Topics: Miller College of Business, Building Better Communities

April 11, 2007

Ball State will celebrate the accomplishments of its students and faculty who are participating in Business Fellows projects.

Beginning at 4 p.m. April 23, the Business Fellows participants will showcase their work and the creative problem solving, strategic planning, teamwork and research involved in the projects. The showcase will be in the Pittenger Student Center, Cardinal Hall.

The 11 Business Fellows projects include:

  • Support to BioTown USAProject — John Motloch, landscape architecture, and his students worked with the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the BioTown Task Force and the community of Reynolds to support the BioTown USA initiative. Reynolds is slated to become the first town in the United States to rely entirely on locally generated biorenewable energy sources.
  • Brown County Celebration — Harold Mortimer, theater and dance, and Jeffrey Pappas, School of Music, and their students worked with Brown County officials to plan a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the work of famed Hoosier impressionist T.C. Steele.
  • Delaware County Disaster Plan — Stephen Avila, finance, guided a team of students in working with Delaware County Emergency Management Agency to develop a comprehensive disaster plan.
  • Indiana Veteran's Home — Jennifer Bott, marketing and management, and her students helped the Indiana Veteran's Home in West Lafayette identify staffing needs and draft a plan to facilitate recruitment, while reducing turnover and increasing retention of quality staff.
  • Smokefree Indiana — Jeffrey Clark and Susan Clark, physiology and health science, guided a team of students in working with Smokefree Indiana to enhance and develop marketing campaigns that promote smoke-free lifestyles specifically for the 18- to 24-year-old population.
  • Emergency Management through Computing — Fred Kitchens, information systems and operations management, and his students partnered with the Delaware County Emergency Management Agency to model multiple scenarios involving natural disasters using the university's cluster computer.
  • Briljent — Richard Shoemaker, journalism, guided a team of students working with Briljent, a training and consulting company based in Fort Wayne, to increase the company's business presence and competitiveness within the federal government.
  • CVC Communications — Peggy Fisher, communication studies, and her students worked with Fort Wayne-based CVC Communications to provide strategic assistance for CVC business development.
  • DesignPD — Vinayak Tanksale, computer science, and his students teamed up with DesignPD LLC, a computer software and consulting firm based in Fishers, to apply theory and concepts learned in various courses to design solutions for real-world problems and learn software reuse.
  • Red Gold Inc. Headquarters Development Project — Harry Eggink, architecture, guided a team of students in working with the Red Gold Company and the city of Elwood to create several visual conceptual development strategies and plans for the company's 54-acre headquarter site.
  • "Rediscovering a Legacy: A Partnership between Ball State University and St. Lawrence School — Bob Pritchard, journalism, and his students worked with the advisory council of the St. Lawrence School in Muncie to develop a comprehensive strategic plan and a plan for marketing and public relations.

Business Fellows, coordinated by Ball State's Career Center and funded by a $1.5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., gives Ball State students the opportunity to turn academic knowledge into business solutions through intense, semester-long applied work experiences that will benefit an Indiana business, industry or organization. The program works with Ball State's Building Better Communities initiative.

Refreshments will be served during the showcase. For more information, contact Cindy Hershman, Business Fellows assistant, at (765) 285-2436 or clhershman@bsu.edu.

By Kim Jackson