July 27, 2023

     As we prepare for the arrival of new Ball State University students on our beautiful campus in the next few weeks, I am grateful to our Undergraduate Admissions & Orientation staff for holding a very successful series of Fall Freshman Orientation sessions.

     Orientation is one important way we help our freshmen and their families confidently transition into their Ball State experience. More than 3,700 freshmen and almost 5,400 family members attended this year’s orientation, which was held between June 5 and July 14.

     For their direct or supporting roles in this year’s Fall Freshman Orientation, I want to express my gratitude to our Housing & Dining staff, Facilities Services staff, 21 student orientation leaders, and more than 100 presenters and academic advisors. The hard work put into this year’s orientation has positively impacted thousands of new Cardinals who will begin their college careers in just a few weeks.

Sincerely,

Geoffrey S. Mearns
President
Ball State University

Fall Opening Convocation 2023 Set for Aug. 18 at Emens Auditorium

Ball State University’s Fall Opening Convocation is at 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 18, in Emens Auditorium. All faculty and staff are invited to attend.

Student Success Summit 2023 Scheduled for September; Register in August

The 2023 Student Success Summit is Sept. 20 (10 a.m.-4 p.m.) and Sept. 21 (8 a.m.-noon) in Emens Auditorium and the Student Center. This Summit is a free opportunity for campus partners to gather and discuss strategies that foster student success and well-being. The theme for the 2023 summit is “Sustaining Momentum for Student Success, Equity, and Change.”

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Tia Brown McNair, vice president in the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Student Success; and executive director for the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Campus Centers at the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) in Washington, D.C. Welcoming remarks and the keynote address are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on Sept. 20 in Emens, followed by lunch (which will be provided). Participant workshops on the afternoon of Sept. 20 and the morning of Sept. 21 will be held in the Student Center.

Registration—which is required for the summit—will begin mid-August. An email about registration will be sent to faculty and staff soon. For more information about the summit, email Dr. Jason Rivera, vice provost for Student Success and dean of University College, at jason.rivera@bsu.edu.

Stay Current on the Latest Statehouse News

The Office of Governmental Relations & Industry Engagement invites you to subscribe to its weekly newsletter, Statehouse Update. The newsletter provides updates on key legislation being followed by the University and insights into the legislative process. Sign up or view past editions of the newsletter.

Serve in Local Habitat For Humanity Project

Ball State University is among a variety of local businesses and organizations partnering with Greater Muncie Habitat for Humanity for a home build in August. The build will provide a home and a path to homeownership for a local family. The weeks leading up to the build will include a public campaign aimed at raising renewed awareness for Habitat throughout the Muncie and Delaware County communities.

In addition to broad University support, units on campus also involved include the Division of Marketing and Communication, the College of Communication, Information, and Media, the Chief Strategy Office, Ball State Public Media, the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication, and the Department of Media. If interested in donating, visit munciehabitat.org/donate, or, if interested in participating in the build or discussing ways your office might support awareness efforts, please contact Chief Digital Marketing and Communications Officer Greg Fallon.

Grand Opening Ceremony for Cardinal Central Scheduled for Aug. 29

Cardinal Central—Ball State University’s newest integrated, student-focused service center—will have its grand opening ceremony at 3 p.m. on Aug. 29 at its office on the first floor of the L.A. Pittenger Student Center (across from The Tally and Starbucks). All are welcome to attend.

Part of the campus-wide success and retention plan, Cardinal Central is a convenient, one-stop location for business processes including financial aid, registration and bill pay, resources, and information for students and their families.

Ball State Football Tickets on Sale; Season Discount for Faculty and Staff Available

Tickets for the 2023 home football season—six Saturday home games at Scheumann Stadium—can be purchased now. Ball State faculty and staff can buy discounted season tickets starting at $66 per seat for all six games. To take advantage of this deal, call (765) 285-1474.

To purchase single game tickets or for more information, visit: ballstatesports.com/tickets.

2023 Home Schedule

Lifetime Learning Can Help Faculty, Staff Support Students

Lifetime Learning by Ball State offers resources to help students achieve career success and learn skills that set them apart in the interview process.

Email lifetimelearning@bsu.edu for student support services.

ECAP Faculty, Students Help Develop Historic Preservation Neighborhood Plan

J.P. Hall, assistant professor of Historic Preservation, led a collaborative and immersive effort with his students to develop a comprehensive neighborhood plan in Madison, Ind., focused on the preservation of the Georgetown neighborhood. The primary objective of the plan was to showcase the neighborhood's rich history—particularly its significant connections to the underground railroad—while assessing its current state and proposing recommendations for its future revitalization.

Throughout the project, the studio team worked with multiple stakeholders—The City of Madison; Historic Madison, Inc.; the Cornerstone Society; the History Center; Indiana Landmarks; and residents—whose involvement played a crucial role in fostering a strong sense of engagement and ownership among the community. The team actively sought input from community members in a variety of ways, valuing their perspectives and incorporating their ideas into the final plan.

In addition to providing historic preservation expertise, the project embraced a multidisciplinary approach by partnering with professor Chris Bass’ Landscape Architecture Studio and students in the Geography Information System Design course led by Adam Berland, associate professor of Geography. One of the final deliverables was a digital story map, which incorporates data compiled during the semester. Work on the story map was led by Historic Preservation student Dakshata Shahi. 

MCOB Welcomes New Bryan Dean

Dr. Cathy DuBois joined Ball State University on July 1 as the Bryan Dean of Miller College of Business. She came to Ball State with a distinguished career at Kent State University’s Ambassador Crawford College of Business and Entrepreneurship in Kent, Ohio, where she most recently served as associate dean for graduate and online programs.

Prior to joining the dean’s office at Kent State, Dr. DuBois was a professor of management and information systems, teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in human resource management and organizational behavior. Her core research has addressed performance and training issues in human resource management, as well as diversity and sexual harassment issues. Her cross-disciplinary research has addressed the role of the human resource function in organizational sustainability initiatives and workplace public health issues.

Read more in this Ball State press release.

CCIM Wraps up Summer Workshops

The College of Communication, Information and Media (CCIM) welcomed more than 100 middle- and high-school students to campus for CCIM’s Summer Workshops, June 25-29.

Along with Teachers College and the College of Health, CCIM received funding from a Lilly Foundation grant that provided more than 30 students with the opportunity to explore various aspects of multimedia storytelling and esports. Session topics ranged from how stories help people understand different worlds, lifestyles, and experiences using multimedia tools to how Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) are used to create, deliver and play esports games.

Outside of their immersive classroom learning experiences, students across all CCIM Summer Camps participated in exciting nightly social activities—including Minute-to-Win-it games, movie night, and trivia—and enjoyed fun daily themes such as Twin Day, Crazy Sock Day, and Jersey or “jerse-day” Thursday. Additionally, workshop participants came together for camp-wide learning sessions with CCIM faculty on first impressions, diversity, equity and inclusion, and discovering the “why” behind what students are passionate about.

New Leadership Comes to Parts of CFA

The College of Fine Arts welcomes new leadership: 

Kinesiology Department Chair Named MAC Leadership Development Program Fellow

Dr. Lindsey Blom was named a Ball State Mid-American Conference-Academic Leadership Development Program (MAC-ALDP) Fellow for 2023-2024. The fellowship announcement was made June 15. Dr. Blom is the department chair of the School of Kinesiology, and a professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology. She also serves as Faculty Athletics Representative. 

COH Wraps Up Inaugural ‘Club Medic’ Program this Summer

The College of Health (COH) completed its first Club Medic program this Summer. COH hosted nine high school students interested in learning more about health professions. Part of the Indiana Youth Programs on Campus, these students were nominated by their teachers for the program. The campers learned excellent patient care techniques, worked on clinical manikins, used the balance lab assessment machine, saw a throat scope, and dissected a cow eye. Also, they used COH’s new Anatomage table to examine a cadaver. Campers also participated in the Summer program’s cooking competition to learn about nutrition and dietetics. The campers created seven recipes.

Young Mathematician X-Ploration Camp Programs Robots

This summer, the Department of Mathematics hosted a mathematics camp, June 19-23, for 30 local K-12 students to explore how to use math as a tool to model and analyze real-world situations. The highlight of the camp happened in the hallways of the Robert Bell Building, where campers were given the opportunity to construct, program, and compete with robots. Using various skills, such as geometry and coding, the campers calculated wheel rotations to program the robots to complete obstacle courses and distance challenges.

Cooper Science Observation Dome Installed

The renovation of the Cooper Science building continues with the new addition of a 24-foot observation dome on top of the building that will provide fantastic research opportunities for faculty and students this Fall. The dome will hold a 20-inch Parallax Ritchey-Chretien (RC) Telescope and will be used in the following courses: A386 Advanced Observational Astronomy; A330 Astronomy & Astrophysics; and A122 Stellar Evolution, Galaxies, and Cosmology.

Publishings and a Grant Award

Honors College Experiences Record-Breaking Enrollment 

The Ball State Honors College is matriculating 435 first-year students this Fall. This Honors College freshman class is the largest to date, and includes students from wide-ranging backgrounds and majors.   

University Libraries’ Staff to Speak at Statewide Historic Preservation Conference

Melissa Gentry, Map Collection Supervisor, and Cody Sprunger, Archivist for Architectural and Design Records, will present the lecture “He Built This City: The Muncie Architecture of Cuno Kibele” at the 2023 Preserving Historic Places Conference at Indiana’s Statewide Historic Preservation Conference in Muncie in September. Cuno Kibele, along with his firm Kibele and Garrard, is considered one of the most influential architects in the history of Muncie. Ms. Gentry and Mr. Sprunger, along with Muncie Public Library’s Sara McKinley, will explore Cuno Kibele’s impact through original drawings, maps, photographs, and other archival collections from the University Libraries.

Archival Research Advances Professional Design Projects

University Libraries’ Andrew Seager Archives of the Built Environment continues to advance real-world design and historic preservation projects. Recently, the Seager Archives was contacted by a structural engineer who had identified a trade catalog in the archives’ collections. The requested item was essential in completing a structural analysis of a 1960s education building, and the Ball State University Libraries was the only known repository in the United States with a copy. Staff in the Seager Archives were able to provide the researcher with digital reproductions of the requested item, the content of which likely saved the project days of work and thousands of dollars in cost. 

The Learning Center to Pilot Embedded Tutoring Program

This Fall, The Learning Center—part of University College—will pilot a new program: embedded tutoring, a well-researched, highly effective model of academic support. In embedded tutoring,  a tutor who has taken a course and earned an A attends the course again, collaborating closely with the faculty member to provide both in-class and out-of-class support to students. Tutors will be trained to use differentiated, active, engaged tutoring strategies during group and individual tutoring sessions. The Learning Center is adding embedded tutoring to its established and highly effective programming that includes appointment-based and drop-in tutoring and supplemental instruction.

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