{"id":10140,"date":"2024-10-16T13:32:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T13:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/?p=10140"},"modified":"2024-10-16T13:32:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T13:32:59","slug":"kent-state-honors-11-alumni-award-recipients-during-homecoming-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/16\/kent-state-honors-11-alumni-award-recipients-during-homecoming-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"Kent State Honors 11 Alumni Award Recipients During Homecoming Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Kent State University, which continues to be recognized among the\u00a0Top Public Schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report<\/a>, among other recognitions in its 2025 Best Colleges rankings, has cemented its place as a hub for research and innovation.<\/p>\n

Part of those rankings reflect the Kent State education that has propelled its alumni forward to successful careers, leading in industries from business and nonprofits to arts and aviation. The university recognizes alumni who, through leadership, character and hard work, are making a difference with its Alumni Awards. Sponsored by the Kent State Alumni Association, these awards are the university\u2019s most prestigious alumni honors. Recipients are selected based on their exceptional professional and civic contributions and for their outstanding support of the university.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese award winners represent the best of Kent State,\u201d said Andrea Gauding, a 1987 Kent State graduate who serves as president of the Kent State Alumni Association National Board of Directors. \u201cWhether they are just starting their career or have served their profession and community for the past several decades, each of them is making a true impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

A special reception honoring the award recipients was held at the Kent State University Hotel and Conference Center on Sept. 27, 2024 during Homecoming weekend. Recipients include:<\/p>\n

Lauren Luna<\/a>\u00a0of Houston, Texas, honored in the Professional Achievement Award, is a professional artist and a prominent advocate for diversity in the arts. As the founder of the D.R.E.A.M. Affect Foundation, she organizes annual art shows and raises funds for minority art students, promoting inclusivity in the arts. Luna graduated from Kent State in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. She is currently an adjunct professor at Lone Star College and San Jacinto College. Luna inspires her students with real-time professional experiences, guiding their artistic development. Her public art has earned her the honor of \u201cLauren Luna Day\u201d in Houston, recognizing her contributions to the city\u2019s cultural landscape. Luna\u2019s commitment to art education, community engagement and diversity makes her a transformative force in the art world.<\/p>\n

Bea Shaheen McPherson<\/a>\u00a0of Hartville, Ohio, is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, honoring highly exceptional alumni who have made outstanding contributions to Kent State and their chosen profession, community, state, nation or the world.<\/p>\n

Cindy Kerr<\/a>\u00a0of Wayne, Pennsylvania, is the recipient of the Distinguished Citizen Award, which honors alumni for their extraordinary service to the public through a nonprofit organization or community service<\/p>\n

Vanessa Dianna Johnson, Ed.D.<\/a>\u00a0of Providence, Rhode Island, honored in the Professional Achievement Award, is an associate professor in the Department of Applied Psychology at Northeastern University.<\/p>\n

Lillian Kuri<\/a>\u00a0of Cleveland, Ohio, honored in the Professional Achievement Award, is the president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation, overseeing $3 billion in assets and driving transformative change in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Patricia Roberts-McDaniel, Ph.D.<\/a>, of Suffolk, Virginia, honored in the Professional Achievement Award, stands as one of the highest-ranking senior executive scientists in the U.S. government, with a distinguished career spanning more than 40 years in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM.<\/p>\n

Jim Sebastian<\/a>\u00a0of Stow, Ohio, is the recipient of the Kent State Advocacy Award, which honors alumni who contribute significant time and talent to Kent State or the alumni association on a consistent basis, bringing favorable attention to the university.<\/p>\n

Erica Dovin<\/a>\u00a0of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, honored with the Outstanding New Professional Award, graduated from Kent State in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies and has swiftly advanced in her career at Akron Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Aysia Kemp<\/a>\u00a0of Cleveland, Ohio, honored with the Outstanding New Professional Award, who earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resource Management and graduated with honors from Kent State in 2020, began her career during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and has since excelled in human resources as the senior people and culture coordinator for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Rock Entertainment Group.<\/p>\n

Andrew M. Snyder<\/a>\u00a0of Stow, Ohio, is the recipient of the Outstanding Staff Member Award, which recognizes Kent State alumni who are currently serving in full-time staff roles at the university and contribute significantly to the success of Kent State and its programs, as well as the community and their profession.<\/p>\n

Vivian Hawk<\/a>\u00a0of Mount Vernon, Ohio, is the Golden Flash Award recipient, which is presented to current students who promote Kent State spirit, pride and tradition.<\/p>\n

For more information about each of this year\u2019s Alumni Award recipients, visit\u00a0www.kent.edu\/alumniawards<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kent State University, which continues to be recognized among the\u00a0Top Public Schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, among other recognitions in its 2025 Best Colleges rankings, has cemented its place as a hub for research and innovation. Part of those rankings reflect the Kent State education that has propelled its alumni<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_rtcl_gb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[224],"class_list":["post-10140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"aioseo_notices":[],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",700,453,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",700,453,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",700,453,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy-300x194.jpg",300,194,true],"large":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",640,414,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",700,453,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",700,453,false],"rtcl-gallery":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",700,453,false],"rtcl-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy-320x240.jpg",320,240,true],"rtcl-gallery-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy-150x105.jpg",150,105,true],"psacp-medium":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy.jpg",500,324,false],"rpwe-thumbnail":["https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/1KentAlumni-Award-Recipients-copy-45x45.jpg",45,45,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"LaPrensa Newspaper","author_link":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/author\/laprensa\/"},"rttpg_comment":0,"rttpg_category":"Articles<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"Kent State University, which continues to be recognized among the\u00a0Top Public Schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, among other recognitions in its 2025 Best Colleges rankings, has cemented its place as a hub for research and innovation. Part of those rankings reflect the Kent State education that has propelled its alumni","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10142,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10140\/revisions\/10142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10140"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/laprensanewspaper.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=10140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}