The Mary and George Sissel Scholarship was established through an initial gift of $25,000 from the couple, who lived a block off Ball State's campus from 1973-1998. They relocated to Broomfield, Colo., a suburb of Denver, when Ball Corp. moved its headquarters from Muncie.

"We were avid supporters of both academic and athletic programs at Ball State," Mr. Sissel said. "While we continue to host Ball State alumni events in Colorado, when we moved to Denver after 25 years in Indiana, we left part of our hearts in Muncie and Indiana."

"We hope our scholarship will enable female students in the future to become similarly attached to Ball State," Mrs. Sissel said.

Mr. Sissel was the chief executive officer of Ball Corp., one of the world's leading suppliers of metal and plastic packaging to the beverage and food industries.

During his time in Muncie, Mr. Sissel was active in Ball State's Miller College of Business and taught political science classes. He also served on Ball State's National Development Council for several years.

Mrs. Sissel earned a master's degree from Ball State in 1978. She was the Telesale coordinator for WIPB-TV, the university's public broadcasting television station, from 1979-81. From 1981-97 she was an administrator for the law firm of DeFur, Voran, Hanley, Radcliff and Reed.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Charles R. (Chip) Jaggers, interim executive director of University Development, at cjaggers@bsu.edu or (765) 285-8261.)