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Although ������Ƶ State alumna and current graduate student Lydia Lisowsky has never visited Ukraine, she feels a deep sense of obligation and responsibility to help those who have been injured in the war. The ������Ƶ State community helped Lisowsky pack and donate medical supplies on the ������Ƶ Campus and in the larger ������Ƶ community to send to Ukraine. 

The ������Ƶ alumni family will grow by more than 5,000 new graduates as the university holds its spring commencement ceremonies. The accomplishments of the Spring Class of 2022 will be recognized with in-person, outdoor commencement ceremonies on May 12-14 and May 20 and a virtual commencement ceremony for all colleges and degrees on May 15.

The inaugural Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture Series and Luncheon took place May 2 at the ������Ƶ Student Center Ballroom with Tammy Clewell, Ph.D., professor in ������Ƶ’s Department of English, as the featured speaker.

Two significant environmental issues our nation faces today include invasive plant species and a lack of sustainable materials. Invasive plant species are detrimental to host environments for multiple reasons. ������Ƶ State students are working to turn invasive plant species into a sustainable material that can help protect the environment through the 2022 Biodesign Challenge, a course and national competition to create sustainable solutions to real world problems.

The protected prairie surrounding ������Ƶ’s Warren Student Recreation and Wellness Center will be burned on Friday, April 29, starting around 9 a.m., to allow for new growth during the summer season.

Leadership roles in the Interfraternity Council and Delta Tau Delta Fraternity served as preparation for Dylan Mace's service on the ������Ƶ State Board of Trustees when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him in July 2020. Mace’s two-year term, in which he served as a member of the Board’s Academic Excellence and Student Success Committee and the Finance and Administration Committee, will expire May 16, 2022. 

As key supporters and organizers of the May 4 Candlelight Walk and Vigil, Michael and Kendra Pacifico say the event is the time when people can put their politics aside to honor those who died and were wounded on May 4, 1970.

The central component of the Grind2Energy systems at ������Ƶ are larger versions of the in-sink garbage disposals found in many homes. The difference is that at ������Ƶ State, these units aren’t disposing of food waste, but processing it with a purpose - as the first part of a highly sustainable innovation that creates energy and high-grade fertilizer.

Born from inside ������Ƶ State’s Wick Poetry Center, “Dear Vaccine” gives citizens a chance to process the pandemic through poetry. The poetry center collaborated with the University of Arizona to expand on poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Dear Vaccine.” The poem became a catalyst for respondents around the world to share their own poems.

������Ƶ has scheduled a variety of programs, events and exhibits for this year’s remembrance of May 4, 1970, to honor the four students who were killed, the nine students who were wounded and the countless others whose lives were forever changed when the Ohio National Guard fired on ������Ƶ State students during an anti-war protest.

������Ƶ State’s messengers, the staff at University Communications and Marketing (UCM), have helped the university be recognized regionally, nationally and internationally for its work throughout 2020 and 2021. The last two years were filled with major events across campus and around the world. UCM was tasked with continuously updating students, faculty and staff on the constantly evolving landscape. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, UCM was challenged to create a campaign to help the ������Ƶ State community manage these tough times together.

The ������Ƶ Board of Trustees recently approved the naming of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation Entrepreneurship Suite, a space that includes the LaunchNET offices, the Marty Erbaugh i3 Lab and surrounding areas within the Design Innovation (DI) Hub.

Michelle Corvette is the new assistant director of ������Ƶ State’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The CTL’s mission is to enrich student's lives by supporting faculty members with evidence-based, student-focused and innovative teaching and learning measures. Corvette is excited about providing support to ������Ƶ State faculty across all of the ������Ƶ State campuses. Learn more about Corvette and the CTL as she answers these 10 questions.

������Ƶ State’s Career and Community Studies (CCS) program has partnered with the Bursar’s Office to provide opportunities for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to develop professional skills and help them transition into the workforce. Ellie McGregor, a fourth-year student currently in her final semester in the CCS program, has found great success and made solid contributions in the office while honing her business skills. She is an example of what this program can do for students. 

National Public Radio (NPR) has whittled down and decided on the college finalists in its College Podcast Challenge. ������Ƶ at Ashtabula Human Services Technology associate lecturer and journalism student Joan Steidl is one of ten students from across the country who became finalists.

Tammy Clewell, Ph.D., professor in ������Ƶ’s Department of English, will give the inaugural lecture of the Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture Series with her presentation “Remembering the Contested May 4 Memorializing Process.” The lecture and luncheon will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Monday, May 2, in the ������Ƶ Student Center Ballroom.

������Ƶ State’s long and extensive history has been continuously documented and studied. Those looking for the highlights of the university’s past can find it all in one place: the University Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives: Digital Collections on the kent.edu website. This next installment of Where on the Web? highlights pages across the ������Ƶ State website of special interest and use to the ������Ƶ State community. 

U.S. News & World Report ranks six ������Ƶ programs in the top 100 among public institutions in its 2023 edition of Best Graduate Schools. Among the top 100 public institution programs, ������Ƶ State is recognized in the Best Nursing Schools: Master’s Programs, Best Education Schools, Best Mathematics Programs, Best Psychology Schools, Best Public Health Programs and Best Physics Schools rankings. ������Ƶ State is also recognized in an additional five new national rankings.

This year’s return of in-person events to commemorate the ������Ƶ State shootings will include the dedication of bronze markers placed on the spots where nine students were wounded on May 4, 1970. Markers designating the locations of each of the four students killed were installed in 1999. Since that time, a small group had been working to have similar markers placed for the wounded students.

Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham, whose knowledge of politics, history, religion and current affairs makes him one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals, will appear the evening of May 4 for ������Ƶ’s Presidential Speaker Series. Meacham will bring his unique perspective and provide historical context to the issues and events impacting our daily lives when he speaks about civil discourse at the ������Ƶ Student Center Ballroom.