New director appointed to Kent’s Visitors Center

Staff report

KENT

Mindy Farmer has been selected as the new director of the May 4 Visitors Center in the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State University.

Farmer started her new position July 1. She also will teach public-history courses in Kent State’s history department as an assistant professor in spring 2015.

She recently served as an education specialist at the federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif.

“We are excited to welcome Mindy to Kent State,” said Todd Diacon, KSU’s senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “She brings a wealth of experience and energy, and we think she will provide outstanding leadership for the May 4 Visitors Center.”

Farmer succeeds Laura Davis, professor emerita of English, who retired June 30 after serving as founding director of the May 4 Visitors Center, which opened in October 2012.

Davis, a Kent State freshman in 1970 who witnessed the shootings, was one of the four co-authors of the application to add the May 4 site to the National Register of Historic Places.

She and Carole Barbato, a professor emerita of communications studies at Kent, who died April 30, co-taught the university’s May 4 course and co-chaired the 2009 Symposium on Democracy. Working with university and community members, Davis coordinated and helped lead the creation of an audio-guided walking tour of the May 4 historic site that was dedicated during the 40th commemoration.

“I am humbled to stand on the shoulders of giants,” Farmer said. “From the faculty who worked to build the center, to the deans who pledged their support, and the students who continue to inquire, learn and reflect, I know that this is a campus dedicated to understanding its past.”

Davis said, “During her interview at Kent State, Mindy Farmer commented, ‘You have to make peace with controversy. It is in such events that you become stronger critical thinkers.’ With such wisdom and knowledge, she will advance the May 4 Visitors Center as a place where students and members of the public may learn important lessons that make them stronger citizens of the democracy in which they participate.”

One of Farmer’s first job opportunities at furthering nonpartisanship at the once-private Nixon Library was to rewrite the panel on Kent State to acknowledge — in clear terms — that the National Guard was responsible for shooting the students.

“Mindy studied and taught in Ohio, and is coming to Kent after an excellent period working as an education specialist at Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum,” said James Blank, interim dean of KSU’s College of Arts and Sciences. “She has a strong commitment to public history, especially in the context of what it can tell young students about our country. This position is a natural fit for her. “

Farmer said she plans to use the events of May 4 as a teaching tool by:

Hosting a series of issues forums to prove that forevermore no issue is too difficult to talk about on campus.

Supporting Kent faculty as they guide students through multidimensional learning experiences in the center to deepen their knowledge and critical thinking.

Partnering with other archives and museums to host conferences and virtual lectures on important, relevant topics.

Creating a student-soldier oral history program to better understand the experience of young veterans on campus.

Working with local school districts to create teacher workshops and ultimately increase the number of students who visit the center.

Farmer has taught at Ohio State University and the University of Dayton. She has a doctorate in modern U.S. history from Ohio State and a master’s degree in history and bachelor’s degree in history and social studies, both from Western Kentucky University.

Farmer, a Kentucky native, recently moved from Long Beach, Calif., and lives in Akron.