Happy New Year! While it may not feel like spring outside just yet, there’s no denying that the Spring 2024 semester is now in full swing.

Here are some of the wonderful things that have been happening throughout our college this month as well as things you should keep an eye out for in February:

Student Activities and Achievements

  • A group of CICS graduate students virtually presented their project from Dr. Faisal Kalota‘s research methods course (ICS 630) at the “21st International Learning and Technology Conference: Reality and Science Fiction in Education” hosted by Effat University in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 16. Tyler Schisler, Kalyn Melham, Benjamin Malum, Afsaneh Behforousz, and Joel Wiredu’s paper, “Envisioning the future through the lens of science fiction powered by artificial intelligence,” evaluates the viability of creative ideas generated by Generative-AI.
    • “Working on this paper provided a great learning experience,” Tyler Schisler said. “Seeing the final paper and presenting it to an audience made all of the time and hard work pay off.”
    • “The expeirence was rigorous, but it was also beneficial regarding collaboration, academia, and provessional development,” Kalyn Melham said.
    • “It has been a rigorous few months working on this paper, but in the end, I am proud of what this team has accomplished and amazed that we get to present this to an audience that can be found across the world,” Benjamin Malum said.
    • “Collaborating with the team and Dr. Kalota, who was my mentor throughout the CICS program was truly an amazing experience, and I am grateful for writing an article on such a unique topic with my teammates,” Afsaneh Behforouz said.
    • “This is my first paper ever, and it has been quite the experience. Great team to work with and a very supportive mentor and guide, in Dr. Kalota. Thankful to the Effat University for the audience to present this,” Joel Wiredu said.
  • After a successful international cultural immersion in 2020, 16 students in Sports Link will travel to Cardiff, Wales, from Feb. 27 to March 9 as part of the award-winning Transatlantic Storytelling project. This continues an ongoing exchanged of pedagogy, global production trends and virtual guest lectures and student connections. The project is partially funded by the Provost’s Immersive Learning Grant and the Ball Brothers Foundation and is fully supported by CCIM Dean Paaige Turner and Department of Media Chair Suzy Smith. Prior to the trip, CCIM students will research and collaborate with Cardiff Met students to develop stories to film while in Wales. The following students will depart for Wales in late February and their work can be followed at www.transatlanticstorytelling.com:
    • Jack Ashby  
    • Josh Brunette 
    • Cameron Clift 
    • Daulton Cox 
    • Jackson DiVincenzo 
    • Adam Duwel 
    • Tristan Fluhr 
    • Rachel Henderson 
    • Jordan Klimes 
    • Tyler Klimes 
    • Griffin Leonard 
    • Dominick Liacone 
    • Nate Locker 
    • Charlie Maurer 
    • Andrew Willett 
    • Claire Witte 

Faculty and Staff News

  • Dr. Kevin Moloney has reached agreements with three potential immersive project partners for EMDD’s graduate program. Among other options from EMDD faculty, students can choose from real-world work with Project Lead The Way, an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that provides STEM curricula to K-12 schools around the country, The Human Library in Muncie, the local depot of an international organization that works to educate and mitigate discrimination through conversation with diverse people, and Native Bound Unbound, an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded project to create a centralized digital repository on the lives of the enslaved Indigenous people across the Americas. Teams of EMDD students will spend an academic year researching, prototyping, and building solutions for these projects and others. 
  • CICS welcomed Dr. Hesham Allam to CICS as an Assistant Professor to the team. Dr. Allam has moved to Muncie from Dubai, UAE, where he most recently served as an Assistant Professor at the Dubai Women’s College. His combined industry experience, strong research and teaching background will be a tremendous asset to ICS graduate students. 
  • On Tuesday, Jan. 16, Dr. Ed Lazaros and Dr. John Nicholas attended he Board of Directors Meeting of the Indiana Association of Career and Technical Education Districts (IACTED). The purpose of this visit was to introduce the new criteria for Indiana teachers who have an active (not expired) Workplace Specialist II (Practitioner Proficiency) license are eligible for admission in the Ball State Graduate School to pursue the Master of Arts in Career and Technical Education (MA CTE) without holding a bachelor’s or higher degree. This direct entry opportunity for prospective students will begin in the Summer 2 semester in 2024. There are as many as 300 prospective students in the State of Indiana who will be eligible to take advantage this unique opportunity.  
  • Dr. Tong Li, assistant professor from the Center of Emerging Media Design and Development in the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication, received the  Advance Program grant from Aspire. This grant allows him to collaborate with professors from Miller College of Business and the School of Nursing at Ball State on the project “Promoting Communication with Patients with Autism: Virtual Learning Simulation for Nurses.” They will work together to design and develop virtual learning simulations to help nurses communicate with patients who have autism.”

Upcoming Events

  • EAB Navigate early alerts will be collected until Monday, Feb. 5. If you’re teaching a class this semester, please be sure to submit your reports to help the college and university continue to support student success.
  • The Dean’s Shoot Out will be held Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. Come support Dean Turner as she competes!
  • The Working While … Town Halls hosted by CCIM’s Inclusive Excellence Taskforce is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, in the Letterman Lobby. The task force has invited a group of panelists to lead the evening’s discussions.