EVENTS AND ACTIVITIES
Journalism Day
Each spring, Ball State hosts more than 1,000 Indiana middle school and high school journalists in late April. The conference offers several hour-long sessions in photography, writing, design, social media, staff development and more.
Summer Media Academy
At Ball State, we want to help you develop your whole staff. With state-of-the-art facilities and an innovative curriculum, student journalists and advisers will gain the skills and tools to start the school year right.
Monthly Contests
Throughout the school year, individual students and staffs have the opportunity to compete with schools across the nation in writing, photography and design.
Outreach Programs
Live in Indiana and want a visit from Kim Green and students from Ball State’s journalism education program? Call our office at 765-285-8900 or shoot us an email at bsuworkshops@bsu.edu.
OUR HISTORY
Dr. Louis Ingelhart, former chair of the Ball State University Department of Journalism, brought the summer workshops to life in 1966. After sending a survey to high school newspaper advisers and journalism teachers, Ingelhart was moved to create the workshops as a unique experience for high school students.
One hundred and fifty-nine students from across Indiana and Kentucky attended the first workshops. Eighty-nine students participated in the yearbook workshop, which were held from July 17-30. The newspaper workshop followed, running from July 31-August 13, with 60 students in attendance.
Word of the workshops’ high quality educational opportunities spread and in 1969 students traveled from as far as New York and Nebraska to attend.
Attendance continued to grow, surpassing 1,000 students in 1978. This led to an attendance cap for future sessions, ensuring students would continue to receive close attention from their instructors.
Classes moved into the West Quadrangle Building, the new home of the Department of Journalism. An adviser workshop was created so high school instructors could stay atop their changing profession.
Dr. Ingelhart retired in 1983, but the summer workshops continued to grow through the ’90s and into the new millennium under the guidance of Marilyn Weaver, who became the workshops director in the mid-seventies and oversaw the program for more than 20 years. In 1996, Weaver became the Department of Journalism chair. She co-wrote a proposal for the workshops that brought in $150,000 in funding. Weaver retired as chair of the Department of Journalism in 2010.
After students settled into the dorms in the summer of 1966, student staff members gave a tour of Ball State’s campus.
The journalism landscape has changed drastically since Ball State began offering journalism workshops, but the Ball State summer workshops still prepare students to thrive while teaching classic skills everyone needs.
Now housed in the Art and Journalism building, attendees have access to state-of-the-art technology. Classes such as editing, design and layout, magazine journalism, sports writing and editing, digital photography and television journalism help students take their skills to the next level.
Currently, Kim Green coordinates the summer workshops. Green brings to the program extensive journalism and yearbook advising experience, professional journalism experience and a drive to maintain the high standards for which the Ball State summer workshops are known.