The board of trustees passed a preliminary budget plan this spring designed to maintain the university's academic quality while factoring in funding levels set in Indiana's recently approved state budget.

Tuition for Indiana residents will be $2,266 per semester, a 4.9 percent increase of $106, and $6,475 per semester for out-of-state students, a seven percent increase of $425. The new fee structure took effect with the first summer session.

The dedicated student fee, technology fee, and student health fee also increased 4.9 percent, or a combined total of $39 per semester. The university did not increase its course fees, which will remain at $2 per 100 and 200 level course, $4 per 300 and 400 level course and $8 per graduate course.

Fees for distance education courses offered by television or computer and off-campus instruction, independent study, and short-term courses (less than one week) were equalized. Fees are $174 per undergraduate credit hour and $184 per graduate credit hour in-state students, and $300 per undergraduate credit hour and $325 per graduate credit hour for out-of-state students.

The budget plan also called for a 2.5 percent increase in the salary pool for employees of the university.

The trustees also approved a plan to build a parking garage that will serve the needs of people using the new Music Instruction Building, Emens Auditorium, and the Ball State Museum of Art. The $8.5 million dollar project will be paid for with proceeds generated from campus parking fees.

Physical education professor Thomas Weidner was recognized in June as the nation's best educator in athletic training.

Weidner, coordinator of Ball State's athletic training program, received the Sayers "Bud" Miller Distinguished Educator Award from the National Athletic Trainer's Association Education Council. The award recognizes individuals who exemplify excellence in the field of athletic training education.

The award is named in honor of Miller, who was the first chairman of the NATA Professional Education Committee.

The National Athletic Trainer's Association represents and supports 30,000 members of the athletic training profession through education and research. Certified athletic trainers are medical professionals who specialize in the prevention, assessment, treatment, and rehabilitation of injuries, and illnesses that occur to athletes and the physically active.

Ball State is offering the first residential property management master's degree in the Midwest.

The advanced courses, which will be offered this fall, include 36 hours of core and elective classes. The master's degree can be earned in 12 and 18 months, depending on class load.

The demand for the master's degree grew from the university's residential property management undergraduate program that started four years ago.

Students in the undergraduate and graduate programs receive training in business practices, construction, and drafting. Also, they understand the complexities of the eviction process, the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), and discrimination in housing.

Registration is now open, and even though the degree has not been officially offered, there have already been two graduates. These "test" students were able to select electives tailored to their needs.

One student had an architecture degree, but did not like working in his chosen field. After completing his residential property management graduate degree, he took a job as development associate with the largest multi-family housing firm in Indianapolis.

The second student completed her bachelor's in residential property management. She wanted to become a corporate trainer in the field of residential property management, so she took electives in education while pursuing her master's degree. She received several job offers upon graduation and is now working with a large property management firm in Texas.

Terry Heifetz, managing editor of Ball State's digital news project, is taking on additional duties as news director of Indiana Public Radio. Heifetz replaces Bob Papper, who will direct research for the digital news project known as Newslink Indiana.

Papper, also a Ball State telecommunications professor, had been news director since 1994. Indiana Public Radio is a broadcast service of Ball State, a Public Radio International affiliate and a National Public Radio member station.

Newslink Indiana, which will be operational this fall, brings together the university's award-winning student print, radio, television, and online news products. It also will create a top-quality newscast for East Central Indiana. It is part of the iCommunication initiative.

Newslink Indiana will train Ball State students to create news stories for the Internet, radio, television, and print. Students will then contribute to IPR newscasts, increasing the number of local stories that can be broadcast on the award-winning public radio network.

After completing a national search, the College of Fine Arts has appointed Peter Blume as director of the Ball State University Museum of Art.

Blume, the CEO of the Allentown (PA) Art Museum from 1984 to 2002, replaces Alain Joyaux, who retired at the end of June.

While overseeing the Allentown museum, Blume increased operating revenues from $900,000 to $1.8 million and grew the endowment from less than $2 million to more than $8 million. As the museum's assistant director and chief curator, Blume expanded the collection from 800 to 11,000 works of art.

Before working at Allentown, Blume served as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow. During a one-year fellowship, he researched and prepared educational materials for two international exhibitions for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Joyaux transformed Ball State's Art Gallery into the Museum of Art during his 20-year tenure. He oversaw all facets, from researching and cataloguing the museum's nearly $50-million collection to the recent $8.5 million renovation, which doubled the museum's display capacity.

He also helped preserve the museum's 11,000 pieces. Works housed in the storage area are now protected by a state-of-the-art climate control system, as a result of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.