The university is awarding $50,000 grants to six new or existing programs for 2004-05 through the Innovative Academic Programs Endowment.

The grants will be used as "seed money" to help grow dynamic new research centers, academic programs or ventures with potential business spin-offs, said Beverley Pitts, Ball State's acting president.

"We want to develop programs that have the potential to be national models or to enrich existing programs that are moving in that direction," said Pitts, who also is Ball State's provost and vice president for academic affairs.

The endowment was created as a result of funding accumulated during Above and Beyond, the Campaign to Advance Ball State University. The campaign ended in 2002, having raised about $113 million.

One of the cornerstones of that fund-raising project was to assist in the development of creative programs. The endowment was established with support from various donors, including several major gifts from the George and Frances Ball Foundation.

In the coming months, the grants will be used to create the Recording Center of Excellence in the College of Fine Arts and the Workplace Wellness program in the College of Applied Sciences and Technology.

The recording center will link the School of Music with the commercial recording industry, resulting in enhanced learning opportunities for students in the Music Technology program. The center will also create a recording venue for Ball State's music performance faculty as well as national artists.

The Workplace Wellness program will be a multi-disciplined project based on the university's emphasis on health and wellness issues. The program will focus on research and establishing relationships with the business community.

Existing programs receiving grants include:

• University Imaging Lab (College of Science and Humanities). The grant will finish the lab, host to microscopy and imaging research that could play a role in economic development as Indiana expands its life sciences efforts. The facility, located in Cooper Science Building, will house the university's scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope and confocal microscope.  
• CAP Indy Center (College of Architecture and Planning). The grant will help fund the college's efforts within the university's Building Better Communities initiative and move the center, now in its third year of operation, to a new location that requires a lease payment.
• The Center for Technology in Education (Teachers College) is a research and outreach center of the Department of Educational Studies. The research and outreach mission includes the following goals: innovative, integrative uses of computer technologies for P-12 schools; policy analyses related to computer technology uses in educational settings; needs assessment and evaluation of technology programs; information dissemination for research and publications, innovative programs and professional opportunities related to computer technologies in education.
• NewsLink Indiana (College of Communication, Information, and Media). The grant will provide funds to research the news production practices, products and outcomes of the convergence news project.

Pitts anticipates the university will award six grants annually during late winter or early spring to fund certain programs. Each college may receive one or more grants.

"The funds will be used to promote the best possible work going on in the university," she said. "It is not a traditional grant environment. Instead, we will work continually with the colleges to address the needs of their programs."

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Marc Ransford, media relations manager, at mransford@bsu.edu or (765) 285-1570.)