What happened under President Ferguson's tenure?

After only 18 months on the job, President Paul W. Ferguson introduced several changes to the university, including bringing an emphasis on entrepreneurial education. 

He also moved to shift away from the "Education Redefined" years and Ball State's identification as a school focused on immersive learning.

Ferguson resigned Jan. 25 with virtually no explanation, saying only that he and his wife, Grace, would miss the school.

It was an unexpected end to a presidential term that had been expected to last five years.

The Centennial Commitment

Ferguson’s major push toward making Ball State an entrepreneurial school came with the unveiling of his strategic plan for the university: The Centennial Commitment. This announcement came during his State of the University address last February and detailed 18 goals he wanted to accomplish by 2018.

Strategic plans establish the goals a university wants to complete in a set number of years. They also define how the university will measure its success.

The Centennial Commitment took the framework and goals former President Jo Ann Gora created. Ferguson retooled them to fit the university’s newly announced direction, adding his administration’s ideas into the mix. The strategic plan Gora set before her retirement was called Education Redefined 2.0 and was supposed to end in 2017. Gora’s plan had 107 metrics; Ferguson’s plan prioritized them into 18 goals.

“The fundamental pieces of [Gora’s strategic plan] have not changed drastically," William Knight, assistant provost of institutional effectiveness, told the Daily News in 2015. "It’s just a reorganization and maybe a way to simplify it for people."

Ferguson’s entrepreneurially-focused strategic plan will run through 2018, barring any changes by a future president or the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees endorsed Ferguson’s strategic plan back in February 2015.

The university shifted further away from the Gora era’s policies by refocusing its brand. The first signs of this refocus surfaced shortly after the State of the University address with the quiet retirement of Ball State’s most famous slogan, “Education Redefined.”

This process started with the elimination of the tagline on the email signatures of university faculty. They asked them to use a version of the Ball State logo that featured the Beneficence statue with the words “Ball State University” underneath.

The motto had defined Ball State’s marketing efforts since 2006. The university announced it would not create a new slogan in Fall 2015.  

It’s not surprising that a new president would want to align the university’s brand and mission with his or her vision, Sam Waterson told the Daily News in February 2015. Waterson is the executive vice president and creative director of RHB Management Consulting, an Indianapolis-based marketing agency specializing in education.

Ferguson’s administration strived to set itself apart by refocusing aspects of immersive learning. A key point in Ferguson’s 2015 State of the University address was the idea of spreading the core components that makes immersive learning unique into the broader Ball State curriculum. 

Ferguson labeled this idea as entrepreneurial learning, and it's one of the key components of his 18-point strategic plan.

Between 25 and 30 percent of students participate in immersive learning projects, Jennifer Blackmer, director of immersive learning, told the Daily News in 2015.

The goal of this refocus of immersive learning is to spread the success around to the rest of the curriculum, just as Gora did in 2006. Immersive learning sprang out of the work of the Virginia B. Ball Center.

This refocus of immersive learning also marked the beginning of the university’s effort to study the long-term effects of immersive learning on alumni.

“We know it’s been successful, now we are looking for data to back it up,” Blackmer told the Daily News in 2015.

The university awarded $4.2 million to 16 projects around campus in Academic Excellence Grants as part of Ferguson’s 18 by ’18 plan. The goal is to foster entrepreneurial, student-centered and community engaged learning — the three major themes of Ferguson’s vision. 

Story continued after timeline. 

College of Health

One of the Centennial Commitment’s major themes is to push Ball State as a model 21st-century public research university. A point in the plan involves the creation of a new STEM and Health Professions Building. The future of Cooper Physical and Life Sciences Building has not been determined.

Provost Terry King spearheaded this initiative. The board approved it in October 2014. This new academic college will become the eighth one on campus and will begin operation in Fall 2016.

Construction on the physical building that will house the new college has not been announced. The state has approved funding for its creation, however.

The new college will include five academic units: Departments of Health Science, Social Work, Speech Pathology and Audiology, and the Schools of Nursing and Kinesiology.

The College of Health could house a couple hundred faculty and anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 students. This matches the current size of the College of Applied Science and Technology.

His Freshman Class

At the freshman convocation in August 2014, Ferguson welcomed the first freshman class that would graduate under his tenure. 

“I’m their president and they are my class,” Ferguson said of the class of 2018. “It’s a special class for me as a new president, but also as we celebrate the 100th year anniversary [of Ball State in 2018].”

Ferguson didn’t offer them a chance to get lunch with him like Gora had, but he handed out his email address to his book discussion groups and told them to email him at some point in the semester to let him know how each one was adjusting to Ball State, the Daily News reported in 2014.

This class was to be the recipient of the proposed Ball State Centennial Student Endowed Fellowships, which were to go toward the 2018 freshman class.

Ferguson and his wife, Grace, said they would provide $50,000 — which the university would match — to 18 students in the 2018 class.

The future of this scholarship is unknown at this time.

The Outstanding Senior Award and Benny Dialogue

In March 2015, when Ball State awarded the Emens Oustanding Senior Award to a former president of the Student Government Association, it was met with backlash from some in the campus community. 

Some students expressed on social media that the winner had previously owned a confederate flag, calling Ball State out on diversity issues. Some student leaders sent a letter to the administration, highlighting their displeasure with the university's decisions.

In response, Ferguson hosted two Beneficence Dialogues, during which students shared their concerns with administrators in small groups. The dialogues ended with "Hope and Healing at Benny," at which Ferguson read the Beneficence Pledge. More than 100 students participated.

Following the dialogues, five teams were created to implement changes that stemmed from those discussions. A multicultural advisory board was created, and other solutions are being worked on, like reaching out to high schools with predominantly underrepresented minority student populations.

RFRA

Ferguson joined the ranks of Indiana college presidents that stood against the Religious Freedom Restoration Act during the controversy in early 2015. 

“In the context of the current state and national conversation related to Indiana’s recent legislation, it is important to reaffirm that Ball State University has long been committed to a vibrant and diverse community and will not tolerate discrimination,” Ferguson said in a 2015 statement.

Letterman

Ball State’s favorite alumnus returned for the first time since 2012 in November 2015. Ferguson announced David Letterman's return and that he would interview filmmakers Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller in early November.

Ferguson unveiled the "David Letterman Experience" during the Dave at Ball State event Nov. 30, 2015, at John R. Emens Auditorium.

The new Letterman Experience will feature his Emmy Awards and will include props and pieces from the sets of "Late Night" and "Late Show."

It is unknown when the exhibit will open, what it will consist of or where it will be located inside the David Letterman Communication and Media Building.

Papa John

John Schnatter, owner of Papa John’s, returned to his alma mater as the keynote speaker at the Spring 2015 commencement. The Ball State graduate received an honorary doctorate of laws degree in a pizza box during the ceremony.

Schnatter passed out a few footballs signed by Peyton Manning and gift cards to Papa John’s during the ceremony.

Ball State opened a Papa John’s restaurant in the Atrium of the Art and Journalism Building in September 2014.

Rachel Podnar contributed to this story. 

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