This information was collected for the March 2026 edition of the CCIM (Some)TIMES. Read the newsletter via email and/or in our Canvas Community!
STUDENT NEWS
- BSU PRSSA’s consultancy work has officially been designated as a PRSSA Nationally Affiliated Student-run Firm, a distinction held by only a select few among 100+ firms nationwide. Driven by students’ passion and dedication since 2023, their hard work has brought BSU PRSSA to national recognition.
- Associate Professor Beth Messner in the Department of Communication Studies and her COMM450 (Rhetoric & Advocacy) students showcased the “Journey to Freedom” exhibit at 3 Muncie Locations during the community’s celebration of Black History Month. The exhibit, which focuses on the Underground Railroad in Indiana, was exhibited at the Ivy Tech Community College, Ball State University’s Multicultural Center, and YWCA Central Indiana.
- On March 28th at the Indiana Association of School Broadcasters (IASB) luncheon in Indianapolis, students from the Department of Media received numerous awards for their completed work. Also, at the IASB College Awards Ceremony, Ball State was named News School of the Year and Sports School of the Year. IASB is a state-wide competition against other universities and colleges in Indiana. These awards included:
- Indiana Broadcasters Association Scholarship Recipients
- Dylan Chestnut
- Daniel Huber
- Tavoris Chapman
- Cade Johnson
- Kahmara Munn
- TV Spot Production
- 1st Place: Sophie Schick
- Vodcast
- 1st Place: Max Gillie and Roen Elbert
- Cinematography:
- 1st Place: Nate Locker
- Branded Hype Video:
- 1st Place: Caden Vincent & Jackson DiVencenzo
- Sound Design:
- 1st Place: Kaori Royer & Jack Wolff
- Video Sports Program:
- 1st Place: Jude Kieffer & Jordan Klimes
- 2nd Place: Matthew Gillie & Sam Klug
- Video Live Sports:
- 1st Place: Daniel Sullivan, Olivia Warren, Sam Klug and Roen Elbert
- 3rd Place: Jordan Klimes, Tritan Fluhr, AJ Swiatek and Zander Woods
- Radio Sporting Event Broadcast:
- 1st Place: Sam Neiger and Brayden Carroll
- Video Field Reporter
- 1st Place: Kahmara Munn
- 3rd Place: Payton Mucker
- Social Media Presence:
- 2nd Place: Ball State Sports Link
- Photojournalism:
- 2nd Place Jude Kieffer
- Football Play by Play
- 2nd Place: AJ Swiatek
- Radio News Report
- 2nd Place: Daniel Huber
- Audio Podcast:
- 3rd Place: Jake Fessmire
- Student Media Website:
- 3rd Place: Sports Link
- Video In-Depth:
- 3rd Place: Max Robson
- Animated Story:
- 3rd Place: Eli Borgman
- Basketball Play by Play:
- 3rd Place: Brayden Carroll
- Corporate Video:
- 3rd Place: Cameron Stewardson, Parker Offhaus and Annika Dimon.
- Radio Talk Show:
- 3rd Place: Cardinal Compass Staff
- Video News Package:
- 3rd Place: Daniel Huber
- TV News Anchor:
- 3rd Place: Tatum Harris
- Indiana Broadcasters Association Scholarship Recipients
- This year CCIM had 9 students honored at the 2026 Top 100 Students Ceremony! Read more about our award winners in our blog here.
- The Speech Team at Ball State University won the National Speech Championship (NSC) 1st Place Team Award and Top Non-Scholarship Team Award at the National Speech Championship hosted at Belmont University in Nashville, TN on March 21 and 22. In addition, Assistant Lecturer in Communication Studies Spencer Coile, also the director of the Speech Team and The Speaking Center at Ball State University Studies, won NSC Coach of the Year! Of the four national national tournaments available to college speech programs, NSC is extremely competitive because teams are only allowed two entries per event. As such, this is the only national tournament that – regardless of team size – completely levels the competitive playing field. The following students contributed to the team’s 1st place awards:
- After Dinner Speaking: Mar Nester took 4th place, Marie Scudder took 3rd place
- Communication Analysis: Addison Botts was a semifinalist, Hayden Adams was the national runner-up
- Dramatic Performance: Addison Botts was a quarterfinalist, Marie Scudder took 4th place
- Duo Performance: Hayden Adams & Marie Scudder were quarterfinalists, Charlotte Jons & Marie Scudder took 6th place
- Extemporaneous Speaking: Evan Sanders and Alex Wagler were semifinalists
- Impromptu Speaking: Evan Sanders was a quarterfinalist, Mo Armor was the national runner-up
- Informative Speaking: Hayden Adams was the national runner-up, Jordan Denagall was the National Champion!
- Persuasive Speaking: Madilyn O’Connell was a quarterfinalist, Mo Armor was the National Champion!
- Poetry Performance: Hayden Adams took 6th place, Charlotte Jons took 3rd place
- Program Performance: Evan Sanders took 6th place, Marie Scudder took 3rd place
- Prose Performance: Mo Armor was a quarterfinalist, Marie Scudder took 4th place
- At the annual Indiana Forensic Association (IFA) tournament, held this year at Ball State University on February 21-22, Ball State students became the first team in the state of Indiana to win 16 consecutive team championships! Students competed in 65 individual events, advancing 58 to final rounds, and winning 18 state titles. Please join us in recognizing these outstanding students on their accomplishments:
- Hayden Adams, a senior from Goldsboro, NC
- State Champion Communication Analysis
- State Champion Duo Interpretation (w/ Marie Scudder)
- State Champion Poetry Interpretation
- 2nd Place Informative Speaking
- 2nd Place Interviewing
- 4th Place After Dinner Speaking
- Scholarship in Communication Award Recipient
- Mo Armor, a senior from Avon, IN
- State Champion Persuasive Speaking (qualifying for the Interstate Oratorical Association Championship)
- State Champion Prose Interpretation
- 2nd Place Celebrity Eulogy
- 4th Place Impromptu Speaking
- Addison Botts, a sophomore from Chesterton, IN
- 2nd Place Communication Analysis
- 2nd Place Dramatic Interpretation
- 3rd Place Poetry Interpretation
- Carissa Dawson, a sophomore from Logansport, IN
- 5th Place Persuasive Speaking
- 6th Place Celebrity Eulogy
- Finalist Prose Interpretation
- Mia Demarco, a first-year from Geneva, IL
- State Champion Novice Prose Interpretation
- 2nd Place Novice Program Oral Interpretation
- Jordan Denagall, a senior from Avon, IN
- State Champion Informative Speaking
- 5th Place After Dinner Speaking
- Ayden Foster, a senior from Muncie, IN
- 3rd Place Duo Interpretation (w/ Evan Sanders)
- 4th Place Celebrity Eulogy
- Abigail Hellwege, a first-year from Lakeville, MA
- State Champion Novice Extemporaneous Speaking
- 3rd Place Novice Impromptu Speaking
- 3rd Place Novice Persuasive Speaking
- Casper Houston, a first-year from Delavan, IL
- State Champion Novice Communication Analysis
- State Champion Novice Dramatic Interpretation
- State Champion Novice Informative Speaking
- State Champion Novice Poetry Interpretation
- Charlotte Jons, a sophomore from Chardon, OH
- 2nd Place Duo Interpretation (w/ Marie Scudder)
- 2nd Place Poetry Interpretation
- 5th Place Program Oral Interpretation
- Maddi Morton, a first-year from Chesterton, IN
- State Champion Novice Program Oral Interpretation
- 3rd Place Novice Duo Interpretation (w/ Katie Shue)
- 3rd Place Novice Prose Interpretation
- 4th Place Novice Informative Speaking
- Ryan Nattress, a senior from Avon, IN
- 6th Place Communication Analysis
- Mar Nester, a junior from Corunna, IN
- State Champion After Dinner Speaking
- 3rd Place Interviewing
- 4th Place Poetry Interpretation
- Madilyn O’Connell, a sophomore from Valparaiso, IN
- 2nd Place Persuasive Speaking (qualifying for the Interstate Oratorical Association Championship)
- 5th Place Dramatic Interpretation
- Doondee Patnala, a sophomore from Warsaw, IN
- 3rd Place After Dinner Speaking
- 5th Place Interviewing
- 6th Place Impromptu Speaking
- Evan Sanders, a senior from Carmel, IN
- State Champion Celebrity Eulogy
- State Champion Program Oral Interpretation
- 2nd Place Impromptu Speaking
- 3rd Place Duo Interpretation (w/ Ayden Foster)
- 5th Place Extemporaneous Speaking
- Marie Scudder, a senior from Fort Wayne, IN
- State Champion Dramatic Interpretation
- State Champion Duo Interpretation (w/ Hayden Adams)
- 2nd Place After Dinner Speaking
- 2nd Place Duo Interpretation (w/ Charlotte Jons)
- 2nd Place Program Oral Interpretation
- 2nd Place Prose Interpretation
- Lee Horn Award Recipient
- Katie Shue, a first-year from Muncie, IN
- State Champion Novice Persuasive Speaking
- 2nd Place Novice Dramatic Interpretation
- 3rd Place Novice Duo Interpretation (w/ Maddi Morton)
- Alex Wagler, a sophomore from South Bend, IN
- 2nd Place Extemporaneous Speaking
- 3rd Place Communication Analysis
- 4th Place Informative Speaking
- The Ball State Esports team competed on March 28 and 29 at the 2026 Esports Collegiate (ESC) Valorant Championship and 2026 ESC League of Legends Championship! Our Valorant team brought home the first-place trophy, and our League of Legends team came in second in their respective championships.
CCIM UNIT NEWS
- Assistant Professor in the Center for Communication and Information Sciences Dr. Faisal Kalota collaborated with Ball State students and alumni on a peer-reviewed conference presentation titled “Managing Projects with AI: Reflections from an Ongoing Qualitative Study.” This research project was presented at the “2026 Society for Advancement of Management International Business Conference.” The presentation focused on project managers’ perceptions of AI integration in Project Management. For additional information you can visit https://blog.samnational.org/2026/02/22/managing-projects-with-ai-reflections-from-an-ongoing-qualitative-study/ .
- Dr. Kalota also collaborated with Ball State students and alumni on a peer-reviewed conference presentation titled “Technology Professionals’ Perceptions of AI Integration.” This research project was presented at the “2026 Society for Advancement of Management International Business Conference.” This presentation focused on technology professionals’ perceptions of AI integration in their daily workflows. For additional information, you can visit https://blog.samnational.org/2026/02/22/technology-professionals-perceptions-of-ai-integration/
- Dr. Kalota collaborated with Ball State students and alumni on another peer-reviewed conference presentation titled “Consumer Privacy and Trust Concerns in Everyday AI-Enabled Products” This research project was presented at the “2026 Society for Advancement of Management International Business Conference.” This presentation focused on Consumer perceptions about AI integration in everyday products. For additional information, you can visit https://blog.samnational.org/2026/02/22/consumer-privacy-and-trust-concernsin-everyday-ai-enabled-products/
- Dr. Kalota worked with students to create a peer-reviewed conference presentation titled “Toward Human-Centered Integration of AI-Assisted Feedback in Higher Education: Implications for Computing Education.” It was presented at the “2026 Information Systems Education Conference (ISECON)”. This research project aims to understand how students feel about AI-Generated feedback vs. Human-Generated feedback.
FACULTY AND STAFF NEWS
- Sungwon Chung, Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication, was named a recipient of the 2026 Senior Scholar Grant ($4,989) from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) for the project “AI Disclosure in Journalism: How Disclosure Wording and Editorial Oversight Influence Trust and Engagement,” with Dr. Sun Young Lee (University of Maryland–College Park). This highly competitive national award recognizes innovative research in journalism and mass communication. Interim findings will be presented at the 2026 AEJMC Conference in New Orleans, and the project, which involves three experiments, is expected to be completed by February 2027. Additional information is available on the AEJMC website: https://www.aejmc.org/scholarship/senior-scholars-program
- Assistant Professor in Center for Communication and Information Sciences Dr. Luis Orozco recently had a journal published titled “Reciprocity and co-education: The evolving role of Midwest community partners” in Advances in Online Education: A Peer Reviewed Journal. This paper explores how community partners exchange value during HIPs through reciprocity and their teaching and learning roles as co-educators. Nine Midwest organizations responded to a survey highlighting their previous participation as community partners. This evidence helps identify preliminary insights that foster effective collaboration strategies to strengthen community partners’ expertise and contributions to the educational process. Importantly, findings also highlight the value of continued collaboration, with respondents expressing interest in ongoing roles or additional tools to enhance their effectiveness as co-educators.
- The Department of Media and IPR’s Stan Sollars won his 41st “Best Newscast” Award — A national 1st Place — from the Public Media Journalists Association. This was an IPR “Morning Edition” newscast edited, partly written by, and voiced by Sollars. He has been IPR’s “Morning Edition” host since 1995 — all while working part time at IPR and teaching full time for the Department of Media.
Blog by Amelia Harker (Strategic Communication: Public Relations ’27)