Career
Explore career opportunities and educational insights with Kent State’s blogs. Discover inspiring faculty profiles, cutting-edge programs, and career guidance across fields like education, public health, technology, and more. Learn how Kent State’s programs prepare students for impactful careers through expert knowledge and innovative approaches.
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Technology has changed almost every aspect of the way we live and work, including our approach to healthcare. Medical providers, clinical facilities and payers are increasingly adopting technology that can help them achieve the goals of higher-quality care at lower cost. Health informatics is a rapidly growing field, fusing the knowledge of technology with the desire to improve patient care. As the field grows, a competitive health informatics salary can be part of a fulfilling career.
Today’s criminal justice system faces unique challenges that demand highly trained, dedicated professionals. In the area of criminal justice policy, there are exciting careers in community policing and enforcement, the treatment and rights of victims in the criminal justice process, and current issues and practices in homeland security and cybersecurity. These specializations offer many opportunities for rewarding, well-compensated careers that are in high demand. For example, job opportunities for private detectives and investigators are projected to grow by eight percent by 2029, while those for information security analysts will grow by 31 percent.1,2
Intrigued by thoughts of international security jobs? Many people have built top-level, lucrative careers with government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private contractors, foundations and think tanks.1
Careers in government and public administration often attracts idealistic people who want to make a difference in our democracy and in the lives of their fellow citizens. But what does it actually take to become a leader in bureaucratic structures at the municipal, state and federal levels?
User experience design (UXD) lets you use your creativity, research skills and technological expertise to shape how others view the world. If you want to excel at building your UX resume, be prepared to impress employers with new ways to solve problems. You also need a skill set that’s grounded in UX fundamentals, yet shows synergistic capability.
There are many reasons to choose to pursue a career in the public sector rather than in the business world. Often, people are drawn to public or nonprofit careers because doing so gives them an opportunity to do good and enact change for the better, rather than just increasing profits for a corporation. But even if you know you want to work in government or at a nonprofit organization, the exact path you follow can vary greatly.
If you enjoy leading others, improving systems, overcoming complex challenges and helping shape the direction of a business or organization, you might be a good candidate for the role of director of administration.
“What does a public administration salary look like?” The path to public good is a personal one, but odds are nearly every person entering the field wonders what kind of salary they can expect. When you think about public administration your mind may automatically drift toward thoughts of government and nonprofit roles, but there are lucrative roles in the private sector as well. What you do with your degree and experience is entirely up to you. You could find roles in government service, nonprofit organizations, or the private and public sectors. Below, we’ll explore roles in each of these categories and discuss the potential public administration salaries for various careers.
Geographic information science (GISc) is a broadly applicable degree that can be used in many fields around the world, including healthcare, climatology, urban development, national parks and more.1 Working in GISc could take you to places as different as a laboratory or the deep wilderness. For example, you might use the skills you have learned to protect the environment, study volcanic activity in other areas of the world, or support the homeless population in your city.2 If you have an analytical mind and are good at visualizing information, you can use GISc technology to tell stories that help others and better understand and serve the world around you in countless different ways.
If you want to understand the world around you — literally — there is no better way than by studying geographical science. This field uses technology to answer important questions about our world: Why are different places the way they are? What is the relationship between people and where they live? How can we best take care of our planet and its unique natural characteristics?1
Many people want to have a meaningful impact on the world, and if you pursue a career in criminal justice, you have the power to do exactly that. So when considering what the best criminal justice jobs are, there’s more to think about than just salary. It’s also important to ask yourself what career you would find most personally fulfilling.
If you’re ambitious, interested in municipal government and hoping to make change in your local community from the top down, the role of city manager may be the perfect career goal for you. It’s an excellent choice for well-organized, diplomacy-minded professionals in public administration.
When life feels unpredictable, most people want a plan for certainty. That’s especially true when it comes to making decisions about careers and weighing the pros and cons of graduate school. While no crystal ball will predict exactly what jobs will exist in the global economy in the years and decades ahead, authorities suggest that lifelong learners will have the advantage in getting hired and promoted.
The growing field of geographic information systems (GIS) has opened up a range of career possibilities for people who are fascinated with data and who want a fulfilling career that addresses pressing real-world problems, and this includes GIS analysts.
One of the best things about working in the public sector is that it gives you many ways to make a difference in your community, no matter what role you fill. You can be confident that you’ll be part of an organization or government body that has the power to change the world (or at least your community) for the better.
The definition of “product designer” as a professional role can be a bit ambiguous. Job titles naturally change over the years as technology and culture change, and because creative professionals such as designers typically want to stand from their peers.1 The title “product designer” is one that has risen in popularity in recent years. Because the job responsibilities of a product designer can overlap those of similar roles such as a user experience (UX) or user interface (UI) designer, even people who work alongside them may not be sure exactly what the job of product designer entails.
Few positions within the field of criminology and criminal justice have as much allure in popular culture today as crime scene investigation (CSI) jobs. Of course CSI careers in reality are not exactly like the versions of them you may see on television; their day-to-day work can be more mundane, and they require serious training and education to do them well. But if you are willing to put in the time and energy to channel your inner David Caruso and pursue a CSI career path, you may find it a creative and rewarding opportunity to work on the cutting edge of law enforcement technology.
Whether you currently work in law enforcement or are seeking a new career that will allow you to fight crime and protect your community, becoming a criminal investigator can open a range of challenging and satisfying paths. Being a criminal investigator allows you to operate independently, solve problems, and give back to the community. The role of a criminal investigator can take several different forms, often as detectives or crime scene investigators. However, all criminal investigators share common responsibilities: they collect evidence, interview individuals who are related to a case and testify about their cases in court.1
If you’re wondering how to become a UX designer after years working in another field, Kent State University alum Brian Parsons, MS ’18, has one piece of advice: “Take on any roles you can with a UX-related title in them, even if it’s volunteering.”
Ken Slenkovich is the assistant dean of Kent State University’s College of Public Health and program director for the school’s online Master of Public Health program. Leveraging his diverse experience as a public health professional, with research endeavors that have focused on the operations of local health departments and community health needs assessment methodologies, Asst. Dean Slenkovich has helped to elevate and enrich our nationally celebrated online MPH program, even authoring an award-winning course for the program.1
Public health careers appeal to different people for different reasons, just as certain universities make more sense for certain individuals. The university you choose should be a conduit through which you can achieve your aspirations, and there are many factors to consider in the selection process. For some the most important of these may be prestige, while others may weigh connections or affordability more heavily.
Geographic information science (GISc) has numerous applications in fields ranging from emergency response and agriculture to finance and real estate, and with GISc jobs set to increase by 14% by 2026,1 a master’s in GISc and a solid understanding of how to apply geographic information systems (GIS) could be what sets you apart in this growing field.
Part of finding the perfect UX design career is building an awesome portfolio. Below, we’ve provided five easy steps to help you develop a portfolio that is sure to turn heads, helping to give you and your career the opportunity to excel.
As user experience (UX) designers consider their long-term career goals, some assume that management is the obvious next step. It’s true that the best managers usually have a background in the field they manage. But management also requires skills for which designers aren’t often trained, including leadership, time management, budgeting and interpersonal skills. Not every talented designer is a good fit as a manager, but for the right person, UX design management can be an immensely rewarding and satisfying career path.
In the world of public administration, there are frequent references to the “public sector.” But what exactly is the public sector? And why does it require such careful attention and monitoring by public officials? Broadly speaking, the public sector refers to any part of a state or national economy that is tied to public programs or services and is controlled by the government.
An increased emphasis on interaction with digital platforms in the contemporary world means new career paths for creatives working in digital fields—especially those whose skills lend themselves to user experience (UX) design and development. If you’re a graphic designer thinking about a career change, consider making the switch to UX design.
If “public health” refers to caring for the collective health of a population, then “public health economics” is the science of how a society takes on and manages this responsibility with limited resources. Public health policy is broad: While some of it does focus directly on healthcare, other areas as disparate as environmental protection, individual habit change and infectious disease control all contribute to the economics of public health.1 Studies indicate that there are economic benefits to preventing disease, not just for sick individuals, but for society at large.
Good user experience (UX) is good business. The average American internet user spends nearly 24 hours per week on the internet, and best practices in UX design have become crucial not only to success online, but also in the physical world, where online brand and service experiences carry over into other real-time interactions.1 But since the internet is where we largely work, study, socialize and shop today, implementing proven UX design principles can make the difference between successfully engaging users and losing them to competing sites and services.
Evidence-based public health interventions have saved millions of lives since 1854, when Dr. John Snow first identified a public water well as the source of a major cholera outbreak in London. In the decades since, public health interventions have been instrumental in improving the health and well-being of people in large and small communities.1
Nobody likes a 404 page. It’s never the page you were trying to find, and it’s usually not your fault that you ended up there. Standard error messages can be inscrutable, and the typically austere 404 page itself can disconnect the user from the overall site experience, which can sour them to your site and even your brand. So how do you create a 404 page that is dynamic, that easily redirects the user back to the content they want and that’s even a little bit fun?