Toni Morrison, the bestselling author who died Aug. 5, at one time was offered a job in Kent State University’s Department of English, recalled English professor Yoshinobu Hakutani, Ph.D. Hakutani, who wrote part of his dissertation on Morrison’s writings, recalled meeting the late author at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The encounter took place in 1992 during a party to celebrate the publication of Morrison’s book, “Jazz.” Hakutani attended the party with a friend, John Reilly, an English professor at the State University of New York at Albany who taught with Morrison when...

Targeted at widening students’ educational opportunities in preparing them for a career in occupational therapy, the Kent State University at Ashtabula Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Technology program recently announced the creation of a hybrid model, combining online learning with more convenient on-campus laboratory sessions. The new model will launch in Summer 2020. “There is an unfulfilled need for hybrid options for students,” said OTA Program Director Julie Mirabell, MS, OT/L.  “There are a lot of (OTA) programs, but ours will be the first to provide students convenience a...

After years of remote sensing work, Joseph Ortiz, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Geology in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University, and his research team recently shared their development of new cost-efficient methodologies that may lead to much safer drinking water for people in Ohio and other municipalities affected by harmful algal blooms (HAB). While conducting fieldwork in the western basin of Lake Erie, Ortiz recently posted to his Twitter account, “The HAB was so thick you could not see 20 centimeters below the water surface. Bad, but it can get much worse...

Food allergies can be as dangerous as firearms for children who don’t have the skills to react responsibly to when they’re exposed to them. A Kent State University researcher with a background in safety training models — and a very personal motivation — has devised a method to help some children with food allergies stay safe, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) just granted him the funding to test it. Chris Flessner, Ph.D., associate professor of psychological sciences in Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences, recently secured a two-year, $238,000 grant for his project, “The...

The Kent State University alumni network will again grow its ranks this summer as more than a thousand Golden Flashes get their degrees. Kent State will hold its Summer 2019 Commencement ceremonies for the Kent Campus on Saturday, Aug. 17, at the Memorial Athletic and Convocation (MAC) Center. Kent State University will confer 1,165 degrees, including 285 associate degrees, 572 bachelor’s degrees, 228 master’s degrees, 66 doctoral degrees and 14 educational specialist degrees.  The undergraduate degree Commencement ceremony for bachelor’s and associate degrees will begin at 9:30 a.m. T...

ASHTABULA, OHIO  – Targeted at widening students’ educational opportunities in preparing them for a career in occupational therapy, the Kent State University at Ashtabula Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Technology program recently announced the creation of a hybrid model, combining online learning with more convenient on-campus laboratory sessions. The new model will launch in Summer 2020. “There is an unfulfilled need for hybrid options for students,” said OTA Program Director Julie Mirabell, MS, OT/L.  “There are a lot of (OTA) programs, but ours will be the first to prov...