With the help of a Lilly Endowment Inc. grant, Ball State University is investing approximately $17.7 million in its media programs during the next five years.
Dave Ferguson, associate vice president for emerging media, said the Emerging Media Initiative will concentrate on the media colleges on campus. Among other things, Ball State is known for media production, visualization and media research, he said, and EMI will work to improve those programs.
"This is really an investment in the future," Ferguson said, "and we expect to see a return on some of these early investments."
The university's media programs are growing stronger, he said, and they are becoming a part of Ball State's identity. The university intends to use the initiative to "accelerate and collaborate" around media research to give students and faculty the resources to stimulate the field and the economy, he said.
Phil Repp, interim vice president for information technology, agreed that EMI will change the university's identity. He said creating an office for the initiative and the services and programs it will support would show Ball State's commitment to emerging media.
"It brings success to a formal state in the institution," Repp said.
EMI is a third-generation digital initiative, he said, stemming from the success that came from two other grants from the Lilly Endowment in the past few years.
He said money from the other grants went to create programs such as NewsLink Indiana and Digital Corps.
Ferguson said Ball State established the Pond Emerging Media Scholars program to attract students to the media programs on campus. Alumnus and EMI board member Randy Pond donated $1 million for the program to the "Ball State Bold: Investing in the Future" campaign.
"These are exciting times at Ball State," he said. "We've got a lot to be proud of. It's a sign of things to come."
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