Once again this holiday season, our University is providing our faculty and staff with Days of Beneficence—a tangible expression of gratitude for your sustained commitment and service to the University throughout this year. Our 2023 Days of Beneficence will occur Tuesday, December 26; Wednesday, December 27; Thursday, December 28; and Friday, December 29.
I am grateful to our Board of Trustees for recognizing the benefits this time holds for our faculty and staff, and for approving my recommendation to provide Days of Beneficence.
Please take advantage of this time and use it in ways that matter most to you. Spend your Days of Beneficence with family and friends. Use this period to reflect, recharge, and reset before heading into the second half of our academic year. Or, perhaps volunteer for a worthy cause in our community.
No matter how you spend this year's Days of Beneficence, enjoy this gift of time.
Happy holidays!
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Geoffrey S. Mearns
President
Ball State University
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Fall Commencement Scheduled for Dec. 16 in Worthen Arena
Ball State University’s Fall Commencement will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16, in Worthen Arena. There will be one ceremony that recognizes all graduates. Worthen Arena will open at 9 a.m. The ceremony is not ticketed, so graduates can invite as many guests as they would like. Fall Commencement will be livestreamed on the Fall Commencement webpage. A window to view the livestream will appear on that webpage on the day of the ceremony. Those interested in serving as an ambassador at Commencement should email Angel Tuttle, assistant director of commencement and university events, at atuttle@bsu.edu by Dec. 6.
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Our Call to Beneficence Podcast |
Latest Episode of “Our Call to Beneficence” Features Betsy Ross—Ball State Graduate, Entrepreneur, Author, Former ESPN Anchor
Ball State graduate Betsy Ross—author, successful entrepreneur, Emmy® award-winning sports reporter, and a former ESPN anchor—is the guest on the November 2023 episode of the monthly podcast “Our Call to Beneficence,” hosted by Ball State President Geoffrey S. Mearns. This episode is available now.
Ms. Ross, ’72, graduated from Ball State with a degree in Journalism. She is president and founder of Game Day Communications in Cincinnati. Her journalism career included work at the South Bend Tribune in South Bend, Ind., and at South Bend’s ABC affiliate before earning a reporting—and later, an anchor—position at ESPN. After several years at ESPN, Ms. Ross returned to her hometown in the Cincinnati area, where she continues to support women in sports as a play-by-play announcer, public address announcer for women's college sports, and sports anchor and reporter for Cincinnati’s FOX TV news affiliate. Her book, “Playing Ball with the Boys: The Rise of Women in Men’s Sports,” was released in 2010.
All episodes of the Our Call to Beneficence podcast are available on multiple platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.
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Buy Ball State Basketball Tickets for Yourself, Other Cardinal Fans
Basketball season is in full swing! Don’t miss out on an exciting season at Worthen Arena; help cheer the Cardinals to victory. Tickets make great stocking stuffers this holiday season for Cardinal fans of all ages. Visit BallStatesports.com/tickets.
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Professional Development Through Lifetime Learning
Ball State employees may now take Lifetime Learning courses with zero out-of-pocket expense. To encourage professional career-path growth that is beneficial to employees, their departments, and the University, Lifetime Learning will extend its self-paced, online faculty-developed training options in D2L Brightspace.
Course offerings include Everyday Behavior Tools; Leading Organizational Innovation; Project Management in Commercial Construction: Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment; Social Media Brand Management: Storytelling and Leadership; Spanish for Healthcare Professionals; Licensed Practical Counselor LPC/LCPC Exam Preparation; Arts Education for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Teacher Mentoring; and more. Download the Fall/Winter 2023-24 Catalog. To register for courses, complete this ServiceNow form.
Lifetime Learning's success coaches will serve as resources to staff who have questions or need assistance enrolling in courses. Email lifetimelearning@bsu.edu with questions.
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TELUS Health Offers Exclusive Shopping Perks, Discounts, Savings for Ball State Employees
In addition to offering a total well-being solution that includes a confidential employee assistance program (EAP), TELUS Health offers Ball State employees exclusive shopping perks, discounts, and savings. TELUS Health sources special deals, offers, and discounts from top brands and retailers—including Target, Lowes, Best Buy, Cabela’s, Papa John’s, and others—and makes them available only to employees via the web and mobile app. Log into the TELUS Health platform using your Ball State username/password. Click “Perks” in the main platform navigation. From the perks homepage, you can shop online, purchase digital gift cards, or browse in-store or exclusive offers.
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R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning |
Grants Awards and a Collaboration
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The Master of Urban Design (MUD) program has been awarded the Innovations in Wellness and Inclusive Excellence Small Grant by the Graduate School. This funding will support the Wellness and Inclusive Evenings events for current students in the MUD program (Class of 2024).
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Assistant Professors in Landscape Architecture Dorna Eshrati and Jeremy Merrill have been awarded the Provost's Immersive Learning Grant for LA 202: Park and Open Space Design Studio. They will collaborate with the City of Shelbyville, Ind., in Spring 2024 on a project titled, "Morrison Park Renaissance: Empowering Second-Year Landscape Architecture Students, the City of Shelbyville, and Our Involved Community through Innovative Design Initiatives."
- Cynthia Hunter, assistant lecturer of interior design, has been awarded a Provost Immersive Learning grant for her proposal, “Until They All Have Homes.” Additionally, this course has been designated as a Shafer Fellows project. The Hamer and Phyllis Shafer Foundation supports immersive learning projects focused on pressing problems facing East Central Indiana.
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Miller College of Business |
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Jason Stanfield, assistant professor of accounting, had hisco-authored paper, “Demand Uncertainty and the Production of Audit Services,” accepted for publication in “Auditing: A Journal of Theory and Practice.”
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Craig Webster, associate professor of hospitality innovation and leadership, co-authored a chapter, “Robots, Artificial Intelligence and Service Automation in Tourism and Quality of Life,” in the “Handbook of Tourism and Quality-of-Life Research II.”
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In the Economics Department, Dr. Nathaneal Snow, Dr. James McClure, and the late Dr. David C. Thomas had their paper, “A Struggle Between Incomplete Visions: Creative Destruction vs. The Economy of Knowledge,” accepted for publication in the “Review of Austrian Economics.”
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Raghavan Srinivasan, assistant teaching professor of information systems and operations management, co-authored a paper, “Aggregate Delivery Capacity Planning with a Crowdsourcing Option,” that was accepted for publication in the “Computers and Industrial Engineering Journal.”
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Reza Houston, associate professor of finance, published an article in “Finance Research Letters” titled “Firm Investment Steering Through State-Level Policy Uncertainty.”
- Imran Syed, assistant professor of management, had a paper, “Taking Charge as a Contextual Cue: How New CEO Regulatory Focus Influences Strategic Change,” accepted at the “Journal of Management.”
- Kesha Coker and Dr. Jessica Zeiss, assistant professors of marketing; and Dr. Pia Albinsson, co-authored a paper, “The Consumer on Stage: Toward a Typology of Improvisation in Consumption Contexts,” which was accepted for publication in the “Journal of Business Research.” Dr. Albinsson is a professor of marketing at the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University.
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College of Communication, Information, and Media |
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The Ball State Daily News won its fifth consecutive Pacemaker, a prestigious national award that recognizes the best of the best in college media. The win was announced at this year’s Fall National College Media Convention in Atlanta held over several days in late October and early November.
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The Ball State Daily News, Ball Bearings magazine, Ball State PBS, and Western Kentucky University were also recognized jointly with the Innovation Pacemaker for the storytelling they did in a historic partnership. Among the results of their work was the documentary “Fleeing to Flyover Country,” which can be viewed online.
- Recent alumna and former editor-in-chief of The Ball State Daily News Elissa Maudlin was named Reporter of the Year by the Associated Collegiate Press at this year’s Fall National College Media Convention in Atlanta.
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Junior Kyle Smedley placed first in the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation Keating Competition earlier this month. For this contest, Mr. Smedley and nine other student journalists were given five hours to interview, write, and file a creative, compelling story.
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Sophomore Meghan Sawitzke was selected recently for the elite New York Times Corps Mentorship program. Also, she placed third in the Associated Collegiate Press’ Story of the Year competition. Learn more about Ms. Sawitzke and her accolades in this Ball State blog post.
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Music Professor Performs with Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra
Dr. Chris Van Hof, associate professor of trombone, performed on Nov. 10 and 11 as guest principal trombone with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO)—an invitation rarely offered to non-fulltime ISO members. Dr. Van Hof is only the second guest principal trombone in the past 15 years.
Graphic Design Professor’s Design to be featured in Publication
Shantanu Suman, associate professor of art, will have one of his Hindi/English typography designs featured in “Typism Book” No. 9, a prestigious Australian publication known for showcasing some of the best typography designs from around the world. This year, Typism received 3,528 design projects, and only 190 were chosen to be included in the ninth edition of the book.
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Promotion and a Role Change
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Blair Mattern was promoted to associate dean for clinical affairs. In this role, he will lead the College of Health’s clinical and community-serving enterprise in accordance with the college’s mission in education, research, and community engagement. Having been with the University since 2011, Dr. Mattern has directed operations of the Interprofessional Community Clinics for the past four years.
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Lindsey Blom, professor of sport and exercise psychology and department chair of the School of Kinesiology, has accepted a new role on campus as associate director of athletics for championship performance. This position has been newly created to assist and support student-athletes’ mental and physical needs. Learn more online.
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Participate in Free Walking Class
The Healthy Lifestyle Center is offering a free community walking class at 6 p.m. every Tuesday and Wednesday in the Muncie Mall by the Finish Line store. After completing three sessions, participants can keep the walking sticks, belt bags, and pedometer watches that are provided for use during class. There is no end date scheduled for this class, and participants can join at any time. Questions about this class can be emailed to hlc765@bsu.edu.
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College of Sciences and Humanities |
Ball State Senior Named This Year’s Astronomy Slam! Champion
During the fourth annual Astronomy Slam! held Nov. 4 at the Charles W. Brown Planetarium, Mya Shelton, a senior pursuing a bachelor's degree in Astronomy, was named this year’s Astronomy Slam! champion with her presentation, “Black Holes and Why They Don't Actually Suck.” Students competing in Astronomy Slam! use planetarium visual effects to creatively present an astronomical topic of their choosing to a public audience. The championship title is determined by a vote among the audience. Learn more about this year’s Astronomy Slam! in this College of Sciences and Humanities blog post.
AAL Announces New Traveling Exhibit
The Applied Anthropology Laboratories (AAL) announces a new traveling exhibit, “St. Clair’s Defeat Revisited: A New View of the Conflict.” The exhibit gives, for the first time, a Native perspective of the greatest defeat—in terms of casualty count—of the U.S. Army during the Northwest Indian War: St. Clair’s Defeat in 1791. The battle took place in Fort Recovery, Ohio, which is about an hour northeast of Muncie. This exhibit introduces the complex history of St. Clair’s Defeat and its context and aftermath with respect to the nine Tribal Nations that orchestrated this defeat of the U.S. military. This is a first-of-its-kind exhibit that was developed collaboratively with representatives from 10 Tribal Nations to represent their stories and perspectives on critical historical events that reverberate into the present.
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Mike Steele, chair of the Department of Educational Studies, has been elected to serve on the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Board of Directors. He began his term at the conclusion of the NCTM Annual Meeting and Exposition held Oct. 25-28 in Washington, D.C.
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The Stanford Stanford University annual rankings of the world’s top scientists, based on citations up to 2022, were recently released. Eleven Ball State University faculty were ranked in the top 2% of their subfields, three of whom are Teachers College faculty in the Department of Educational Psychology:
- W. Holmes Finch, George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor
- Jerrell C. Cassady, professor
- Gerardo Ramirez, associate professor
- Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Strategic Initiatives, Dr. Shannon Dieringer, has been named Ball State’s new Faculty Athletic Representative. In this position, Dr. Dieringer will represent the University with the NCAA, and provide leadership in the governance of intercollegiate athletics programs.
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Department of Educational Leadership graduate Dr. Debra Faye Williams-Robbins was one of two people celebrated for excellence in leadership and contributions to the community during the inaugural Black Excellence Blueprint Gala on Oct. 20 in Fort Wayne. Dr. Williams-Robbins, who is an associate superintendent at Fort Wayne Community Schools, received three awards at the gala from the United Way, the Boys & Girls Club of Fort Wayne, and United Front.
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Community Engagement and an Accolade
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The Honors Association for Community Engagement (HACE) recently worked with Honors College Associate Dean Emily Rutter and the United Way to hand-deliver a bookmark and book to every student at East Washington Academy. The academy is the Honors College’s MCS (Muncie Community Schools) partner school.
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The Honors College student-run newsletter, “News and Notes,” was recognized as the top print student-run honors newsletter in the nation at the annual meeting of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC) on Nov. 9. NCHC represents nearly 900 honors programs and colleges from around the world—and this is the second time “News and Notes” has been named the top newsletter in the country.
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University Libraries Recognized as a Top Express Interlibrary Loan Service Provider
The Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) officially recognized Ball State University Libraries as one of the top interlibrary loan service providers in the world. University Libraries is one of about 1,000 participating libraries from 20 countries around the world which bring resources and materials to researchers everywhere. Since joining the OCLC’s Express Digital Delivery Program in May 2021, University Libraries’ interlibrary loan services have consistently fulfilled digital document deliveries within 18 hours or less throughout 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Notable Women Project Receives Outstanding Collaborative Project Award
The Indiana Historical Society has awarded the Notable Women of Muncie and Delaware County Project the 2023 Outstanding Collaborative Project Award. The joint project began in 2018 and is sponsored by Ball State University Libraries, the Delaware County Historical Society, Minnetrista Museum and Gardens, and Muncie Public Library. The Notable Women Project’s mission is to discover and document women lost in the local history narrative and to employ storytelling through community programs. Learn more in this University Libraries’ blog post.
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Success Coaching Offered During Finals Week: Workshops, Study Zones, and One-On-One Support
During the first two weeks in December, the Student Success Coaching office will host three events (listed below) designed to assist and encourage students as they prepare for final exams. Student Success coaches will also continue to be available throughout finals week to meet individually with students. Appointments can be made through Navigate (my.bsu.edu) or by calling 765-285-1178.
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Dec. 6 “Final Exams Preparation & (Good) Rest” workshop
1-1:45 p.m. Cardinal Hall A at the L.A. Pittinger Student Center
Open to all students, the “Final Exams Preparation & (Good) Rest” workshop can help students explore effective study habits, uncover individual learning styles, and introduce ways to intentionally relax and rest during final exam week and between semesters.
Dec. 7 Study Zone
8:30 a.m.-noon College of Sciences and Humanities Success Hub, Room 160 of the North Quad Building
In an effort to support students with quiet study space, study supplies, and snacks, the Student Success Coaching office is collaborating with the College of Sciences and Humanities for this study zone.
Dec. 11 Study Zones (occurring simultaneously in two locations)
1-4 p.m. in Communication, Information, and Media Success Hub (Room 204 in the Ball Communications Building; and Room 276 of the Letterman Building)
The Student Success Coaching office is collaborating with the College of Communication, Information, and Media for another set of study zones.
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