Kent State will bid farewell to Ron Kirksey, the university’s chief spokesman, at the end of the month when he begins retirement.

According to a University Relations press release, Kirksey will retire April 30 after 10 years as the executive director of university communications and marketing. To honor his time spent at Kent State, a retirement reception will be held 4 to 5:30 p.m. the same day from in Room 306 of the Student Center.

“Ron has earned a special occasion to mark his retirement,” Kathy Stafford, vice president for University Relations, said in the press release.

According to his university biography, Kirksey completed a master’s degree in journalism at Kent State. He spent more than two decades working in the newspaper business, including a position at the Akron Beacon Journal where he was the lead writer for a race relations project that earned a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1994.

Read next week’s copies of the Daily Kent Stater for more information about Kirksey’s departure.

Contact administration reporter Jackie Valley at [email protected].