You've been reading in the Alumnus magazine and elsewhere about something called iCommunication that we've initiated here, and hopefully that has made you curious about it. The story began when the Lilly Endowment saw Ball State as a great investment for sparking a digital revolution in Indiana. About a year-and-a-half ago, they gave us a grant of $20,000,000 to start that fire, and we've been working hard at it ever since with great results.

The iCommunication initiative consists of three basic projects. One of them is the new program of study at the undergraduate and graduate level. The undergraduate program gives students the ability to work with the digital media across many fields, especially art, communication, journalism, music engineering technology, telecommunications, and theater. Students will graduate with the ability to be pioneers in creating content for new media. The graduate program is called "Digital Storytelling," and its students will be experts at adapting news or entertainment to digital television, the Internet, and other digital media.

Given Ball State's renewed commitment to international education, our second iCommunication program fits our strategic plan beautifully. We call it the Global Media Network, and the problem we tried to solve was a challenging one: can we drive the cost of international videoconferencing so low that using it in class becomes a teaching decision and not a financial decision?

The great news is that we exceeded our expectations beyond our wildest dreams, and the information technology staff here figured out how to get the telecommunications charges down to nothing. Imagine that: nothing at all for the cost of a video conference from Muncie to Korea, Australia, or Brazil! As you can imagine, we've had lots of faculty step up and begin teaching with the system, including courses in biology, design, film, landscape architecture, literature, linguistics, and physics. The third aspect of iCommunication is in many ways the most significant, and it is certainly the biggest. We've recently opened a new research and development facility called the Center for Media Design. It aspires to be the national center for the creation, testing, and assessment of digital media content, and only half-way into the grant, this ambitious goal looks like one we will achieve. This has the wonderful effect of extending Ball State's teaching, research, and service mission beyond their usual scope.

The national effect of this project has already been dramatic. Our faculty report that as they go to conferences around the country, Ball State's name is well-known. Everywhere we seem to go, we are met with comments like, "You're from Ball State? I hear you're doing great things with digitalization there!"

Our students are the ones who will reap the main benefit from this recognition of course--it makes it that much easier for them to follow in your footsteps.

You've known all along what a wonderful place your alma mater is. As Ball State helps Indiana and the United States realize the potential of the 21st Century, we hope you will be prouder than ever. I hope you can see how Ball State has become an important center of the digital revolution. Next time you are on campus, please make sure you swing through the Ball Communication Building to have a look.

You'll be proud!

Scott Robert Olson, Dean
College of Communication, Information, and Media