Though Ball State University's $20 million iCommunication grant ends in Summer 2005, the university will remain devoted to sustaining its programs that focus on communication and information technology, the director of the Center for Media Design said.
"There is a commitment to maintaining these programs," Director David Ferguson said. "The design of how that continues is a work in progress, but it will continue."
The Lilly Endowment, Inc. invited Ball State to make a proposal in 2001 for the four-year grant. The grant provided money for the university's iCommunication initiative to help students and faculty understand and shape the future of digital communications. The grant will undergo a phased exit next year, with July 1 as the target date.
"Right now we're looking at other resources and ways we can sustain the program," Beverley Pitts, provost and vice president for academic affairs, said. "It has been a significant agent for the university in giving us facilities and resources to experiment with cutting-edge media throughout campus."
Ferguson said the iCommunications initiative has three components, including the Center for Media Design. The second component, the Media Studies Program, created graduate and undergraduate courses in digital media and technology. The third part, Global Media Network, is an international Internet-based, distance-learning network. Ferguson said a complex budget was established to distribute the iCommunication grant to each area.
"Each of these areas of the grant needed to advance particular goals and objectives," he said. "There were continual shifts as we redefined our agenda based on what our original goals were, what it took to carry out our goals and what projects continued to develop."
Ferguson said the grant called for investing in the construction of several labs such as the Center for Information and Communication Science and the NewsLink Indiana lab. The labs required the hiring of faculty and staff, he said.
Pitts said she hopes the university will be able to use its own resources to sustain the Global Media Network and the Media Studies Program, though financial partnerships will be likely needed for the Center for Media Design.
"It's too soon to say what we'll be able to continue and what we can't," Pitts said. "Certainly, we want to maintain the Center for Media Design."
Ferguson said to compensate for the grant's termination, the university has established a transition plan.
"Obviously, when you move from a grant, you have a transition plan of some kind, and discussion has been underway to determine how to allocate resources," he said.
Ferguson said Ball State has looked for other grant opportunities.
"It's an ongoing process," he said. "Our mission is also looking for partnerships with corporations and clients for our projects to fund our revenue stream."
He said the College of Communication, Information and Media's current dean search will play another pivotal role in how Ball State's iCommunication projects are sustained and advanced. The dean search committee plans to have candidates on campus in the spring and to have the new dean in place for the next school year, Ferguson said.
"There's no direct link between the dean search and the grant, but obviously the selection of that person will be important to how the successes we've seen with iComm will be continued," Ferguson said.
He said each component of the iCommunication grant has been pivotal in enhancing digital media education on the Ball State campus and will continue to give Ball State a national reputation in the communication, entertainment production and media technology area.
"The iComm grant was a university-wide grant, and all of its entities still exist as part of the university," Ferguson said. "The commitment at Ball State is so high to provide students with a technology base, and I don't see that being less of an interest after the iComm grant is over."
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