![Students pass through Risman Plaza near the University Library.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/styles/larger/public/page/risman.jpg?VersionId=d8EdCXg4JDocuOJDjkz_rjcwV6B0zOGm&h=e6f36a9c&itok=9ZbUe_sV)
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Dear Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University Students,
This is a reminder to please register your COVID-19 vaccination status to help the university prepare for a vibrant in-person experience for fall 2021.
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![Image for NEA Big Read Northeast Ohio](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/07.06.21%20Image%20for%20NEA%20Big%20Read_0.png?VersionId=ALZoNjF80G5yIO73U.jSv2pDdsl5dKLG)
Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University is one of 61 organizations nationwide – and one of four organizations in Ohio – to be awarded a 2021-2022 National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read grant. The university’s $20,000 grant will support the Big Read Northeast Ohio, a community reading…
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![Deborah F. Spake, dean of Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University's College of Business Administration](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/page/07.06.21%20Photo%20of%20Deborah%20Spake.jpg?VersionId=gQlvQCU2BHy8YHIG7LqZ5bblCasKS6Ki)
Deborah F. Spake, Ph.D., dean of Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University’s College of Business Administration, has been named a 2021 recipient of the American Marketing Association (AMA) Marketing for Higher Education Special Interest Group (Higher Ed SIG) Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dear Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University Faculty and Staff,
We want to remind you that COVID-19 vaccines are available at no cost to all members of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« community and their families at the DeWeese Health Center on the Kent Campus. The vaccine is the single most effective way to…
Dear Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University Students,
This is a reminder to please register your COVID-19 vaccination status to help the university prepare for a vibrant in-person experience for fall 2021.
Dear Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« Community,
We hope you are having a restful and enjoyable summer after the challenging year we have endured. You deserve it! We look forward to a dynamic, in-person campus experience for fall 2021.
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![Grace Irvin-Dillard created Touched By Grace (TBG) Body Care as an entrepreneurship student at Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University. (Photo provided by Grace Irvin-Dillard)](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/06.29.21%20Photo%20of%20Touched%20By%20Grace%20Body%20Care%20products%20-%20photo%20provided%20by%20Grace%20Irvin-Dillard_0.jpg?VersionId=hQiYOSrcrssotpdJ6AUChUMxjPVzjkWA)
Grace Irvin-Dillard of Bedford, Ohio, who graduated from Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University in May 2021 with a degree in entrepreneurship, has already built a successful business from the ground up while still a student.
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![Ken Ditlevson, director of Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îȫ’s LGBTQ+ Center sits in front of flags representing the LGBTQ community.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/Ken_Ditlevson_2021_0.jpg?VersionId=nvvfJ.D4mKOI92D.5_D_j04n9u3u0d5X)
Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ«'s history of support for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) community is well documented.
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![Dolores Noll, Ph.D., Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University Professor Emeritus of English and pioneer for LGBTQ rights and people, accepts the university’s inaugural Diversity Trailblazer Award in 2010.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/06.24.21%20Photo%20of%20Dolores%20Noll%20accepting%20the%20Diversity%20Trailblazer%20Award_0.jpg?VersionId=qSbbLXt5wisl6MhmSwnL.2mMFNjmLzZp)
Born five decades ago as the Kent Gay Liberation Front at Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University, PRIDE! Kent is the country’s oldest continuously operating LGBTQ student organizations. This campus organization owes its existence in large part to the boldness and courage of one person, Dolores…
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![Â鶹ÊÓƵ×îÐÂ×îÈ« University unveiled bronze markers in honor of nine students who were wounded when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on protesting students on May 4, 1970.](https://www-s3-live.kent.edu/s3fs-root/s3fs-public/article/May%204%202021%20Markers2%20%283%29_0.jpg?VersionId=lPgwNUb0Mc3twZdbf.JgpHTqp70A9syc)
New bronze markers identify the locations where nine students were wounded when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on May 4, 1970, during an anti-war demonstration.