Though long known for the quality of its telecommunications programs (CBS Late Show host David Letterman got his first serious training on campus radio station WBST in the 1960s), Ball State burst into the technology spotlight nationally in 2005, when after a coast-to-coast survey Intel Corp. named the university the nation's No. 1 wireless campus.
About the same time, creative Ball State students and faculty were completing films and programs that earned back-to-back student Academy Awards and added to the university's impressive haul of 21 Emmy Awards since 2000. Meanwhile, researchers in the university's Center for Media Design (CMD), generously funded by successive $20 million grants from the Lilly Endowment Inc., were developing new insights on consumer media use while also creating and testing new digital technologies for businesses, education, the home, and other environments both real and virtual.
In 2009, Ball State again garnered national media attention with the release of a $3.5 million yearlong study, conducted by the CMD and Sequent Partners on behalf of the Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence. With specialized observational techniques, the study examined how people watch screens of all sizes, such as TV, cell phones, computers, and others—and yielded surprising results.
The convergence of technology and talent at Ball State is evident in an ever-growing number of interdisciplinary projects. Our research and our teaching have increased both the university's emerging media expertise and exposure:
Ball State study: iPhone results in increased use of smart phones on campuses
College News, Oct. 22, 2009
The study found that, in just a few months, the percentage of college students owning a smart phone increased by 27 percent.
SportsLink provides content for fans on a variety of platforms
Inside Indiana Business, Oct. 2, 2009
Ball State University continues to be on the vanguard of innovative uses of emerging technology, and that includes the world of sports media.
Technology columnist touts Ball State cell phone programming course
Indianapolis Star, Sept. 28, 2009
At least a couple of new phones featuring Google's Android software probably will make it into stores before the end of the year. The software is nearly as snazzy as that running on the iPhone. So, it's very cool that Ball State University recently announced that some of its students are helping create new applications for it.
Ball State University preparing students to work in sports media
College Sports Information Directors of America, Sept. 16, 2009
As the sports media world changes daily, the innovative Ball State Sports Link is giving students a tremendous opportunity to get ahead of the curve in the evolving sports broadcast industry.
Ball State students' blogs offer insights into campus life
Ragan.com, Sept. 14, 2009
Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., has taken student testimonials to a new, unvarnished level by enlisting student bloggers to entice prospective students and parents. Experience Ball State blogs provide an unfiltered look at the university for those curious about campus life there.
Ball State, Harvard, MIT among 11 schools to receive Google phones for classroom use
The Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 2, 2009
Each college has received 20 HTC phones loaded with Google’s Android operating system, which the company says allows students with no programming experience to create applications for sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Cell phones used to deliver course content
eSchool News, July 6, 2009
Ball State leads the way in delivering content to students via Web-enabled cell phones and other mobile devices. (Accessing full article requires free registration with eSchool News.)
Ball State-produced film has Hollywood star power
Indy.com, May 6, 2009
It’s not often you hear of a college producing a feature film with honest-to-goodness Hollywood actors, but Ball State’s Emerging Media Initiative has done just that.
Ball State experts use emerging media to prepare nurses
WRTV 6, Indianapolis, February 24, 2009
Ball State's emerging media experts helped nurses at Muncie's Ball Memorial Hospital acclimatize to the newly constructed John W. Fisher Heart Center.
Ball State survey puts premium on tech skills
WRTV 6, Indianapolis, February 18, 2009
Knowledge of computers and technology may not only help a person clinch a job, but could boost their salary as well, according to a new Ball State University survey. The study found that firms are willing to pay a premium for people with emerging media skills: 67 percent reported they would pay up to 4 percent more, while 23 percent said they would pay 8 percent more.
Emerging media stimulus could create 200,000 jobs in three months
Inside Indiana Business, February 8, 2009
Host Gerry Dick sat down with Mike Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, to discuss Ball State's proposal to extend next-generation broadband service to rural areas while creating 200,000 jobs around the nation.
10 reasons to rally behind Ball State initiative
The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, January 31, 2009
On its editorial page, the newspaper lists the top ten reasons for Hoosiers to support Ball State's Emerging Media Initiative.
U.S.: Rural Broadband Stimulus Plan That Would Create Jobs
eGov Monitor, January 26, 2009
Michael Hicks, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research, contributed an op ed to eGov Monitor describing Ball State’s contribution to President Obama’s economic stimulus package. Hicks worked with members of the Digital Policy Institute to outline a plan to provide next-generation broadband service to rural areas while creating 200,000 jobs nationwide.
Ball State Lobbies Obama for Broadband Plan to Stimulate Economy
The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 14, 2009
Ball State University is trying to catch President-elect Barack Obama’s attention with an economic-stimulus proposal that the university says could create 200,000 jobs in three months. The proposal, formulated by the university’s Digital Policy Institute, would bring broadband services to rural areas, which the university says will spawn manufacturing, construction, and technology jobs.
Ball State Hopes for Gold in New Media Ventures
Indianapolis Business Journal, January 12, 2009
Universities turning professors’ ideas into businesses or products is nothing new. But more are now turning to students for the same purpose, says Jon Soderstrom, president of the Association of University Technology Managers. Ball State’s Emerging Media Initiative is promoting emerging media entrepreneurship—the kind that led college students to launch the likes of Google, Facebook and Yahoo.
Ball State Initiative Targets Emerging Media
Campus Technology, January 7, 2009
Referring to Ball State as a “high-tech powerhouse,” writer Linda Briggs reports on the university’s recently announced Emerging Media Initiative (EMI) that, “the current economy notwithstanding,” targets $17.7 million toward the evolving use of technology and digital content. The article quotes Dave Ferguson, newly appointed associate vice president of the initiative, and hails Ball State for its “well known leadership in applied research, interdisciplinary projects in digital media design, digital content development and media use research.”
You can check out the media mentions from previous years as well.