’s fashion school is leading the academic runway with the creation of a Master of Fashion degree that is the first of its kind in the nation. The university’s Board of Trustees formally approved the path-breaking graduate program today (March 13), allowing the university’s Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising to begin enrolling students for fall semester 2013, pending approval by the Ohio Board of Regents.
Kent State’s fashion school, which is the largest fashion program in Ohio and one of the largest in the nation, already has earned a widespread reputation for academic excellence, innovation and highly prepared graduates. The popular fashion magazine Fashionista.com ranks Kent State’s fashion school third best in the nation and 13th best in the world. In addition, the Ohio Board of Regents designated the school an Ohio Center of Excellence in the state’s Strategic Plan for Higher Education.
Three faculty members will be recognized during a ceremony on March 19 as the university honors its Outstanding Research and Scholar Award recipients. The recipients of the 2013 award are Michael Loderstedt, School of Art; Katherine Rawson, Department of Psychology; and Carrie Schweitzer, Department of Geology, at Stark.
A welcome reception will be held in the Roe Green Center Lobby in the Music and Speech Building at 5:15 p.m., followed by an awards ceremony at 6 p.m. in the Ludwig Recital Hall. A special performance by members of the Cleveland Orchestra and Kent State Associate Professor of Music Donna Lee will take place at 6:30 p.m. Cleveland Orchestra musicians will include Amy Lee, associate concertmaster; Frank Rosenwein, principal oboe; Charles Bernard, assistant principal cello; and Joanna Patterson, viola. The event, sponsored by Kent State’s Division of Research and Sponsored Programs, is free and open to the public. For more information, visit www.kent.edu/research.
The purpose of the awards program is to recognize all three outstanding faculty members for their notable scholarly contributions that have brought acknowledgement to their fields of study and to Kent State. Of the 18 nominees for the award, these three recipients were selected based on the quality of their research and scholarship and its impact on society.
About Michael Loderstedt
Loderstedt’s artwork spans the practices of printmaking, book arts and photography and addresses various contemporary themes. He has a strong international record of exhibition and scholarly, collaborative activity including a series of projects and exchanges he spearheaded with groups in Germany and Belgium. He has had five international solo exhibitions (four in Germany and one in Florence, Italy) and has shown in group exhibitions in Belgium, Netherlands, Korea and the U.K.
About Katherine Rawson
Rawson’s basic and applied research is focused on text comprehension, memory and metacognition, and applications of cognitive psychology to education. In 2010, she was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and a Kavli Frontiers Fellow Award from the National Academy of Sciences. She has published 41 journal articles and seven chapters, with 11 journal articles published (or “in press”) in the last year alone. She currently serves as associate editor for two major journals in her field, Memory & Cognition and Memory.
About Carrie Schweitzer
Schweitzer is an internationally recognized expert in decapod crustaceans. She has published more than 120 technical books and papers since 1997. Her research in paleontology centers on systematics and biogeography.
For more information about the Division of Research and Sponsored Programs at Kent State, visit www.kent.edu/research.
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Media Contacts:
Jim Maxwell, jmaxwel2@kent.edu, 330-672-0731
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595