There are nearly 500 more students on the Ball State campus than spring last year, and for the first time since the 1992-93 academic year, the percentage of freshmen who enrolled in the fall and returned for the spring semester has climbed above 90 percent.

Last year, the fall-to-spring retention rate was 89.4 percent and the fall-to-fall rate was 77.17 percent. This year, 91.5 percent of the freshman class returned for the spring semester.

Spring enrollment is the largest since 1999. There are 16,901 students on campus, up 493 from last year.

The university raised the academic standards for admission in 1997 and anticipated an initial decrease in enrollment. After reaching the low point during the 1999-00 academic year, the university has seen attendance grow for each of the past three years.

The on-campus spring enrollment figures from the past five years are: 16,464 in 1999, 15,840 in 2000, 16,107 in 2001, 16,408 in 2002, and 16,901 in 2003.

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$1.5 Million To Fund Nanoscience Center

Ball State will receive $1.5 million from the Indiana 21st Century Research and Technology Fund to create a nanoscience research center. The Center of Excellence in Computational Nanoscience will focus on the emerging areas of nanoscience and nanotechnology that play a role in current research. Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon made the announcement in January.

Nanoscience is the study of objects at the molecular level, and nanotechnology is the building of mechanical devices and other objects thousands of times smaller than what currently exist.

Under Ball State's coordination, faculty from Purdue University, the University of Notre Dame, Valparaiso University, and Ohio University will participate in joint research projects through the new center.

The potential for new industries in the state led physics and astronomy faculty members to submit a proposal to the 21st Century Fund, which was created by the 1999 Indiana General Assembly to encourage the growth of new businesses.

The grant is the result of the work of professors Yong Joe, Ronald Cosby, and Mahfuza Khatun, their publication records, previous grant successes, and university support. The trio and their students have been studying nanoscience and nanotechnology since the early 1990s. The department recently added a new nanoscience class and has a nanoscience minor.

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University To Offer Respiratory Therapy Degree Next Fall

Ball State's Board of Trustees has approved a new bachelor's degree program that will prepare students for careers in respiratory therapy.

A recent federal government study supports the need for the program. The U.S. Department of Labor projects that the medical field will require 43 percent more respiratory therapists within the next six years.

Indianapolis-based Clarian Health Partners asked Ball State to join a consortium to address the growing need for respiratory therapists. This continues a relationship between Clarian and Ball State, which currently offers joint degree programs in the clinical laboratory sciences of nuclear medicine, radiation therapy, and radiography.

Ball State's Department of Physiology and Health Science will begin offering the degree next fall, and students who choose to complete their first two years of study at Ball State will finish their degree at Clarian Health facilities in central Indiana.

Indiana University, Purdue University, and the University of Indianapolis are also being invited to join the consortium.

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Architecture, Planning Ranked Nationally Obtains Research Grant

Ball State's College of Architecture and Planning (CAP) has received national recognition as a Top-15 program and has obtained a grant for historic preservation research. The architecture program is ranked as one of the nation's top architecture programs in the 2003 Almanac of Architecture and Design.

The ranking, which included Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, Rice, MIT, and others, was based on the hiring experiences of leading U.S. architecture firms. Employers were polled in regard to which National Architecture Accrediting Board accredited programs produced the most professional, best-prepared graduates over the last five years.

The architechure program's recognition focused on the college's faculty development, curricular innovation, digital media, internships, and internationalization

Meanwhile, CAP's graduate program in historic preservation received a $10,000 grant to research prospects of opening a new center.

The Efroymson Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation awarded the grant for the study of the financial feasibility of a center for historic preservation at Ball State. The center would provide services to nonprofit preservation and historical organizations, and Indiana government agencies. A 2001 study revealed that there is a need for such services, especially for communities and organizations that cannot afford to pay a private firm.

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Ball State Receives $699,750 Grant From Software Firm

Ball State software engineering students are using the latest technology in the field as a result of a recent grant.

Rational Software Corporation, a west-coast firm, has provided computer-based software engineering and development tools to the university for teaching and research, valued at $699,750.

Rational's software was installed in computer equipment located in the Robert Bell Building, allowing for up to 50 students to work on developing software solutions.

Ball State has as many as 40 students per semester enrolled in software engineering classes at the undergraduate level and as many as 35 per semester at the graduate level. The current undergraduate software engineering students are working on nine software development projects with various companies and university clients.

Founded in 1981, Rational is one of the world's largest software companies with 3,400 employees worldwide and customers in 89 countries. Ball State is one of 650 colleges and universities globally to receive grants from Rational through the firm's Software Engineering for Educational Development program.

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International Program Gives Students Foreign Policy Exposure

Ball State has been selected as one of ten universities to participate in the Global Access Project (GAP), a foreign policy program sponsored by the Department of State and the Association of American State Colleges and Universities.

The program, which began in January, brought State Department speakers to campus, both in-person and via satellite. Students are able to watch press briefings or download them from the Internet.

Ball State also was given the honor of hosting the first GAP campus town meeting scheduled for this spring. State Department representatives will give presentations, and there will also be time for audience participation.

The audience will not be limited to the campus venue. Satellite audiences will be able to participate at Ball State's distance learning sites throughout Indiana.

The program and town meetings highlight how foreign policy impacts Hoosiers locally. About 25 percent of Indiana's economy is a result of exports, foreign investment, and immigrant labor from foreign surgeons to migrant workers. Many foreign companies, such as Canada's Ontario Systems and Japan's Keihin Aircon North America, have operations in Muncie.

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Chinese Officials Select Ball State, Muncie For Training Site

Deyang, China municipal government officials have selected Ball State and Muncie to host an extensive international training program.

The Deyang Project is an eight-week program that has brought ten Chinese municipal government leaders from Deyang to take college courses, shadow government officials, and live with host families.

The participants, whose trips were paid for by the Deyang government, are experts in economics, world trade, foreign investment, and law.

Along with furthering long-term relationships, the project will also highlight how much Indiana's trade with China is growing and how the nation's impact on the global economy will continue to grow.

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Ball State Names Three To Top Posts In Academic Affairs

Ball State has appointed three officers with long histories of service to the university to top posts in academic affairs.

Deborah Balogh has been appointed associate provost; B. Thomas Lowe has been named associate provost; and James Pyle has been named assistant vice president for research.

Balogh, who first came to the university 22 years ago, was selected after a national search. She succeeds Beverley Pitts, MA71EdD81, who became Ball State's provost and vice president for academic affairs on July 1, 2002. Balogh has been serving as acting assistant provost since July.

Balogh will retain her post as dean of the Graduate School. She also will have responsibility for the Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs, the School of Extended Education, and the Office of Institutional Research and Academic Assessment.

Lowe's appointment reflects a change in the structure of academic affairs. He formerly held the title of assistant provost, but like Balogh, will be an associate provost while continuing to serve as a dean.

As dean of University College, Lowe oversees undergraduate education, including the award-winning freshman programs, interdisciplinary programs, and the core curriculum.

Pyle will continue to be the senior administrator in the Office of Academic Research and Sponsored Programs and will continue to pursue opportunities to increase external funding.