Āé¶¹¹ū¶³

Toddcast: Jerry Lewis

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY TODDCAST EPISODE 3: JERRY M. LEWIS

Join us on the Kent State ToddCast as President Todd Diacon revisits a conversation with Professor Emeritus Jerry M. Lewis, Ph.D. Lewis says the lessons of May 4, 1970, are as pertinent in today’s political climate as they were 55 years ago.

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  • It may seem like a simple question: What does peace look like?  

    But the answers can be profoundly different depending on who is asked.

  • The May 4 Visitors Center uses Āé¶¹¹ū¶³ā€™s history to help guide the community in understanding the past and applying it to the present. Tours conducted by student guides are a rich part of this process.  

  • An Alternative Spring Break journey to historic civil rights sites in Mississippi by Kent State students and faculty touched hearts and inspired community engagement. The six-day/five-night trip in March 2025 was sponsored by Kent State’s Office of Community Engaged Learning. 

Today's Stories

Kent State alumnus Kyle Jackson of the Savannah Bananas

A former Golden Flashes baseball star is now entertaining sold-out stadiums as a player for the sensational Savannah Bananas. 

Follow this link to read more.

 
 

In a Flash

Catch a glimpse of Āé¶¹¹ū¶³ through the lenses of storytellers across campus.

We hope you enjoy these unique impressions of life at Kent State!

Want to see one of YOUR photos in ā€œIN A FLASH?ā€ Submit your Kent State-related photos to InAFlash@kent.edu and you may see them in a future Kent State Today post. Please frame photos horizontally and include a brief description of what’s happening in the photo along with when and where it was taken.

University News

Student Life

  • Meet Lance Delisle, a junior aeronautical studies major with an aviation law and policy minor from Woodstock, Georgia, who balances his studies with his responsibilities as an Air Force reservist.

  • From mornings at Tree City Coffee to late nights at Barflyy, Kent State’s community has plenty of food and entertainment options thanks to the help of Main Street Kent, now a Nationally Accredited Main Street program for 2024.

  • Research Writing Retreats, sponsored by Āé¶¹¹ū¶³ā€™s Graduate College, offer a distraction-free environment for graduate students to work on their research and writing projects. While ā€œgiving them permissionā€ to put other aspects of life aside and focus on their writing, the retreats also create a supportive community that enhances productivity while also offering welcome accountability from their peers. 

Kent State Works

Recent Media

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA 
with Marcello Fantoni 


WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA  
with Johanna Solomon 

 

Global Reach

  • If you look into the stands of the Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center during a Kent State women's basketball game, you’ll find a mother-daughter pair of students from Brazil cheering with all their might. Five thousand miles from home, Hetty and Fernanda have found new activities and friends in the United States.

  • This March, senior fashion design and marketing major Rachel Stauffer will take her fashion research to the international stage.

  • It’s Kent State’s biggest international event of the year. Providing a fantastic finish to I Heart Travel Week’s five days of activities, Global Safari Fest celebrates Kent State’s international students with performances, a country fair and global cuisine.  

Research

Profiles

  • As part of  Kent State’s 55-Year Commemoration of May 4, 1970, Mahli Mechenbier, a senior lecturer at Āé¶¹¹ū¶³ at Geauga's Twinsburg Academic Center will present ā€œOperation: Babylift: A 50-Year Retrospective and Personal Historyā€ on May 3 at 1 p.m. with her father, retired Maj. General Ed Mechenbier. Mahli Mechenbier was one of the children from Vietnam the U.S. Government brought to the United States for adoption by American families by  after Saigon was overun by advancing Viet Cong troops in 1972. 

  • Ivory Kendrick, the newly elected president of the University Student Government, spoke his destiny into existence last year when he set his sights on leading the organization. Now, Kendrick is ready to hit the ground running.

  • POV shares insights from the Āé¶¹¹ū¶³ community on important topics. Jennifer Mapes, assistant professor of Geography, will deliver this year's address for the Jerry M. Lewis May 4 Lecture Series. 

Arts & Community

Sports

  • Kent State alumnus Corey Conners finished tied for eighth at the 2025 Masters Tournament after struggling to a 3-over par final round Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club.

  • Kent State continues to excel in hands-on learning, as shown by the ESPN+ livestream broadcast of the Kent State Men’s Basketball team’s victory over the Eastern Michigan Eagles. Produced entirely by digital media production undergraduates in the School of Media and Journalism, what could have been a chaotic, high-profile evening was business as usual. 

  • Senderoff, who took over the program in April 2011, has transformed Kent State basketball through sustained success and community engagement. After the 2024-2025 campaign, he has totaled 288 wins, and has guided the program to nine 20-win seasons, the most by any coach in school history.