eInside Events

Kent State Marks 44th Annual May 4 Commemoration

A student stands vigil by the concrete lanterns in memory
of Kent State University student Allison Krause, one of the
victims of the May 4, 1970, shootings. The 44th annual
commemoration of May 4, 1970, will take place May 3 and 4.

Kent State University holds its 44th annual commemoration of May 4, 1970, with events taking place May 3 and 4. The annual commemoration, hosted by the May 4 Task Force, provides an opportunity for the university community to gather and remember those who were lost and injured during the tragedy and also reflect on what May 4 means today.

The May 4 Task Force, a student organization on campus, will host two panels on Saturday, May 3. The afternoon panel, “Activism Then and Now,” will feature both current and former political activists, including peace and civil rights activist and lawyer Staughton Lynd, Native American activist Bill Means and members of student organizations from Kent State. This panel will be held in Room 317 in the Kent Student Center at 2 p.m.

The second panel, “Eyewitnesses to History: May 4th Perspectives,” will include speakers who were eyewitnesses to the May 4, 1970, incidents. These speakers include shooting victims Dean Kahler, Joe Lewis and professor and writer Tom Grace. Chic Canfora, who witnessed the shooting, also will be a part of the panel, which starts at 7 p.m. in the Kiva.

The annual candlelight vigil march is planned for 11 p.m. on May 3. The vigil and subsequent march will begin at the Victory Bell and will continue around campus, concluding at the Prentice Hall parking lot, where there are lighted markers where the four victims were killed. The candle bearers will then start the vigil that will continue throughout the night until the commemoration begins at noon on Sunday.
The commemoration starts at noon on May 4 at the Kent State Commons and will include speakers and music.

Idris Syed, lecturer in Kent State’s Department of Pan-African Studies, has been the faculty advisor for the May 4 Task Force since 2009. He first became involved with the group during his time as a student in 1990 and has continued to be part of it even after he graduated and became a professor at Kent State.

“I’ve found being involved with the May 4 Task Force to be one of the most important things I’ve done at Kent State,” says Syed. “I think being a student, then a faculty member at Kent State has given me the opportunity to reflect on the impact and legacy that May 4 continues to have after all these years.”

During the commemoration weekend, the May 4 Visitors Center will have extended hours. The center will be open on Friday, May 2, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Saturday, May 3, from noon to 5 p.m., and on Sunday, May 4, from 2 to 6 p.m.

For more information about events commemorating May 4, visit the May 4th Task Force website at www.m4tf.org.

For more information about Kent State’s May 4 Visitors Center, visit www.kent.edu/may4.

Kent State Upward Bound Seniors Celebrate Another Year of Success

Kent State University’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Upward Bound Programs will host the Senior Scholarship Banquet on May 8 at the Kent Student Center Ballroom from 6 to 8 p.m. TRIO Upward Bound Programs are pre-college programs designed to academically and culturally prepare first-generation, low-income students for opportunities and access to post-secondary education. Many of these students are the first in their families to attend college.

The Senior Scholarship Banquet recognizes graduating high school seniors who have successfully participated and completed the Upward Bound TRIO Programs’ experience. Kent State hosts three federal Upward Bound TRIO grants – the Upward Bound Classic program serving the areas of Akron Buchtel, Barberton and Warren; the Upward Bound Public Health Academy serving the areas of Lorain, Ravenna and Windham; and the Upward Bound Math/Science Bio-Scholars Institute serving the areas of Canton and Barberton

Graduating seniors will be recognized for their achievements and success as participants in the TRIO Upward Bound Programs. The keynote address will be given by Crystal M.C. Davis, federal relations director for Kent State’s Office of Governmental Relations in Washington, D.C. Davis is a TRIO alumna. The event will include recognition by program alumni, university and community partners, as well as the awarding of the Kent State Upward Bound Scholarships and the Parent Advisory Council Scholarships. The event is coordinated by the Kent State TRIO Upward Bound Programs and the Parent Advisory Council, comprising parents from all three programs who volunteer time and resources for the graduating seniors.

Kent State staff, high school administrators, community members, TRIO Upward Bound alumni and supporters are invited. Tickets are $10 with proceeds benefitting the Parent Advisory Council Scholarship. Tables of eight are available for purchase for $100.

For more information or to purchase a ticket, contact the Kent State TRIO Upward Bound Programs’ offices at 330-672-2920.

“What’s Real? Investigating Multimodality” Exhibit Opens May 1

Kent State University visual communication design
students Danya Dargham (left) and Lauren Haase (right)
work on their exhibit for the “What’s Real? Investigating
Multimodality” exhibit.

Members of the Kent State University community are invited to an hors d’oeuvres reception on Thursday, May 1, from 7 to 8 p.m. to celebrate the opening of a new exhibit in MuseLab, located in the School of Library and Information Science on the third floor of the University Library.

"What’s Real? Investigating Multimodality” is a collaborative exhibition that has been created, designed and installed by students in the following spring 2014 courses: Interaction Design: Spaces and Systems, taught by Jessica S. Barness, assistant professor, School of Visual Communication Design; Object Knowledge, taught by Kiersten F. Latham, assistant professor and MuseLab curator, School of Library and Information Science; and Packaging, Promotion and Retail Environments, taught by David A. Middleton, associate professor, School of Visual Communication Design.

The exhibition focuses on four modes of interaction to communicate – sound, movement, touch and text – around the central topic, a top hat.

RSVP at http://bit.ly/WhatsRealReception.

MuseLab is a component of the Museum Studies specialization in the School of Library and Information Science. Its purpose is to generate and inspire research on museality; to provide an atmosphere of innovation, creation and collaboration between faculty, students and community; and to have a place for museum studies students to put into practice skills and concepts they have learned in courses (on their own, in workshops or for research projects).

For more information about MuseLab, visit www.kent.edu/slis/about/locations/muselab.cfm.

Kent State Gospel Choir’s Spring Concert to Feature World-Class Musician

Linda Walker, Ph.D., director of the Kent State University
Gospel Choir, conducts the choir during a performance last
year.

Members of the Kent State University Gospel Choir are happy to announce that world-renowned soprano Kishna Davis Fowler will be part of the program in the group’s final concert of the semester. The choir will perform May 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the University Auditorium at Cartwright Hall.

This year’s gospel choir, self-proclaimed the “Fabulous 40,” is lucky to have the opportunity to work with such an accomplished musician, says Linda Walker, Ph.D., director of the Kent State Gospel Choir.

“We are so blessed to have her agree to do this concert,” Walker says. “It’s going to be fabulous. People really should come because it’s not everyday you get to see a Kishna Davis Fowler. She is a beauty and has a wonderful instrument.”

Fowler has performed with major national symphonies, including those of Prague, Berlin, Cleveland and Baltimore. She graduated from the Juilliard School of Music and Morgan State University. She is the daughter-in-law of Rev. Ronald Fowler, special assistant to Kent State President Lester A. Lefton.

The concert, which is free and open to the public, also will feature Treasure, written by the Kent State Gospel Choir’s accompanist Ralston Purkiss for the Akron Symphony Gospel Choir and Orchestra. Purkiss has been with the choir since its founding in 1996.

“I’m looking forward to doing a piece that he wrote,” says Walker. “It’s exciting that the Kent State Gospel Choir is doing a piece that was recently performed by the Akron Symphony, our regional orchestra.”

The accomplishments of the Kent State Gospel Choir do not end there. For the upcoming year, the group has been asked to perform at the African Choral Festival in Ghana, West Africa; at the Festival of Peace and Brotherhood in Rome, Italy; and with Music Contact International throughout Spain.

This is not the first time the choir has had an opportunity to travel because of its superior talent. For example, 2013 marked a class trip to London and Paris with other university groups, including Tennessee State University and Belmont University.

“What is special about the group, and what has always been special about the Kent State Gospel Choir, is the diversity,” says Walker.

The diversity of the “Fabulous 40” includes three exchange students from Brazil who are thrilled to be performing a song by Chris Tomlin called Indescribable at the May 2 concert. Half the song is sung in Portuguese, the native language of the students.

For more information about the concert and the Kent State Gospel Choir, visit www.kent.edu/music/ensembles/gospelchoir.cfm or call Walker at 330-672-2431.

Save the Date! 21st Annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference, Oct. 23 and 24

The 21st annual Celebrating College Teaching Conference takes place Oct. 23 and 24 at the Kent Student Center. The University Teaching Council’s annual conference focuses on the four pillars of a Kent State undergraduate curriculum — knowledge, insight, responsibility and engagement.

The conference kicks off with the Thursday Evening Dialogue, and Friday’s activities include the Provost’s Breakfast, followed by refereed round tables; invited round tables, including the Emeriti Round Table, featuring Emerita Senior Associate Athletic Director Judith Devine; the President’s Luncheon; and the Glenn W. Frank Lecture by Emerita Associate Professor Barbara Hipsman Springer.

The conference culminates with poster sessions and a dessert reception at 2:30 p.m., to honor recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Awards and the Outstanding Teaching Awards, as well as the wealth of teaching excellence at Kent State.

All conference events are free and open to all those who teach or support teaching at Kent State University. Instructors, including graduate assistants and teaching assistants, are urged to plan their course syllabi so they may attend.

The University Teaching Council has a call for proposals for any Kent State faculty members or graduate teaching assistants who are interested in presenting at the conference. To view the call, visit www.kent.edu/utc/index.cfm. To submit a proposal, visit http://bit.ly/utc2014conference.

For more information about the conference, contact Kimberly Peer at 330-672-0231 or kpeer@kent.edu.

Rare 16th-Century British Travel Account Featured in Library Showcase on May 9

A showcase of rare books from Kent State University’s Special Collections Library titled “The Printed World: European Travel Writing in an Age of Global Encounters (1500-1850)” will take place on Friday, May 9, from 4-6 p.m. in the University Library, Read Special Collections Classroom, Room 1018, on the 10th floor. Snacks and refreshments will be served.

The showcase is curated by undergraduate history majors Paul Boyle, Traci Hoffman, John Potwora and Amy Vartenuk under the direction of Matthew J. Crawford, Ph.D., assistant professor of history, and Cara Gilgenbach, director of the Special Collections Library. The showcase is part of an experiential learning component for an independent study, titled “European Exploration, Expansion and Empire in the Early Modern World.”

Included in the showcase is a one-time exhibit of travel accounts printed in Europe from the 16th century to the early 19th century; these travel accounts include descriptions of explorations and travel in Africa, the Americas, the Middle East, China and Russia. The curators also will provide a series of short presentations on the books in the exhibit and their historical significance.

Highlighted pieces include a late 16th-century compilation of travel accounts edited by Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616), a major proponent of British exploration and colonization of the Americas; late 18th-century accounts of Captain James Cook’s (1728-1779) voyages to the Pacific, including images of Cook’s interactions with native Hawaiians; and an early 19th-century edition of Mungo Park’s (1771-1806) first-hand account of his explorations of the Niger River in Africa.

Special Mother’s Day Concert at Kent State Features Virtuosic Musicians from Cleveland Orchestra, Miami Strings and More

Champagne, chocolate and roses to top off performance

Kent State University’s Hugh A. Glauser School of Music
will present a special Mother's Day concert on May 11
that will feature its newly formed ensemble in residence
the Verve Chamber Players and Cleveland Orchestra cellist
Tanya Ell.

Kent State University’s Hugh A. Glauser School of Music is proud to present the Verve Chamber Players with Cleveland Orchestra cellist Tanya Ell in a concert on Sunday, May 11, at 5 p.m., in Ludwig Recital Hall. Ludwig Recital Hall is located in the Center for the Performing Arts at 1325 Theatre Drive on the Kent Campus.

This performance is dedicated to mothers on their special day and will include champagne, chocolate and roses following the performance. Audience members will be treated to an afternoon of chamber music masterpieces, including the Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34 by Johannes Brahms and the Cello Quintet in C major, Op. 163 by Franz Schubert.

The Verve Chamber Players is the newly formed ensemble in residence at Kent State. Members of the ensemble include Jung-Min Amy Lee, Cleveland Orchestra associate concertmaster, and artist-in-residence and assistant professor of violin at Kent State; violinist Cathy Meng Robinson and cellist Keith Robinson, both members of the Miami String Quartet and artists-in-residence at Kent State; Yu Jin, artist-in-residence and assistant professor of viola at Kent State; and Donna Lee, associate professor of piano at Kent State. Since its formation, these five dynamic performers continue to deliver spirited performances of the chamber music repertoire throughout Northeast Ohio. The Plain Dealer recently wrote, “They played with virtuosity and commitment…”

Joining the Verve Chamber Players will be cellist Tanya Ell. Ell joined the cello section of the Cleveland Orchestra in February 2007. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Juilliard School and a master’s degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Ell has participated in a number of summer music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Sarasota Music Festival and Spoleto USA.

Tickets for the performance are $25 per person in advance and $30 per person at the door. To order tickets, contact Pam Hutson at 330-672-8384. Visa, MasterCard and Discover can be used. Checks, made out to the KSU Foundation with “Verve” in the memo, also can be mailed to Pam Hutson at the College of the Arts, P.O. Box 5190, Kent, Ohio 44242.

The Ludwig Recital Hall box office will open one hour prior to the performance for walk-up sales, and will accept cash and checks only. For more information, call 330-672-8384.

Kent State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication to Host Third Kent Multimedia Workshop

Kent State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication will host its third Kent Multimedia Workshop — a three-day, hands-on video and photography multimedia storytelling workshop — May 29-31 in Franklin Hall on the Kent Campus.

Media professionals, faculty members, students and others interested in polishing their multimedia skills will work closely with five photography and multimedia educators to learn the skills they need to tell narrative stories using multimedia techniques.

"Our workshop is an outgrowth of the Keystone Multimedia Workshop held each year at Penn State,” says Kent State Assistant Professor Susan Kirkman Zake. “We thought it would be great if the Penn State faculty joined us in Kent to teach the same type of workshop in Ohio."

Zake and her husband, Bruce, an adjunct photojournalism instructor, have traveled to State College the past five years to teach the Keystone sessions.

They will be joined in Ohio by Pennsylvania State University senior lecturers Curt Chandler, John Beale and Will Yurman, all award-winning journalists before beginning work at Penn State.

Participants may use Kent State’s equipment on a first-come, first-served basis. Supplies are limited, so attendees are encouraged to bring their own gear. Franklin Hall labs are equipped with Macintosh computers running the Adobe CS6 suite and Final Cut Pro from Apple.

The workshop has financial support of The Plain Dealer, the Ohio News Photographers Association and The Akron Beacon Journal. Kent State’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication will provide facility and lab support.

For more information and to register, visit www.kentmultimediaworkshop.com.

Registration will close May 21 unless other arrangements are made in advance.

Super Saturday to Hit Downtown Kent

In celebration of National Comic Day, Main Street Kent has designated Saturday, May 3, as “Super Saturday” in downtown Kent. Downtown merchant Off the Wagon is participating in the national comic event, handing out free comic books from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. (while supplies last) at Earl’s Nest, located in Acorn Alley right across from the store at 152 E. Main Street.

Local businesses are jumping in on the fun with various activities, including employees dressing up as superheroes, having sidewalk sales (weather permitting), super sales, raffles, special prices/offerings and more. Our own Super Squirrel will be stationed at the Hometown Bank Plaza from noon-3 p.m. for photo opportunities and to hand out Superpower Passes to people who want to know exactly where to find all the specials that day.

Off the Wagon also is sponsoring superhero costume contests, which will be held at the Hometown Bank Plaza. Adults will be judged at 12:30 p.m. in the following categories: Best DC, Best Marvel, Best Homemade and Best Original Design. Winners will receive a $20 gift card to Off the Wagon. Kids, ages 13 and under, will be judged at 1 p.m. Best Overall BIG Kid Costume (ages 7-13) will receive a $20 gift card; Best Overall Little Kid Costume (ages 0-6) also will receive a $20 gift card. Runners up (kids) will all get prizes for participating.

Main Street Kent will then hold a Superhero Costume Contest for pets of all kinds. At 1:30 p.m., pets and their owners are welcome and encouraged to participate in the contest. From lizards to dogs, organizers hope many will come down with their pets to compete or just to watch the fun. Cash prizes will be awarded to pet owners whose pets have the Best Overall Costume, Most Unusual Costume and Most Original Costume.

To top off the day, there will be a 50/50 Flying Squirrels Contest at 2:30 p.m. Attendees can buy a flying squirrel (actually a ping pong ball with a black squirrel on it) for $1. All flying squirrels will be numbered and launched across the plaza at Super Squirrel, who will catch one lucky winner. The winner will receive half of the proceeds from flying squirrel sales.

Visit www.mainstreetkent.org or call 330-677-8000 with any questions.

Main Street Kent is a nonprofit organization focused on the revitalization of downtown Kent. It is an affiliate of the national Main Street program and the Heritage Ohio program.

Wick Poetry Center to Host 13th Annual Performance of Giving Voice

Pictured are two past Giving Voice participants.

Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center presents the 13th annual Giving Voice performance on Thursday, May 1, at 6:30 p.m. in the Kent Student Center Ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.

The performance features local students (grades 3-12), senior citizens, veterans, medical care providers and patients from area hospitals all performing original poetry.

“All in attendance will have the remarkable opportunity to deeply listen as each poet approaches the microphone and leads us to a new experience or way of looking at the world,” says Nicole Robinson, outreach manager for the Wick Poetry Center.

The Giving Voice performance showcases material created in the Wick Poetry Center’s outreach programs. These workshops are led by Kent State undergraduates enrolled in the service-learning course “Teaching Poetry in the Schools.”

Robinson says this is one of her favorite events of the year.

“It brings together people of all ages to lift their words from the page and give voice to their poems,” she says.

For more information about Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, visit www.kent.edu/wick.