Community

Expectations

BEN YODER

Encouraging Potential

As a Music Education major at Ball State, Ben Yoder, ’07, remembers when his professors outlined an approach to teaching that spoke directly to his future.

The idea: create independent musicians—ones able to learn on their own.

Yoder shifted his focus to how to go about cultivating self-reliant musicians—a focus he now applies as orchestra director and music teacher at Hamilton Southeastern Intermediate & Junior High School in Fishers, Indiana.

Orchestras he’s directed have received superior rankings and earned top honors at music festivals in Indiana and beyond, and in 2020 Yoder was named the state’s Middle School Music Educator of the Year.

For him, “it’s about getting kids to play, enjoy, and appreciate music. My job is to get them ready to leave the nest. I want them to be able to figure this out on their own when I’m no longer there.”

Each year, Yoder teaches some 200 sixth through eighth graders. Most start not knowing how to read a musical note or hold an instrument. But before long, they’re preparing to perform in a school concert. “We’re going to go through this together,” Yoder tells them. “We’re a team.”

Several of his former students have even gone on to teach music, bringing Yoder’s nurturing of their future growth full circle.

For his ability to help create the next generation of independent musicians and learners, Yoder is grateful to the professors who put him on the right path.

One way he shows that appreciation is though service as president of the Young Alumni Council (YAC). Through social events, service projects, and career resources, YAC empowers and engages the University’s fastest-growing alumni population.

The council is also advancing the notion that giving back is not just about donating, but about guiding and shaping Ball State’s future.

Yoder’s own hopes for Ball State include continuing to build a community of equity and inclusion—“one that gives everyone the tools they need to succeed.”

Yoder’s term as president ends soon, and his service to YAC will also conclude when his 2007 class year puts him past YAC’s definition of a young alumnus: one who graduated 15 or fewer years ago.

But just as he plans to continue helping his young students meet their musical potential, Yoder knows he will continue to support Ball State’s pursuit of a bright future. — Susan DeGrane

TAYLA T.C. LEE

Teaching Lab Skills With Lasting Impact

Tayla T.C. Lee is determined to provide highimpact educational experiences that will change the lives of her students and the people they may help after graduation.

The assistant professor of Psychological Science also identifies herself as a Hoosier intent on giving back to the people of her native state.

As a first-generation college student who earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Lee appreciates that many Ball State students are also first generation.

Lee knew she wanted to continue her education after college but, in hindsight, realized, “I didn’t understand a lot about how graduate education worked.”

She strives to provide a clearer path for her students. Among her priorities, Lee sets the goal for her master’s degree candidates to show a proven ability to execute the research process.

Since 2015, she has guided students through studies conducted through the Personality and Psychopathology (P2) Lab, which she directs. The lab investigates personality and cognitive influences on mental disorders and how to best assess these influences in clinical practice. The goal is to improve treatment for people experiencing emotional and behavioral difficulties.

While her students may not choose to do research post-graduation, they develop skills in the lab—such as time and resource management, critical thinking, and effective communication—that will serve them well, Lee explained.

“Those are the kinds of skills employers are looking for,” she said.

Taking students outside of the lab setting, Lee partnered with Janay Sander, associate professor of Educational Psychology, on a community research project aimed at helping at-risk youth served by the Youth Opportunity Center (YOC) in Muncie.

Working with YOC’s clinical services team, “we’ve already helped to revamp some of their clinical processes,” Lee said.

The essential lesson from her face-to-face work is personalization. “When we sit and get to know the kid in front of us, the work we do is much more effective in helping us help them and their families.”

Lee plans to continue providing educational experiences that empower her students to positively impact lives in Indiana and communities like Muncie.

“I’m hopeful that Ball State will continue to serve the needs of Indiana in terms of turning out young adults who make a difference,” she said. — Susan DeGrane

Expectations

ADAM UNGER

Investing in Muncie’s Future

Adam Unger, ’02, president of Muncie-based Accutech Systems, sits at the helm of a rapidly growing company.

In recent years, he’s heard some well-meaning advice: “If you want that growth to continue, you need to move the company to the Indianapolis area.”

His response speaks volumes.

Accutech, a leading software company for the wealth management industry, recently invested $5.5 million to purchase and redevelop the former Sears Building in downtown Muncie. Employing 85 people at its new location and 30 remote workers across the country, the company has grown five-fold in the past 10 years. Unger is optimistic that growth will continue.

The decision to remain in Muncie shows his confidence in the renaissance and economic viability of the area and in the bright future he envisions for his alma mater.

“I believe that God puts us in places to make an impact,” he said. “There’s a fantastic talent pool right in this area for our business, and Ball State has a lot to do with that. Our decision to stay here and expand was in no small part based on Ball State’s growth and what we saw as a tremendous, forwardlooking University strategic plan.”

This year, Accutech received the University’s Community Partner of the Year award for the company’s work with senior-level computer science students.

“Currently, approximately 40 percent of our team has a degree from Ball State,” Unger said. “We love working with current students as interns or in other capacities so they can experience our culture firsthand and see if we might be a career match for them. That’s proved invaluable for us, both in terms of giving back and helping us grow.”

Unger, who graduated from Burris Laboratory School and majored in Telecommunications at Ball State, also holds a graduate certificate in Business Administration.

“Accutech runs on the singular principle of making great things happen for other people,” Unger said. “And from my time at Burris until I graduated from Ball State, that’s what so impressed me about the University, the desire to help other people succeed.

“Ball State operates on our very same core principle, and I know that will never change into the future. The University will continue to provide the blueprint for fulfillment to its students, and Accutech will always know it has a tremendous talent pool right in its own backyard.” — Dan Forst, ’85

RO-ANNE ROYER ENGLE

Preparing Citizens of the World

Ro-Anne Royer Engle, who played a crucial role in organizing Ball State’s response to COVID-19, is grateful for online options that helped the University continue operating during the pandemic’s most challenging months.

The experience also laid bare an unshakable truth for Royer Engle, vice president of Student Affairs: “If there is one thing the pandemic taught us, it’s that the residential college experience will always have a place in higher education.”

Students engaging in on-campus activities gain essential soft skills that include teamwork, critical thinking, interpersonal communication, leadership, citizenship, the ability to empathize, and intercultural fluency.

“For so many students, it’s through engagement outside the classroom that they figure things out about themselves. They discover their passions and interests they didn’t know they had. For some, that turns into a career.”

Student Affairs supports student co-curricular engagement and fulfillment in many areas, including Housing and Residence Life, Student Life, the Multicultural Center, Student Center Programs, the Career Center, Counseling and Health Services, Disability Services, and Health Promotion and Advocacy.

Since arriving at Ball State in 2000, one key question for Royer Engle has been: “Are we creating spaces and a place where people feel they belong and have a voice?” Her answer can be seen in her leadership on Inclusive Excellence, including work on several aspects of a new strategic plan guiding Ball State’s current and future efforts.

Inclusive Excellence “should be our way of operating. We have a moral obligation to include Indiana residents who face challenges accessing higher education and to support them in the best ways possible.”

To help fulfill that obligation, Student Affairs expanded its support for growing numbers of Black and Latinx 21st Century Scholars. It also began utilizing digital technology to identify at-risk college students early and help all students achieve fulfillment.

Royer Engle sees Ball State providing even more opportunities for all students to connect with people of different backgrounds and to learn from those who hold different views.

“That is what makes the residential college experience so special,” she said. “That’s what prepares our students to become citizens of the world.” — Susan DeGrane

Expectations

REBECA MENA

Meeting Challenge With Innovation

Rebeca Mena, ’21, has zero doubts about Ball State’s ability to boldly meet whatever challenges lie ahead.

That confidence is the product of her experience as a student representative on the Board of Trustees during a time when the University faced challenges in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic that interrupted normal life across the country.

“You know a leader when you have a moment of crisis,” said Mena. “The University could have chosen two different pathways—either adapt and innovate or shut down.

“The refusal of our trustees, campus leaders, and the entire campus community to take that easier path impressed me so much. Everyone had the same intention: to finish the semester with our heads really high. And the pathway to that goal was innovation, which is one of Ball State’s most remarkable traits.”

This Spring, Mena graduated and concluded her service to the Board. She said her biggest contribution as a trustee was offering her perspectives as a STEM major, research scholar, and Latinx woman—but mostly just as a representative student. To help broaden her perspective, she frequently engaged the insights of fellow students.

Assistant Professor of Chemistry Mary Konkle was among those who urged Mena to apply to become a student trustee. Mena regards her as an important mentor. As a Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation research scholar and peer mentor, Mena performed research in Konkle’s research lab on the function and behavior of MitoNEET protein.

Lab research was not on her radar when she came to Ball State. Mena was born in Virginia but raised in Venezuela. She enrolled in a dentistry college that closed due to the country’s economic crisis. Her parents, both missionaries, urged her to go to Muncie, stay with her godparents, and finish college there.

Her godfather, a senior pastor at a local church, advised Mena to work awhile before attending Ball State in order to get acclimated. As a medical interpreter, she came to appreciate the town of Muncie.

Though it’s still her intention to become a dentist, her ambitions have grown. Seeing her professors’ dedication “has been one of most impactful things for me,” and she now wants to a pursue an advanced degree in combination with dentistry.

“I would love to teach as a professional,” she said, “which is something I never would have thought before at all.” — Tim Obermiller M ike Ray, ’83, will never forget the investment his father made in him not long after he graduated from high school. He sees it as the foundation of his fulfillment in the business world and his enduring commitment to philanthropy.

A member of the Ball State Foundation Board of Directors since 2016, Ray also recalls his father when he considers the future of his alma mater.

“After graduating from high school, I was happy working at a waterski shop in my hometown of North Webster, Indiana,” he said. “But my father strongly suggested that I pursue a college degree and paid for me to attend Ball State.

“When I think of my University, I realize that encouraging its students to reach for the stars and to give back have always been two guiding principles. Just as my father invested in me, Ball State truly invests in its students.”

Ray graduated with a degree in Accounting and Computer Science. He began his career with Coopers & Lybrand and eventually joined Fort Wayne-based Vera Bradley in 1998 as director of finance. After holding several key positions at the company, including in sales and marketing, Ray was named CEO in 2007. He retired in 2013.

“Seeing the impact of Vera Bradley’s investment in breast cancer research really opened my eyes and got me thinking about paying things forward,” Ray said.

He admires Ball State’s recent bricks-and-mortar improvements, “but my greatest satisfaction is helping students.”

Ray is impressed with how President Geoffrey S. Mearns and others are dedicated to ensuring students’ bright futures.

“Geoff understands what it takes to compete for students—and the importance of keeping tuition competitive—and has a huge level of engagement with all our critical constituencies. He continues to put Ball State in a position to compete with the larger schools throughout Indiana.”

When Ray thinks of Ball State Foundation President Jean Crosby, ’96, he feels even more bullish about the University’s future.

“Jean and her team truly understand that there are many ways to engage with alumni,” he said. “Even simple ways are effective—as evidenced by the 184 percent increase in alumni giving on One Ball State Day from the inaugural event in 2019 to giving day 2021.

“Everywhere you look, the signs point to great things ahead for Ball State and its students.” — Dan Forst, ’85

MIKE RAY

Bullish About Ball State

Building for a Bright Future

Story by Tim Obermiller | Drone photography by Ben Yonker

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When Ball State was founded in 1918, the campus had just one main structure (now the Bracken Administration Building) on 64 acres donated by the Ball brothers.

Today, that number has grown to 109 buildings on 780 acres, with further progress underway as the University brings new improvements to its physical campus in ways that foster collaboration, research, curricular innovation, and community.

James Lowe, associate vice president for Facilities Planning and Management, and his team direct architectural, engineering, construction, and operations for Ball State. However, he explained, “our faculty, staff, and students assist with the functional design of our buildings and we rely on their input for guidance.”

“They are the ones that know how best to teach and to learn, today and tomorrow,” he said. “We listen, we program, and we repeat what we heard back to the make sure we have it correct. The exterior and interior design then evolves; form then follows function.”

The University’s physical campus will continue to evolve, said Lowe, based on future needs and opportunities as reflected in current and future master and strategic plans that set Ball State’s destination toward a bright future.

The following pages offer updates—and some bird’s-eye views—to show how the campus continues to transform for the better in fulfilling Ball State’s mission, goals, and enduring values on behalf of its students.

1 The photo shows what remains of LaFollette Complex, which once housed 1,900 when it was built in the 1960s to quickly meet a booming student population. The rest of the complex has been demolished and has been replaced by the new North Residential Neighborhood. 2 Already completed and opening this past Fall is the

North Dining Hall. The 65,000-square-foot facility is now considered the University’s premier dining location, serving everything from down-home barbecue to artisanal pastries. 3 Also opening this Fall, the North Residence Hall is the home for the new STEM Living-Learning Community. 4 Nearing completion is a second residence hall that is expected to open this Fall as home to the Education

Living-Learning Community. Each new hall will have 500 beds.

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Multicultural Center rendering by RGCollaborative/Emile Dixon

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1 To be completed this Summer, the Foundational Sciences

Building is an $87.5 million, five-story structure that will be the home of the chemistry and biology departments and is part of a renovation/partial demolition of the aging

Cooper Science Complex.

2 Part of the new East Quad, the 165,000-square-foot

Health Professions Building opened in Fall 2019 and is designed for College of Health faculty and students to collaborate across academic disciplines. It also meets a critical statewide demand for skilled, knowledgeable, and adaptable healthcare professionals. 3 When finished, the new 10,500-square-foot Multicultural

Center will provide service closer to where students live and study, feature amenities designed to assist and support all students, and will promote Inclusive Excellence.

4 In December, the University announced a gift from alumnus Charles W. Brown, ’71, that will fund an outdoor performance and gathering space. Named the Brown

Family Amphitheater, it will be built between Park and

Pruis halls and between Noyer and Woodworth complexes.

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Brown Family Amphitheater rendering by RATIO Architects

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Cooper STEM Phase III, Renovation and Partial Demolition renderings by MSKTD/SmithGroup

Keeping With Traditions

With large grassy areas, towering trees, and majestic older buildings, the shady Quad south of the Fine Arts Building marks the original campus and will be preserved for future generations. That tradition is also being expressed in new buildings that maintain a style of architecture embracing our past. In addition, plans call for the creation of more green spaces, while the new buildings themselves are more open and transparent “to give a feeling that the inside and outside are one,” said James Lowe.

1 There are many changes planned for the Cooper Science Complex, built in 1967.

About 130,000 square feet will be renovated on the building’s west side to serve as home to Physics and Astronomy, Geography, Geology, and Natural Resources and

Environmental Management. With Chemistry and Biology moving from the complex’s east end into the Foundational Sciences Building, that section is scheduled for demolition, freeing up the area for a possible outdoor teaching space.