University administrators need four faculty willing to use about a month of their summer to help implement a $100,000 grant designed to make students' first years a little more accommodating.
The money will fund three summers' worth of in-services for 12 faculty total.
But Paul Ranieri, the program's coordinator and interim associate dean of the College of Sciences and Humanities, said he wants faculty who will teach core curriculum courses or early major courses - those faculty who could teach a third to a half of all students in the next three years.
With the in-services, Ranieri said, the faculty would learn how to teach their disciplines to new and inexperienced students in another effort from Ball State to enhance student retention.
"When students are learning in a situation and are comfortable in that situation, they stay in that situation," Ranieri said. "There's an illogical leap to say that, just because you have a Ph.D., you can handle all types of teaching."
Retention has remained at about 77 percent the past two years, said Doug McConkey, the vice president for Student Affairs And Enrollment Management.
Interested faculty can contact Ranieri at 285-1042, but he won't select the initial four faculty until early Spring, he said. Those selected will work from approximately mid-May to mid-June.
The in-services will emphasize the discrepancies between faculty who have been raised on books and students who, instead, were weaned on computers and televisions.
However, Ranieri said the grant will not be used to teach faculty how to make their presentations more colorful. Instead, they will learn to teach with the technology, he said.
"Good teaching is a constantly moving challenge," Ranieri said. "This gives faculty the opportunity to step back and look at the teaching aspect of their lives."
Five other institutions - Indiana University, Indiana State University, Purdue University, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and the University of Notre Dame - were selected for additional $100,000 grants from the Lumina Foundation.
"Many students hit a variety of academic, financial and social roadblocks on their way to graduation," said Martha D. Lamkin, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation, in a release. "These six Hoosier universities, through our President's Fund initiative, are pursuing innovative programs to help students navigate the sometimes bumpy road of the freshman and sophomore years."
Though they all presented programs designed to help improve retention, Ball State's program was unique, said Sara Murray-Plumer of the foundation.
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