The final two months of the semester have been packed full with events like the CCIM+ Career and Internship Fair, First Generation Week, Counselor Connection Day, the CCIM College Preview Day, and more. And, in the middle of all that, we kicked off the holiday season!

As the semester comes to a close with the beginning of finals week and the fast-approaching final grade due dates and winter break, there are plenty of things worth celebrating and adding to your calendar for the upcoming months.

Students

  • Public Media Accelerator (PMX) students are beginning work on a group project called “Eclipse 101″
  • Communication Studies majors enrolled in Dr. Beth Messner’s Spring 2023 immersive learning project presented their research at the Communication Research Conference on Nov. 4. Madi Marshall, Maggey Parker, Adonnika West and Brooke Stallings were four of nine students who researched, designed and fabricated the “Struggle for Freedom,” a public history exhibit that narrates the story of the Underground Railroad in Indiana. This project was created in partnership with the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Team.  At the conference, the students discussed how the use of archival research, site visits, focus groups, and oral histories contributed to content creation for the larger project. They shared joys and frustrations associated with research activities, including exploring archived documents at the Indiana Historical Society, immersing themselves at the Levi and Catharine Coffin Interpretive Center in Fountain City, Indiana, conducting focus groups with students at Muncie’s Inspire Academy, and collecting oral histories from the descendants of individuals associated with the Underground Railroad. The Communication Research Conference is an annual event open to undergraduate students who are conducting research into various dimensions of Communication Studies.   
Final CRL rankings 1-48 11/20/23 Top 4 finishers: 1. Northwood Blue 2. Boise State 3. Ball State 4. Fisher College
  • Student journalists from The Ball State Daily News, Ball Bearings Magazine, and NewsLink Indiana received several prestigious awards from the Student Press Law Center (SPLC), the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP), and the College Media Association (CMA) from the Fall National College Media Convention in Atlanta. Included in the awards for The Ball State Daily News, for the fifth straight year, was a Newspaper Pacemaker, a national “Website of the Year” award for Ball Bearings Magazine, and an Innovation Pacemaker for the cross-platform multimedia project “Fleeing to Flyover Country.” Among the individual awardees was alumna and former Ball State Daily News Editor-in-Chief Elissa Maudlin, who was named Reporter of the Year.
  • Ball State Daily News Print Managing Editor and Co-Sports Editor Kyle Smedley was selected to compete in and won the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation Keating Competition. He and nine other student journalists were given five hours to interview, write, and file a creative, compelling story. His piece can be read here.

Faculty and Staff

CCIM Study Abroad: May 5-June 9, 2024 Travel Writing Paris, Burgundy, French Alps, Venice, Tuscany, Rome Experience the flavors, culture, history, and natural beauty of France and Italy as you produce evocative storytelling for news outlets, travel magazines, and/or companies. NEWS?JOUR 397: Travel Writing (Summer I) Interested? Email Assistant Lecturer Kate Elliott at kelliot@bsu.edu or call her at 765-285-6993. QR code in bottom right-hand corner.
  • Kate Elliott, lecturer and Magazine Media Concentration coordinator in the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication, is leading her first study abroad experience in the summer. All students across the university are welcome to sign up, and their participation will count as an elective course.
    • She is also writing a book with a colleague in the Teacher’s College. It is called “Heart and Science,” and it’s a series of essays that pair the “heart,” profiles she writes about leaders in special education, and “science,” written by experts in the field). The book will be an excellent resource for teachers and professionals working with people with disabilities and is scheduled to release some time next year.
  • Ashley Mann with Ball State PBS & Ready to Learn did a Family and Community Learning series based around computational thinking and Work It Out Wombats. 
  • Ball State Public Media hired a new part time employee, Luke Jones, as Program Producer for “Pop of Culture,” an upcoming program about local Art & Culture. 
  • Assistant Lecturer of Media Design Leo Caldwell has helped a pharma nonprofit focused on trans healthcare, The Research Institute for Gender Therapeutics (RIGT), secure media interviews in Axios, STAT News, New York Times, Bloomberg and Politico after their initial meeting with the FDA in November. 
  • Starting in December 2023, Ball State PBS Program Manager Heather Hunt will begin serving a three-year term on a PBS Advisory Council. Heather will be a member of the Traffic Advisory Committee and will represent PBS stations in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The mission of the TAC is to provide a liaison between PBS, National Distributors, and Traffic and Operations departments for all public television stations, for the purpose of defining and disseminating information common to the needs of traffic and operations personnel. 
  • On Nov. 17, Dr. Carolyn K. Shue, Dr. Laura O’Hara, and Dr. Glen Stamp from the Department of Communication Studies published an article on theory-driven research in Human Communication Research for the 50th Anniversary of HCR Special Issue on Theory. You can read the article here. 
  • Dr. Josh Fisher, assistant professor in the Center for Emerging Media, Design and Development, gave testimony to the Indiana General Assembly’s Committee on Commerce and Economic Development on AI in Higher Education. He put forward his perspective on utilizing a Digital Humanist approach to elevate human knowledge production and distribution. This approach will help uplift and celebrate the dignity of human educators while integrating GenAI tools into curriculum development, teaching, administration, and every other facet of the university community. Fox News also quoted Dr. Fisher in an article about the event. 
  • Terry Heifetz, senior lecturer of Media has been elected as a Board Member of the Indiana Broadcasters Association (IBA). The Indiana Broadcasters Association is an alliance of nearly 300-member radio and television broadcasters, united to serve their audiences throughout the Hoosier state. 
  • Dr. Marcy Meyer, associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies, recently published an article in “The Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education” titled “Stepping up, keeping on track, and pulling your own weight: Collaborative arts-based service-learning metaphors.” 
  • Mackenzie Wenger, assistant director and assistant lecturer in the School of Journalism and Strategic Communication, was one of 24 graduates from the Leadership Excellence and Development (LEAD) program, on Dec. 13, 2023. LEAD is a semester-long, weekly professional development program for Ball State employees focused on personal and professional networking and growth.

Upcoming Events  

  • Ball State Public Media will present “All Out For Christmas!” an IPR Radio Drama on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023 at 8:00pm. 
  • Fall Commencement will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 16, in Worthen Arena. Those attending the event are asked to be seated by 9:45 a.m. and the ceremony is expected to last until noon.
  • The CCIM Spring Assembly will be from 3-5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. While the tentative location is LB 125, please keep an eye on your calendar for updates on the location of the assembly as rooms cannot be reserved until class placements have been assigned.
  • Following the CCIM Spring Assembly, a reception will be held from 6-7 p.m. at The Clubhouse Muncie. The space is reserved until 9 p.m. for those who would like more time to play games and connect. Food and drinks will be provided and parking information will be shared closer to the event. Please RSVP by Dec. 21, and if you have any dietary needs, please reach out to Kim McClure.

What to Watch 

  • “NOW ENTERING Elwood” premiered Nov. 30 and is a video scrapbook of the people, places and history of towns as seen through the eyes of its residents. Community members will collect video footage and still photos to showcase their unique stories. These stories will combine to create the NOW ENTERING program, which will be shown live on Ball State PBS on Nov. 30, 2023. 
  • Ball State Daily News and The Western Kentucky Herald, in collaboration with Ball State PBS, Ball State Department of Media, and Western Kentucky PBS, were named joint winners of the Collegiate Press Associations Innovation Pacemaker Award. The prestigious accolade celebrates the outstanding achievements of student media organizations, and this year, it recognizes the exceptional cross-platform multimedia project titled “Fleeing to Flyover Country.” The project delves into the profound experiences of Bowling Green, Kentucky, spanning over four decades, as it welcomed refugees and immigrants into its community. The project meticulously examines the invaluable lessons learned during this period and draws insightful comparisons with Muncie, Indiana, which has recently begun its journey of welcoming refugees from Afghanistan.