Awards and Honors

“Always Ready, Always There” is the motto of the National Guard. In many ways, this describes Kent State University’s Center for Adult and Veteran Services, too. For the 14th consecutive year, Kent State has been designated a Military Friendly^Ⓡ School.

Sponsored by the Kent State University Alumni Association, the Alumni Awards are the university’s highest alumni honors. Recipients are selected based on their exceptional professional and civic contributions and for their outstanding support of the university. The 2022 Alumni Award recipients include six alumni and one student.

Kent State University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion has been recognized with the 2022 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award by INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine, the oldest and largest diversity-focused publication in higher education. The annual award recognizes U.S. colleges and universities that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Members of the Kent State University community can take great pride in their university’s hometown. The city of Kent has been selected by Ohio Magazine as a 2022-2023 Best Hometown. The Best Hometown honor recognizes Kent as a great place to live, work and visit.

Kent State University is one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to a recent survey. For the 11th time, Kent State has been named a “Great College to Work For,” which recognizes the colleges that get top ratings from their employees regarding workplace practices and policies.

Kent State University continues to demonstrate its strength as an academic institution with its inclusion on several lists in the new 2022-2023 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. U.S. News has again named Kent State among the Top Public Schools in the nation in the newly released rankings.

Kent State University has again been recognized as one of America’s Best-in-State Employers for 2022 by Forbes and market research company Statista. In Ohio, Kent State ranks No. 3 among the top 100 employers in Ohio, landing above such notable employers as Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati, University Hospitals and Cleveland Clinic, both located in Cleveland.

For a third consecutive year, Kent State University has been selected as one the nation’s top universities for LGBTQ+ students for creating a safe, welcoming environment for students, faculty and staff, according to Campus Pride, a leading resource for LGBTQ+ leadership development, diversity inclusion and advocacy within higher education.

Kent State’s Division of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement launched the university’s most ambitious fundraising campaign, called Forever Brighter, last October, creating communications and fundraising materials that share the remarkable impact of alumni engagement and donor philanthropy on the university. The division has earned 19 marketing and communications awards from multiple competitions. 

On Monday, June 27, the Kent State University College of Aeronautics and Engineering community welcomed Team 52, the Flying Flashes, back from the 45th Annual Air Race Classic.