Ball State University alumnus Jama Kirby-Montgomery remembers when campus was nothing more than a few scattered buildings and men outnumbered women seven to one.
That was more than 50 years ago.
"I loved Ball State," Kirby-Montgomery said following the Alumni Center's Half-Century Club Luncheon Tuesday afternoon. "I really did ... While I was here then, I liked the fact that everybody was friendly. The faculty was friendly. President [John] Emens knew everybody's names. His nickname was 'Happy Jack.'"
During the Alumni Center's annual Half-Century Club Revisit, 44 alumni from the classes of 1955 and earlier enjoyed a luncheon provided by University Banquet and Catering. They also viewed a presentation by Associate Professor of Geography David Arnold, who described the university's student storm-chasing efforts, and toured the campus.
In addition to welcoming the class of 1955 to the Half-Century Club, Ball State's Alumni Association also recognized graduates from the anniversary classes of 1935, 1940, 1945 and 1950.
"In alumni relations, we like to keep our alumni connected to the university," Sue Taylor of the Alumni Association said. Taylor said alumni help to recruit and mentor new students, provide job opportunities and support the university financially.
Kirby-Montgomery, 76, graduated from Ball State in 1950 with a bachelors in home economics and a minor in social science history. She got her masters in home economics education a decade later.
In her purse lay a red pin cushion with a white letter "B" sewed on the front, a reminder of her junior year at Ball State.
"I went to school right after World War II, and there were more guys than girls that it was a heyday for a young girl," Kirby-Montgomery said.
Now a Muncie resident who belongs to the Ball State Family and Consumer Sciences Alumni Association, Kirby-Montgomery said she values the university's attention to not only current students and prospective students but also to alumni.
"There are still so many great people here," she said. "I know David Letterman teases about Ball State, but still, if he didn't like it he wouldn't do it."
Taylor said she was pleased with this year's turnout, although more alumni attended last year's luncheon when Ball State President Jo Ann Gora spoke. Arnold was selected to speak this year so that alumni could be exposed to "someone new and different," Taylor said.
"I asked David to come because first of all, I like to vary speakers because some of the people come back ... and have a right to hear different information and learn what the university is doing," Taylor said.
Arnold, who began chasing storms across the Great Plains in the early 1980s, said Ball State is the only university that provides students with the opportunity to spend 31 days photographing and learning about tornadoes and other storm systems.
"We're the only one that has an official forecasting class like this," Arnold said. "We like to go out for a full month so that we can get a wide variety of storms. The best way to learn how to forecast is to forecast."
The Alumni Association's annual Half-Century Club Revisits began about 1986, with the Ball State Foundation hosting similar events prior to that year, Taylor said.
"We're happy when we get people of this age bracket," she said. "They are very loyal alumni. They had great experiences when on campus."
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