Check out all of the fun we had at the 2016 Food Summit!
PHOTOS: 2016 Food Summit
Fall 2016 Ball State Immersive Learning Projects
Ball State faculty, students, and community partners are working together this fall on a number of immersive learning projects in and around Muncie.
Let’s Build!
Community Partner: Ross Center
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Warrner, Department of Technology
Delaware County Historical Society Strategic Plan
Community Partner: Delaware County Historical Society
Faculty Mentor: Robert V. Morris, Department of History
East Central Neighborhood Action Plan
Community Partner: East Central Neighborhood Association
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Dunaway, Department of Urban Planning
Elementary Maker Workshops: Making an Interactive STEAM Exhibit with Elementary Pre-service Teachers and Children
Community Partner: Burris Laboratory School
Faculty Mentor: Kate Shively, Department of Elementary Education
Engaging the Next Generation of Leaders: Character and Leadership Development at the Boys & Girls Club of Muncie
Community Partner: Boys & Girls Club of Muncie
Faculty Mentor: Peggy Fisher, Department of Communication Studies
Families for Forward Thinking: Partnering with Parents in the 21st Century
Community Partner: Wee Wisdom Nursery School and Child Care Facility
Faculty Mentor: Stacey Allred, Department of Elementary Education
Sustainability Park for Northwest Muncie
Community Partner: Red-tail Land Conservancy
Faculty Mentor: Dave Ferguson, Department of Landscape Architecture
Jacket Copy Creative: Covering All Your Communication Needs
Community Partner: Whitely Community Council
Faculty Mentor: Eva Grouling Snider, Department of English
Unmasked: The Stigma of Meth
Community Partner: Ball Brothers Foundation
Faculty Mentors: Terry Heifetz, Department of Telecommunications, Juli Metzger, Department of Journalism
Narrative Contemporary Dance
Community Partner: Cornerstone Center for the Arts
Faculty Mentors: Vladimir Stadnik, Department of Theatre and Dance
Preventing Financial Exploitation of Older Adults
Community Partner: Muncie Delaware Senior Center
Faculty Mentor: Ronald Dolon, Department of Social Work
Riverside-Normal City: Portrait of a Middletown Neighborhood in a Post-Industrial Age
Community Partner: Riverside-Normal Neighborhood Association, Building Better Neighborhoods
Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Erickson, Department of Anthropology
Shafer Leadership – Community Needs Assessment
Community Partner: Shafer Leadership Academy
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo, Department of Sociology
Muncie’s Sports Tourism Potential: Strategies to Make the SportsPlex Serve the Community Better
This project involved students taking the lead in a research project to learn about how the Muncie SportsPlex could be made to be financially viable and serve the Muncie community better. Students gathered data and wrote a report that gave Mayor Tyler actionable business intelligence to assist in improving the product, services and financial viability of Muncie SportsPlex.
Faculty Mentor: Craig Webster
Department: Family and Consumer Sciences
Community Partner: City of Muncie
Students: Cheria Averitte, Leah Beebe, Nicole Box, Cade Carter, Jeshua Drown, Alex Hurt, Anna Johnson, Kyle Jones, Bailey Kelley, Colleen Kinninger, Sarah Kniesly, Ed Landreth, Taylor Lipinski, Michael Lorenzano, Maddie McMurray, Mike Melton: Graduate Assistant, Kim Scott, Jessica Stanton, Taylor Stiffler, Katherine Sutton, Brandi Tuzinski, Alexandria Vaden, Sarah Von Raesfeld, Ciara Whitaker
Summer 2016 Ball State Immersive Learning Projects
Ball State faculty, students, and community partners are working together this summer on a number of immersive learning projects.
Reading Intervention at the Youth Opportunity Center
Working collaboratively with the YOC, Ball State students will spend the summer making a real difference in the lives of young people. They will study psychological, environmental, and cultural factors that contribute to reading difficulties, develop skills in applying proven reading strategies, and ultimately implement a reading intervention program.
Community Partner: Youth Opportunity Center
Faculty Mentors: Janay Sander, Educational Psychology and Ruth Jefferson, Special Education
Virginia B. Ball Center Summer Seminar – Water Quality Indiana
Students from Ball State University, Taylor University and the Indiana Academy will blend science and journalism through testing of local waterways with community partners from the Upper Mississinewa River Watershed Partnership. Students will have the opportunity to conduct interviews with stakeholders, produce defendable scientific results, generate multimedia products, and disseminate information to a public audience of consultants, regulators, and landowners to help create a sustainable future.
Community Partners: Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District, Randolph County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Upper Mississinewa River Watershed Partnership
Faculty Mentors: Adam Kuban, Journalism and Lee Florea, Geological Science
Muncie Public Art Master Plan
Students will work with local citizens to generate policies regarding the future of public arts in Muncie. Policies also will be informed by goals and initiatives developed by the Committee for Public Arts of Muncie and the Muncie Arts and Culture Council Board of Directors.
Community Partner: Muncie Arts and Culture Council Committee for Public Art
Faculty Mentor: Lisa Dunaway, Urban Planning
Muncie Announces Exciting Plan For Former Industrial Sites
Artist rendering of Kitselman trailhead and Kitselman Pure Energy Park
The Kitselman Trailhead and Pure Energy Park is a significant project underway on Muncie’s eastside. The project, officially announced on March 31, 2016, will include the development of a trailhead to connect White River Greenway and Cardinal Greenway and a massive overhaul of the former Indiana Steel and Wire site.
Neighborhood Association Negotiates Compromise On Tillotson Substation
Future home of substation at Corner of University Ave and Tillotson Ave.
Photo by: Mike Rhodes | Written by Erin Moore—
Photo by: Mike Rhodes | Written by Erin Moore—
Indiana Michigan Power and American Electric Power (IMP/AEP) has begun construction on a new substation on Tillotson Avenue between Riverside Avenue and University Avenue. The final design, approved by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, reflects years and hundreds of hours of negotiations between the Kenmore Neighborhood Association and decision makers with the City of Muncie, IMP/AEP, and Ball State.
The neighborhood association extensively researched and proposed options to influence the substation’s placement and footprint. The association advocated for gas insulated switchgear (GIS) technology, an underground retention pond, massive landscaping, and setting the substation back from University Avenue, which were all adopted in the final plan.
“Some of our recommendations were not adopted, like vertically lowering the substation, positioning the station behind McDonalds, or placing the station in buildings architecturally congruent with our neighborhood,” said Paul Spengler, neighborhood association president. “But we faced impossible odds and were able to reach a compromise.”
The station will be housed in two metal clad 25-foot buildings, the tops of which will appear as houses. An oval driveway will be accessible from University. The entire area will be enclosed by a 10 foot wall. Tony Costello, a local architect, has been retained to design the wall and landscaping.
“We fought the good fight and are grateful for the support of so many people, including individuals at Ball State and Mayor Dennis Tyler,” said Spengler. The mayor plans to attend the association’s next meeting to talk more with residents.