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Underserved students, including first-generation students and students from limited-income backgrounds who will enroll in Fall Semester 2022, will continue to receive support through student success initiatives through the Key Connections program due to a new gift of $200,000 from the KeyBank Foundation. This gift has been awarded to 5X���� to continue KeyBank Foundation’s support for the successful Key Connections Program offered by University College at Kent State.

Over 325 students pre-registered for a Suit-Up event hosted by Career Exploration and Development in partnership with JCPenney. Discounts were available to all students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Jody Patterson and Aryanna Sciranka planned the virtual shopping event and hundreds took advantage, resulting in thousands of dollars in savings on professional attire.

Students at Kent State get expert career insight from our Senior Career Advisor Krittika Grau, who is a member of the ACPA Commission and has just been awarded the Distinguished Commission Award for 2021. Her commission was recognized for working with the resources it had at its disposal and demonstrating distinguished leadership by providing balanced, innovative and sustainable products, projects and services within or across the commissions and to ACPA.  

Assisting Exploratory students with confidently declaring their major is the goal of the Exploratory Program's Major Action Program (MAP).  The MAP has just been selected as the recipient of the 2021 NASPA Excellence Bronze Award in the Academic Advising, Careers, Graduate Professional Category. The program connects students with intentional action items based on their career readiness, thus informing how, what, where, and why they may explore majors that align with their strengths and career interests.

Young professionals benefit from personal and professional development through Engage! Cleveland. Katie Kimble assists in this endeavor as a member of the leadership council for Engage! Cleveland. 

Assisting Exploratory students with confidently declaring their major by connecting with intentional action items is the goal of MAP. The MAP has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 NACADA Outstanding Advising Program Award. The NACADA Outstanding Advising Program Award recognizes advising programs that are innovative and/or exemplary practices resulting in improvement of academic advising services.

Transfer students find their home at Kent State, feel supported and graduate as Golden Flashes with the help of Barb Miller-Harris who has been awarded the Tom Vandermeulen Award. Her contributions have enhanced relationships among people of diverse cultures, ethnic groups, first-generation students and students with special needs.

Kent State Exploratory students experience award-winning advising with the Major Action Plan (MAP): Start to Finish Program. This program, which recently received the NASPA Region IV-East Innovative Program Award, uses innovative advising strategies to assist students in declaring their major.

Students have endless volunteer opportunities with University College's Campus Kitchen. The Campus Kitchen, in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability, won the 2021 Campus Race to Zero Waste case study competition in the “Summary of Waste Reduction Efforts” category.

Students at Kent State are provided amazing Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leaders in various courses. Our SI Leaders Mark Abunda, Torrance Gaskins, and Ben Rininger from the Academic Success Center recently led a Fresh Perspectives Webinar Series Session entitled "Using SI Techniques to Develop Fellow SI Leaders", hosted by the International Center for Supplemental Instruction. At the session, facilitated collaborative discussion and activities across institutions to develop SI Leaders' and SI Mentors' skills.