Weekly Message President Lester Lefton, Kent State University

Good day,

What a week this has been. Of course, the great drama of electing a new president is finally over. Although there is not much to beat that excitement, Kent State can claim a variety of recent good news and great events. To share just a few examples:
* The university held its 17th annual Founders Scholars Ball to raise money for Founders Scholars scholarships and to recognize the critical contributions of alumni and other good friends of Kent State whose generosity makes the scholarships possible. Since its inception, the Founders Scholars Program has raised more than $17 million for the four-year scholarships, which are awarded to outstanding freshmen.
* Our Graduate School of Management was recognized for excellence with its inclusion in the 2009 edition of the Princeton Review's "Best 296 Business Schools."
* Leading-edge technology was unveiled by a local company that licenses Kent State technology. Kent Displays Inc. launched a roll-to-roll production line for displays made of liquid crystals that are embedded in flexible plastics. The production line, which is the only one of its kind in the world, promises many new flexible, low-power display devices -- from credit cards, to color-changing cell-phone skins, to electronic writing tablets.
* The School of Theatre and Dance premiered a superb production of Chekov's "Three Sisters." I encourage you to attend a performance in Wright-Curtis Theatre on the Kent Campus before the play's run ends on Nov. 9.
* Great theatre also is alive and well at Kent State Stark, where you can see a production of the classic holiday comedy "The Man Who Came to Dinner" through Nov. 9 at the Kent State Stark Theatre.
* The Golden Flash field hockey team clinched the Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season title and was included in the rankings of the nation's top 20 teams in the National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll. Congratulations to the team and Head Coach Kathleen Schanne. We know you'll continue to make us proud this afternoon as you begin your pursuit of an eighth MAC Tournament crown at Murphy-Mellis Field.
* Kent State's Men's Rugby Club made it into the Final Four of the Midwest Rugby Union Division II playoffs. If the team wins its upcoming game against Wisconsin, it will qualify for the National Championship Tournament this spring in Salt Lake City. No matter what happens, I applaud the team and Head Coach Dr. Adam Rapp, whose day job is teaching marketing in our College of Business Administration, for the team's best record in more than two decades.
* And congratulations also are due to the university's Black United Students (BUS)student organization, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary of service to students and to the larger community.

I know many of you agree that our student media provided an excellent summary of BUS history in last Friday's "Daily Kent Stater." In reading the "Stater" in recent weeks, I also have been pleased to see ads featuring energy-conservation tips that have been placed by the university's Campus Environment and Operations department (for a full list, visit http://www.kent.edu/ceo/Energy/Ideas.cfm). As they help save the environment, these important tips could save the university significant dollars in these difficult economic times. In fact, they're so important that I want to share some of them here and encourage you to adopt them:
* Turn off the lights in your office, classroom or residence hall room whenever you leave. If there is adequate daylight, leave lights off or only turn on one switch if your lighting has multiple levels controlled by multiple switches.
* Turn off your computer (including the monitor) at the end of the day or when you leave for an extended time.
* Replace standard 100-watt bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs.
* Unplug unused cell phone chargers and other adapters.
* Report water leaks to your building maintenance staff member(s).
* Make a conscious effort to recycle and reuse.

Finally, I want to thank those of you who responded to my messages about the impact of the current economic crisis with a variety of creative, cost-savings ideas. I have been forwarding them to the appropriate executive officers, who all share my appreciation that students, faculty and staff members are thinking so thoughtfully about how to save energy and cut costs in ways large and small. From winning ideas to winning teams, it's all about Kent State excellence in action.

Have a great weekend,

Lester Lefton