Success Story

When recent Undergraduate Student Government (USG) President Chazzlyn Jackson started her journey at Kent State University in 2018, she had planned to major in fashion until a mentor with Kupita/Transiciones (K/T) cultural orientation program helped her tap into her leadership abilities and passion for social justice issues. The advice played a pivotal role for Jackson, who stepped into leadership roles and anti-racism advocacy and has not looked back.

During Kent State’s spring 2022 commencement on May 14, Jameson Payne will earn his bachelor’s degree in integrative studies with concentrations in physics and political science. Benjamin Wales-McGrath will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in cellular and molecular biology at the age of 18.

Although Kent State alumna and current graduate student Lydia Lisowsky has never visited Ukraine, she feels a deep sense of obligation and responsibility to help those who have been injured in the war. The Kent State community helped Lisowsky pack and donate medical supplies on the Kent Campus and in the larger Kent community to send to Ukraine. 

The Kent State University alumni family will grow by more than 5,000 new graduates as the university holds its spring commencement ceremonies. The accomplishments of the Spring Class of 2022 will be recognized with in-person, outdoor commencement ceremonies on May 12-14 and May 20 and a virtual commencement ceremony for all colleges and degrees on May 15.

Kent State University has scheduled a variety of programs, events and exhibits for this year’s remembrance of May 4, 1970, to honor the four students who were killed, the nine students who were wounded and the countless others whose lives were forever changed when the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State students during an anti-war protest.

U.S. News & World Report ranks six Kent State University programs in the top 100 among public institutions in its 2023 edition of Best Graduate Schools. Among the top 100 public institution programs, Kent State is recognized in the Best Nursing Schools: Master’s Programs, Best Education Schools, Best Mathematics Programs, Best Psychology Schools, Best Public Health Programs and Best Physics Schools rankings. Kent State is also recognized in an additional five new national rankings.

Presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham, whose knowledge of politics, history, religion and current affairs makes him one of America’s most prominent public intellectuals, will appear the evening of May 4 for Kent State University’s Presidential Speaker Series. Meacham will bring his unique perspective and provide historical context to the issues and events impacting our daily lives when he speaks about civil discourse at the Kent Student Center Ballroom.

Although Kent State alumna and current graduate student Lydia Lisowsky has never visited Ukraine, she feels a deep sense of obligation and responsibility to help those who have been injured in the war. Lisowsky recently began a campaign to collect medical supplies on the Kent Campus and in the larger Kent community to send to Ukraine. 

For the first time since 2019, Kent State University will remember May 4, 1970, with its return to an in-person, annual commemoration to honor the four students who were killed, the nine students who were wounded and the countless others whose lives were forever changed when the Ohio National Guard fired on Kent State students during an anti-war protest.