kent Campus.

Tickets for the 1 p.m. matinee are $40 per person. The 6 p.m. awards show is sold out. Tickets are available for purchase by calling the Performing Arts Box Office at 330-672-ARTS (2787) or visiting the box office weekdays 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. or online at www.tix.com. The box office accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover, personal check and cash.

Click here to read more about the fashion show.

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 for the Friday show 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.

Kent State Hosts 39th Annual Meonske Accounting Conference, April 25-26

The Ohio Council of the Institute of Management Accountants will host its 39th annual Meonske Accounting Professional Development Conference and Workshop on April 25-26 at Kent State University.

“This conference is recognized as one of the top five accounting conferences in the country,” says Norman Meonske, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Kent State and national online instructor for the Becker CPA Review Course. Meonske, for whom the conference is named, says, “We are going to have two days packed full of high-quality, practical training for members of the accounting and financial community. We encourage registrants to take advantage of the early and group discounts because we expect a sellout of 600 people.”

The conference chairman is Nicholas Sucic, vice president and controller for the Davey Tree Expert Company in Kent, Ohio.

The Friday financial reporting panel features Dennis R. Beresford, Ernst & Young executive professor of accounting at University of Georgia; Leslie F. Seidman, chair for the Financial Accounting Standards Board; Mark M. Bielstein, partner at KPMG LLP; Jackson Day, partner, Americas Professional Practice Director-Accounting Standards, Ernst & Young LLP; and Jeffrey K. Schaeffer, professional accounting fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Also on Friday, the keynote luncheon address “Emerging Technologies: Framing the U.S. Global Competitiveness” will be presented by Kent State graduate Michael D. Capellas, chairman of the Virtual Computing Environment Company.

Afternoon sessions include “Implications of Standardization on Reporting Processes and Controls” by
Mike Willis, CPA, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and chairman emeritus for XBRL International, and
“Money Smarts” by Jonathan D. Pond, acclaimed PBS host and “America’s financial planner.”

The Thursday morning workshops include “Process Optimization: The Accounting Close and Financial Reporting” by Gabe Zubizarreta, founding principal at Silicon Valley Accountants, and “An FBI Perspective on CyberCrime” by Stanley W. Paulson, special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The keynote luncheon address, “Motivation - Successful Strategies to Become a Winner,” will be presented by former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, who is currently vice president for strategic engagement at the University of Akron.

Two concurrent afternoon tracks include “Leadership, Accountability, and Agreements” presented by Amanda Bolivar, management coach and trainer at Pathways to Business Success Seminars, and “Ohio Professional Standards and Ethics” presented by Meonske.

Attendees for both days will earn 16 hours of CPE. Friday attendees will get a free copy of the best-selling book Monday Smarts and the opportunity to win a new Apple iPad.

For more information or to register, contact the Kent State University Conference Bureau at 330-672-3161 or go to www.ohioima.org.

For information about Kent State’s Department of Accounting, visit www.kent.edu/business/accounting.

Homecoming Theme Selected - Start Planning Your Events

Kent State will celebrate Homecoming on Oct. 5. The
deadline to register Homecoming events with the Alumni
Association is Aug. 2.

Although Homecoming won’t take place until Oct. 5, it is not too early to start planning your Homecoming events. Many Homecoming activities are already being scheduled, including the Bowman Cup 5K Race, Kiss on the K, the parade and more! This year’s Homecoming theme is “New & Old, Forever Blue & Gold.”

The deadline to register Homecoming events being planned by university departments or offices is Friday, Aug. 2. The registration form is available on the Kent State University Alumni Association’s website and can be submitted online. Registered events will be promoted on the Homecoming website and, as space allows, in other marketing materials.

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.

Kent State Athletics Premier Event of the Year

Kent State University Athletics needs your support for its second annual Scholarship Auction on May 3 at the Center Court in the Memorial Athletic and Convocation (MAC) Center. The premier athletics event of the year will be emceed by sports broadcaster Jeff Phelps, '82, and will feature silent and live auctions and entertainment by comedian Mike Polk Jr., '01. Proceeds will benefit student-athlete scholarships.

Kent State Athletics invites you to join in an evening with Kent State student-athletes, coaches and the who's who of Kent State Athletics. The RSVP deadline is April 24.

For more information about the event, including reservations, auction items and opportunities for event sponsorship, visit www.supportgoldenflashes.com/Scholarship_Auction.

Registration Opens for Third International Conference on Information and Religion

Center for the Study of Information and Religion (CSIR) Partners with American Theological Library Association (ATLA) for Third Annual Conference

Peter Ochs, Ph.D., Edgar M. Bronfman
Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at
University of Virginia, is the keynote
speaker for this year's International
Conference on Information and Religion.

The Center for the Study of Information and Religion (CSIR) at Kent State University will host its Third Annual International Conference on Information and Religion on June 19-22 in Charlotte, N.C., in conjunction with the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) 2013 Annual Conference.

CSIR participants will have the opportunity to take full advantage of the ATLA and CSIR sessions and activities at a reduced registration rate of $200; registration instructions are on the CSIR conference Web page: www.kent.edu/slis/research/csir/annual-conference-on-information-and-religion.cfm.

The conference will be held in the Westin Charlotte hotel: www.westincharlottehotel.com. The price for a room is $159 single/double, plus the applicable taxes (for reservations: www.starwoodmeeting.com/Book/atla).The conference rate expires Friday, May 17. The nearest airport is Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT). From the airport, a cab to the hotel is $25 each way.

“The Social Construction of Religious Knowledge,” this year's conference theme, is explored in more than 20 papers and posters, covering such topics as defining and interpreting data and information in the understanding of religious knowledge; the role of sermons in the social construction of knowledge; the construction of shared knowledge between different faith traditions; the social contexts of religious knowledge; preserving and making available religious texts and information objects associated with the construction of religious knowledge; social uses and appropriations made of these texts and objects; information in its application to clergy and congregations as communities of practice; faith and many types of intelligence (e.g., emotional intelligence, intellectual capital, etc.); the application of academic theory in the understanding of religious knowledge; intersections of interests in the study of information and religion, where different disciplines might find it worthwhile to collaborate in research.

A complete schedule of presentations and paper abstracts appears on the CSIR conference Web page: www.kent.edu/slis/research/csir/annual-conference-on-information-and-religion.cfm.

The keynote speaker for this year’s conference is Peter Ochs, Ph.D., Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies, University of Virginia, and founding editor of the Journal of Scriptural Reasoning. Ochs holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.A. from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and a Ph.D. from Yale University. His research addresses three primary subjects: the relation of contemporary Jewish thought to the classical biblical and rabbinic sources; relations among Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions of scriptural interpretation; and relations among contemporary religious, philosophic and scientific reasoning. He is the author of numerous articles, book chapters and monographs, including Another Reformation: Postliberal Christianity and the Jews (2011), The Free Church and Israel’s Covenant (2010) and Crisis, Call and Leadership in the Abrahamic Traditions (ed. Peter Ochs and Stacy Johnson, 2009).

Click here for more information about the conference.

Student Computer Designed Art Exhibit and Silent Auction

Kent State University at Tuscarawas and the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts are sponsoring the ninth annual Student Computer Designed Art Exhibit and Silent Auction from 7 to 9 p.m. on April 25. The exhibit, which is free and open to the public, will be held at the Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts at 461 Robinson Dr. S.E. in New Philadelphia.

More than 70 pieces of student artwork will be judged with the top three pieces to receive the honor of “Best of Show” that evening. In addition, all pieces will be available for a silent auction with the proceeds benefiting the Animation Imagineers Club, a campus club for students majoring in computer design, animation and game design. The exhibit also includes artwork submitted by high school students who are members of the 12 area high school Cyber Clubs.

Computer design, animation and game design engineering technology is one of the fastest growing majors at Kent State Tuscarawas. It is the largest major offered by the engineering technology program. Since the program’s launch in 1995, it is the only associate degree of its kind offered in Ohio. Students can also earn a bachelor’s degree in computer design, animation and game design at Kent State Tuscarawas.

Developed by Kamal Bichara, Ph.D., director of the engineering technology program, the computer design, animation and game design major appeals to students who enjoy combining visual design, art and technology.

Kent State Jazz Ensembles Will Electrify With Swing, Big Band, Salsa and Fusion

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.