Ball State University Graduate School Grad School News

Greetings from the Graduate School

Dear Students and Colleagues:

I am delighted to send out this newsletter to you as it is chock full of great news about the accomplishments of our graduate students as well as a recap of all the great events that took place in our Graduate Student Wellness Initiative and Pathways Project this past semester.

The students who participated in our Three Minute Thesis competition as well as the students and faculty who won our major Graduate School awards this year are a real inspiration. I am amazed by their accomplishments, especially since they came in this incredibly difficult year. Their resilience, hard work, and passion for advanced learning remind us of why we are here, why Ball State is so important, and why we must keep moving forward with the knowledge that our collective work as a university community is making a significant difference.

As the pandemic wanes and as we, hopefully, begin to return to a more normal life, I wish you all the best for this Summer, and I hope that you have some well-deserved rest and recuperation. Please know that our staff in the Graduate School is available to assist you at any time. Please reach out to us if we can be of service.

Sincerely,

Dr. Adam R. Beach
Dean, Graduate School

2021 Three Minute Thesis competition

The Graduate School held the third annual Three Minute Thesis competition virtually in February. You can meet the 2021 winners below, and you can view videos of their winning presentations as well as the full-length competition on our website.

First Place

Ana Gabriela Calderón Cornejo

Ana Gabriela Calderón Cornejo is a December 2021 graduate from the School of Music. Gabriela was a doctoral student from Costa Rica majoring in Piano Performance with a Certificate in Entrepreneurial Music. She recently completed her doctoral work at Ball State and now lives in San Francisco where it is her ambition to continue a performing and teaching career in combination with her certificate as an entrepreneur.

Presentation title:

"Piano Works by Latin American Women Composers Born Between 1850 and 1950"

Dissertation advisors:

Dr. Raymond Kilburn, Associate Professor of Music
Dr. Robert Willey, Associate Professor of Music

Second Place

Briana Halloran

Briana Halloran is a master’s student in the Ball State Department of Nutrition and Health Science, and she placed 2nd during the 2021 Three Minute Thesis Competition. Briana is originally from Northwest Indiana and living in the Indianapolis area while she finishes her studies and dietetic internship. She has a strong interest in researching maternal and infant nutrition and plans to work with these populations after becoming a registered dietitian. Briana is using the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System dataset to perform research regarding maternal vitamin supplementation, which she and her colleagues plan to publish within the next year.

Presentation title:

"Postpartum Depression and Preconception Vitamin Supplementation: An Analysis of the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), 2016-2018"

Thesis advisor:

Dr. Teresia Mbogori, Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Dietetics

Third Place

Lily Schwab

Lily Schwab is a master’s student in the Ball State Department of Communication Studies, and they placed 3rd during the Three Minute Thesis Competition. Lily is in the Communication Liberal Arts and Science track in their master’s program. Their research interests center on rhetoric of the body, pop culture discourses, performance, resistance movements, corporeality, and fat studies. They aim to continue teaching communication studies and are considering getting their MFA in theatre. Lily holds Indiana forensics state champion titles and national champion titles from their undergraduate years competing on the speech team. Their research has been presented at the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender’s annual conference. When they’re not researching, Lily likes to spend time with their two cats.

Presentation title:

"It’s Time for a Nap: Tricia Hersey Calls for Rest to Resist the Grind."

Thesis advisor:

Dr. Kristen McCauliff, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professional Development and Associate Professor of Communication Studies

2020–21 Special Awards

Several special awards were given to graduate students and graduate faculty this past academic year. Meet our award-winners and see their accomplishments below.

Excellence in Teaching Award

The Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes graduate students who exemplify excellence in Ball State University’s teaching/learning mission. The purpose is to raise the awareness of the emphasis given to teaching excellence and mentoring as components of graduate education and the preparation of graduate students for future careers as college and university faculty. Two awards are given: one for a doctoral student and one for a master’s student.

2020–21 Winners

Doctoral: Tony Mangino (Department of Educational Psychology)
Master’s: Emilie Schiess (Department of English)

Tony Mangino

Emily Schiess

Distinguished Dissertation and Master's Thesis Awards

The Distinguished Dissertation and Master’s Thesis Awards recognize students whose work showcases originality of research, makes a significant contribution to knowledge in their field, contains especially high quality of writing, and has the potential for publication.

2020–21 Winners

Master’s Thesis: Courtney Broshar Irelan (Department of Biology)
Advisor: Dr. Eric Rubenstein
Doctoral Dissertation: Dr. Rosalinda Ortiz (Department of Educational Leadership)
Advisor: Dr. Amanda Latz

Courtney Broshar Irelan

Dr. Rosalinda Ortiz

Excellence in Graduate Recruiting Award

The Excellence in Graduate Recruiting Award acknowledges the diligent efforts of graduate program directors or professional staff in recruiting graduate students. This award is presented once a year to a graduate program director or professional staff whose innovative strategies in recruiting increased applications and enrollment.

2020–21 Winner

Dr. Larry Judge in the School of Kinesiology

Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award

The Outstanding Graduate Faculty Mentor Award acknowledges a graduate faculty member who is devoted and available for their student mentees and assists their mentees in defining and achieving their own pathway to success.

2020–21 Winner

Dr. Evie Simmons-Reed in the Department of Special Education

Graduate Student Inclusive Excellence Award

The Graduate Student Inclusive Excellence Award is given to an outstanding graduate student who is devoted to promoting and facilitating an inclusive and equitable environment at Ball State for their fellow graduate students and the rest of the Ball State community. They live and embody the Beneficence Pledge in their day-to-day activities and academic pursuits.

2020–21 Winner

Emily Boswell Strain (Department of Counseling Psychology, Social Psychology, and Counseling)

Graduate Faculty Inclusive Excellence Award

The Graduate Faculty Inclusive Excellence Award is given to an outstanding graduate faculty advocate for inclusive excellence who is devoted to promoting and facilitating an inclusive and equitable graduate program or who has contributed to an inclusive graduate educational environment at Ball State.

2020–21 Winner

Dr. Rachel Geesa in the Department of Educational Leadership

New graduate assistantship tuition remission policy effective in the 2021–22 academic year

Please review the new policy on graduate assistantship tuition remission (PDF) that will become effective starting in the 2021-22 academic year. Graduate assistantship contracts and the accompanying GA Guidelines document for the 2021-22 academic year will be updated to reflect these changes. If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate School.

Other Updates

Pathways Project Update

With inclusive excellence goals to support student retention, foster a more inclusive campus climate, and build opportunities for education about equity in graduate education, the Graduate School Pathways Project continues to make progress. This year, the Graduate School (with the leadership of Dr. Robin Phelps-Ward, Faculty Fellow for Inclusive Excellence) did the following:

Bolstered Ball State's long-standing Pathways mentoring program for undergraduate and graduate students who hold marginalized identities, refreshing the program, adding scholarship support for mentees, and scaling up the quality of the professional development events for the enrolled students. Forty-two Mentees and 37 Mentors are currently involved in the Pathways Mentoring Program, and the program has offered 10 professional development events since August 2020 for Pathways students.
Initiated a completely new program, the Action Research Collective (ARC), that brings together a group of graduate students with minoritized social identities to design and carry out a group research project studying issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Ball State. ARC helps students develop their research skills and provides additional support to help them move successfully through their graduate programs. So far, 17 students have been actively involved in this support program.
Created a highly successful workshop series, Building Mentoring Capacities, for graduate faculty to improve their skills in equitable mentoring practices. Approximately 125 professional staff and faculty attended the three workshops in this academic year.

Learn More About the Pathways Project

Graduate Student Wellness Initiative Update

This year, the Graduate Student Wellness Initiative (GSWI) went all digital to accommodate student safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We began offering weekly coffee talks via Zoom, including themed meetings such as “hat day” and “beach day” to add some fun to these graduate-student-only discussions of matters that impact our graduate student community. We started offering weekly digital yoga courses, taught by our GSWI coordinator and certified yoga instructor Lo Wruble. We also have monthly group Netflix watch parties and a weekly study hall where students can work quietly together in the digital space.

We celebrated Black History Month with contests and highlights on our social media accounts, and we also hosted a virtual Spring Break. This included contests to win prizes, a Netflix movie party, other social gatherings via Zoom, and a digital Tai Chi class taught by Christiana Scott, a Ball State graduate student who is a certified instructor of Trounce Free Flow Chi. Finally, we hosted our five-week online self-care course, Mental Wellness Matters, in Canvas and provided certificates and SWAG for all who completed the course!

We also celebrated Graduate Student Appreciation Week GSWI-style, by highlighting student accomplishments all week on our social media sites along with hosting several digital events and contests with prizes.

We look forward to an amazing 2021–22 academic year when the GSWI plans to host live events, receptions, and coffee talks, along with continuing our digital offerings! Keep an eye out for our weekly emails keeping you updated on our plans and events.

Learn More About our Wellness Initiative

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