In September 2007, Talk show host David Letterman visited Ball State University's campus for the dedication of the newly constructed David Letterman Communication and Media Building.
About 5,000 people gathered outside Letterman Building on Sept. 7 to see the ceremony. The crowd stretched to Shafer Tower and down McKinley Avenue.
Tom Taylor, vice president for Enrollment, Marketing and Communications, said he had the opportunity to meet and talk to Letterman while he was here.
"It was a very special day," he said. "I was very impressed with how comfortable Dave [Letterman] was. I was very impressed with how authentic he was, and I was very taken by how clearly moved he was by the experience."
Taylor said he remembers Letterman, who graduated from Ball State in 1970, was emotional about returning to his former university.
"It meant a great deal to him to be back on campus," he said.
Roger Lavery, dean of the College of Communication, Information, and Media, said bringing Letterman to Ball State was a process seven to eight months in the making.
President Jo Ann Gora made the initial request to Letterman, but after that, many people were involved in helping make his visit happen, he said.
Letterman's arrival at Ball State turned into a media event, something Lavery said rarely happens on university campuses.
"On the Monday morning after he'd been here, he went on Oprah," he said. "... He spoke with her for I'd say 10 to 20 minutes about his visit to Ball State and the building. That kind of coverage is just priceless."
Taylor said the event was a galvanizing experience for Ball State students and alumni. Students were there to tell the story about Letterman's dedication ceremony and the media coverage the event received renewed alumni's pride in the university.
Lavery said Letterman also gave a generous gift to Ball State that allowed the university to set up its David Letterman Distinguished Professional Lecture and Workshop Series, which has featured guests such as Tom Kelley, author of the best-seller The Art of Innovation. He said future guests would include Tom Koppel, a winner of multiple Emmy, Peabody and DuPont Awards and former news anchor for ABC's Nightline.
STUDENTS REACT
- "I just remember that he had a few people in the [marching] band that were up there playing with him. We just played the Letterman theme song. There were a lot of people there."- --Megan McDermitt, junior music technology major and member of the All-University Marching Band
- "I think it's great [that Letterman visited] because he's like, when you think of Ball State, you think of David Letterman. He has the nicest building on campus." --Taylor Simpson, sophomore urban design
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