Kent State University history

Classes began in 1912 before any buildings had been completed at the campus in Kent.

By May 1913, classes were being held on the campus in Kent with the opening of Merrill Hall.

The school graduated 34 students in its first commencement on July 29, 1914.

In 1915, the school was renamed Kent State Normal College due to the addition of four-year degrees.

In 1924, the school's registration for summer classes was the largest of any teacher-training school in the United States.

He was present in Columbus on May 17, 1935, when Kent native Governor Martin L. Davey signed a bill that allowed Kent State and Bowling Green to add schools of business administration and graduate programs, giving them each university status. It was this development – along with several other factors – which led to the firing of McGilvrey in January 1926.

In 1929, the state of Ohio changed the name to Kent State College as it allowed the school to establish a college of arts and sciences.

In 1935, Kent State began to offer graduate courses after the state granted it university status.

The son of Irish immigrants, Ambassador Crawford began his career as an entrepreneur in 1962, starting his first manufacturing business while attending college classes at night.

Some of the prominent ones included revelations that former President Lyndon Baines Johnson had misled the United States public about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to the escalation of United States involvement in Vietnam in late 1964.

By 1965, this operation had been expanded to include many courses other than those required by prospective teachers.

In 1967, Kent State became the first university to run an independent, student-operated Campus Bus Service.

James Fergason invented and patented the basic TN LCD in 1969 and ten liquid crystal companies have been spun off from the Institute.

Over the next ninety years, the University was witness to some amazing and disturbing events in American history, including the 1970 shooting of four Kent State students by Ohio National Guardsmen.

In 1971, the University established the Center for Peaceful Change, now known as the Center for Applied Conflict Management, as a "living memorial" to the students who had died.

With the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, which basically ended United States involvement in the Vietnam War, the protests drew to a formal close.

After several additional unsuccessful legal challenges, construction finally began on September 19 and was finished in 1979.

In March 1991, Kent State once again made history by appointing Carol Cartwright as president of the University, the first female to hold such a position at any state university in Ohio.

President Carol A. Cartwright was also inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 1992.

In 1994, Kent State was named a "Research University II" by the Carnegie Foundation.

Seeing a need to meet the growing technical training needs for business and industry, the Trumbull Campus established a Workforce Development and Continuing Studies Center in 1996.

The Center for Industrial Training and Education (CITE) was established in 1997 to provide hands-on laboratory experience for customized training programs, apprenticeship coursework, academic engineering courses and Tech Prep programs.

A Weekend College Program began in Spring 1998, leading to a B.S. Degree in Technology.

Campus Bus Service was the largest such operation in the country until it merged with the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority in 2004.

In September 2010, the university announced its largest student body ever, with a total enrollment of 41,365.

United States News & World Report's 2017 rankings put Kent State as tied for #188 for National Universities and tied for #101 in Top Public Schools.

In 2021, the college was ranked No.