Gene Burton, '80, who served as Ball State's acting Public Safety director since February 2002, has been named director.

Burton is a 22-year veteran of the department. Before being appointed acting director, Burton was a sergeant and shift supervisor who also oversaw the department's training and special events planning.

The department underwent a comprehensive program review last year, and in June, two external consultants hired by the university completed a 47-page report that listed 108 recommendations for improving the public safety department.

Burton instituted a number of the recommendations, but a permanent director had to be named before the department could undergo significant long-term changes.

1,081 Students Graduate in December

Ball State awarded 1,081 degrees during commencement ceremonies in December.

An estimated 9,000 people attended the program, honoring students who completed their degree requirements by the end of fall semester.

Ball State President Blaine A. Brownell addressed the graduates, which included 660 individuals receiving bachelor's degrees; 269 master's degrees; 131 associate degrees; and 21 doctoral or specialist in education degrees.

Ball State awards approximately 4,000 degrees each year during May, July, and December commencement ceremonies.

Ball State Grants Two New Charters for Public Education

Two schools have earned sponsorship from Ball State as Indiana's newest public charter schools. They are: Thea Bowman Leadership Academy in Gary and Urban Brightest Academy in Fort Wayne.

There were four other finalists that were considered. They were: KIPP-Hammond (Knowledge is Power Program), Hammond; Charles Martin Academy of Success, South Bend; Chapman Matthews Charter School, South Bend; and Lafayette Central Academy, Roanoke.

This year, 19 organizations filed statements of intent. Of those, 16 submitted applications that were reviewed by a panel with expertise in charter schools, education curriculum, school finance, special education rules and regulations, organizational structure, and management.

Applications were reviewed for strong community linkages and educational programs. They also were evaluated on finances and facilities.

Last year, Ball State became the first state university to formally begin the sponsorship process after the Indiana General Assembly approved legislation allowing four-year public universities, public school districts, and the mayor of Indianapolis to sponsor charter schools.

Such public schools receive state funding, but are independent, non-discriminating, non-sectarian entities that operate under a performance contract known as a charter. As a charter school's sponsor, Ball State will not run or operate the schools, but reserves the right to rescind a charter if a school fails to meet performance standards.

Partnership is Enhanced With Turkish University

Ball State faculty and students will have opportunities to study in Turkey as a result of a blossoming relationship with the University of Istanbul.

A delegation of Ball State administrators and staff visited the university to discuss elevating an exchange program between the two schools into a strategic partnership.

Erdogan Kumcu, chairman of Ball State's global business program, was part of a Ball State delegation visiting the University of Istanbul last fall. The group, led by President Blaine Brownell, was among 15 collegiate delegations to attend ceremonies commemorating the beginning of the school year at the university.

During the trip, officials from Ball State and Istanbul agreed to continue Ball State faculty and student field trips to Turkey, and the universities will cooperate in the accreditation process for the University of Istanbul's business school and send Ball State students to Istanbul's summer school programs. Intensifying joint faculty research and teaching assignments and incorporating Istanbul's business school in the global media are also included in the agreement.

A network project, which allows students to participate in classes via the Internet, invites Turkish technical staff to Ball State for training and explores the possibility of joint degree programs at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

During the trip additional exchange programs were discussed with two Turkish universities. The delegation also met with about 60 Ball State alumni and former visiting scholars and their families at events in Istanbul and Ankara.

The recent trip was part of an annual exchange program between Ball State and the University of Istanbul that dates to 1984.

The exchange program has established academic and professional relationships between the two universities. Cultural, social, and historical visits enable participants to collect and prepare new course material and share experiences with students and colleagues.

Over the years Ball State faculty have conducted a wide range of activities related to their own fields, including studying urban air quality, Islamic paradise gardens, Byzantine art and architecture, urban design, Middle Eastern fiction, and the use of technology by the Turkish university.

University Appoints New Library Dean

Arthur Hafner has accepted the position of dean of University Libraries at Ball State. He began his job in November 2002.

Hafner moved from South Orange, NJ, where he had served as professor and dean of the university libraries at Seton Hall University since 1997. Overall, he accumulated more than 25 years experience at five other institutions from Minnesota to New York.

While at Seton Hall, Hafner oversaw the task of replacing the library's information system and worked to migrate its CD/ROM-based academic resources to Web-based versions.

Ball State Partners With Apple Computer

Ball State has teamed with Apple Computer to offer discounted hardware and software to students, faculty, and staff.

Users will be able to take advantage of substantial discounts for preconfigured Macintosh iBooks and PowerBooks. They can choose an advanced system or a minimum configuration of an iBook.

The agreement is beneficial for incoming freshmen in the teacher education program, according to Roy Weaver, '68MAE71, dean of Teachers College. Beginning next fall, students will be encouraged to purchase laptops to hone their technology skills as students and later as teachers. The laptops will be used for developing digital portfolios, which are now required in the curriculum.

The agreement follows Ball State's $300,000 commitment to make the entire campus wireless by 2003-04 and reflects a continuing partnership with Apple.

State Commerce Department Opens Office At Ball State

Lt. Governor Joe Kernan held a news conference in November 2002 to announce the opening of the Department of Commerce Region 8 office in Ball State's Carmichael Hall. The Commerce Department office will serve Blackford, Delaware, Henry, Jay, Randolph, and Wayne counties as a one-stop shop for the region's economic activities.

Regional office staff will work with Ball State's Center for Economic and Community Development to assist with business and community development.

The DOC will occupy two offices at Ball State. In addition to the space, the university also will provide furniture, parking spaces, and access to its telecommunications infrastructure.

University officials will be able to provide background information to help their new neighbors become more familiar with the region. They will also introduce DOC personnel to faculty who have experience with certain communities or who have specific areas of expertise.

The center, established in 1984 by the Indiana General Assembly as a statewide public service unit of Ball State, expects to work actively with the DOC to help provide economic develop assistance to the region.

John Motloch Named Director of University's Land Design Institute

John Motloch, landscape architecture professor, has been named the new director of Ball State's Land Design Institute. Established in 2001 by the College of Architecture and Planning, the institute has been charged with promoting ecologically and culturally responsible land design, both locally and globally, through education, research, outreach, and service.

Motloch served as the Department of Landscape Architecture chairman from 1996 to 2001 and the institute opened during his tenure. He has lectured and taught in South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, Greece, and other countries.

He received his bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Texas and his master's and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pretoria in South Africa, respectively.

Locally, the institution has worked to teach school children about environmental issues, while internationally, members of the Land Design Institute traveled to China to help address Shanghai's growing population.

The institute will continue to work with both local and international sustainability and environmental issues. Projects will range from Landlab, a field station that demonstrates environmentally friendly technology and studies land transformation from rural to suburban, to nurturing long-term relationships with international sustainability organizations such as England's Earth Centre.

Motloch replaces David Ferguson, who left to direct Ball State's iCommunication initiative, and began his new duties January 1.

Journal Publishes Special Issue to Honor Professor

An international statistics journal recently published a special issue to commemorate the 65th birthday of Mir Masoom Ali, a Ball State educator. The Journal of Statistical Studies honored Ali, the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Statistics, with a 320-page special volume.

Letters of congratulations were submitted by eminent statisticians, including D.R. Cox, Oxford University; D.A.S. Fraser, University of Toronto; and Robert Hogg, University of Iowa.

The special issue of the journal consists of 24 referenced articles by leading statisticians and one article by the editor of the special volume. Dale Umbach, chairman of Ball State's mathematical sciences department, also wrote an article to pay tribute to Ali.

Ali's professional career began in 1957 with the Socio-Economic Board of the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. He then served as a statistician for the government of Pakistan until 1966 before becoming a teaching assistant at the University of Toronto from 1966-69. He joined the Ball State faculty in 1969 as an assistant professor. Ali was promoted to associate professor in 1974 and to full professor in 1978.

He recently was awarded a Sagamore of the Wabash.

Ball State Group Tours American Military Bases

Four decades after leaving the military for a career in higher education, William Bock recently had a chance to revisit his old army stomping grounds.

Bock, a physiology and health science professor at Ball State; visited Fort Benning, GA., and several other military bases last October as part of the U.S. Army's Fall Educators Tour.

Joining Bock on the tour were Linda Siktberg, director of Ball State' School of Nursing, and Derick Virgil, director of the university's Multicultural Center. The group also visited Fort Rucker in Alabama and the military's diving facilities in Panama City, FL.

Bock was drafted in 1957 and spent the next five years in the Army. He had risen to the rank of first lieutenant and was waiting for a promotion to captain when an opportunity arose to pursue his doctorate in health education at The Ohio State University.

Bock has been a member of the Department of Physiology and Health Science since 1965. He is co-founder of Eta Sigma Gamma, the national honor society for men and women in health science. Bock regularly teaches classes in Indiana's prisons.

Environmental Program Receives National Award

Ball State's Center for Energy Research, Education and Service (CERES) received national recognition for its innovative program in environmental education.

The center received a "Best Practice" award from the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council for its clustered minors program. The program, which offers students five interdepartmental minors, was created to address the growing need for Ball State students to increase their environmental literacy.

The minors were launched in 1999, created through the CERES Research Fellows Program by Robert Koester and faculty members James Eflin, Dave Ferguson, John Vann, and Charlie McLaughlin.

The interdepartmental minors, which pool courses from four colleges, include: the environmental context for business, environmental policy, sustainable land systems, technology and the environment, and environmental context in healthcare. Each of the minors has common core classes that address the environment, economics, and ethics. Each sequence also has the same closing course: creating a sustainable future.

Architecture Experiments With Solar Heating

There's an old adage that Ball State energy experts are trying to dispel: Having a passive solar house requires an active user.

Six buildings have been constructed on the south terrace of the College of Architecture and Planning to study and demonstrate the simplicity of passive solar heating. The goal of the project is to test five different passive heating concepts in a climate comparable to much of the United States, says Alfredo Fernandez-Gonzalez of the Center for Energy Research, Education and Service.

"Most solar energy tests have been conducted in California, New Mexico or Arizona," Fernandez-Gonzalez says. "If we can demonstrate that things work well here in a cloudy, temperate climate, we'll have a better chance mainstreaming passive solar technology."

The structures, which look like glorified storage barns on the outside, took several months to complete. Inside, observers can see why each shed took so long to build. Every square inch is packed with insulation, every hole is filled with polyurethane foam and each has sensors that measure both air and radiant temperatures at different locations within the building.

Five structures have a distinct passive heating element, while the sixth is a control building with no solar upgrades. The first building has a south-facing window and captures heat with a floor of concrete blocks. The second has a south window and a Trombe wall, a concrete wall close to the window with vents at the bottom and the top that allow air to heat up and circulate.

The third has columns of water, which have a great capacity to store heat, near its south window. The translucent water wall is a concept that's yet to be studied, Fernandez-Gonzalez says. The fourth has a sun space with a brick floor, a room that resembles a green house. Air is warmed and radiates through the doorway into the rest of the building.

The fifth concept, the roof pond, was once called the prototype of the future in 1976 when its inventor, Harold Hay, received the Bicentennial Award from President Gerald Ford, Fernandez-Gonzalez says. The structure has a metallic roof and a window in the attic that allows the sun to shine onto bags filled with water, similar to waterbed mattresses.

An inexpensive home automation device opens an insulated mini garage door during the day, capturing heat, and automatically closes it at sundown to retain the heat. When compared to the other buildings, this structure has posted the warmest nighttime temperatures, Fernandez-Gonzalez says.

"In the 1970s, research on passive solar technology focused on saving energy with little emphasis placed on personal comfort," he says. "With these models, we are taking comfort into account."

The concept seems to be working. During a recent open house on a cold, sunny day, visitors basked in indoor temperatures of 60-plus degrees, Fernandez-Gonzalez says. One house warmed to a balmy 104 degrees.