2008 IDHS Crisis Communications Protocol Project

IDHS Crisis Communications Protocol Project Remarks
Monday, April 28, 2008
Indiana Statehouse Rotunda, Indianapolis

Thank you, Leah. It’s my pleasure to be with all of you this afternoon.

Mister Wainscott, Professor Pritchard, Jody, and Leah have described in some detail what this project entailed. I know all of the students who worked on this crisis communications protocol will remember their efforts for the rest of their lives! I want to talk to you about two special aspects of this project and then address how it fits into a much larger picture, both for us at Ball State University and for citizens all across the state of Indiana.

First, a special salute to all of the students on this team from Cardinal Communications. The fact that these seven successfully completed the FEMA certification course on public information systems before working on the protocol itself speaks volumes about their dedication and about the award-winning work that consistently comes out of Cardinal Communications. That work has brought great recognition to the university for decades.

Second, the genesis for this project was actually the production of eight public service announcements for the state Department of Homeland Security a year ago. Under the direction of Tim Pollard and Rich Swingley of our telecommunications faculty and Dick Shoemaker of our journalism faculty, our students wrote, filmed, and produced the “Take Responsibility” series, which continues to air, informing Hoosiers about disaster preparedness. IDHS leadership was so pleased with the result of that project that they immediately approached Ball State to research and prepare the crisis communications protocol. We always strive to establish a true partnership with organizations around the state, not just a short-term consulting relationship. Our work with IDHS certainly falls into the former category.

You probably have seen our television commercials in your community and our billboards on interstates that say, Ball State University…Education Redefined. We’ve gotten very positive feedback about that phrase, and I believe one reason for its success is that it is not just a tagline or even just a marketing campaign. Education Redefined has become who we are and what we do. It is, in fact, the title of our strategic plan, the implementation of which began last fall and continues through 2012.

The project we’re celebrating here today shows one way we’re redefining education. It represents a significant commitment over several months by our students and faculty to help the Indiana Department of Homeland Security find a solution to a problem that affects citizens all across the state. The completion of this crisis communications protocol is just one example of the tangible results Ball State’s partnerships with communities, organizations, and businesses around the state can bring.

The centerpiece of our strategic plan is immersive learning. It puts together groups of committed students, usually from a variety of majors, and pairs them with a faculty mentor. These teams then work with community partners around our state, developing real-world solutions that meet the partners’ real-world problems. Every project ends with a tangible result, something similar to the crisis communications protocol—an instructional DVD, a set of architectural renderings, a marketing plan, a museum exhibit.

This truly is a win-win situation. Our students are required to drive the learning process, and in doing so, they gain valuable experience that teaches them much about themselves and prepares them for the world of collaboration and constant change that they will enter after graduation. In turn, communities, businesses, and other organizations receive guidance and support as they prepare for the future.

We are spreading this immersive learning model across Indiana. Last year, our Building Better Communities initiative completed more than 130 projects in 60 Indiana counties. Building Better Communities has continued to expand with each passing year. In recent months, I have traveled from Fort Wayne to Nashville and from Logansport to Lebanon for BBC events like this one.

From my perspective, there is an additional benefit to Building Better Communities. These projects provide new, exciting ways for Ball State to build strong partnerships with organizations and communities all around the state. This is not the first project that we have completed for the state Department of Homeland Security, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. In fact, we have completed a dozen projects in the last two years here in Marion County alone. Projects like the one we celebrate here today perform a needed public service, and they demonstrate Ball State’s sustained value to the state of Indiana.

Building Better Communities is just one of Ball State’s immersive learning programs. Our Education Redefined strategic plan calls for us to offer relevant immersive learning opportunities to every undergraduate student, something a substantial number of our students are experiencing already. These immersive learning opportunities are the basis for the billboards and television commercials you see, and they are happening in each of our seven colleges.

Immersive learning has garnered widespread support across the state. We were so pleased in 2007 when we were the only state university to receive legislative investment in enhancement of its curriculum. Our state lawmakers agreed to provide $1 million toward our immersive learning programs, and private philanthropists have since multiplied that financial commitment to immersive learning many, many times over.

What makes our focus on immersive learning so exciting and so meaningful is that it essentially builds on the university’s existing strengths. There are nearly 14,000 Ball State alumni living in Marion County. Any one of them would recognize that immersive learning simply takes a long, proud tradition of experiential, interdisciplinary learning and intensifies it. Students and faculty working side by side is a hallmark of a Ball State education. Immersive learning puts us on an intentional path to strengthening those relationships.

I am in my fourth year as president of Ball State University. Not a week goes by that I don’t hear from alumni about that special professor they had on campus. It happens in letters, in e-mails, in phone calls, in meetings as I travel. A graduate shares with me a story or an anecdote about that teacher who made a difference—who not only taught the subject material, but who challenged, mentored, and inspired that student in ways that were truly life-changing.

I’m sure you saw the media coverage back in September when we dedicated the David Letterman Communication and Media Building on our campus. It was a wonderful day for Ball State. What I found most interesting, though, was that even as we welcomed our most famous alumnus back to campus, one of the first things Dave did in his remarks to the thousands present was to publicly thank his special professor, Darrell Wible, long since retired but present at the ceremony.

Immersive learning not only strengthens that mentoring relationship, it does so in an atmosphere of increased academic rigor. Through Building Better Communities, it does so for the benefit of many businesses and communities around our state. That is how the project we celebrate today here in the statehouse, as well as the ones we will do in the future, fit into the bigger picture, both for Ball State and for the state of Indiana. That is why I am always proud to represent the university at events like this one.

Thank you for your hospitality today. I look forward to seeing you again soon, whether it is while visiting our campus or at another Ball State event here in Indianapolis.