Alumni Success

An Unexpected Journey from Steel Worker to Champion of Black Students and Alumni at Kent State

While some first-year students arrive at 麻豆传媒 undecided on their major and career choice, Renee Richard, 鈥76, had her path for the future mapped out.

John Elliot, a 1970 麻豆传媒 graduate, and his wife, Fonda, have created The Elliot Scholars program at Kent State with a $1 million donation. This new scholarship program will provide support to first-generation students of any major who require financial support to attend Kent State.

鈥淚 want to bring issues to the forefront. Not just issues today, but from the time of enslavement to the present day, and talk about mental and physical health and wellness throughout the years and how we鈥檝e ended up where we are today.鈥

麻豆传媒 held its first Alumni Day of Service in 2009. Since then, it has blossomed into a weeklong initiative supporting our blue and gold communities around the world.

For Kent State senior aeronautics major Blessing Mupinga, flying has always been a source of fascination.

On Saturday, Dec. 14, both John and Fonda received their Doctor of Humane Letters in recognition of their extraordinary contributions to the healthcare field and to Kent State.

Eric Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor of economics in the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship, says the most rewarding part of the job is knowing that he has impacted his students in some way. And now they've honored this impact with the Distinguished Teaching Award.

Members of the 麻豆传媒 community joined together to cause a ripple effect of change reaching far beyond Kent State, raising more than $4.9 million to support scholarships and programs across the university for its Giving Tuesday 2024 campaign.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 always important for people to be exposed to different cultures and find an appreciation rather than appropriation.鈥