County Ambassador Program

About The County Ambassador Program

Ball State introduced our County Ambassador Program in Fall 2023. We believe this opportunity will allow counties across Indiana to attract our Cardinals to consider making your community home upon completion of their Ball State degree. This student-to-student engagement program is an opportunity for you to empower a student or group of students from your community to share community pride and to encourage their friends and classmates to get to know your county and why they may want to consider working or living there in the future. Here’s how it works:

Individual counties will:

Identify a Student Ambassador to represent their county
Provide the Student Ambassador with knowledge of the county’s visitor website, local employers, and significant local assets like parks and entertainment that make your county a great place to live
Equip the Student Ambassador with giveaways of your choice—stickers, t-shirts, fliers, local discounts, etc.

Ball State will provide programing sessions for the Ambassadors on the following topics:

The importance of promoting quality of place in order to sustain Indiana communities
How to tell a compelling story about the student’s county
Best practices and parameters of promotion on campus
Recognition of Ambassadors and regions for efforts and successes

It’s that easy! Get started now!

Contact Chrystal Pearson, Associate Director for Industry Engagement at | 765-285-3685 | engage@bsu.edu

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ) FOR COUNTIES

What is a Ball State University County Ambassador?

Each County Ambassador will serve as a student representative for their home county. It’s an opportunity for your county to find a student who is as excited about their home county and region of the state and to designate them as a champion to share information with their Ball State peers as they consider plans about where they will live and work upon graduation.

What does an Ambassador do?

County Ambassadors represent your county here on campus. They tell their peers about activities that are taking place back home, post fun things on social media, and show up with peers to support employers from your area who are recruiting on campus.

Where can a county learn who from their county is attending Ball State?

Ball State recommends that counties work with their high schools, Community Foundations, 4-H clubs, etc. to find out what students are attending Ball State.

Who chooses the Ambassador?

Leadership from each county will work together to decide how they would like to choose their Ambassador. This could be a referral process with a brief application and an interview. Each unique county will come up with their own process and choose their own Ambassador.

Is there an application process for selecting the Ambassador?

Since each county is unique and has the freedom to create an application process that works best for you, Ball State does not have a required County Ambassador application. Once your county has selected an Ambassador, contact the Office of Industry Engagement at engage@bsu.edu to provide the name, Ball State email address and phone number of the Ambassador.

Who determines which applicant is selected?

Each county gets to determine how they select their Ambassador. Once a county has designated which student will be serving as their Ambassador, let the Office of Industry Engagement know at engage@bsu.edu and the Ambassador will be contacted directly and welcomed to the program.

Is there a performance rubric for the Ambassadors? Is there accountability?

County Ambassadors will engage in a brief training at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters and participate in the Ball State Day at the Statehouse.

In addition, there are some basic guidelines regarding best practices of a County Ambassador on campus. Individual counties may have additional expectations that you would like to ask of the Ambassador. Please be mindful of the student’s additional priorities on campus.

The County Ambassador role is intentionally designed to be something that the student can do alongside all of their additional activities. (Examples of additional expectations that your county may have for the Ambassador might include: having a meeting with county leaders when the Ambassador returns home over scheduled breaks, presenting about their experience at a city council meeting, or posting on social media highlighting events throughout the school year)

Is the Ambassador paid? Does the Ambassador get course credit for this experience?

No, this is a volunteer program in which they will gain meaningful leadership experience. In addition, the Ambassadors will receive professional development training regarding how to make the most of their opportunity.

When does the program start and how long does it last?

This program runs during the academic year. Counties may choose to reappoint their Ambassador for additional years.

What is the deadline to join the county ambassador program?

The Office of Industry Engagement would like to know who each county has chosen as an Ambassador by August 1. Counties will be permitted to submit Ambassadors on a rolling basis after the deadline in order to help each county take advantage of this opportunity.

Is there a job description?

The Office of Industry Engagement offers the following basic job description for counties to utilize. Each county may add an additional requirement or two that aligns with their unique county performance expectation.

County Ambassador Job Description (pdf)

Office of Governmental Relations and Industry Engagement

Administration Building (AD)
Room 335
Muncie, IN 47306