Repout of Tbe Puesi()Ent Ball State Univensifty 1973-74

Repout of tbe Puesi()ent Ball State UnivensiftY 1973-74 IJ Ball State University Board of Trustees Alexander M. Bracken, President Muncie Harrold W. Wallace II, Vice President Indianapolis Will Parker, Secretary Muncie Dorothy O'Maley (Mrs. Robert), Assistant Secretary Richmond F. Edwin Schouweiler Fort Wayne Dean Speicher Osceola M. Thomas Harrison Columbus r: Report of the President July 1, 1973-June 30, 1974 Much has been said and written recently to the effect that university students of the seventies are more academically serious than their counter parts of only a few years ago. The obvious corollary is that universities must be equally intent on strengthening academic opportunities for their students. For our continuing emphasis on academic excellence and our progress in academic innovation, we at Ball State University can review the 1973-74 year with justifiable pride. Certainly final accreditation at the doctoral level by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools was the most significant event of the year and the highest accomplishment ever accorded to Ball State University. Final accreditation means that Ball State University may introduce new doctoral programs without requesting the permission of the North Cen tral Association, and it means also that the University is on the NCA's regular ten-year review cycle. The excellence of our programs that made this accreditation possible is the direct result of careful planning and quality efforts by many individuals over many years. Ball State University offered its first doctoral programs in 1961 ; since then 459 individuals have been awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Education, or Doctor of Arts. The areas in which these doctoral degrees have been achieved include elementary education and social science education (American history) for the Ph.D. degree; elemen tary education, social science education (American history), social science (American history), art education, educational administration, guidance and counseling, science education (biology), science (biology), English educa tion (British and American literature), English (British and American litera ture) for the Ed.D. degree; and music for the D.A. degree. In 1973-74 Ball State University also received the results of the ten year accreditation visit the previous May by a team representing the Nation al Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. The full accreditation granted the University by NCATE for all undergraduate and graduate pro grams through the doctorate in fields of teacher education was another sig nificant accomplishment. Sometimes profeSSional approval of our programs is more specific, pertaining to a particular discipline. Such acceptance is always of great academic import. In March 1974 the American Boards of Examiners in Speech Pathol ogy and Audiology of the American Speech and Hearing Association ac credited the master's degree program in Speech Pathology and Audiology for a two-year period. In June 1974 the Teacher Training and licensing Com- mission approved Ball State's Department of Special Education as the first in Indiana to offer graduate work for teachers working with neurologically impaired - learning disabled children. Let me say again that the calibre of our academic programs that made these achievements possible is a credit to the many dedicated members of the Ball State University community. We cite particularly the continuing ef forts of the faculty and staff who serve under the able leadership of Dr. Rich ard W. Burkhardt, the Vice President for Instructional Affairs and Dean of Faculties. In 1973-74 Ball State University continued to reinforce existing pro grams of study as well as to extend programs in new directions. At the facul ty meeting opening Autumn Quarter 1973 Vice President Burkhardt cited some of the new programs. As the year progressed, further curricular de velopment was implemented. Degree programs approved by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education by August 1973 included Associate in Arts, General Arts; Spe cialist in Education, Special Education; and Specialist in Education, Educa tional Management. Later in the year a program in Chemical Technology leading to the degree of Associate in Science was added to our approved two-year degree programs. The Office of Undergraduate Programs administered a $30,000 grant from the U.S. Office of Education, Division of Cooperative Education, for the planning and development and/or expansion of work-study cooperative education programs. Involving first the areas of architecture, industrial su pervision, and urban and regional studies, the cooperative programs will include journalism, social work, and other areas in the future. Laboratory experiences for students in elementary education were expanded to include a Living Learning Laboratory for Young Children, the Scheidler Apartments Parent Cooperative, and an Early Childhood Educa tional Experience at Huffer Children's Center. The area of Continuing Education achieved a number of major goals in 1973-74, including an increase in off-campus enrollment, growth in the Grissom Air Force Base programs, and establishment of a Statewide Advi sory Committee for Continuing Education and of a Statewide Regional Con sulting Committee for the Institute for Community Education Development. The Continuing Education Unit Program (CEU), a nationwide noncredit pro gram which gives recognition to people who have successfully completed courses related to their professional work, was approved for implementation in 1974-75. 2 At WBST, Ball State students broadcast an edition of "Ebony Affair," bi-monthly public service program on black culture and campus and community affairs. Physics students examine circuits for a transistor amplifier they have designed and assembled. Language laboratories are used regularly in course instruction and for intensive self-help. Under the cooperative education program, a student in urban and regional studies may gain practical professional experience through a salaried internship. 3 After the February 1974 meeting of the University Board of Trustees at which the new library was named for Alexander M. Bracken (right), we posed with a photograph of the building. Mr. Bracken has been President of the University Board since 1965 and a Trustee since 1954. Ranging from professional players to high school students, horn enthusiasts from the United States and abroad came to Ball State for the Sixth Annual International Horn Workshop in June 1974. 4 IJ The Center for Economic Education began its first year in 1973-74, as did the Institute for Gerontology and Gerontological Studies. The Institute for Educational Research and Evaluation completed its first year. This was also the first year of a three-year experimental program in which credit is awarded to entering students for successful completion of the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). The Carmichael Residential Instruction Program began its fifth year. The 810 student participants lived in Johnson or LaFollette residence com plexes or commuted to the campus daily. Approximately four thousand stu dents have completed the program, designed to make more personal the initial experience of first-year students in a large university. A gift of used Columbia Broadcasting System color television equip ment, made possible by a grant from Lilly Endowment, Inc., was installed in the Center for Radio and Television in the spring. This modernization of fa cilities not only enriched the instructional program for students enrolled in television classes but also made possible color transmission of educational programs to campus classrooms via closed circuit. At the completion of the three and one-half year National Science Foundation College Science Improvement Program (COSIP) grant in Febru ary 1974, the Departments of Chemistry, Geography and Geology, and Phys ics and Astronomy showed positive enrichment in undergraduate science instructional programs, acceleration in developing undergraduate research programs, and enlargement of off-campus instructional capabilities. Dr. Joseph B. Black, Jr., became Dean of the College of Business on July 1, 1973, replacing Dr. Robert P. Bell, now Vice President for Business Affairs and Treasurer of Ball State University. Dr. John Dunworth, Dean of Teachers College since 1966, resigned to become President of George Peabody College for Teachers January 1,1974. Dr. Leslie J. Mauth, Associate Dean of Teachers College, served as Acting Dean for the remainder of 1973-74. In March 1974 Dr. James V. Mitchell, Jr., Associate Dean for Graduate Studies in the College of Education at the Uni versity of Rochester, was named Dean of Teachers College, effective July 1. London Center, EXELO, and Polyark, Ball State's field study programs in England during the regular academic year, were all fully subscribed in 1973-74. Each quarter a new group of thirty to fifty students flourished at Ball State's London Center, where they were enrolled in courses taught by Ball State and British professors. EXELO students are elementary educa tion majors enrolled in a special experimental program who spend an aca demic quarter in British primary school classrooms in an arrangement with 5 the University of Keele, New Castle-under-Lyme. Polyark London Lab, in its second successful venture abroad, provided architectural field study in Eng land for eighteen architecture students in the spring. Ball State opened its new Chicago Urban

Load more