MUNCIE, Ind. - Molly Dailey was already sick when she walked into her news production class the first time.

The Ball State University sophomore was interested in television production in the Department of Telecommunications. She had big dreams and ambitions---and she had cancer.

Between classes and projects, Molly spent the semester dealing with daily or weekly doctor appointments and hospitalization.

"Above all else, Molly valued her life, personal relationships, and her education,” said her father, Delaware County Circuit Judge Richard A. Dailey. "She determined cancer would not be a focus of her life but would help direct it.”

Steve Bell, the former Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Chair in Telecommunications and professor of the news production class, agreed that Molly was a remarkable young woman.

"Despite the cancer, she just refused to give up and stop dreaming her dreams,” he said. "She inspired her fellow students and her teacher.”

Despite two bone marrow transplants from her younger brother Larry, Molly died. Together, her family and friends decided that she would continue to inspire people.

Richard Dailey and Nancy Dailey, vice chancellor for external affairs at Indiana University-Kokomo, established two funds in Molly’s name for equipment and stipends for internship experiences, in addition to an award for news reporting named for Bell, one of her favorite professors.

Annual gifts of $10,000 each to the Molly Dailey Telecommunications Equipment Fund and Molly Dailey Telecommunications Internship Fund will eventually endow each fund with $100,000. An annual gift of $1,000 provides two Steve Bell News Packaging Awards of $500 each year to encourage students to participate in extracurricular activities.

Memorial gifts from friends and family after Molly’s death contributed to the equipment fund.

Joe Misiewicz, telecommunications department chair, said that Molly had voiced a desire to help other Ball State students after her own dreams came true.

"She knew that state-of-the-art equipment was sometimes too much for academic budgets, and she knew that sometimes students couldn’t do internships in big cities because of the expenses,” he said. "Molly wanted to become successful and then help others by providing funds for equipment and internship opportunities.”

Her parents decided to carry on with Molly’s agenda as best they could.

"Molly’s funds at Ball State reflect what was important to her, and we feel very positive about her continuing presence in the department,” said Nancy Dailey. "We want to help TCOM students get the edge they need to secure top jobs.”

Denise D’Amico from Yorktown, who used her internship award to go to Atlanta, said the internship led to her first full-time job.

"Words can’t express how grateful I am,” she said. "It would have been extremely difficult to make my dreams come true without the Daileys’ help.”

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about this story contact Hudson Akin at (765)285-8261 or hakin@bsu.edu.