News for Ball State Faculty and Staff
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Stories of Gratitude
November 30, 2021
As we end the month of November—a month during which many of us celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday with food, family, and friends—I felt it was appropriate to express my appreciation for the women and men at Ball State who keep our University community well fed year-round.
Our University Dining and University Catering departments have a total of 400 employees and 650 student employees. These dedicated colleagues put great time and effort into preparing and serving meals for our students, our faculty and staff, and our campus visitors.
Staff from University Dining begin reporting to work at 4:30 a.m., with the last employees leaving at 1 a.m. Combined, these staff members prepare approximately 12,000 meals each day at our 11 University Dining locations across campus. And the culinary experts in this department have developed more than 1,300 distinct recipes for us to enjoy.
Our University Catering staff is equally impressive. Between July 1 and November 5, our catering crew worked more than 500 events, serving a total of more than 40,000 guests.
I am grateful to our dining facilities staff and catering crews, including supervisors and support staff, for everything that they do. They understand that meals prepared with care and served with kindness make everyone on campus feel more at home. And in this season of giving thanks, I hope you join me in expressing gratitude for their culinary skills and their dedication to sharing their love of food with all of us.
Sincerely,
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Ball State Response to COVID-19
All employees are strongly encouraged to get a COVID-19 vaccination, and then attest to their full vaccination using our online form. For more COVID-19 information, plans, and resources for faculty, staff, students, and campus visitors, visit the Ball State Cardinals Care website.
On-campus vaccine clinic days in November
The vaccination clinic in Ball State’s Interprofessional Community Clinic (ICC) will be open 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in the Health Professions Building on Dec. 1, Dec. 3, Dec. 8, Dec. 10, Dec. 15, Dec. 17, and Dec. 22. Walk-in appointments are welcomed. Alternatively, make an appointment at ourshot.in.gov and select “DCHD BallState WRiversideAve MVAX.”
The vaccine clinic at the ICC offers the Moderna booster shot, as well as the other injections, as part of the Moderna vaccine series. Call the Interprofessional Community Clinics at 765-285-4422 with questions.
COVID-19 Dashboard
Ball State University’s COVID-19 Dashboard is updated regularly with information collected from IU Health, third-party on-campus testing sources, and through self-reports by both students and employees at the University. See the dashboard.
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Update on Ball State's ID Card Office
ID Card Office is back at Bracken Library
Ball State’s ID Card Office has returned—with its full set of services—to its regular location, in Room BL001 on the lower level of Bracken Library. A temporary wall has been set up to segregate the office from the rest of the lower level, which is still undergoing cleanup and renovations after a water main break in September. To access the ID Card Office on the lower level, use the West elevators or the South stairwell (near the entrance to the Tech Center). The ID Card Office hours are 8 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on Friday. For more information, call 765-285-2273 or email idcards@bsu.edu.
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For Your Benefit
Prepare early for W-2 by updating your employee information
The 2021 electronic form W-2 will be available online for our active employees in early January. Be on the lookout for an email notification when the 2021 electronic form W-2s become available on the Self Service Banner (SSB). Learn how to access and print your W-2 by visiting the Access Employee Information | Ball State University webpage.
The Office of Payroll and Employee Benefits can assist employees with printing their W-2s. For assistance, come to Room AD G28 or Room AD 350 in the Administration Building.
Holiday calendar includes 2021 Days of Beneficence
The Fiscal Year Holiday calendar has been updated to include the 2021 Days of Beneficence. These four additional days will occur during the coming holiday season on Monday, Dec. 27 through Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. The Days of Beneficence are not a part of our annual holiday schedule and have been approved by President Mearns and Board of Trustees for 2021 only in recognition of the additional work performed as a result of the ongoing pandemic.
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Upcoming Events
The order of ceremonies, organized by colleges, will be as follows:
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- 10 a.m. – Miller College of Business; College of Health; and College of Sciences and Humanities
- 1 p.m. – R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning; College of Communication, Information, and Media; College of Fine Arts; and Teachers College
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This will not be a ticketed event; graduates can invite as many guests as they would like. All graduates and attendees are required to wear masks since Fall Commencement will be taking place indoors.
Volunteers are needed to assist with both Commencement ceremonies. Please volunteer by emailing Angel Tuttle at atuttle@bsu.edu by the end of the day on Friday, Dec. 3.
Volunteer opportunities include:
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- Directing the graduates and guests
- Serving as a point of contact for questions
- Restocking programs
- Placing graduate supplies on chairs before each ceremony
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Masks will be required for all volunteers and attendees.
All volunteers are greatly appreciated—and will help make the 2021 Fall Commencement ceremonies memorable for graduates and guests.
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'Our Call to Beneficence' Podcast
Newest episode, released today, features Grammy, Oscar winner Tiara Thomas ’12
The latest episode of the monthly podcast “Our Call to Beneficence,” hosted by Ball State University President Geoffrey S. Mearns, is available. In this episode, President Mearns interviews Ball State graduate Tiara Thomas—who won a Grammy and an Academy Award earlier this year.
Ms. Thomas, a singer-songwriter, graduated from Ball State in 2012 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Telecommunications. In March 2021, Ms. Thomas won her first Grammy award for co-writing the 2020 Song of the Year, ”I Can’t Breathe,” with singer-songwriter H.E.R. The following month, “Fight for You,” another song co-written by Ms. Thomas and H.E.R., won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
“Our Call to Beneficence” podcast features President Mearns’ conversations with graduates and friends of Ball State who embody the spirit of Beneficence—as represented by the campus statue that is the icon of the University—through their professional success and personal service.
All episodes of this podcast are available online, as well as on multiple platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. Subscriptions and reviews are also encouraged to help grow the audience for this podcast.
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University News
R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning
Grants and Awards
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- Sarah Angne Alfaro, assistant professor of Interior Design; and Jake Son, assistant professor of Interior Design, received a $19,991 Provost Immersive Learning Pilot Grant for the course, “Interior Materials and Applications: A Hands-on Project with First Presbyterian Church.” The course introduces freshman to interior design materials and applications as they explore ways to combine them into construction assemblies. Students, using hands-on techniques, will gain an understanding of current materials and construction practices, and explore innovation in material application with guidance from guest consultants.
- Construction Management students earned second- and third-places in this year’s Associated Schools of Construction Regional Competition. The student teams competed in events that were open nationally. Coaches Sherif Attallah and Jennifer Warrner prepared the Concrete Solutions team, which won Second Place. That team’s project involved estimating the concrete package for a multi-story facility in a Midwestern city. Coach Gary Birk led his team to a third-place finish in the pre-construction category. That team’s project involved putting a package together for a $30-35 million, eight-story corporate office building—including a four-floor parking garage and four levels of office space.
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Watercolor illustrations on display
Visiting Roan Distinguished Professor of Practice in Landscape Architecture Craig Farnsworth’s exhibition of watercolor illustrations, Water Marks, is on display through Dec. 6, 2021, on the first floor of the R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning’s building.
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Miller College of Business
Awards and Accolades
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- Dr. Carla Earhart, professor of Residential Property Management; Dr. Sotiris Hji-Avgoustis, professor of Hospitality and Food Management; Dina Zemke, associate professor of Residential Property Management; and David Martin, Manager of Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab, are the recipients of the 2021 Housing Impact Award from the Housing Education and Research Association (HERA). The award will be presented at the HERA Conference in November 2021. Their award-winning housing initiative includes the immersive learning activities that originated with Residential Property Management students at the Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab in 2017. Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab—in partnership with Indiana University School of Medicine – Muncie, and the Ball Brothers Foundation—is operated and managed by Ball State University. The Maplewood Mansion Learning Lab provides convenient housing accommodations for medical students working in or near East Central Indiana.
- Donald “Breck” Terheide, assistant teaching professor of Management, was recognized as the Best Reviewer for the Midwest Academy of Management Conference for the second year in a row.
- Seven Ball State students participated in the Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization Global Conference and Pitch Competition last month. All students in attendance submitted business ideas. The conference received over 600 pitch submissions. Ball State student Hunter Beale was selected for the top 100, and competed against college entrepreneurs from across the globe.
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College of Communication, Information, and Media
Associate professor works on team whose pilot project earned a $1 million grant
Newly housed under the College of Communication, Information, and Media, the Center for Organizational Resilience (CORe) supports research through multidisciplinary engagement of academics, government leaders, and community practitioners. During Stage 2 of the Civic Innovation Challenge, Dr. Chris Davison, an associate professor in CORe, was part of a team that was awarded $1 million from the National Science Foundation (in partnership with the Department of Energy, and the Department of Homeland Security) to implement their pilot project, CareDEX, in communities across the country. The team is working to design, develop and deploy CareDEX—a novel community-contributed data-exchange platform that empowers senior health facilities to readily assimilate, ingest, store and exchange information, in a priori and in real-time, with response agencies to care for older adults in extreme events. Learn more.
Department of Communications Studies holds Communication Research Conference
The Department of Communication Studies held its fourth annual Ball State University Communication Research Conference on Nov. 6. This conference was developed based on the department’s students’ interests in engaging further in scholarly discussions with other like-minded students and faculty without the burden of some of the costs associated with other conferences. As part of our commitment to undergraduate students, this conference was held again without fees.
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- During the month of December, the School of Art will showcase the works of BA and BFA students through rotating exhibits in the Ned and Gloria Griner Art Gallery, with opening receptions on Dec. 1, 8, and 17.
- The School of Music has a number of semester-end performances featuring the Jazz, Bands, and Choral ensembles, University Singers, Ball State Opera, and Ball State Symphony Orchestra. An original adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” opens on Dec. 9 in the Department of Theatre and Dance‘s University Theatre and runs through Dec. 18.
- The special exhibition, Memories and Inspiration: The Kerry and C. Betty Davis Collection of African American Art, remains on display at the David Owsley Museum of Art through Dec. 22.
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College of Health
Watch ‘Creating a Sustainable Society …’ webinar online
The webinar, Creating a Sustainable Society: How Inspired Thinking, Innovation and an Entrepreneurial Spirit Will Change the Planet, originally presented on Oct. 26, can be viewed online. The webinar was co-sponsored by the College of Health and the American Dairy Association.
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College of Sciences and Humanities
Grant and Published Article
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- Dr. Bangshuai Han, of the Department of Environment, Geology, and Natural Resources, received a $25,000 grant from Indiana Water Resources Research Center. The grant money is for a project to expand a stream monitoring network upstream of Muncie, and study the environmental flow statistics change in recent decades due to human interruption and climate change. This is a collaborative effort with The Nature Conservancy.
- Dr. Kevin Harrelson’s article, “Pandemic Response: A Reflection on Disease and Education,” will be published in The Pluralist’s special “COVID” issue next summer. He created and taught a class on this topic during the Summer of 2020. Dr. Harrelson, an associate professor of Philosophy, led the effort to create the new interdisciplinary Health Humanities Minor, which launched this Fall.
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Science teacher educator gives keynote presentation at international conference
Dr. Tom McConnell, science teacher educator in the Department of Biology, delivered a keynote presentation at the 2021 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education International Conference (STEMEIC), hosted by Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, in Kakamega, Kenya. STEMEIC 2021 is co-hosted by Sam Houston State University, and sponsored by the Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany. Sessions were conducted virtually. Presenters focused on the conference theme: “STEM Education and Innovation in Africa and beyond during and post COVID-19: Ensuring Quality, Equity, and Inclusivity.”
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Teachers College
Burris Laboratory School places in top 30 percent in U.S. News and World Report ranking
U.S. News and World Report recently published its first-ever rankings of public elementary and middle schools. Burris Laboratory School placed in the top 30 percent of elementary and middle schools in the state of Indiana. Of the 80,000 U.S. public elementary and middle schools that were evaluated by U.S. News, barely 1,000 earned both a Best Elementary School and a Best Middle School ranking. Learn more.
Research Spotlight
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- Rachel Geesa, assistant clinical professor of Educational Leadership, Mary Annette Rose, associate professor of Educational Studies, and Krista Stith, director of the Center for Gifted Studies and Talent Development, are editors of the book: Leadership in Integrative STEM Education: Collaborative Strategies for Facilitating an Experiential and Student-Centered Culture. The book features 16 authors throughout the nation, including seven from Teachers College: Fenwick English, Rachel Geesa, Kendra Lowery, Marilynn Quick, Annette Rose, Kate Shively, and Krista Stith.
- Michael Shaffer, assistant clinical professor of Educational Leadership, and Ruth Jefferson, associate professor of Special Education, are co-authors of the book: From Pushups to Angel’s Wings: Great Things Happen When Boys Read. The book provides real-life scenarios and hints for encouraging readers.
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Honors College
Apply to become the next Ball Brothers Foundation Honors College Faculty Fellow
Honors College seeks successful and creative faculty, not currently teaching Honors College courses, to be named the next Ball Brothers Foundation Honors College Faculty Fellow. Applications for the Fall 2022-Spring 2024 Fellowship are due Jan. 18, 2022. The Fellowship is a two-year (Fall/Spring, Fall/Spring), part-time load (three 3-credit courses per academic year) of competitively selected assignments within Honors College. Details are available online. Interested faculty can also email their inquiries and questions to John Emert, dean of Honors College, at emert@bsu.edu.
Next Honors College Lecture Series presentation set for Dec. 6
The Honors College Lecture Series—opportunities for Ball State students and faculty to jointly explore a topic of interest with the Honors College community—continues its monthly in-person format with “Da Vinci and Q: A Conspiracy,” at 3 p.m. on Dec. 6 at Ball Honors House (Room 117). This presentation offers a Da Vinci Code-style adventure while revisiting old and new prophecies and conspiracies. Leading the presentation and discussion will be Robin Blom, Ball Brothers Foundation Honors College Faculty Fellow, and associate professor of Journalism. All persons within the Ball State University community are welcome to attend and participate.
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Information Technology
Digital Corps helps Muncie Afghan Refugee Resettlement Committee
Ball State’s Digital Corps is working with the Muncie Afghan Refugee Resettlement Committee (MARRC) to help welcome to Muncie any of the thousands of refugees from Afghanistan who were housed at Camp Atterbury—a military training base near Edinburgh, Indiana—earlier this Fall. Many of the refugees arrived in the United States with only the clothes on their backs. Some need help with their children and elderly relatives, while others were forced to leave family behind in Afghanistan.
The Digital Corps was asked to create a website to build awareness and raise funds in support of MARRC’s initiative. Created in a one-day “hackathon”-style session, student members of the Digital Corps created the site layout and design, wrote content, and coded the final pages. Several students at Digital Corps were interviewed by Indianapolis TV station WRTV about their experiences working on this project.
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