Topic: College of Communication Information and Media
January 4, 2007
Following 21 years of leadership as the
Center for Information and Communication Science's (CICS) founding director, Ray Steele has been named a distinguished professor at Ball State.
The honor came as part of an announcement that Steele will step down as director of CICS, which he helped to create in 1985. Steele will move his new post as the CICS Distinguished Professor Sept. 1. A national search will be conducted to fill the position.
"During his tenure as the CICS director, Ray has been an outstanding teacher, a distinguished scholar and mentor to his colleagues," said Roger Lavery, dean of Ball State's College of Communication, Information, and Media. "We are pleased that his new role will enable the CICS faculty, students and alumni to continue to benefit from his extensive experience, knowledge and well-developed industry relationships."
The title of distinguished professor is presented to a select number of faculty for extraordinary commitment and success in teaching and scholarly activities.
CICS has one of the few interdisciplinary programs in the country that combines theory and hands-on learning opportunities in diagnosing information and communication problems. Graduates have maintained a 95 percent placement rate in the field since CICS opened its doors in 1986.
Steele and the CICS faculty have had a long history of success in producing outstanding graduates. Nearly 1,300 alumni work for many of the world's leading corporations, including AT&T, Intel, Lilly and Cisco, Lavery added.
Steele is a Frank Stanton Fellow with the International Radio and Television Society, was the second inductee into the Teleconferencing Hall of Fame, the first academic to receive the Pfister Award from BICSI and was the ICA Foundation's second Montgomery Award winner.
"It has been an honor to work with many outstanding students who have gone on to hold leadership positions in organizations or are now entrepreneurs running their own organizations," Steele said. "As the first CICS distinguished professor, I will certainly be involved with the program for many years to come."
By Marc Ransford, Senior Communications Strategist