Jennifer Mapes, an assistant professor of geography at Kent State University, developed an interactive mapping project that reimagines how people connect with the places they live. Using 3D printing, data visualization and storytelling, Mapes' work explores the South End neighborhood in Kent, Ohio.The South End was historically home to laborers who built and worked on the railroads. “The majority of the homeowners were first-generation Eastern European immigrants and African Americans who moved north during the Great Migration,” Mapes said.Before the 1970s, only larger cities had access to nei...

Kent State senior Isabella Emerick has never been content with choosing just one path. As an English major with a concentration in professional writing and a minor in paleontology, she has found a way to unite two fields that may seem worlds apart. This past summer, she explored the surprising intersections of science and literature through the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) program.The SURE program funds promising undergraduate researchers for eight weeks over the summer to engage in faculty-supervised research at Kent State. “I want students to feel that there can be re...

Although they were born in the same month at the same hospital in Youngstown, Ohio, James C. “Jim” Schrum, ’74, and his wife, Cynthia J. “Cindi” Schrum, didn’t meet until they were both students at Austintown Fitch High School. They started dating in the late 1960s and have been together ever since.Early in their relationship, Cindi invited Jim to accompany her to her grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary party. That’s when he knew things were serious. After high school, Jim and Cindi attended separate universities and married in 1975, and they recently celebrated their own 50th wedding anniv...

Planned gifts, and bequests in particular, are a vital form of philanthropy at Kent State. These gifts make an important impact on our students and community, and they can be made in any amount, making them a great option for anyone interested in giving back.Estate gifts have made a significant impact throughout Kent State’s eight-campus system. Since 1997, planned gifts have provided nearly $10 million in student scholarship and programmatic support which help our remarkable students on their path to graduation. Along with other forms of planned giving, including life insurance, charitab...