eInside Events

Spring 2014 Bowman Breakfast to Focus on Local and Global Impact of Kent Businesses

The spring 2014 Bowman Breakfast will take place at Kent State University in the Kent Student Center Ballroom on Tuesday, March 18. Doors open at 7 a.m., breakfast begins at 7:30 a.m., and the program will follow at 8 a.m.

Five speakers will discuss the topic “Kent Businesses … A Local and Global Impact.” The featured speakers are Matthew C. French, vice president and general manager of AMETEK; Albert Green, Ph.D., CEO of Kent Displays Inc.; Robin Kilbride, president and CEO of Smithers-Oasis; David Ruller, city manager for the city of Kent; and Nicholas R. Sucic, vice president and controller for the Davey Tree Expert Company.

The cost to attend is $10 per person, payable by cash or check at the door only. Invoicing is not available for this event. Reservations can be completed online or by contacting Mary Mandalari at 330-672-8664 or mmandala@kent.edu no later than Wednesday, March 12. No shows will be billed. If you find you cannot attend, please contact Mandalari to cancel your reservation by March 12.

Kent State is committed to making its programs and activities accessible to those individuals with disabilities. If you or a member of your family will need an interpreter or any other accessibility accommodation to participate in this event, contact the university’s accessibility liaison, Jacqueline Gee, by phone at 330-672-8667, by video phone at 330-931-4441 or via email at accessKSU@kent.edu.

The Bowman Breakfast, a tradition since 1963, is sponsored by Kent State and the Kent Area Chamber of Commerce.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014

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Kent State Hosts See You @ College Conference to Increase Enrollment and Graduation of First-Generation College Students

Kent State University will host a one-day conference that is expected to bring together about 300 community organizations and leaders to discuss ways to increase college enrollment and graduation of first-generation and academically motivated students in Northeast Ohio. The See You @ College conference will take place on Thursday, Feb. 13, from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Kent Student Center Ballroom. The conference is free and open to high school and college educators and administrators, community leaders, educational organizations and more. Registration is required and can be done at www.kent.edu/seeyouatcollege/register.

The See You @ College: Northeast Ohio Pathways to Success is an inclusive, long-term college access collaborative initiative designed to engage community leaders and organizations to become involved in guiding and assisting first-generation families and their students in finding more pathways to a college education.

“The See You @ College initiative was the vision of Rev. Ron Fowler, special assistant to the president on community engagement, and Iris Harvey, vice president for university relations, who initially sought to increase college access for students by working with faith-based organizations,” says Said Sewell, Ph.D., assistant provost. “Their efforts were in line with Complete College America and Complete College Ohio that noted that young people either are not going to college or attending but not graduating because they are not well-prepared. The Complete College Ohio taskforce further noted that if the state of Ohio is to stay competitive in the global market, it is imperative that the state, by 2020, increases its total number of college graduates by at least 56 percent, or 845,000 people. See You @ College is one of Kent State’s efforts toward that goal."

The conference, which is a collaboration with other Northeast Ohio institutions of higher learning and nonprofits, is intended to engage community leaders in discussions with a diversity of other leaders who are engaged daily in promoting the value of a college degree. The See You @ College framework is to harness the power of those in a community who have contact with and are trusted by families and to further empower them with information, resources and tools about higher education so that they can be part of the emotional and motivational support system that many families need in order to get their first-generation students prepared and enrolled in college.

Among the panelists at the conference will be representatives from across the Kent State campuses. An exhibit area will be available for Kent State units and other organizations to display materials about their programs. Interested parties who wish to exhibit should contact Lashonda Taylor at ltaylo33@kent.edu or 330-672-8657.

Greg Darneider, senior advisor for college access at the U.S. Department of Education, will serve as opening speaker at the conference, and Steve Perry, Ed.D., author, principal and CNN educational contributor, will serve as luncheon speaker.

Breakout sessions at the conference will explore topics such as “Dual Enrollment, Upward Bound, Post-Secondary Educational Opportunity Programs,” “Why Is College Important and How Do We Make It an Expectation?,” “Making Dreams a Reality: Finding the Best Fit” and “The Holistic Impact of Education Attainment.”

Watch a short video that shows the testimonials of first-generation college students to learn why the See You @ College initiative is important to Kent State.

For more information about Kent State’s See You @ College initiative and conference, call 330-672-2220 or visit www.kent.edu/seeyouatcollege/register.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014

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Kent State University Orchestra Presents Death and Life

A performance celebrating the concerto competition winners

The Kent State University Hugh A. Glauser School of Music Orchestra will continue its 2013-2014 season with a performance highlighting the undergraduate and graduate concerto competition winners on Sunday, Feb. 16, at 3:30 p.m. in the University Auditorium at Cartwright Hall. Cartwright Hall is located at 650 Hilltop Drive, with free parking located off Terrace Drive.

The graduate concerto competition winner, pianist Yuka-Nakayama-Lewicki, will perform Totentanz for Piano and Orchestra, S. 126 by Franz Liszt. The undergraduate winner, junior music performance major and violist Yuxuan Zhang, will perform the first movement of Der Schwanendreher, concerto for viola and small orchestra by Paul Hindemith.

Audience members will be treated to a fascinating program titled Death and Life.

“The first half of the concert pairs the fiery Liszt with Michael Daugherty's Red Cape Tango, a whirlwind of a piece depicting the final battle between Superman and Doomsday” says Charles Latshaw, director of the Kent State Orchestra. “The second half of the performance brings about uplifting and sometimes hilarious stories with Hindemith's piece about his escape from Nazi Germany to America, and Zoltán Kodály's Háry János Suite, which chronicles the not-quite-true heroic acts of a long-retired old soldier.”

Latshaw will continue to provide entertainment for the audience at intermission during his well-received Conversations with Charles.

Nakayama-Lewicki is a graduate student of Kent State Associate Professor of Music Donna Lee, pursuing a master’s degree with emphasis in chamber music. Nakayama-Lewicki earned degrees from Tokyo Gakugei University and Ball State, and her performances have taken her to Asia and Europe. She also is a founding member of the Aurora Trio comprised of clarinet, violin and piano; they are scheduled to perform live on WCLV this April.

Zhang started studying violin at the age of 5. She entered the pre-college division at China’s Central Conservatory and began studying viola at 13. Zhang has participated in the renowned Aspen Music Festival for two consecutive years, and she is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in music performance at Kent State with Assistant Professor of Music Yu Jin.

Tickets for the performance are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and Kent State faculty and staff, $10 for groups of 10 or more patrons, $8 for non-Kent State students, $5 for children and free for full-time Kent Campus undergraduate students.

Tickets are available weekdays noon to 5 p.m. at the Performing Arts Box Office, located in the lobby of the Roe Green Center in the Center for the Performing Arts at 1325 Theatre Drive on the Kent Campus. The Performing Arts Box Office accepts Visa, MasterCard and Discover, in addition to cash and checks.

The Cartwright Hall box office will open one hour prior to the performance for walk-up sales, and will accept Visa, MasterCard and Discover. Tickets and more information are available by calling 330-672-ARTS (2787) or visiting www.kent.edu/music.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014

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Kent State to Participate in Nationwide Screening of American Economy Film

Kent State University Libraries, the Department of Political Science and the Political Science Club will sponsor a showing on Feb. 20 of the film Inequality for All with a webcast to follow, hosted by Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor and the documentary’s producer.

The film will begin simultaneously at 5 p.m. ET at dozens of universities and colleges across the country. At 6:30 p.m. ET, Reich will open up a discussion with students in a simulcast live from San Francisco State University. The screening and simulcast will be offered free of charge to students and faculty in Room 177 at the Schwartz Center.

Thom Yantek, Kent State associate political science professor, says the film will educate viewers on the widening income gap between social classes and the harsh impact on the American economy.

“Inequality in the United States is a major problem,” says Yantek. “A lot of people don’t know that the United States has the greatest degree of inequality among the modern industrialized democracies.”

He says the film will be beneficial to Kent State students because inequality is projected to be a major issue in the upcoming congressional elections. Yantek also says civic engagement has been a major theme at Kent State for several years, and the film’s content will tune students into that topic.

“I hope the information in the film will be an eye opener to our students, and energize this issue into their day-to-day thinking,” says Yantek. “It could be our students’ generation that will help reverse the inequality trend.”

Christopher Clevenger, senior political science major and president of the Political Science Club, says he is looking forward to participating in open conversation about the current economic situation during the webcast.

“This film will empower students to ask the questions they should be asking, while also offering access to knowledgeable professionals who can help them to better understand how our economy works and how it affects them directly,” says Clevenger.

For more information about the nationwide event, visit www.naspa.org/rpi/posts/special-film-screening-inequality-for-all.

For more information or to purchase the film, visit http://inequalityforall.com.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014 | Morgan Jupina

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“They Led the Way” Civil Rights Exhibition Opens on Feb. 13

Exhibition opening is part of Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration at Kent State

The opening reception for “They Led the Way,” an exhibition that tells the stories of the eight students who desegregated Leon County, Fla., public schools 50 years ago, will take place on Thursday, Feb. 13, at 4:30 p.m. in the lobby of the FirstEnergy Auditorium, Room 340 Franklin Hall, in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The reception and exhibition are open to all students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of Kent State.

“They Led the Way” chronicles the lives of these students who endured taunting, anger and racism, and went on to become lawyers, teachers, a doctor and a businessman. The exhibition is the work of School of Journalism and Mass Communication Professor Ann Schierhorn, and features photographs by David LaBelle, photojournalism program director in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The event is sponsored by the School of Journalism and Mass Communication in partnership with the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Comments from Mahlon C. Rhaney, Jr., one of the eight students, will be featured during the “Remembrance and Reflection” presentation that accompanies the exhibition opening. Rhaney went on to earn his bachelor’s degree at the United States Air Force Academy, where he was one of about 16 blacks in a class of more than 1,000. Later, he received a law degree from Harvard University. Today, he is the senior vice president of Benton-Georgia LLC, an Atlanta-based company that builds natural gas pipelines. Schierhorn, LaBelle and Thor Wasbotten, director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, also will speak at the opening.

“When I was growing up in the segregated South, I knew there were stories that were not being told. That’s what drove me back to my hometown to tell the stories of the eight students who desegregated the schools,” says Schierhorn.

“Meeting and photographing these courageous and accomplished individuals was a chance for me to touch history in the flesh; a history I had seen from a distance on television, and on newspaper and magazine pages,” says LaBelle.

For more information about this event, contact Stephanie Smith at ssmit149@kent.edu.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014

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Kent State School of Art Metalsmithing Showcase Examines “Digital Hand”

The School of Art Gallery at Kent State University will present “The Digital Hand,” an exhibit spotlighting the work of metalsmiths who incorporate digital technique in their design and production. Curated by Kathleen Browne, head of the jewelry/metals programs at the School of Art, the show will run from Feb. 11-28. The School of Art Gallery is located on the second floor of the Art Building at 400 Janik Dr. in Kent.

There will be an opening reception for “The Digital Hand” on Feb. 13 from 5-7 p.m. Additionally, visiting artist Melissa Cameron, whose works are featured in the exhibit, will give a tie-in lecture on Feb. 14 at noon in the adjacent auditorium (Room 202). Both events and the gallery itself are free and open to the public.

“The exhibition is a survey of the work of 18 metalsmiths who have integrated digital technologies into their art practice,” says Browne. “These artists’ engagement in digital technologies covers a broad spectrum, from using computer programs solely as a design tool to fabricating works of art using laser cutting and 3D printing.”

The artists whose work appears in “The Digital Hand” are Pam Argentieri, Kristin Beeler, Allyson Bone, Doug Bucci, Melissa Cameron, David Choi, Joshua DeMonte, Arthur Hash, Matthew Hollern, Nicole Jacquard, Amy Klainer, Plural Studios (Courtney Starrett and Michael Gayk), Phil Renato, Rebecca Strzelec, Kim Tatalick, Jess Todd and Linda Threadgill.

For more information, contact Anderson Turner, director of galleries, at haturner@kent.edu or 330-672-1369.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014

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Kent State’s Department of Pan-African Studies Celebrates Black History Month With Film Festival

Kent State University’s Department of Pan-African Studies kicked off the Black History Month film festival on Feb. 6. This is the first festival hosted by the department since the 1990s. The festival will feature a different movie every day through Feb. 20 at the Uumbaji Gallery in Ritchie Hall.

Dawn deFoor, administrative secretary at the Department of Pan-African Studies, says faculty, staff and students within the department selected the movies after considerable research and thought.

“These films were chosen because each one contains unexplored and important information about African history,” says Amoaba Gooden, chair of the Department of Pan-African Studies. “Each has information that we think needs further discussion. It is our honor, privilege and responsibility as a department to enlighten, engage and share all aspects of the Pan-African world.”

For more information about the film festival and other Black History Month celebratory events, visit www.kent.edu/CAS/PAS/About/CalendarofEvents/calendarofevents.cfm.

Film festival schedule:
Monday, Feb. 10

Noon – 2 p.m.
Winnie: Chronicles the life of Winnie Mandela and her tremendous contributions in the struggle to end apartheid.

3 – 5 p.m.
500 Years Later: Crime, drugs, HIV/AIDS, poor education, inferiority complex, low expectation, poverty, corruption, poor health and underdevelopment plagues people of African descent globally.

Tuesday, Feb. 11

Noon – 2 p.m.
The Loving Story: Based on the landmark case regarding interracial marriage during the turbulent civil rights era.

3 – 5 p.m.
Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom: A chronicle of Nelson Mandela’s life journey from childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa.

5 – 7 p.m.
Black Wall Street: Tulsa, Oklahoma 1921: Based on the true story of one of the most affluent all-black communities in America that was bombed from the air and burned to the ground by angry whites. It also reveals a once thriving black business district that was extremely successful and self-sufficient.

Wednesday, Feb. 12

Noon – 2 p.m.
500 Years Later

3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Skin: Based on the true story of a black girl born to white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.

Thursday, Feb. 13

Noon – 2 p.m.
Hidden Colors: Tells the untold history of people of color around the globe that have been left out of the pages of history.

3 – 5 p.m.
Chisolm ’72: Unbought and Unbossed: Documentary on Brooklyn-based Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 presidential bid.

5 – 7 p.m.
The Trials of Muhammad Ali: Covers Ali’s toughest bout: his battle to overturn a five-year prison sentence for refusing U.S. military service in Vietnam.

Monday, Feb. 17

Noon – 2 p.m.
The Loving Story

3 – 5 p.m.
Dark Girls

5 – 7 p.m.
Winnie

Tuesday, Feb. 18

Noon – 2 p.m.
Hidden Colors

3 – 5 p.m.
Hidden Colors 2

Wednesday, Feb. 19

Noon – 2 p.m.
Winnie

3 – 5 p.m.
Mandela – Long Walk to Freedom

5 – 7 p.m.
Hidden Colors 2

Thursday, Feb. 20

Noon – 2 p.m.
Hidden Colors

3 – 5 p.m.
Hidden Colors 2

Posted Feb. 10, 2014 | Kelli Fitzpatrick

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Kent State Planetarium Presents The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

The Kent State University Planetarium in the Department of Physics presents The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence on Feb. 20, 21 and 22, at 8 p.m. The hourlong shows will be presented in Room 108 at Smith Hall, and is free and open to the public, but it is not recommended for children under age 6.

The presentation will showcase humanity’s search for intelligent life on other worlds.

“After a tour of the lovely Ohio night sky, we will explore celestial objects that may harbor life millions to trillion miles away,” says Brett Ellman, associate professor and planetarium director. “We will then describe ongoing attempts to communicate with whomever may be listening and the huge, difficult, worldwide effort to find the needle of an intelligent message within the haystack of cosmic radio noise."

Seating capacity is limited; therefore, reservations are recommended and can be done by calling 330-672-2246. Individuals who need special accommodations are requested to call in advance of their desired presentation night to make arrangements.

For more information, visit http://planetarium.kent.edu.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014

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Wick Poetry Center to Host Poets Daniel Carter and Allison Davis

Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center will host poets Daniel Carter and Allison Davis as part of its reading series on Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 306 ABC at the Kent Student Center. The event is free and open to the public.

“Audience members will be treated to a wonderful evening from two rising stars in American poetry,” says Jessica Jewell, program manager for the Wick Poetry Center. “Students will get a chance to see how poetry can be experienced across disciplines and voice and craft, and hopefully will demystify some of the old concepts of what poetry is at the university.”

Carter is the author of Here Both Sweeter, which won the 2011 Wick Chapbook Competition for Ohio poets. A chapbook is a small book containing poetry, ballads and short stories. Carter’s poetry has appeared in numerous publications such as Crazyhorse, The AWL and The Offended Adam.

Davis’ poetry has been featured in multiple journals and anthologies including Verse Daily, The New Republic and The American Dream. Her chapbook, Poppy Seeds, is the winner of the Wick Poetry Chapbook Competition. Davis plans to move to California in the fall as a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.

The Wick Reading Series is an annual event that hosts writers and poets ranging from beginners to award winners. The featured individuals provide readings, lectures and workshops for the general public.

For more information about the Wick Poetry Center, visit www.kent.edu/wick.

Posted Feb. 10, 2014

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