MUNCIE, Ind. - Family, community and aging are topics for “dream courses” being developed by Ball State University’s best teachers.

The 2000-2001 University Teaching Professors are Eric Damian Kelly, Urban Planning; Stacy Mulder, English; and Renee Twibell, Nursing. The award is sponsored by the Office of Teaching and Learning Advancement along with the Office of the Provost.

Students made initial nominations, then a panel of students and professors selected the winners after a classroom visit and a course presentation. The University Teaching Professors are given an opportunity to teach a specially designed “dream course.”

Twibell will teach “Issues in Health, Illness and Aging” to focus on discovering and sharing information and correcting misconceptions about aging and the older adult. Students will choose course activities and participate in class sessions via the Internet.

Students taking Mulder’s course, “Family Portraits in Literature,” will explore how culture affects family and family structure. The course will expose students to various perspectives on family and how the image of family is changing, said Mulder. The focus will be on literature that shows how different cultures represent the universal family.

Kelly’s course, “Creating Neighborhoods and Communities for the 21st Century,” will conceptualize future neighborhoods and communities. Providing the course in a symposium style will allow cooperative learning for a large number of students to discuss how community is defined, Kelly said.

By Roseanne Durril, Graduate Assistant