The May 4 Visitors Center has been without a director for three years. The university has completed the interview process for hiring a new director for the center.

Mindy Farmer was director, but she left in 2020 to work for the Smithsonian. Lori Boes has been working as the center’s interim Director since Farmer left.

Instead of filling the position permanently, over 100 stakeholders helped to revise the position to allow the center to continue to grow as a memorial of May 4, 1970.

Kenneth Burhanna, Dean of University Libraries, is overseeing the search for a new director and spearheaded parts of the revisions.

“We’re starting to focus on May 4 being an important event in the history of our country that we certainly don’t want to forget,” Burhanna said. “We want to also use it as a lens to look at our own current world and see what we learn about today.”

The revision of the position included added values, rethinking of the overall mission and vision for the future of the center.

One valuable component of the position is the experience someone has when they go to the May 4 Visitors Center, and that is what sets it apart from other positions Burhanna oversees as the Dean of University Libraries.

“It’s one of the things that I think students should really have that experience because it’s so important to our history,” Burhanna said. “But, it is also in the DNA of what Kent State is and how we became the university that we are.”.

Burhanna said by conducting the screening using stakeholders, faculty, May 4 survivors, students and the community, they gained a better insight as to what the future of the center will hold.

“It gave us strong indications on the right things to pursue,” Burhanna said. “And some things that we may want to reconsider or move beyond and also, they pointed out some things we need to be sensitive to.”

Burhanna said they have narrowed their search to three candidates and evaluations for the candidates are due April 27, 2023 at noon.

Francesca Malinky is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].