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$5.6 million creates jobs

Kristyn Soltis
December 1, 2009

Stimulus money goes toward sciences, LCI

Kent State will “create or save” 17 jobs with nearly $5.6 million it received in stimulus funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The money, awarded Sept. 30, will go toward research and instruction in the biological sciences, chemistry, anthropology, geology and psychology departments, as well as the Liquid Crystal Institute.

Sixteen of the 17 total funds came from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation totaling $5,226,516.

The Federal Work Study Funds supported by the ARRA total $285,489.

With that money, the five departments and LCI created the equivalent of 17 positions.

“There are not 17 actual positions,” said Kent State spokeswoman Emily Vincent, “Some are pieces and parts of existing jobs, while others, like the work study, are new positions.”

There are 10 new full-time equivalent work-study positions that were created out of the stimulus funding, while seven “created or saved” jobs are pieces and parts of existing positions.

Vincent said those seven positions would be similar to an instructor spending 90 percent of his or her time teaching and the other 10 percent of the time in work-study.

The largest amount awarded, $2,756,719, went to the biological sciences department for Environmental Aquatic Resource Sensing by the National Science Foundation.

“This grant brings a lot of prestige to the university since it’s a highly competitive award, endorsing the quality of our students and our sciences,” said James Blank, chair of Kent State’s Biological Sciences department in a prepared statement. “This is a highly coveted award that will help transform graduate programs.”

Contact administration reporter Kristyn Soltis at [email protected]