Kent State Stark Branch Commencement Ceremony To Be Held Dec. 15

NORTH CANTON, OH -- The Kent State Stark Fall 2017 Commencement ceremony will be held Friday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. at the Umstattd Performing Arts Hall. Umstattd Hall is the permanent home of the Canton Symphony Orchestra and is located on the Canton McKinley High School campus. The address is: 2323 17th St. NW, Canton, Ohio 44708. The hall opens at 5:30 and tickets are required for guests.

The Fall Commencement address will be given by Dr. Deidre Warren, associate professor of criminology and justice studies. Deirdre Warren is an associate professor of criminology and justice studies and has been with Kent State University at Stark since the fall of 2009. Dr. Warren is from Texas, where she served as a police officer in Sugar Land from 1991 to 2005, leaving policing at the rank of sergeant. While on the police force, she served as a field training officer, a mental health officer and hostage negotiator. Dr. Warren earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas in 1990, a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Houston – Downtown in 2003, and a Ph.D. in criminal justice with a concentration in criminology from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas in 2009.

Dr. Warren’s research largely focuses on media constructions of, and formal as well as informal responses to, marginalized populations. Specifically, her research has addressed policing of youth; the impact of race on media constructions of and attitudes toward evacuees from Hurricane Katrina; and media constructions of and discourse surrounding same-sex marriage. Dr. Warren is currently the chair of Kent State University at Stark’s faculty council, as well as campus coordinator for the sociology and criminology and justice studies programs.