Ball State's growing reputation as one of the top broadcasting schools in the country received an additional boost with five regional Emmy Award nominations from the Cleveland Chapter of the National Academy for Television Arts and Sciences.

Students, faculty and staff from the university have now earned 43 regional Emmy nominations since 2000 and have taken home 16 statuettes in the past five years.

"The nominations are a big step because they are culled from hundreds of entries, so we're very proud that our students have been nominated," said Nancy Carlson, chair of the telecommunications department. "For every student name on the nominations, there are dozens more doing behind-the-scenes work that contributed to the success of the nominees, which shows how our students pull together to achieve excellence."

The student program "Connections," which won four consecutive Emmys for best student program during 2001-2004 and added a professional Emmy for magazine format program last year, has again earned a nomination in the professional magazine format category.

Jaron Henrie-McCrea, who has won professional Emmys the past two years and recently earned a Student Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, earned three individual nominations and is named on the "Connections" entry. McCrea is nominated for director of tape or film for an eight-minute short film titled "Rose," and he earned two nominations in the feature entertainment category for "Times Square Dance" and "Marry This."

"This is not a competition that if you enter you're going to be nominated. It's incredibly competitive, and just being nominated is always an honor," McCrea said about his three individual nominations.

McCrea, who graduated in May, said he was not surprised that "Connections" received its fifth consecutive nomination and chalked it up to motivated students being encouraged by the show's faculty adviser, Jim Shasky, a telecommunications instructor.

"'Connections' is backed by a really encouraging professor who inspires students to produce good work, and with professors like Jim Shasky, Ball State is going to have continued success," McCrea said.

Shasky also received a nomination as a producer in the public service announcement category for "Even Experts Make Mistakes." The announcement resulted from a story on gun safety being produced for "Connections." While videotaping a gun safety expert, the expert's gun accidentally fired, giving the crew a real example and a powerful message about the need for safety even by well-trained individuals.

Nominated along with Shasky were students Emily Boone and Tony Kubek, who won an Emmy last year for an anti-smoking public service announcement.

In his recent book, "This Business of Broadcasting," media author Leonard Mogel said Ball State had one of eight outstanding broadcasting programs in the country. Student radio station WCRD recently earned seven Communicator Awards, an international competition open to commercial and non-commercial broadcasters. Telecommunications students Chad Cooper and Jeff Cooney recently won Gold Reel and Silver Reel awards, respectively, at the Media Communications Association-International Media Festival in Las Vegas. And now, come the Emmy nominations.

"If Emmys are the marker of excellence in television production, then the message appears to be that Ball State's College of Communication, Information, and Media is the place to study in the Midwest, and our reputation is growing nationally and internationally as well," Carlson said. "With great facilities, excellent students and outstanding faculty, we are determined to become even better."

(Editor's Note: For more information, contact Carlson at (765) 285-1489, or (765) 282-5924 or ncarlson@bsu.edu.)