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Arts & Culture

Kent State Police officer Vance Voyles

When he’s not working to keep the Kent Campus safe, police officer Vance Voyles can be found in the classroom where he works as an adjunct professor teaching Story for Film for the digital media production major in the School of Media and Journalism within the College of Communication and Information. 

Book collage

The Reinberger Children’s Library Center at Â鶹´«Ă˝ has become the new home of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, assuming the role formerly held by the Center for Children’s Books at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Established in 1982, the annual award of $5,000 goes to an author of an historical fiction novel for children published in the previous year and set in South, Central or North America.

Dear Vaccine featured on PBS Newshour

Born from inside Kent State’s Wick Poetry Center, “Dear Vaccine” gives citizens a chance to process the pandemic through poetry. The poetry center collaborated with the University of Arizona to expand on poet Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Dear Vaccine.” The poem became a catalyst for respondents around the world to share their own poems.

A model walks the runway at the School of Fashion's annual Fashion Show

The School of Fashion announces the return of its acclaimed in-person Fashion Show, April 28-30, 2022, in Rockwell Hall on the Kent Campus. The presenting sponsor of the 2022 show is renowned American department store, Dillard’s Inc. Dillard’s is a long-time supporter of the School of Fashion, and the Dillard family was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2019.

A model walks the runway at the School of Fashion's annual Fashion Show

The School of Fashion announces the return of its acclaimed in-person Fashion Show, April 28-30, 2022, in Rockwell Hall on the Kent Campus. The presenting sponsor of the 2022 show is renowned American department store, Dillard’s Inc. Dillard’s is a long-time supporter of the School of Fashion, and the Dillard family was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2019.

Three photos featuring scene from May 4, 1970

The Â鶹´«Ă˝ School of Music returns to Severance Music Center on Monday, May 2, at 7 p.m. featuring nearly 300 students from across the university performing a rich lineup of genres and styles from classical and jazz to gospel and world music. It will also feature collaborations with the School of Theatre and Dance and the Wick Poetry Center.

Black Lightning Comic Book: He is a Kent State Grad

DC Comics’ superhero Black Lightning has been part of popular culture, and Black history, for more than 40 years. Since his debut in 1977 as DC’s very first “headline” Black character, Black Lightning has appeared in comic books, animated TV series, video games and, in 2017, a live-action TV series that ran for four seasons on The CW Network. In his secret identity, Jefferson Pierce (shh, don’t tell anyone), he also appeared on the Kent Campus to get his teaching degree. Yes – Black Lightning is a Kent State alumnus. 

Five Golden Flashes Entrepreneurs

Kent State Golden Flashes excel in a range of activities, and some students are forging their own paths by owning and operating small businesses during their college years. With endless opportunities and resources at their fingertips, Kent State students have found success as entrepreneurs across a range of industries. Here are five of them.

Four bottles of Kent State Ashtabula Wines

Kent State Ashtabula’s Viticulture and Enology programs were recently awarded a $180,000 grant from the Ohio Grape Industries Committee for a pair of research projects to be conducted over the next two years. Kent State Ashtabula is partnering with the Ashtabula Agricultural Research Station, a division of the Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, to conduct the projects at Markko Vineyards in Conneaut, Ohio.

Love in Reserve is a play written by Eric Mansfield

The Rubber City Theatre in Akron, Ohio, will host the play "Love in Reserve" by career storyteller, U.S. Army veteran, award-winning journalist and playwright Eric Mansfield. At Â鶹´«Ă˝, many know Mansfield from his role as assistant vice president for content strategy and communications in the Division of University Communications and Marketing.