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Kent Engaged and Emerging Professionals (KEEP) and Human Resources Offer Group Mentoring Program

Kent Engaged and Emerging Professionals is partnering with HR Training and Development to offer a Group Mentoring Program for employees across all campuses. This initiative serves to connect talented leaders with professionals seeking to connect and learn more about an area of expertise.

91�ֿ� faculty and staff are encouraged to participate as a KEEP Group Mentor, whereby one or more mentors work with a group of mentees.

Mentors are required to meet the following criteria:

• Must be a full-time employee
• A minimum of five years work history at the university
• A current satisfactory performance evaluation
• Permission from immediate supervisor

Mentees are required to meet the following criteria:

• Any employee with at least one-year of experience
• Must have a satisfactory performance evaluation
• Must have permission from immediate supervisor
• Must complete a sign-up/permission form prior to participating.  

Mentors must contribute a minimum of one hour in the fall or spring to meet with employees across campus who want to learn more and ask questions about your area of expertise. Group meetings can be virtual or in person. After the session, mentors will meet with attendees if both parties decide to continue the connection. 

If you are interested in serving as a group mentor, please by July 31, 2021. More information for mentees will be forthcoming after finalizing mentor applications.

For more information, contact Kent Engaged and Emerging Professionals at keep@kent.edu, or hrd@kent.edu.

Vincent Hetherington Honored With FIP Lifetime Achievement Award

When Dr. Vincent Hetherington was invited to participate in a discussion during the virtual meeting of the International Federation of Podiatrists (FIP) AGM on June 19, he never suspected that there was an underlying reason for his attendance. Heidi Corcoran, the current president of FIP, honored Dr. Hetherington with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In fact, it was the president herself who gave a personal nomination for the award, which was followed by a unanimous approval by the federation board.

"Vince was the founding member of our Academy of Podiatric Medical Educators," Heidi said, "His valuable contribution to our Scientific Committee and his academic and organizational work on several of our World Congresses was greatly appreciated."

Heidi's sentiments are echoed by the 91�ֿ� College of Podiatric Medicine (CPM), where Dr. Hetherington left a legacy following 32 years of service. Upon his retirement as senior associate dean of the college, Hetherington was recently appointed Emeritus Faculty and continues to serve and support CPM students, academic programs, alumni outreach initiatives, student research project development and bridging international opportunities.

FIP's Lifetime Achievement Award is presented annually to members who have demonstrated long-term commitment to the profession in their country of origin and internationally through innovation, technology, research, data outcomes and analysis. When travel allows, Dr. Hetherington will be more formally honored and presented with a certificate and medal.

Geauga/TAC Faculty Completes Certification at Local Institute

In many ways, Velvet Weems-Landingham, Ph.D., was made for this moment.

Having earned a doctorate in organizational behavior, her academic focus is on virtual work and distance learning. She has worked in the industry for 20 years, designing, developing, and managing training and consulting initiatives for a wide array of organizations. An associate professor in the College of Business Administration at 91�ֿ� at Geauga, Landingham designs and teaches online and blended courses, including leadership and human resource management, global management, and advanced professional development for the Department of Management and Information Systems.

Landingham says that she felt adequately prepared for all the shifts to online operations that the pandemic forced upon society this past year. “I had already been acclimating my students to learning remotely and using online collaborative tools to work remotely because this is the direction the world has been going anyway,” she says. Read the full story.

Campus Kitchen's Next Food Distribution is July 21

The next food distribution will be Wednesday July 21, 2021, at Dix Stadium. The Campus Kitchen at 91�ֿ� serves faculty, staff, as well as students. Our summer hours are Tuesday and Friday from 3 – 6 p.m. More information to register for a time slot can be found online at the Campus Kitchen website. 

Important Information about Final Grading of Summer 2021 Summer 1 (POT S1) Classes

Online final grading for Summer 2021 Summer 1 (POT S1) begins Tuesday, July 13, via FlashFAST. Grading is also now available for any Summer 2021 course section that was flexibly scheduled. The deadline for grading submission is midnight on Sunday, July 18. Any final grades for Summer 2021 courses not reported in FlashFAST by the grades processing deadline will have to be submitted using the Grade Change Workflow. These Summer 2021 courses will be available in the Workflow on Tuesday, July 20.

To access Final Grades via FlashFAST, log into FlashLine and click on the Faculty & Advisors Category/Faculty Dashboard/Grading Resources Section.

Blackboard Grading Process:
The Grade Push application has been developed as an option to assist in streamlining the university grading process. The use of this application is not mandatory, though it is encouraged. Grade Push will allow you to “push” the final grades recorded in Blackboard into our KSU Final Grade Roster, thus eliminating the time and effort spent manually entering them.

To access Grade Push, log into FlashLine and click on the Faculty & Advisors/Faculty Dashboard/Grading Resources. If you have questions or concerns, please go to support.kent.edu and search “Grade Push.”

Incomplete Mark Workflow:
The instructor must create and submit an Incomplete Mark contract via the workflow. Instructors are no longer able to select the incomplete mark (IB+, IC+, IC-, etc.) from the final grade roster in FlashFAST (Self-Service Banner). The primary instructor must initiate and submit the contract using this new workflow process, which mimics the old paper process. Once the contract has been accepted by the student and approved by the department chair/campus dean, the student’s grade will be updated automatically. The primary instructor will be able to initiate and submit the contract for a student after the deadline to withdraw (10th week of a regularly scheduled section in fall and spring, or prorated for flexibly scheduled sections) through the end of final grading.

Access the Incomplete Mark workflow in FlashLine from the Faculty Dashboard under Grading Resources or Faculty Workflows.

NF/SF Administrative Marks:
The administrative mark NF (Never Attended–Fail) denotes that the student neither attended one class session nor formally withdrew from the course. If a student has never attended your course, mark the student as “Not Started” on the Academic Presence Verification Roster, and the NF will automatically populate to your Final Grades roster.

The administrative mark SF (Stopped Attending–Fail) denotes that the student stopped attending the course and did not formally withdraw and must be accompanied by a date of last attendance in the course. If a student has stopped attending your course the SF can be entered on the Final Grade Roster along with the student’s last date of attendance.

For complete information on university grading policies including Incomplete Mark and NF/SF grading policies, procedures and timelines, please visit the Grading Policies and Procedures section in the University Catalog.

Grades Processing Tips and FAQs may be found on the Registrar's website. Any faculty member needing personalized instruction on submitting their grades via FlashFAST should contact their campus Registrar's Office during normal business hours for assistance.

Troubleshooting TIP:
FlashFAST is accessible from any Internet-capable computer that has the cookies function enabled. We recommend that you clean out your cookie and cache files regularly to help your computer run faster, and to potentially restore or improve your access to FlashFAST or FlashLine by improving your connection to the server. Our Helpdesk is prepared to help with these issues. Please contact them at 330-672-HELP (4357) for one-on-one assistance and technical issues.