Today is a time of celebration . .
Your dreams of the future wait just around the corner. I know that I am but one of many who applaud your accomplishments and wish you the very best of luck as you move forward in your chosen careers. You now join the ranks of successful Kent State University graduates such as former Notre Dame head football coach Lou Holtz, fashion designer Linda Allard, astronaut Carl Walz, television news anchors Ted Henry, Wayne Dawson and Jack Marschall and movie production designer Linda Descenna. They, like you, had the benefit of a Kent diploma, a document representing individual academic achievement and this University's fulfillment of its educational goals. The importance of your degree was nationally recognized in the fall of 1994, when Kent State University was awarded Research University II status by the Carnegie Foundation.