Members of the Ashtabula Community, As the Dean of Kent State University at Ashtabula, I want to update you on our plans for the Fall semester. During this time of uncertainty, we are focused on providing support and resources to our students and community to move Ashtabula County forward. Our staff is working diligently and in concert with the Kent campus to make sure we have procedures in place to welcome our students back in the safest way possible. We have faculty and staff spending the summer researching and learning ways to make instruction, regardless of the environment,...

Kent State College of Nursing Assistant Professor, Amy Petrinec, Ph.D., RN, recently received a $50,000 two-year grant through the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) to research family caregivers who experience a phenomenon called post intensive care syndrome family (PICS-F) that may occur after a loved one has spent time in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU). Through her research, Dr. Petrinec hopes to discover if regularly using a cognitive behavioral app will lead to a decrease in PICS-F symptoms for adult family caregivers serving as the primary decision maker for a lo...

Dear iSchool Students, During the past months, our country has witnessed the senseless murder of George Floyd and the killings of Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. Many members of our University and College communities, particularly African-American students, have witnessed or have been directly impacted by hateful and racially motivated actions, leading to feelings of anger and sadness. I share these feelings and my heart goes out to all who have suffered as a consequence of racism and injustice. Those of us who have not been directly impacted by hateful and racially motivated incidents ma...

For the third consecutive year, the departments of Recreational Services and Employee Wellness have come together to sponsor The Longest Day® at Kent State, in conjunction with the Alzheimer's Association. Objectives of the Longest Day are many ranging from awareness of the various forms of dementia to emotional support for those fighting the disease and for those who love and care for them. With a week-long series of events, we have included a one-hour webinar on Differentiating Dementias.  Dementia is not a specific disease, but rather a group of conditions characterized...

Dear Emerging Media & Technology Students, Throughout my time at Kent State University, our students have called for change in the unequal treatment of Black communities. They have honored our university with their activism, their eloquent cries for justice and peace. In the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown Jr. by Ferguson police, students in my first course at Kent State focused their semester-long project on inequalities in policing and violence in Black communities. They created an online campaign to advocate for education and change by connecting their friends and family to onl...

We are all now, truly, witnesses. The events of 2020 stand at a watershed, with core values, careers and families facing stresses that challenge our souls and our social systems. As part of an older generation, I remember the 1960s as a parallel era of great social change. Today, however, in the wake of George Floyd’s killing in Minneapolis May 25, the ubiquitous video feeds from countless cellphones across media and social channels have lay bare the anguish and the anger for all to see. In full view, peaceful protest has spread across this land, punctuated by law enforcement overreach a...

Dear Students, We have all witnessed the worldwide focus on racial injustices brought to light during the past few weeks. We are, perhaps now, more aware than ever of the racism that harms African Americans and other communities of color in our school, our neighborhoods, and our country. Change and growth rarely happen as a result of a single moment of effort. We must all act continuously to confront racism and inequity and strengthen our school and our communities' culture of inclusiveness and respect. We must stand together with our communities of color! To our African American communi...

Hello School of Communication Studies Students, I am writing because like me, you too may be infuriated by the senseless murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless others. The hatred, violence, and injustice on display over the past few weeks crystalized for me how much work needs to be done, yet I am hopeful. We are witnessing, again, profound issues of racial inequality even as we experience a pandemic that is disproportionately impacting the African American community. These things underscore the dangers of systemic racism and they reinforce the urgency for s...

When students in Kent State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication began to face the reality of losing their media internships this summer in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, faculty and staff moved quickly to develop an innovative solution for students, recent School grads and media partners. With input and support from faculty, staff and students across the university and generous financial support from a Scripps Howard Foundation grant, Kent State Student Media created a pilot project called the Collaborative News Lab @ Kent State University. News Lab will partner w...