YaShekia Smalls n Chief Reporter
Less than a week after Muncie Mayor Dan Canan emphasized seeking out more job opportunities for Ball State University graduates, city and state officials on Monday announced the arrival of 700 jobs through the opening of a Sallie Mae operation in Muncie.
"It fits right in," Canan said after signing a letter of intent before a crowd of more than 300 at the Muncie Airpark, the site of the future facility. Other officials who signed the letter included Gov. Mitch Daniels, President of the Delaware County Board of Commissioners Tom Bennington and commissioners John Brooke and Larry Crouch.
Members of Ball State's Cardinal Communications helped in preparing the announcement for Sallie Mae, the nation's leading student loan provider, after the Indiana Economic Development Corp. called them last week.
"We've never done a press conference," senior public relations major Cris Dorman said. "Sure we learned how to do it in the classroom, but it was pretty cool to see how it came into fruition."
During one of the biggest job announcements in 20 years, Daniels said although the creation of new jobs at the Fortune 500 company was exciting, the state would require more breakthroughs in economic progress. The Muncie opening will bring Sallie Mae's total employment in the state to more than 3,000.
"In celebrations like this, I'm always jubilant about a number like 700," Daniels said. "But it is sobering to know that this is a state of 6.2 million people, and we have a lot of work to do."
The positions will require a high school education, communication and analytical skills and include bonuses and several other benefits. The average salary for the positions, which will open in October, will be about $31,200, said Martha Holler, managing director of corporate communications for Sallie Mae. The company will probably have 300 open positions during the first year and 200 each year thereafter until 2008.
Dan Allen, president of the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, said local officials and the Vision 2006 Economic Development Program had worked intensively on the project during the past six months.
"That's what we try to do - create opportunities that will keep our graduates in this community and provide the kind of jobs they are going to want," Allen said. "In most cases, that's the knowledge-based jobs."
State and local contractors will build on the Muncie Airpark facility on Superior Drive later this year.
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