Connecting Muncie Neighborhood partners and resources
Working with the FDA’s Farmers Food Box program and Purdue Extension during the pandemic, CERES Affiliated Faculty Joshua Gruver, Associate Professor of Environment, Geology, and Natural Resources, is helping Hoosiers in need by providing free food sourced from Indiana diary producers. Dr. Gruver and the Muncie Food Hub have been taking milk that would have been dumped and giving it away for free. Watch Josh’s interview on Fox 59.
Sociology Capstone students administered a survey at 35 different “The Big Idea” school pantries within the eight counties of East Central Indiana. “The Big Idea” is a Second Harvest Food Bank program designed to encourage kids to dream big about their future goals and stories, and for families to encounter resources and relationships with a welcoming school staff that helps them foster big dreams. The purpose of the survey was to measure the degree to which “The Big Idea” has been successful in assisting families to connect with schools. The students also provided a chance to elevate participant voices and find stories about the program.
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo
Department: Sociology
Community Partner: Second Harvest Food Bank
Student Team:Maegan Ackerson, Roseanna Barber, Grace Brenner, Phillip Brooks, Haley Cook, Emajh Donaldson, Margaret Fishbeck, Erica Fox, Gillian Gray, Lauren Kren, Kristen Leffler, Lilly McElwee, Ty Miles, Jasmine Moehn, Karissa Nance, Dana Northam, Sarah Rice, Jayla Robinson, Tia Sharp, Cassidy Stigall, Carrie Tackett, Catherine Teague, Madelyn Troy, Shelby Vaughn, Braxton Williams, and Amadi Wisdom
Ball State faculty, students, and community partners worked together this spring on a number of immersive learning projects in and around Muncie.
Academy of Model Aeronautics Video Project
Faculty Mentors: Tim Pollard, Department of Telecommunications; Suzanne Plesha, Office of Immersive Learning
Community Partner: Academy of Model Aeronautics
Assigning the Living Quality of Muncie Neighborhoods Using Remote Sensing and GIS
Faculty Mentor: Jason Yang, Department of Geography
Community Partner: Muncie Action Plan
Beneficence Records (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Daniel Porter, Department of Music Media Production
Community Partner: Indiana Public Radio
Capturing “The Big Idea”
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo, Department of Sociology
Community Partner: Second Harvest Food Bank
Geospatial Design Laboratory
Faculty Mentor: Jörn Seemann, Department of Geography
Community Partner: Muncie Visitors Bureau
Halteman Park Landscape Architecture Studio Project
Faculty Mentors: Chris Baas, Jeremy Merrill, J.P. Hall; Department of Landscape Architecture
Community Partners: Halteman Village Neighborhood Association, City of Muncie, Muncie Parks Department
Human Rights Symposium
Faculty Mentor: Ruby Cain, Department of Educational Studies
Community Partners: City of Muncie Human Rights Commission, Industry Neighborhood Association, Whitely Community Council, Muncie Public Library, Muncie Housing Authority, It Is Well With My Soul, DePaul University School of New Learning and Service Engagement Projects, Northeast Indiana Workers Project, Inc.
i-Made (Indiana Made) Muncie: Custom Fabricated Design-through-Production (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Kevin Klinger, Department of Architecture
Community Partners: Indiana Hardwoods (IHLA), Midwest Metals, Minnetrista, Mobile Market
The Junior Producers Club
Faculty Mentor: Christoph Thompson, School of Music
Community Partners: Boys and Girls Club, Buley Community Center
Muncie Neighborhood Visual Identity Design (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Shantanu Suman, School of Art
Community Partners: Building Better Neighborhoods, Muncie Action Plan
Preserving the Past and Looking Toward the Future: Historic Preservation and Digital Storytelling for a Muncie Landmark Church
Faculty Mentor: Peggy Fisher, Department of Communication Studies
Community Partner: St. Mary Catholic Church
Renovation of Residential Structures
Faculty Mentor: Janet Fick, Department of Construction Management and Interior Design
Community Partners: ecoREHAB, Urban Light, and Brothers 2 Brothers
Sustainable Muncie Project: Assessing Sustainability for the City of Muncie
Faculty Mentor: Sanglim Yoo, Department of Urban Planning
Community Partner: Muncie Action Plan
Teen Dating Violence
Faculty Mentor: Ron Dolon, Department of Social Work
Community Partner: A Better Way
Tourist Maps for Muncie and Delaware County
Faculty Mentor: Jörn Seemann, Department of Geography
Community Partner: Muncie Visitors Bureau
Urban Health in Muncie, IN: Pb in the Soils (ongoing)
Faculty Mentors: Carolyn Dowling, Department of Geological Sciences; Jessi Haeft, Department
of Natural Resources and Environment Management
Community Partner: United Way of Delaware County
Well Connected
Faculty Mentor: Jane Ellery, School of Kinesiology
Community Partners: Muncie Action Plan, Future of Work/Sustainable Muncie, George and Frances Ball Foundation
Working with the Whitely Community to Identify Needs and Resources of Men who are Reentering the Community After Periods of Incarceration
Faculty Mentor: Keisha Warren-Gordon, Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Community Partner: Whitely Community Council
Ball State faculty, students, and community partners worked together this Fall on a number of immersive learning projects in and around Muncie.
Beneficence Records (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Daniel Porter, School of Music
Community Partner: Indiana Public Radio
Campus Sexual Assault and Rape Culture in the Age of #MeToo
Faculty Fellow: Jill Christman, Department of English
Community Partner: Jana’s Campaign and The Facing Project
Computer Science for Middle Schoolers (CS4MS) (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Dave Largent, Department of Computer Science
Community Partners: Burris Laboratory School, Muncie Central High School, Northside Middle School
i-Made (Indiana Made) Muncie: Custom Fabricated Design-through-Production (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Kevin Klinger, Department of Architecture
Community Partners: Indiana Hardwoods (IHLA), Midwest Metals, Minnetrista, Mobile Market
The Junior Producers Club
Faculty Mentor: Christoph Thompson, School of Music
Community Partners: Boys and Girls Club, Buley Community Center
Makerspaces as an Opportunity to Cultivate and Reinforce Cultural Identity in Post-Industrial Cities
Faculty Fellow: Laura Romano, Department of English
Community Partner: Muncie Arts and Culture Council
Muncie Micro-Cinema
Faculty Mentor: Maura Jasper, School of Art
Community Partner: Muncie Arts and Culture Council
Muncie Neighborhood Visual Identity Design (ongoing)
Faculty Mentor: Shantanu Suman, School of Art
Community Partners: Building Better Neighborhoods, Muncie Action Plan
Preserving the Past and Looking Toward the Future: Historic Preservation and Digital Storytelling for a Muncie Landmark Church
Faculty Mentor: Peggy Fisher, Department of Communication Studies
Community Partner: St. Mary Church
Reconstructed Early Language and Literacy Learning: Addressing school readiness through critically conscious listening centers
Faculty Mentors: Emily Hoffman, Department of Early Childhood, Youth and Family Studies; Kristin Cipollone, Department of Elementary Education
Community Partner: Huffer Memorial Children’s Center
Resiliency Plan for Muncie
Faculty Mentor: Michael Burayidi, Department of Urban Planning
Community Partner: City of Muncie
Sitting at the Feet of our Muncie Elders: Stories of Resistance and Resiliency
Faculty Mentor: Darolyn “Lyn” Jones
Community Partner: Westminster Village, Muncie Delaware County Senior Center, Moth Danner and YART (Yard Sale for Art).
Second Harvest Food Bank’s mission is to provide food, education and advocacy for people experiencing food insecurity. Most people in the area are familiar with Second Harvest’s hunger-relief and food banking activities, but the organization offers a range of lesser known programs and services that focus on the root causes of food insecurity and assist people in becoming more financially independent. This digital media project was Phase I in a series of projects that will explore how digital media assets, especially video, could help Second Harvest prioritize and promote its continuum of programs and, in doing so, help to attract more clients, volunteers and supporters in the future.
Faculty Mentors: Tim Pollard, Suzanne Plesha
Departments: Telecommunications, Immersive Learning
Community Partner: Second Harvest Food Bank
Students: Miguel Arteaga, Troy Baker, Emma Brashear, Matthew Carson, Daniel Clements, Courtney Correll, Randal Dorsett, Malorie Gill, Briana Hale, Colton Howard, James Johnson, Lauryn Jones, Sean McGarry, Sherill Osborne, Nikolas Risser, Mariana Rodriguez
Sociology Capstone students partnered with Second Harvest to conduct face-to-face interviews to gather program evaluation data regarding community member needs and to measure the impact that school pantries are having on student and family engagement.
Faculty Mentor: Melinda Messineo
Department: Sociology
Community Partner: Second Harvest
Students: Adriana Arthur, Katrina Brown, Katina Clark, Whittney Coffman, Julia Conn, Jazmin Deshazer, Laura Drascic, Sam Fields, Sara Garland, Tonya Gregorash, Jennifer Harkcom, Jaze Harris, Stacey Hodges, Griffin Janosky, Devaugn Jones, Drea Kolkinn, Amber Levi, Kerrigan Mccormack, Katie Morris, Sam Mulholland, Emily O’Lena, Malik Paeham-Dunner, Sarah Powell, Ian Quasat, Shelby Sims