Analysis of Fluid Viscosities Used To Treat Human Dysphagia
Faculty Mentor: Mary Ewing
Community Partner: IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital
Class: SPAA 299x
Students learned about dysphagia and how thickened liquids impact swallowing. Students then worked with IU Health BMH to determine supplemental drinks patients consume. The students analyzed different commercial thickeners with the supplemental drinks to determine the vicosity of different recipes. Students found some of the supplemental drinks become too thick when thickened with commercial thickeners which may be harmful for patients being treated for dysphagia.
Applied Organizational Communication, Rhetoric, and Advocacy
Faculty Mentor: Marcy Meyer
Community Partners: Maring-Hunt Public Library, Muncie Outreach, NAMI Delaware County, Boys & Girls Club, Delta High School
Classes: COMM 450, COMM 452
Students worked in teams to design training interventions for community-based nonprofit organizations. They selected organizations that had mission statements related to social issues they were passionate about and leveraged their knowledge about organizational communication, rhetoric, and training to deliver training sessions tailored to their clients' needs.
A Student-Run Printing Company to Serve the Community
Faculty Mentor: Renmei Xu
Community Partners: Ross Community Center, Soup Kitchen of Muncie
Class: SPAA 299x
Students run a theoretical printing company to help community organizations with their needs. They worked on an annual report for Ross Community Center and signages for Soup Kitchen of Muncie.
Building Community of Practice Content Partnerships in Elementary Education
Faculty Mentor: Andrew Gatza
Community Partners: West View Elementary School, Burris Laboratory School
Classes: MATH 391, EDEL 300, EDRD 300, EDRD 430
Across this immersive learning experience within mathematics and literacy content areas, our focus is on developing prospective elementary teachers not to be technicians who apply memorized course content, but individuals who have the professional agility and adaptability to apply discipline-, elementary-level-learner-, and community-specific knowledge to inform their critical thinking within the ever-changing landscape of education. Therefore, we aim to prepare prospective teachers as professionals by engaging them in professional practices and decision-making throughout the experience, bringing together research and practice in authentic school contexts.
Building a Community of Practice Partnership
Faculty Mentor: Cresta Hancock
Community Partner: Muncie Northside Middle School
Classes: EDJH 385, MATH 393, ENG 350
This immersive learning project breaks from a traditional siloed teacher education approach to establish a more coordinated and collaborative experience for prospective secondary teachers across the College of Sciences and Humanities and Teachers College. Specifically, this project seeks to coordinate MATH 393 (Math Department in CSH) and ENG 350 (English Department in CSH) with EDJH 385 (Educational Studies Department in Teachers College) in partnership with Northside Middle School in Muncie Community Schools, with plans to eventually incorporate SS350 (History Department) as well. To this end, MATH 393, ENG 350, and EDJH 385 (and eventually SS 350) will be held at Northside; Ball State students will work in paired (not 1-to-1) placements with experienced Northside mentor teachers to encourage collaboration and pedagogical development and reflection; and all Ball State coursework will be designed to address authentic problems of practice in field experience to align with needs at Northside.
Community Social Support
Faculty Mentor: George Gaither
Community Partners: Still Waters Professional Counseling; LifeStream Services, Inc; GenderNexus; and PCOS Challenge
Class: PSYS 495
Students are working with several community organizations to create and facilitate support groups locally, for members of the community who identify as a Caregiver (adult who cares for another adult), Gender Diverse, or diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.
Computer Science for Muncie (and surrounding) Schools (CS4MS+)
Faculty Mentor: David Largent
Community Partners: Northside Middle School, Burris Laboratory School, Indiana Academy, Inspire Academy, Ross Community Center, Longfellow Elementary School, Options School
Class: CS 341
Partnering with local schools and community organizations, the Computer Science for Muncie (and Surrounding) Schools (CS4MS+) project team researched, developed, curated, and delivered instructional resources which incorporate Computer Science (CS) into educational offerings, with a focus on the Indiana CS academic standards, and worked to advance teachers’ understanding of CS and/or interacted with their students as a teaching assistant. A project focus was to expose underrepresented minorities and females to CS.
De-board Smarter: Real-Time Insights For Better Travel
Faculty Mentor: Fred Kitchens
Community Partner: Indianapolis International Warning
Class: BIS 490
This project focuses on tracking and displaying passenger deboarding times at Indianapolis International Airport to enhance transparency and improve operational efficiency. Through a structured system development lifecycle, the initiative will define requirements, develop solutions, and conduct rigorous evaluation to ensure effectiveness. By collecting real-time data, the system will display airline-specific deboarding times on the airport’s website, meeting predefined criteria for accuracy and accessibility. This approach not only helps shift accountability from the airport to the airlines but also provides valuable insights for optimizing ground operations. Ultimately, the goal is to enhance the passenger experience and support data-driven decision-making for a more efficient travel process.
Designing for Children with Autism
Faculty Mentor: Shireen Kanakri
Community Partners: Mitchell Early Childhood Center, San Franciscan Hospital
Class: IDES 334
Different Design Solutions had been proposed from students in IDES 334 for children with special needs.
Digital Marketing Immersive Capstone
Faculty Mentor: Chris Wilkey
Community Partner: New Castle Main Street
Class: MKG 490
Through the MKG 490 Immersive Capstone course, our students worked directly with New Castle Main Street and the businesses in downtown New Castle to increase their visibility through digital marketing in the forms of video, photography, social media, websites, and podcasting. Students gained real-world experience creating content for businesses and will help encourage additional economic development in the area. The purpose of this course is to give the student hands on experience in creating and executing a digital marketing plan. As in the business world, teamwork and business communication with the client and the potential customers are essential to complete the class assignments. This is an immersive learning where the student will be responsible for client deliverables that are professional and effective in communicating the client’s message to the target audience.
Economic Development Studio
Faculty Mentor: Ruoran Liu
Community Partners: Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce; Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO); City of Warsaw; OrthoWorx; Zimmer Biomet
Class: PLAN 303
In collaboration with the community and industry partners, the PLAN 303 Economic Development Studio Class completed three in-depth urban economic planning, industry research, and urban design projects: Kosciusko County Economic and Industrial Profile, Orthopedic Industry Supply Chain Research, and Winona Corridor (Warsaw) Urban Design.
The Kosciusko County Economic and Industrial Profile offers an in-depth analysis of the county's economic standing and industrial structure, complemented by strategic development recommendations. The Orthopedic Industry Supply Chain Research explores the networks of medical device supplier and healthcare providers, emerging technological trends and their impacts on local businesses and employment, as well as the local funding ecosystem that supports industrial transformation. The Winona Corridor Urban Design project enhances place-based amenities, the transportation network, and operating conditions for local small businesses.
These projects are developed to inform and shape the economic future of Kosciusko County and the City of Warsaw. The first two studies provide local economic development leaders and stakeholders with a detailed insight into the current regional economic and industrial conditions, facilitating informed decision-making in programs and investments focused on sustainable economic and industrial revitalization. The Winona Corridor Urban Design project aims to improve the quality of place and boost talent attraction in a vital urban corridor linking Downtown Warsaw, Grace College, and other important recreational destinations.
Environmental Sustainability & Interdisciplinary Scuba Careers
Faculty Mentors: Tonya Skalon, Sheli Plummer
Community Partners: Amoray Dive Resort, I.Care
Class: KINE 299X
Ball State scuba-certified students participated in a study-away experience in Key Largo, immersing themselves in environmental sustainability and marine conservation. They focused on reef health, cultivated and planted coral, and contributed to ocean preservation through a dive clean-up. Additionally, students explored various career paths where scuba skills are essential, visiting facilities such as the National Marine Sanctuary, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, the local Sheriff’s office, and the History of Diving Museum. They also engaged with professionals at a local hospital to gain insights into dive-related accidents and the treatment of decompression sickness, deepening their understanding of diving safety and emergency response.
Housing Needs Analysis Project with Muncie Land Bank, Muncie, Indiana
Faculty Mentor: Sanglim Yoo
Community Partner: Muncie Land Bank
Class: PLAN 203
In Spring 2025, PLAN 203 studio partnered with Muncie Land Bank to assess the housing conditions and needs of selected Muncie neighborhoods. As a result, students will learn the core concepts of land use and socioeconomic analysis on the regional scale and apply these analytic skills to serve the needs of Muncie Land Bank. The studio aims to fill ScoutMuncie's information gap and assist the Muncie Land Bako to identify vacant, abandoned, and deteriorating properties in the selected neighborhoods of Muncie, Indiana.
Immersive Proposal Writing Exercise and Shark Tank: Village Promenade
Faculty Mentor: Craig Webster
Community Partner: Optimus Primary Project
Class: HOSP 387
The immersive aspect of this semester’s class was to look at the Village Promenade Learning Lab and create an event that can use the space there for the benefit of those who are now living on the premises. This was a proposal to a real client and the winning event is intended to be run. Students worked to satisfy the client’s needs by supplying a roadmap to success, incorporating events into the mix. The proposal was to support the IU Medical students who are residing at the Village Promenade and are supported by the Optimus Primary Project, a project funded by the Ball Brothers Foundation.
Japanese Cultural Events for Japanese Hoosiers
Faculty Mentor: Reiko Habuto Ileleji
Community Partner: JASI Japanese Language Learning Support Group
Class: JAPA 202
Intermediate Japanese students at Ball State partnered with the Japanese Language Learning Support Group in Indianapolis to hold Japanese cultural events throughout the Spring 2025 semester. These monthly events aimed to create opportunities for young Japanese heritage language learners to use Japanese in fun and interactive ways so that the children are encouraged to continue studying Japanese and their families can create a sense of belonging in the community. Ball State students learned practical communication skills in Japanese by collaborating with native/near-native Japanese parents of the children, as well as many Japanese cultural retrials and customs they would not have opportunities to experience by researching, preparing, and hosting the events.
Making 40,000 Children Smile, One donation at a time
Faculty Mentor: Fred Kitchens
Community Partner: Muncie Children's Museum
Class: BIS 490
The problem was The Muncie Children’s Museum's outdated donor management system, which lacked efficiency and hindered donor engagement. Using criteria such as ease of use, scalability, and cost, we applied the system development lifecycle to assess the current system, gather requirements, and evaluate potential solutions. After evaluating options, we recommended Zeffy.com as the optimal solution, ensuring it meets the museum's needs. Through our solution, The Muncie Children’s Museum can help children dream big through donations.
MASTS of Whitely - A Community-Based Mapping and Story-Telling System
Faculty Mentor: Jörn Seemann
Community Partner: Whitely Community Council
Class: GEOG 434
In partnership with the Whitely community, students in the GEOG434 class (Maps, Environment, and Society) work together with community members to make maps (both printed and online) with and for the neighborhood to tell stories about its people, history, and culture, also with the specific aim to use the material for educational purposes.
Mental Health Advocacy and Creative Arts
Faculty Mentor: Kelly Fischer
Community Partner: Frederic and Ronza
Class: PSYS 495
This immersive learning project formed a community partnership with Frederic and Ronza and the Consortium of artists gathered to produce Shape, an event that elevates the voices of those affected by mental health issues and substance use issues and celebrates them through a performance and visual art production and resource fair.
Students joined the team to help reach goals set by the Consortium, under the mentorship of Kelly Fischer, from the Department of Psychological Science. Students spent time with individuals affected by these issues to listen and learn from those with lived experiences, considering available resources and barriers to accessing those resources. Additionally, they collaborated with the creative artists to influence how arts can express the core messages of Shape.
The culminating project included a live event featuring music, dance and story based on student curated information from those impacted by mental health and substance use. In addition, the project featured a visual art show, and educational events. The message of Shape was to symbolize the need to learn more, gain perspective, understand, and empathize. By using the power of the arts to bring awareness, Shape encourages those who are experiencing these issues to share and find healing.
Muncie Public Library Patron Needs Assessment
Faculty Mentor: Mary Provence
Community Partner: Muncie Public Library
Class: SOCW 430
Muncie Public Library (MPL) patrons often present with pressing needs such as housing, shelter, food, mental health, and substance abuse concerns. Students conducted a needs assessment of adult patrons to determine the type and degree of needs present and patron likelihood of using the services of social work interns. As co-investigators, students conducted a stakeholder meeting, reviewed the literature, and created a Qualtrics survey for this IRB-approved study. They designed recruitment materials including a flyer and script and did in-person data collection at all four branches of MPL. Guided by student leaders in conjunction with Dr. Provence, students worked in teams within and across classrooms to conduct site visits, clean and analyze data, handle media contacts and stakeholder communication, plan a stakeholder celebration complete with food (on a $0 budget), and prepare and present their findings to MPL leadership. As a result of this assessment, MPL and the Ball State Department of Social Work are moving forward on plans to place social work interns at Muncie Public Libraries.
Muncie Public Library Staff Needs Assessment
Faculty Mentor: Mary Provence
Community Partner: Muncie Public Library
Class: SOCW 430
Muncie Public Library (MPL) patrons often present with pressing needs such as housing, shelter, food, mental health, and substance abuse concerns. Library staff are not fully equipped to handle these non-traditional patron needs. Students conducted a needs assessment of library staff’s perception of patron needs, their own training and support needs, and their views on the possible integration of social work interns into the library. As co-investigators, students conducted a stakeholder meeting, reviewed the literature, and created a Qualtrics survey for this IRB-approved study. Guided by student leaders in conjunction with Dr. Provence, students worked in teams within and across classrooms to conduct site visits, collect data at each library, clean and analyze data, handle media contacts and stakeholder communication, plan a stakeholder celebration complete with food (on a $0 budget), and prepare and present their findings to MPL leadership. As a result of this assessment, MPL and the Ball State Department of Social Work are moving forward on plans to place social work interns at Muncie Public Libraries.
Philosophy Outreach Project
Faculty Mentor: Sarah Vitale
Community Partner: Muncie Central High School
Class: PHIL 403
The Philosophy Outreach Project gets high school students across Indiana thinking. POP creates alternative spaces for learning in classrooms, clubs, online, and conference settings. By curating philosophical content and fostering philosophical discussion, POP provides high school students with tools and a platform to engage with each other and the world. POP believes that everyone deserves to live the examined life. We help them do so.
Psychology and Creative Arts
Faculty Mentor: Kelly Fischer
Community Partner: The Allied Solutions Center for Performing Arts
Class: PSYS 495
This immersive learning project worked with the Center for Performing Arts to design and implement behavioral supports that help individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders participate in a recreational performance arts program. This class involved collaboration with peers and working professionals to answer the essential question driving this course: How can we use what we know about psychological theories to help design strategies that assist individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders like autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disabilities so that we can expand recreational opportunities to performance art and creative art activities? Students learned how different types of neurodevelopmental disorders presented from individual to individual, and how a variety of disciplines could work together to design and execute a fully supportive, fun and enriching recreational program. This project addressed the lack of recreational opportunities for individuals with disabilities that existed in the community.
Post Occupancy Evaluation of CAP Building in Renovation
Faculty Mentor: Zahida Khan
Community Partner: Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning
Classes: ARCH 273, ARCH 373
This immersive learning course focused on environmental control design strategies in buildings. The architecture students engaged in STEM research study of a real-life project: CAP Building Renovation at BSU, to understand the concepts of building and environmental science. We investigated the relationship between Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), occupant behavior, and building energy consumption, using Post-Occupancy Evaluation methods (monitoring sensors and comfort surveys) as hands-on learning tools.
Radiance Cinema
Faculty Mentors: Benjamin Strack, Mark Cabus
Community Partner: Heartland Film
Classes: MDIA 336, MDIA 499, THEA 431, THEA 299X
Radiance Cinema engages the next generation of filmmakers with the premiere film festival organization of Indiana, Heartland Film. Students grow and develop a wide variety of trade skills and put them to work on projects that have their world premiere at the Indy Shorts International Film Festival.
Re-imagining Re-pairing Re-building Sustainable and Equitable Housing in Old West End
Faculty Mentors: Pam Harwood, Tom Collins
Community Partners: ecoREHAB, Muncie Land Bank, Intend Indiana, Pathstone, Old West End Neighborhood Association
Classes: ARCH 400, ARCH 402
The question that framed our studio investigations of attainable high-performance housing was: How can we design high quality, sustainable, affordable missing middle housing to rebuild this historic neighborhood and engage its diverse constituents? Through community-engagement, collaborations with urban planning and architecture students, and multiple non-profit organizations, we developed a housing profile, assessed housing needs expanding the choices for households of one and two people housing units, and identified the need to create dense, sustainable, community-centric workforce housing that can contribute to the economic prosperity of local economies. How sustainable and equitable design connect to facilitate change in this historic neighborhood is the center of our conversation. The design project will be submitted as part of the 2025 International Solar Decathlon Design Challenge (SDDC) in late April 2025.
Repurposing the Kitselman Center
Faculty Mentor: Dina Zemke
Community Partner: Ball State University
Class: PMGT 498
The students in PMGT 498 Immersive Learning Experience in Property Management developed a business plan proposal to repurpose the Kitselman Center into a healthcare hospitality house. Students learned to evaluate the property, engage in decision-making about the highest and best use for the property, gather data from a wide variety of community members including local residents as well as IU Health, Ascension St. Vincent House, and the Ronald McDonald House. The students also developed skills in oral and written communications. The end result was a business plan presented to BSU administrators.
Research Solutions Consultants
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo
Community Partners: Second Harvest, Hancock County Drug Court, MLK Dream Team
Class: SOC 492
Capstone students took on the role of research solution consultants and project managers for community partner clients, Second Harvest, Hancock County Drug Court, and MLK Dream Team. They learned about their use of surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation to help meet partners' real world data needs.
Software Engineering Immersive Capstone
Faculty Mentor: Huseyin Ergin
Community Partners: Accutech Systems, Live to Rock, Intertwined, Kazem Namazi, Enjerneeing, Delaware County Emergency Services, Move Health,
Class: CS 498
In the class, students partnered with multiple community partners to meet their technological needs through the deliverables of designed software to the community partners.
Teaching for Tomorrow: Integrating Global Sustainability Across the Curricula
Faculty Mentor: Sinead Meehan
Community Partner: McCordsville Elementary School
Class: EDRD/EDEL 350
This immersive course is designed to deepen pre-service teachers’ understanding of language arts instruction while integrating a focus on global challenges and sustainability. Building on their previous lesson planning experiences, students collaboratively designed, implemented, and published interdisciplinary units related to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Tracking the Flock: How Can We Keep Students in the Nest?
Faculty Mentor: Fred Kitchens
Community Partner: The Office of Student Success and Engagement
Class: BIS 490
This project focuses on tracking student engagement and enrollment, beginning with high school recruitment and continuing through graduation at Ball State. The goal is to measure the effectiveness of recruitment efforts while also monitoring how well current students stay engaged on campus. By analyzing enrollment trends, we can determine how many high school students from each recruiting event choose to join our university. Ultimately, this data will help strengthen our approach to attracting future Cardinals and enhancing student retention strategies.
The Village Revitalization
Faculty Mentor: Jen Erickson
Community Partner: Riverside-Normal City Neighborhood Association
Class: ANTH 322
Students in this immersive learning class studied The Village Revitalization plan from an anthropological perspective to better understand urban life. They read urban anthropology, learned ethnographic methodologies, conducted archival research about Village life in the past, collected survey data, went to meetings, and conducted participant observation and qualitative interviews with a variety of different stakeholders. They analyzed the data and turned the results into zines to distribute to Ball State and Muncie community members and designed a website.
Village Revitalization Stakeholder Impact Analysis
Faculty Mentor: Sotiris Hji-Avgoustis
Community Partner: City of Muncie
Class: HOSP 499
Each student team (group of 3) focused on residents near the Village to assess their reaction to the university’s plans to redevelop the Village to enhance "quality of place". Students also developed a clearer understanding of the importance of strong town-gown relations.
Writing for Change - Westminster Village
Faculty Mentor: Laura Romano
Community Partner: Westminster Village
Classes: ENG 103, ENG 104
Writing For Change is a year-long immersive section of English 103 and English 104. Over the course of the year, students work closely with our community partner, Westminster Village, in an effort to understand ageism, discuss issues in elder care and promote intergenerational learning opportunities. Through this course students create deliverables that support the needs of Westminster Village and its residents, such as a short film series.
Writing for Change - Muncie Mission
Faculty Mentor: Mary Lowry
Community Partner: Muncie Mission
Classes: ENG 103, ENG 104
In this section of Writing for Change, students collaborated with Muncie Mission Ministries. The largest project of the year was promoting and documenting the Walk A Mile in My Shoes event. Students engaged in primary research to understand various audiences that they could pitch the event to. They then used their rhetorical skills to craft messages for each specific group that they identified, an an effort to persuade people to get involved with the Mission.
Writing for Change - Recovery Cafe
Faculty Mentor: Kathryn Ludwig
Community Partner: Recovery Cafe Muncie
Classes: ENG 103, ENG 104
Students in Dr. Ludwig's 2024-2025 Writing for Change course completed a Facing Project with members of the Recovery Cafe. Students were paired with Cafe members who volunteered to share their stories, and with former Writing for Change students who had stories of impact to share. Students met with their storytelling partners several times and learned to listen well. They developed their understanding of recovery and they learned about empathy, both from the experience of listening and also from the example set by members of the Cafe. The purpose of the Facing Recovery story collection is to offer hope to those considering recovery, foster empathy in those who are skeptical of the process, and empower allies to support those doing the hard work of recovery. The class distributed copies of Facing Recovery to community organizations and individuals who interact with folks in recovery, hosted listening circles which brought community members into conversation with the Facing project storytellers. Additionally, the class endeavored to support students on the Ball State campus in their recovery journeys through the establishment of a satellite recovery circle, which meets weekly on campus and will continue well beyond the semester.