Message from Leadership

A Message from Interim Vice President, Leigh Greenfelder

As a child, I used to run around the house singing, “What the World Needs Now is Love,” by Dionne Warwick, with lyrics that say, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.” Decades later, I stand by the importance of those lyrics, but I might also add that in 2026, the world could use education, care for others and community.

What a privilege it is to work in a role, in a division and at a university where all of those things are fostered each and every day.

I’ve been serving in various roles supporting our Kent State alumni and donors for almost 10 years. And before that, I spent 15 years partnering with higher education, nonprofit and for-profit institutions in the accomplishments of their unique strategic goals and missions. After all those professional experiences, what makes Kent State distinctive to me is the way the people – both on our campuses and our Flashes Forever alumni family – care for one another and their respective communities. Every day, I’m impressed by the talent of our students, the amazing things our alumni are doing and the immense generosity of donors who want to partner to help Kent State provide quality education, create connections and train our students to address the issues of tomorrow in unique and necessary ways.

At Kent State, what sets us apart is how we come together!

Graduates I meet from the May 4 era and before, up to 2026 graduates, all have their own personal story and unique experiences – but the thing I most often hear is how this place felt like home and changed the trajectory of their lives. Kent State is special in ways that are personal to everyone who has experienced it – yet hard to quantify.

In this role, I am asking our team to make our work personal… Personalized experiences for our alumni, personal relationships with our donors and colleagues, personal accountability to doing excellent work.

I am honored to have the opportunity to serve this division as the interim vice president and lead a team of wonderfully talented and caring people in our effort to continue personally connecting alumni and donors to a Golden Flash family who values them and to a place where they can continue to grow and flourish, making an impact on the next generation.

If you would like to share how Kent State personally impacted your life or connect about ways to support the remarkable students, innovations and programs at Kent State, please reach out to me via email. Thank you for being a part of our blue and gold family – let’s keep fostering education, care and community together. At Kent State, what sets us apart is how we come together!

Go Flashes!

Leigh Greenfelder
Interim Vice President, Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement