Coming Soon: 2021 Climate Study
The 2021 Kent State University Climate Study, "Race: Our Voices Count," will be conducted to understand the current climate across the institution. All students, faculty and staff are encouraged to participate in this confidential survey to let all voices be heard and impact change. The survey will open Monday, March 1.
The goals of the survey are to gauge progress since the university’s 2016 climate study; to hone in on the experiences related to race and its intersectionality with other identities that inform Kent State’s practices; and to further inform the university’s anti-racism efforts.
More information about this survey will be shared in the coming weeks.
Spring Semester Town Halls Focusing on Identity, Understanding and Change
The Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is continuing its year-long virtual series, “Shaping a Better Future: Dialogues and Strategizing for Change.” Please join the discussion about the Black American experience, the Asian American experience, the transgender experience and other topics throughout the spring. Sandra Morgan, director of external affairs and communications in the College of Arts and Sciences, will serve as moderator for upcoming events.
The series is a collaborative effort and includes the following departments: the College of Arts and Sciences, the Jewish Studies Program, the Department of Pan-African Studies, the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality, the Women’s Center, the LGBTQ+ Center, the Latino Networking Caucus and the School of Theatre and Dance.
As a reminder, this series of town halls focuses on identity, understanding and change, exploring the diversity of the American experience.
The next town hall will be held Thursday, February 18, from noon - 1:30 p.m. on the Black American Experience.
Panelists include:
- Mwatabu Okantah, M.A., Associate Professor, Department of Pan-African Studies
- Gene Shelton, M.A., Professor, School of Media and Journalism
Please register in advance for this webinar.
Virtual Scavenger Hunt Teambuilding
New for Spring 2021
Assemble your team and work through clues! Utilize leadership, strong communication, and problem-solving skills. Solve the mystery of the disappearance of Flash from Campus!
Contact Chris Lukas at clukas@kent.edu or go to our website www.kent.edu/recservices for more information!
Pricing Options include:
- One hour plus debrief: $125 facilitator-led, $75 self-guided
- Two hours plus debrief: $150 facilitator-led, $100 self-guided
Additional information online at www.kent.edu/recservices/teambuilding. Check out a promotional video.
CPM’s Wound Clinic Survey Targets Clinical Faculty
Many sectors of the US economy have taken a financial hit due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Even physician practices around the country have reported a steep decline in revenues. We are conducting a brief survey to measure the impact of physician practices one year since the onset of the pandemic. CPM's clinical faculty are encouraged to take this brief 10-question survey.
Finance Cognos Reports Training February 25
Please join us for a virtual presentation of a Deep Dive into the Finance Cognos Reports, on Thursday, February 25. We will be covering the Monthly Transactions report and the Labor Distribution Cognos-Finance reports. The finance department will be covering how the reports relate to each other and define common items you may come across while reviewing them. We plan to demonstrate where to find these reports and have time for a question and answer session at the end. This session will be recorded and added to the Resources section of the Controller’s Office website.
Before the remote work environment, we held various Banner/Finance in-person trainings in the Schwartz Center. With many people taking on new responsibilities since we have gone remote, we wanted to offer virtual editions of some of the most popular trainings—this could be a refresher for some of you, but it could be new for many of you as well. We will go through a formal presentation to give meaning to these reports, demonstrate how to run the reports, and then open the floor for questions.
Sign up for the virtual presentation from the HR website www.kent.edu/hr, click on Training & Development/Register for Training/Live Virtual Courses.
Online Beyond Compliance Opportunities
Beyond Compliance Reminder
Annually, two hours of Beyond Compliance training is required of all staff and strongly encouraged among TT and FTNTT faculty.
The deadline to satisfy Beyond Compliance training is the end of the fiscal year, June 30. It is important to note that one hour must be a gender-based discrimination or harassment course.
Training and Development offers a blend of virtual facilitated-led and self-paced courses. Visit our Beyond-Compliance website to see dates and times for virtual, facilitator-led options. For self-paced options, visit SafeColleges, our online portal. To access the online site, visit FlashLine>Employee>Resources. Scroll down to Training and Development and click on SafeColleges.
Wellness Your Way Rewards Program Reminders
Don't Leave Your $300 on the Table!
Full-time, benefits eligible employees who practice healthy behaviors can earn $300 each year for participating in the Wellness Your Way Rewards Program.
The program consists of two tiers. Completing Tier 1 is worth $100 and includes the following activities:
- Health Risk Assessment (complete on the Be Well Solutions portal)
- Consent, Waiver & Release Agreement (download from the Be Well portal and submit to Employee Wellness at wellness@kent.edu)
- Know Your Numbers Health Screening (in the workplace or with your primary care physician)
Health screenings can be completed with your primary care physician, onsite at the Kent campus with Be Well Solutions, or at a LabCorp facility for regional campus employees. Login to the Be Well portal to schedule a screening or access the Physician Screening or LabCorp Screening form. Schedule your screening today, as the Tier 1 deadline is April 30, 2021.
Earn an additional $200 reward for completing Tier 2. Choose from a menu of activities to rack up points toward Tier 2 your way! Your goal is to accumulate 350 Tier 2 points by October 15, 2021. Did you know you can check your completed activities and Tier 2 points at any time? Monitor your progress by logging into the Be Well portal and clicking on "Wellness Reward Program" under "My Wellness". Open the green Tier 2 dropdown table to view eligible activities, download verification forms, check your points earned, and submit forms.
NOTE: The first round of wellness incentives for anyone who completed Tier 1 by Dec. 31, 2020 will go out in the mid-February pay. If you elected it to go into a Health Savings Account (HSA) via the Be Well portal, you will see it in your HSA within 5 business days thereafter.
For questions related to health and wellness offerings for Kent State University faculty and staff, please contact the Employee Wellness office at 330-672-0392 or wellness@kent.edu.
Important Information about Final Grading of Spring 2021 – First 5 Weeks Classes
Online final grading for Spring 2021 First 5 Weeks (POT F1) began Thursday, February 18, via FlashFAST. Grading is also now available for any Spring 2021 course section that was flexibly scheduled. The deadline for grading submission is midnight on Tuesday, February 23. Any final grades for Spring 2021 courses not reported in FlashFAST by the grades processing deadline will have to be submitted using the Grade Change Workflow. These Spring 2021 courses will be available in the Workflow on Thursday, February 25.
To access Final Grades via FlashFAST, log into FlashLine and click on the Faculty & Advisors Category / Faculty Dashboard / Grading Resources Section.
Blackboard Grading Process:
The Grade Push application has been developed as an option to assist in streamlining the university grading process. The use of this application is not mandatory, though it is encouraged. Grade Push will allow you to “push” the final grades recorded in Blackboard into our KSU Final Grade Roster, thus eliminating the time and effort spent manually entering them.
To access Grade Push, log into FlashLine and click on the Faculty & Advisors / Faculty Dashboard / Grading Resources.
If you have questions or concerns, please go to support.kent.edu and search “Grade Push.”
Incomplete Mark Workflow:
The instructor must create and submit an Incomplete Mark contract via the workflow. Instructors are no longer able to select the incomplete mark (IB+, IC+, IC-, etc.) from the final grade roster in FlashFAST (Self-Service Banner). The primary instructor must initiate and submit the contract using this new workflow process, which mimics the old paper process. Once the contract has been accepted by the student and approved by the department chair/campus dean, the student’s grade will be updated automatically. The primary instructor will be able to initiate and submit the contract for a student after the deadline to withdraw (10th week of a regularly scheduled section in fall and spring, or prorated for flexibly scheduled sections) through the end of final grading.
Access the Incomplete Mark workflow in FlashLine from the Faculty Dashboard under Grading Resources or Faculty Workflows.
NF/SF Administrative Marks:
The administrative mark NF (Never Attended–Fail) denotes that the student neither attended one class session nor formally withdrew from the course. If a student has never attended your course, mark the student as “Not Started” on the Academic Presence Verification Roster, and the NF will automatically populate to your Final Grades roster.
The administrative mark SF (Stopped Attending–Fail) denotes that the student stopped attending the course and did not formally withdraw and must be accompanied by a date of last attendance in the course. If a student has stopped attending your course the SF can be entered on the Final Grade Roster along with the student’s last date of attendance.
For complete information on university grading policies including Incomplete Mark and NF/SF grading policies, procedures and timelines, please visit the Grading Policies and Procedures section in the University Catalog.
Grades Processing Tips and FAQs may be found on the Registrar's website. Any faculty member needing personalized instruction on submitting their grades via FlashFAST should contact their campus Registrar's Office during normal business hours for assistance.
Troubleshooting TIP:
FlashFAST is accessible from any Internet-capable computer that has the cookies function enabled. We recommend that you clean out your cookie and cache files regularly to help your computer run faster, and to potentially restore or improve your access to FlashFAST and FlashLine by improving your connection to the server. Our Helpdesk is prepared to help with these issues. Please contact them at 330-672-HELP (4357), for one-on-one assistance and technical issues.