Things are changing for Building Better Communities.
John Fallon, associate vice president of Economic Development and Community Engagement, is retiring. On top of that, Paul W. Ferguson is rethinking how the university approaches immersive learning.
BBC works with community partners throughout the state, including the Muncie-Delaware Chamber of Commerce, to help pair immersive learning projects with partners. Because Fallon is leaving and not being replaced, the entire department will undergo an internal and external restructure in 2015.
That includes splitting up Fallon’s duties and increasing partnerships within Muncie and Delaware County. Julie Halbig, vice president for governmental relations and community engagement, is hopeful the restructure will make BBC more efficient.
“I think it’s gotten a little bit easier because Building Better Communities had been asked to be a lot of things to a lot of people and now we are allowing people to focus on their specialty areas and where their relationships are at,” Halbig said.
BBC is also uniting some of its efforts with immersive learning. Jennifer Blackmer, the new associate provost for Entrepreneurial Learning, said both organizations are working to smooth the transition.
“When you’re doing any kind of reorganization, you’re sticking out into new territory. You’re doing something you’ve never done before,” Blackmer said. “We are trying very hard to make sure we are listening to people as they are trying to navigate new areas."
As a result, Blackmer said both departments will be able to better serve the Muncie community. Immersive learning is under the Department of Academic Affairs.
Halbig said even though immersive learning and BBC are different in each department, the community connections they both develop are important to share with each other. Some immersive learning courses deal directly with the Muncie community, which helps cultivate relationships for future projects.
"Community engagement and outreach and those partnerships that develop for the immersive learning projects are so key, so we all communicate,” Halbig said.
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