Ball State University started out as "everything you need." Then its "cutting edge cool" technology competed with Indiana University's "red hot" campus. Now, Ball State is redefining education with its newest tagline.
Around campus this fall, students will begin to see hints of the rebranding of Ball State on banners, signs, billboards and TV commercials marked with the slogan, "Education Redefined."
Ball State administrators said the process that led to the selection of the new tagline stretched over several years with researchers, external consultants and focus groups of current and prospective students, parents, faculty, alumni, administrators and key stakeholders in the university. The other taglines that were not selected were:
- We Change Minds
- Learning + Living
- Rising
- Better. Smarter.
- Indiana's Public Honors University
"Education Redefined" was chosen because it represents the extensive opportunities for immersive learning that students can find at Ball State, administrators said.
"People just responded to that phrase," President Jo Ann Gora said. She sat in on two focus groups, one made up of mostly student leaders, she said. The students understood the slogan and appreciated the meaning, Gora said.
"When I listened to the students leaders, they all could give examples of immersive learning experiences that they had been involved in or friends of theirs had been involved in," she said. "They saw that as a hallmark of the Ball State education."
In these programs, students, not faculty, drive the learning process while interacting with the community to make a tangible product, Gora said.
Administrators gave examples of immersive learning such as Newslink Indiana, a television program for East Central Indiana run by Ball State students; the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry, a program allowing students to research, create and present a product about an area of interest; and CAP Asia, an architecture program in which students travel abroad to work and learn about their field.
"There are lots of hands on, collaborative kind of experiences students get across the disciplines," said Tom Taylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing and communications. "We're the kind of institution were the students get very engaged, very active, very early on."
Administrators agreed Ball State needed rebranding for several reasons. Al Rent, director of relationship marketing and community relations, said the university wants to take this chance to stand out against other schools such as Indiana University and Purdue University.
"It is the next big step to define ourselves and let people know that there are major differences," Rent said.
He said IU and Purdue have been always known as the first and second best schools in the state. A cluster of schools competed for third place, and in the past few years, Ball State has emerged out of that group, he said.
Rather than be though of as third place, however, Rent said Ball State wanted to distinguish itself by creating a new category of its own - redefining education.
"We decided what we needed to do was come out with a new focus to let people know that the education and experience here, which could be like the large research universities, can be a good one, too," Rent said. "There are a lot of programs we have that are high ranking and have great distinction, but the whole campus and the way we teach - that's different."
Gora said the "Everything You Need" tagline that preceded this campaign has become ineffective since its creation about 10 years ago.
"It no longer differentiates us from other institutions," she said. "We needed to tell a stronger story about the quality of academic experiences you can have at Ball State."
Taylor said he hopes the new tagline will take hold quickly as Ball State continues to gain attention for its programs.
"One of the values of getting Ball State better known is not just recruiting students, but increasing the value of the degree," Taylor said. "The more employers understand about Ball State ... the more they will value that degree."
Gora said Ball State would need to stick with the tagline for a few years to give people time to associate the phrase with the university. After a few years, administrators said more research would be done to see the effectiveness of "Education Redefined."
"That phrase seemed to summarize the fact that we really believe in providing students with innovative, relevant and immersive learning experiences that they don't get at other institutions," Gora said.
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