Talent Pipeline Toolkit
Explore this Toolkit to discover the full range of Ball State University programs designed to support your regional needs. Whether your goal is to attract new talent or upskill your current employees, you’ll find practical, proven resources here. Each program profile highlights unique benefits and strategies, helping you see how they can work individually or in combination to create a customized approach for your community. Use this toolkit to connect with the right opportunities and maximize the impact of your engagement with Ball State.
Partner with Ball State
Ball State University is committed to helping Indiana communities grow their own talent by strengthening local pipelines and connecting students to meaningful careers in their hometowns. This toolkit highlights how partnerships with Ball State can engage students early, keep them engaged with their communities while they’re students, and encourage them to return home after graduation as future leaders.
Communities can also collaborate directly with Ball State faculty and staff to share local opportunities and workforce needs. Programs like Skills Infusion and Faculty Externships create valuable links between academia and industry, while initiatives such as the Indiana Connection Lounge allow local leaders to meet students and showcase career possibilities. By fostering these intentional connections, Ball State helps build strong, sustainable talent pipelines that benefit communities across Indiana.
Attracting Workforce
Ball State’s County Ambassador Program offers Indiana communities a powerful tool for talent attraction and long-term growth. By empowering a student from their area to serve as an on-campus Ambassador, communities gain a visible, trusted advocate promoting their hometown as a great place to live, work, and build a future. Ambassadors introduce fellow Cardinals to local career opportunities, quality-of-life assets, and reasons to consider their community after graduation.
This program helps communities reach young talent where they are, positioning their region as a destination for the next generation. Communities share local knowledge, promotional materials, and encouragement to their County Ambassador while Ball State provides the students with training, guidance for engaging on campus, and opportunities to represent their communities. It’s a high-impact way for communities to grow talent pipelines, boost visibility, and invest in their region’s future.
Contact: Chrystal Pearson | chrystal.pearson@bsu.edu | 765-285-3685
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The Faculty Externship Program offers organizations a unique opportunity to showcase their industry. One of Ball State’s full-time faculty members is placed within an organization in the community, spending 40 hours observing day-to-day operations and industry practices. These first-hand experiences allow faculty to gain greater awareness of local and statewide industries, which they bring back into the classroom. The result is more relevant, engaging instruction that helps students make informed decisions about internships, career paths, and the communities in which they may one day live and work.
Contact: Jill Cooper | jlcooper2@bsu.edu | 765-285-2430
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Immersive learning at Ball State is a high-impact learning experience that involves collaborative, student-driven teams guided by faculty mentors. Students earn credit while working with community partners to address their challenges through the creation of a product that has a lasting impact. Partners present a current issue or opportunity and work collaboratively with students and faculty throughout the process. These projects not only produce meaningful outcomes for communities but also help students apply classroom knowledge, build practical skills, and develop strong ties to communities.
Contact: Jackie Grutsch McKinney | jrmckinney@bsu.edu | 765-285-2870
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Unique to Ball State, the Indiana Connection Lounge is a welcoming, dedicated space where employers and students connect in meaningful ways through one-on-one and small-group conversations.
The lounge serves as a home-away-from-home for employers spending the day on campus, creating lasting impressions on our diverse undergraduate and graduate students. It reflects Ball State’s commitment to prepare students for fulfilling careers and meaningful lives. See how this partnership might benefit your organization by visiting the Indiana Connection Lounge website.
Contact: Robert Tucker | robert.tucker@bsu.edu | 765-285-2434
About Our Mentoring Experiences
Ball State’s mentoring programs connect students with industry professionals who showcase the opportunities and advantages of building careers in the state. Through professional networking and real-world insights, these programs highlight Indiana as a place where students can thrive personally and professionally. By fostering early connections between emerging talent and established professionals, mentoring not only develops workforce-ready graduates but also encourages them to see Indiana as the place to launch and grow their careers. Intentional communities can leverage targeted mentoring opportunities to strengthen the talent pipeline by promoting career exploration, expanding networks, and encouraging retention of skilled graduates within the state.
Cardinals Connect
Cardinals Connect is designed as an exclusive Ball State platform with a focused approach on mentoring. This targeted approach provides a convenient, flexible way to build relationships that extend beyond campus and prepare students for success after graduation.
Contact: Sue Godrey | segodfrey@bsu.edu | 765-285-7096
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Industry partners can highlight employment opportunities and local quality of life assets by hosting site visits that bring 20 to 30 underclassmen to their community. These trips offer early exposure to real-world experiences, which helps students make more informed decisions about internships and future employment.
Site visits are a part of Ball State’s Living Learning Communities (LLCs) which create a direct link between academics and student life. LLCs support Indiana’s talent pipeline by developing career-ready graduates, strengthening student retention, and aligning educational experiences with workforce needs. Through these site visits, peer mentoring, and industry-focused programming, LLCs provide opportunities for community leaders and employers to engage with and invest in the next generation of Indiana’s workforce.
Contact: Garrett Tur | gjtur@bsu.edu | 765-285-0090
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The Skills Infusion Program connects industry leaders with full-time faculty members to provide valuable feedback regarding workplace competencies. Each semester, industry partners spend an afternoon on campus collaborating with faculty members, identifying opportunities to develop and articulate competencies in specific courses. Competencies include skills like written communication, critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership. This program provides an opportunity for industry partners to develop relationships with educators from various disciplines that strengthen bridges between classroom learning and career readiness.
Contact: Jill Cooper | jlcooper2@bsu.edu | 765-285-2430
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Upskilling Workforce
With continual advances in workforce expectations and capabilities, there is a need for upskilling working professionals to meet current and future industry needs. The following offerings provide working professionals with programming opportunities to improve themselves, their businesses, and their communities.
Ball State’s Business and Executive Education programs are designed to raise the bar on personal and organizational performance. Every organization is unique from its culture to its priorities. To develop a tailored training solution with us request a custom training.
Contact: Greg Zirkle
grzirkle@bsu.edu | 765-285-4511
Explore programs
Ball State’s distance and online learning programs offer companies and individuals a powerful way to shape a stronger, more skilled workforce. Online students receive the same high-quality education as those on campus with the added benefit of flexible scheduling.
Courses are taught by expert faculty and meet the same rigorous standards as on-campus courses. Whether earning a degree or developing new skills, online learners can pursue their goals from anywhere. This makes it easier for employers to retain talent and support employee growth.
Contact: Trudi Weyermann | tlweyermann@bsu.edu | 765-285-5774
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Ball State offers more than 100 graduate programs across seven colleges, including master’s, doctoral, and specialist degrees and certificates in high-demand fields. Many of these programs are ranked among the nation’s best and offer flexibility with on-campus, online, or hybrid class options. These programs are ideal for working adults who want to advance or shift careers without relocating. Students in these programs receive a rigorous, supportive, and accessible academic experience.
Contact: Cassidy Forbing | cforbing@bsu.edu | 765-285-3670
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The Indiana Communities Institute (ICI) strengthens Indiana’s workforce by equipping community and economic development leaders with the skills, strategies, and vision needed to navigate change and drive prosperity. ICI offers a variety of in-person courses, ranging from short sessions to immersive, week-long programs that are designed to advance regional leadership capacity. Each training is grounded in research, aligned with policy, and proven through practice.
Whether you engage through the Indiana Communities Institute Academy or through customized, community-driven initiatives, ICI’s experienced team offers the tools, insights, and partnerships needed to shape stronger, more sustainable places to live, work, and thrive.
Contact: Angie Popplewell | acpopplewell@bsu.edu | 765-285-4912
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Lifetime Learning by Ball State provides flexible, market-driven opportunities for students and adult learners to learn, grow, and thrive. Through non-credit courses and credentials, learners can pursue targeted, goal-focused education that fits their schedules, one skill at a time. It is just one of the reasons Ball State is a 16-time Princeton Review “Best University in the Midwest.”
Contact: Sharon Morrissey | sharon.morrissey@bsu.edu | 765-285-8565
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For counties and localities struggling with teacher shortages, these programs can offer a way to “upskill” people within the community who already have a bachelor’s degree to become licensed teachers.
Contact: Ted Rankin
mjrankin@bsu.edu | 765-285-7748
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Industry Engagement
As a state serving institution, we are grateful for the opportunity to directly impact local communities through strategic initiatives that add tremendous value through strengthening talent pipelines throughout Indiana.
Contact Jeff Eads, Director for Industry Engagement
jleads@bsu.edu | 765-285-1147