Great Colleges to Work for Survey Opens This Week!
Now in its 15th year, the “Great Colleges to Work For” program is a national survey that recognizes institutions that get top ratings from faculty and staff for building great workplace practices and policies.
For 10 years ϳԹ has landed on the prestigious list, but in 2021 ϳԹ was one of just 15 four-year public universities in the nation, and the only public university in Ohio, to receive the 2021 designation. Furthermore, ϳԹ was recognized in seven categories: Compensation and Benefits; Confidence in Senior Leadership; Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging; Faculty Experience; Faculty and Staff Well-Being; Mission and Pride; and Shared Governance, in addition to the Great Colleges Honor Roll, a status granted only to the top colleges highlighted most across the recognition categories.
The University is again participating in the Great Colleges to Work For program to track its progress in responding to your insights through an invaluable internal and external benchmarking process. As such, we encourage you to share your feedback regarding ϳԹ.
Although acknowledgment is not guaranteed, we remain wholly optimistic about the value we can derive from this program. Your input allows us to improve existing practices and implement new programs and procedures.
This week, an invitation to take the Great Colleges to Work For survey will be distributed to a random selection of our employees and faculty members, meaning you may or may not be chosen to provide feedback. If you receive an invitation, we welcome and encourage you to participate and share your honest viewpoints, as a high response rate helps ensure an accurate representation of our community. We thank everyone who participated last year.
Please note that the survey, which runs March 7, through April 1, is voluntary and completely confidential. Our institution cannot trace results back to individuals. ModernThink LLC, an independent management-consulting firm focusing on workplace quality in higher education, will process your survey. ModernThink can be reached at 888.684.4658, or surveys@modernthink.com.
Thank you in advance for your participation. Please contact Susan Perry, Ph.D., assistant provost for Accreditation, Assessment and Learning, at assessment@kent.edu, if you have any questions.
Professor Jerry M. Lewis To Be Honored by May 4 Lecture Series
A lecture series has been created to honor the legacy of ϳԹ Professor Emeritus of Sociology Jerry M. Lewis, Ph.D., and advance the scholarship of May 4, 1970, and the Vietnam War era.
A current resident of Hudson, Ohio, Lewis taught at ϳԹ from 1966 until 2013, becoming Professor Emeritus in 1996. Serving as a faculty marshal in 1970, he witnessed the May 4, 1970, shootings firsthand and has since devoted time to researching, memorializing and lecturing on the events of May 4. In 1971 with the help of students, Lewis established the first candlelight walk and vigil, an annual event that begins 11 p.m. on May 3 and continues until 12:24 p.m. on May 4, the time of the shootings. Lewis was one of the four co-authors of the application to add the May 4 site to the National Register of Historic Places, which was approved in February 2010.
He comments that “the Lewis lectures will allow the ϳԹ faculty member the opportunity to present his or her scholarship results in a supportive environment."
A defining accomplishment of his career was “ϳԹ and May 4: A Social Science Perspective,” a volume edited with Thomas Hensley, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Political Science at ϳԹ. The book stresses the importance of social science theory and methods in the study of May 4. Lewis and Raymond Adamek, Ph.D., co-authored several of the articles in the edited volume, which is now in its third edition.
The lecture series honoring Lewis, made possible through a generous donation from ϳԹ alumnus and former ϳԹ Board of Trustees member Michael Solomon, a 1974 graduate, will be cross-disciplinary in nature. Faculty members from all ϳԹ departments are eligible to submit proposals, and those who are selected to give a lecture will receive an honorarium.
“I chose to endow this speaker series in honor of the decades of contributions that Dr. Jerry Lewis has made to the community of ϳԹ,” Solomon said. “Dr. Lewis played a critical role in saving lives on May 4, 1970, as a faculty marshal. Since that tragic day in American history, Dr. Lewis has been a key proponent of learning lessons of human value from this event. Getting to know him for these last many years inspired me to preserve his legacy at ϳԹ over time.”
ϳԹ Dean of University Libraries Ken Burhanna will lead a group of ϳԹ faculty and administrators in soliciting and reviewing proposals before selecting a lecturer each year. An important component to the lecture will be research involving the May 4 Visitors Center and the ϳԹ Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives.
The deadline to submit proposals for the first Jerry M. Lewis May 4 lecture is Monday, April 4. The first lecture is tentatively scheduled for the first week of May.
2022 Performance Evaluations and Webinars are Here
Performance evaluations for classified and unclassified employees will take place from April 15 through June 30, 2022.
As a reminder, access is available to the performance log that employees and supervisors can use throughout the year to record personal accomplishments, training and discussions.
Two webinars will be available for supervisors and managers. The first, "Navigating the Online Evaluation Process," will familiarize evaluators with the online assessment tool. The second webinar, "Assessing and Improving the Performance of Others," is a webinar for new managers and supervisors regarding how to evaluate employees.
Below are the registration links for the Performance Evaluation webinars:
Information, Training Aids and Supervisor Manuals are located on the Human Resources Performance Evaluation website. If you have any questions, please call Karen Watson at 330-672-4636 or email kswatson@kent.edu.
Ambassador Speaks at ASPIRE Entrepreneurial Workshop
The is an interview-style talk featuring Ambassador Edward F. Crawford, who will share his experience as an entrepreneur and discuss the importance of being able to overcome rejection.
Ambassador Crawford will be interviewed by radio personality Thomas Kelly, an award-winning journalist, best-selling author, screenwriter and talk show host on the Salem Radio Network in Cleveland, Ohio.
This event follows the Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship groundbreaking ceremony for the new Crawford Hall earlier in the day. .
Benefits Survey: Your Help is Appreciated by March 18
The Human Resources Employee Benefits Office administers a comprehensive benefits program for ϳԹ’s faculty and staff as part of its total compensation package. To build more educational opportunities and awareness around these benefits, which range from medical, dental, and vision benefits to more complex offerings such as voluntary retirement programs and family medical leave, we have developed a survey to gain employee perceptions and understanding of these benefits.
The results of this survey will assist the Employee Benefits team to improve communication and provide value-added educational opportunities and programming. Two recent examples of this effort include our newly launched “BeneTip of the Week,” which appears in the Faculty/Staff News on alternating Mondays, and our new FMLA process and training, launching the week of March 7.
We appreciate your taking some time to complete this survey. As a “thank you” to all employees completing this survey by Friday, March 18, 2022, we will enter your name into our gift card drawing for a $25 Amazon or Target gift card. We will have multiple winners, and winners may choose their preferred gift card.
Please start the survey .
For questions related to benefits for ϳԹ faculty and staff, please contact the Employee Benefits office at 330-672-3107 or benefits@kent.edu.
National Nutrition Month Resources
Held annually in March, focuses on the importance of making informed food choices, developing healthy eating habits, and being physically active. Explore the resources below, which are available to support ϳԹ employees and their families during National Nutrition Month and beyond.
Nutrition counseling with registered dietitians is available to full-time, benefits-eligible ϳԹ employees through Be Well Solutions, as well as their household and family members through Impact Solutions. Schedule a complimentary session through the or by calling Impact Solutions at 800-227-6007.
Medical Mutual members can join WW (Weight Watchers) at a discounted rate. When you join WW, you can lose weight and build healthy habits with a science-backed program tailored to your lifestyle. Learn more.
Looking for healthy recipes, grocery shopping and home cooking tips, or resources for building an exercise program? Check out the "My Resources" section of the , which features a video library and web-based tools vetted by Be Well's health professionals.
Additional Resources:
- More nutrition resources
- Physical activity resources
- Apps and online resources
- Recipe collections created by fellow Flashes: and
With questions related to health and wellness offerings for faculty and staff, contact Employee Wellness at wellness@kent.edu or 330-672-0392.
Webinar: Mindful Exercises for Restful Sleep, March 22
If you find yourself feeling alert in the middle of the night, exhausted during the day, or overwhelmed by your attempts to get more or better sleep, this webinar covers practical tools to help. It goes beyond the typical sleep hygiene tips you’re likely already familiar with by sharing creative ways to apply mindfulness to this widespread challenge. Join mindfulness guru, Daron Larson, to learn a counterintuitive way to help call off the battle with unwanted alertness.
This webinar will take place from 12-1 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22, and is open to all full- and part-time employees. Those participating in the wellness rewards program earn 10 Tier 2 points for attending. .
With questions related to health and wellness offerings for faculty and staff, contact Employee Wellness at wellness@kent.edu or 330-672-0392.
Become a Collaborator: Design Innovation Offers Weekly Orientations
Spaces in the Design Innovation Hub are open to the ϳԹ Community, including students and employees. Attending one of the weekly DI Hub Orientations is the first step to gaining access to the DI Hub facilities.
Whether you are ready to become a collaborator or just curious to learn more, consider a one-hour orientation session to tour the DI Hub and gain information on the ecosystem, equipment and access. .