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Choosing a career path at age 18 can be overwhelming for some students. As a part of �Ը�������'s University College’s Exploratory Program, Flash Connections are enhanced sections of the required First Year Experience course created especially for Exploratory students. The Flash Connections program is designed to help students considering multiple majors find a community while discovering their major. This program’s exemplary work with undecided students was recently recognized, receiving awards from the Global Community for Academic Advising.

�Ը������� University and the University of Akron School of Law (Akron Law) recently finalized a Juris Doctor degree partnership program to create a seamless, sequential system for students to obtain a bachelor’s degree from �Ը������� and a Juris Doctor degree from Akron Law in only six years.

Deanne Parr never gave up on her dream of earning a degree, which included overcoming the many challenges of being a teen mother.

�Ը������� University has again been recognized as one of America’s Best-in-State Employers for 2022 by Forbes and market research company Statista. In Ohio, �Ը������� ranks No. 3 among the top 100 employers in Ohio, landing above such notable employers as Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic, both located in Cleveland.

�Ը������� journalism Professor Jacqueline Marino spent her fall 2021 sabbatical learning the techniques of audio storytelling. The piece she produced, is now the winner of two national journalism awards:

From 1921 to 1942, a WWI-vintage cannon stood on a knoll overlooking Rockwell Hall, then home to the University Library. It was loaned by the U.S. War Department to the Kent American Legion Post 496, which intended to present it to the city of Kent. When city officials could not decide on a suitable location, the cannon found a home on the campus of �Ը������� Normal College. 

For a third consecutive year, �Ը������� University has been selected as one the nation’s top universities for LGBTQ+ students for creating a safe, welcoming environment for students, faculty and staff, according to Campus Pride, a leading resource for LGBTQ+ leadership development, diversity inclusion and advocacy within higher education.

With a backdrop of strobe lights, rock music and excitement, �Ը������� President Todd Diacon kicked off the start of the 2022 Fall Semester by encouraging new students to lean on one another during the university's traditional convocation ceremony. 

After experiencing dating violence in high school, Rhylee Shepherd turned her pain into a teaching opportunity for her peers through the Know Your Worth project.

A �Ը������� College of Nursing student who graduated Aug. 20 recently was honored by the city of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, along with her sister, for working to save the life of a woman who fell ill while playing volleyball.

�Ը������� University partnered with Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City for an international, cross-cultural exchange for students to study how sustainable gardening projects aid immigrant populations. 

Beginning in 1922, �Ը������� Normal College President John McGilvrey introduced a bold innovation for students: a series of educational tours to sites of cultural and historical interest.

�Ը�������'s Undergraduate Student Government, the student organization responsible for being the direct line of communication to the administration to make students’ voices heard, was honored with the 2022 Student Government of the Year Award from the Conference on Student Government Associations.

�Ը������� University's Explore Kent, Go! web pages give the �Ը������� community the ability to explore �Ը�������’s campus, downtown Kent and surrounding cities. Next in the “Where on the Web?” series, the focal point is the Explore Kent, Go! web pages at www.kent.edu/go. The Explore Kent, Go! web pages are an introduction to the diverse opportunities offered by the university’s niche area in the Midwest, according to Lin Danes, director of Web Services and Interactive Media at �Ը�������.

The �Ը������� University alumni family will grow by more than 1,200 new graduates as the university holds its summer commencement ceremonies. The accomplishments of the Summer Class of 2022 will be recognized with in-person, outdoor commencement ceremonies and a virtual commencement ceremony on Aug. 20.

“Who is Counted and What Counts: Tracking Women’s Engagement in Low-Prestige/High-Workload Service Activities at �Ը������� University” will examine whether faculty members with underrepresented and/or historically excluded intersecting gender and racial/ethnic identities (IGREs) perform more high-workload, low-prestige service work than their faculty peers.

In 1922, �Ը�������’s first president, John McGilvrey, introduced what could be considered the great-grandmother of our current distance-learning programs at �Ը�������: correspondence courses. 

Sometimes it just takes a small spark to ignite a fire within you. For Anna Mika of Parma, Ohio, who started as a geology major her freshman year at �Ը������� University and switched to anthropology the following year, that spark came in 2017 while taking an anthropology course called North America’s Ice Aged Hunters, taught by Metin I. Eren, Ph.D., associate professor and director of archaeology in the College of Arts and Sciences. She said that course changed her perspective on everything.  

�Ը������� University is excited to be a part of the Ohio College Comeback Compact, an innovative program to help students who left college with debt but without a degree to continue their education. �Ը������� is collaborating with seven public colleges and universities in Northeast Ohio to reach out to these students and provide a path back to higher education while reducing or eliminating their debt.

When he’s not working to keep the Kent Campus safe, police officer Vance Voyles can be found in the classroom where he works as an adjunct professor teaching Story for Film for the digital media production major in the School of Media and Journalism within the College of Communication and Information.