Immersive learning defines Jo Ann Gora’s 10 years as Ball State president, some faculty said.
“Out of all the presidents I have worked under [for the past 45 years], Jo Ann Gora has been the best one,” said Joe Trimmer, director of the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry.
Trimmer has followed immersive learning’s growth on campus.
Before the term “immersive learning” made it into the strategic plan in 2007, Trimmer and the Virginia Ball Center hosted “creative inquiries,” which functioned similarly to immersive classes.
Now, immersive learning is considered the hallmark of a Ball State education. Between 2007 and 2012, about 16,400 students participated in projects pairing students with community members, according to the Ball State website.
Trimmer said Gora made the faculty feel included and like they were part of a more significant university.
“Traditionally, presidents worked with legislators and didn’t engage in the internal workings of institution,” he said. “Jo Ann was powerfully engaged with academic vision [creating the institution’s] mission.”
In the past 10 years, he said he has seen a great number of improvements and changes to the university from the physical campus to the quality of undergraduates admitted to athletics.
Kay Bales, vice president of student affairs, said she will remember Gora by immersive learning and the physical improvements to campus.
Bales has worked at Ball State since 1989, and Gora hired her to be one of her vice presidents.
She said the opportunities Ball State students have because of immersive learning are not available to students at other universities.
“I’ve had the opportunity to work with students on projects that were so beneficial for students and made a difference to not only the education of students, but also with helping a business or a community move forward,” Bales said. “That is a real impact.”
Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler said Gora’s work with Building Better Communities helped bridge the gap between the Muncie and Ball State communities.
Tyler worked with Gora for six years as a member of the Indiana General Assembly and for two years as mayor.
He said he hopes her successor will place the same emphasis on the connection between Ball State and Muncie.
“I would like to see somebody who can continue to move the university setting closer to the Muncie community,” Tyler said. “They create a better quality of life and quality of place, and that was one of the things I know that Jo Ann was very passionate about. It was something that she asked for the Board of Trustees and the university to be supportive of.”
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