This year’s Centennial Awards ceremony will honor Kent State faculty and alumni as well as a current master’s student during Homecoming weekend.

Events will kick off on Friday with a special celebration for Carole Barbato’s retirement, followed by the Centennial Awards Celebration and reception in the Moulton Hall ballroom. On Saturday, the School of Communication Studies will be present at the Homecoming Parade with a CCI Hospitality tent at the corner of Lincoln and Main Streets.

A new tradition for this year’s Centennial Awards is the Dr. Dominic Infante Communication Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to communication students going for a master’s degree. Dr. Infante announced the scholarship at last year’s award ceremony when he was honored with the Centennial Award.

“The unique part about this now is that we’re providing this scholarship for our master’s students, which is something you don’t see very often,” Anne Dudley, Marketing Coordinator for School of Communication Studies, School of Visual Communication Design and Centennial Award coordinator, said.

The first winner of the Dr. Dominic Infante Scholarship is master’s student, McKenzie Pittman.

“I’m truly honored to be the first recipient of this scholarship,” Pittman said. “I was so gracious to be receiving an award already, but to honor Dr. Infante at the same time… what a humbling experience.”

The Centennial Award will be presented to Gerry Sargent. Other awards being received at the event include the Distinguished Alumni Award to Carole Barbato and the Outstanding Young Professional Award to Erin Clemmons.

For the past three years, the School of Communication Studies has gathered alumni and faculty members for the Centennial Awards Celebration. The Centennial Award yearly recognizes Kent State alumni that make tremendous strides in the communication practice.

Contact Alexandra Taylor at [email protected].