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In Kenya, Sarah Schmidt discovered her calling. A long way from rural Mansfield, Ohio, the girl who grew up with cows in her backyard was now half way around the world learning Swahili and teaching children how to speak English. She was 20, and crossed the Atlantic for the first time. “It truly was life changing,” said Schmidt, who spent half a year near Nairobi’s Great Rift Valley, part of an intra-continental ridge system that runs through Kenya from north to south. “After that trip, I knew I wanted my career to be in the international arena.” PIVOTAL ROLE Nine years later, Schmidt has ...

��MŮ�� at Stark Theatre presents Virtual Devotion by Eric Coble. The play will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23, 24, March 2 and 3 and at 2 p.m. Feb. 25 and March 4 at the ��MŮ�� Stark Theatre. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided for the March 4 performance. It’s the end of the world as we know it; pollution, terrorism and disease have taken over humanity. Three characters, Pete, Anne and Ruth – all members of a broken family – attempt to sell their faith to nonbelievers in various, and sometimes violent, ways, as a last-ditch effort to save s...

��MŮ�� at Stark’s next Featured Speaker is Anthony Ervin, a four-time Olympic swimming medalist, who claimed gold and the title of fastest person on the planet in 2000 in the 50m freestyle. Sixteen years later, at age 35, he won in the same race at the Rio 2016 Games.  After winning his first Olympic gold, two World Championships and seven NCAA titles, Ervin retired at age 22 in 2003. He then spent several years traveling the world and spearheading tsunami relief efforts in Southeast Asia, before resuming his Olympic dreams. His memoir, “Chasing Water: Elegy of an Oly...

��MŮ�� at Stark will host a Campus Preview for high school juniors, seniors and their parents on Saturday, March 3. Campus tours will be held from 8 to 8:30 a.m. and depart from the lobby at Main Hall, 6000 Frank Ave. NW. The program will take place from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Campus Preview will introduce prospective students to ��MŮ�� Stark’s academic programs, departments and services in an informal atmosphere to allow for questions and conversation. Attendees will meet with representatives from ��MŮ�� Stark’s Admissions, Financial Aid, Advising, Academi...

Come summertime, Brandon Davis could often be found gardening with his grandmother at her Canton Township home. He learned when to harvest vegetables and how to select flowers that bloom best in full sunlight. After graduating from Canton South High School in 2011, he went away to college but found his best fit less than 20 miles down the road. Davis cultivated his passion for plants when he discovered purpose at ��MŮ�� at Stark. He’s one of the 5,000 students who have found a home at the Stark Campus and one of nearly 1,900 Kent Campus baccalaureate students who took courses ...

Rick Feinberg Named Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Anthropology in Czech Republic   Richard (Rick) Feinberg, Professor of Anthropology, has been named Fulbright Distinguished Chair of Anthropology at Palacký University Olomouc in the Czech Republic. Dr. Feinberg will spend spring semester 2019 with the Department of Sociology, Andragogy, and Cultural Anthropology in the University’s Faculty of Arts, where he will teach courses in cultural and social theory and American culture. The theoretically-focused course will be designed for advanced graduate students in the anthropology program...

Economics professor recently named editor-in-chief of international journal of business and economic development. Deepraj Mukherjee grew up in a middle-income family in Kolkata, India, but when he walked the city’s streets poverty  was unavoidable. Hunger knew no divide, afflicting families and neighborhoods in this capital of West Bengal where more than 15 million hail from every income level.  Why not me? A young Mukherjee asked that question more than once. He wrestled with it. “Even from childhood, I always had the question in my mind: why poverty? What can we do to eradicate ...

Dr. Feinberg wrote an editorial on the topic of Chief Wahoo in 1999 that is even more relevant today. The column was reprinted in today's Akron Beacon Journal. Read the story here   ...

All events are free and open to the public. ��MŮ�� at Stark’s observance of Black History Month includes a monthlong commemoration featuring presentations, forums and a performance by Cleveland-based popular electric blues ensemble the Wallace Coleman Band on Feb. 22.  Wallace Coleman, a 10-year veteran of the Grammy Award-winning Robert Lockwood Jr. Band, started his own band in 1996. He later established his own record label. Coleman has released four, critically acclaimed CDs on his label, including his latest release, “Blues In The Wind” and “Remembering Robert Jr...

Traveling along Canton’s Market Avenue N, one might overlook Sancta Clara Monastery. But 17-year-old Nalyn Schell not only visited the religious structure for two days, she had the opportunity to photograph its nuns. “There’s this mystery about the building just beyond the trees and how it relates to society,” said Schell, of Perry Township. “It’s this place I had driven by and was curious about. I wanted to put a face on it.” Her depiction of the nuns resonated with judges of the 2018 Northeast Central Ohio Scholastic Art Competition hosted by ��MŮ�� at Stark. Garnering a...