This study described a subculture of Muslim women who live and study in Middle Town, Indiana and who actively participate in the religious and social activities conducted by the Middle Town Islamic Center. Acting in response to negative stereotyping of this population, this study shines a light on the lives and learning of female Muslim adults in a small Midwestern city. The results of this particular study promoted understanding about female Muslim learners in the United States. Ethnographic techniques of in-depth, semi-structured interviews and participant observation techniques were used to gather the data, and member checking was also performed to ensure consistency. Doman analysis, as described by Spradley (1979), was the technique used to analyze the data. The data and analysis suggested some fundamental characteristics of this subculture, Middle Town Islamic Ladies. One major finding that could be inferred was the inconsistency between the experiences of the participants with negative stereotyping propagated by some U.S. media and some people in general. Women in this study tended to be very deliberate in defining their status as women and as learners by examining and referring to the most legitimate resources of Islam: The Qur’an and Hadith. The participants also understood that many interpretations of the Qur’an and Hadith about women are influenced by a patriarchal mindset to preserve cultural beliefs that men are superior to women. Such beliefs are inconsistent with what the Qur’an and Hadith prescribe. As most of the informants came from different countries, they reported that their cultural expectations influenced their learning styles and their lives in this city. This expectation generated some problems with their comfort in living and studying. However, their faith, their association with the Middle Town Islamic community, especially the Muslim women, family support (especially from their husbands), and harmonious relationships with professors facilitated smooth adjustments to the challenges. Finally, the findings in this study also introduced teaching strategies and training styles in higher education that would accommodate and emphasize students’ cross-cultural differences / Department of Educational Studies

The decline in patronage, decrease in building density, and loss in property values suffered by Downtown Muncie, Indiana is a result of competition from shopping malls. This deterioration will continue unless there is a concerted effort by citizens, property owners, and the city to promote commercial revitalization of this area.The National Trust for Historic Preservation's Main Street Center suggest that communities can achieve commercial revitalization through a four part program which combines organization, design, promotion, and economic restructuring. Mary Jo Ruccio of the National Development Council, suggests that commercial revitalization cannot be successful unless the approach includes a comprehensive plan that addresses a downtown's unique problems.In order to create a functional commercial revitalization strategy for Muncie's downtown, the commercial district's history was reviewed, the existing buildings were surveyed, published historic preservation plans and commercial revitalization plans ware reviewed, and a variety of funding sources were studied. These efforts led to the development of a commercial revitalization strategy that is patterned after the Main Street Center's program. A major component of this strategy is the Downtown Commercial Revitalization Network that is recommended to act as a steering committee for a Downtown Development Director whose sole purpose is to direct downtown revitalization. The strategy recommends residential adaptive-use of the second stories in downtown buildings to promote economic development, and to preserve the historic structures. Low-interest loans with design standards are recommended to provide funds to create this housing stock without damaging the historic fabric. This will supply downtown with regular customers, thus strengthening existing establishments, creating the need for new businesses downtown, and diversifying the economic base.This strategy can be applied to the current downtown revitalization efforts by the City of Muncie. The ideas and general theories can also be applied by small Indiana towns which suffer from economic problems. A comprehensive plan that is tailored specifically for a downtown which account for the organization, design, economic, and promotion needs of downtown will set the course for successful commercial revitalization. / Department of Architecture

Detailed bacterial and chemical studies were conducted on Cardinal Creek, flowing through the Ball State University campus from May to December, 1972. Samples were collected from drain pipes flowing into the stream and also from the center of the stream between drain pipes.Results of the study show human waste materials are entering Cardinal Creek at the sampling site located behind the Ball State trailer courts. Forty-four percent of the time, ratios of fecal coliforms to fecal streptococci at this site were above 4.0 indicating human waste contamination.The presence of pathogens in the water is another clue to the quality of the surface water. Salmonella and Shigella are associated with gastro-intestinal diseases that may be spread by ingestion of water contaminated with these bacteria. Salmonella and Shigella were isolated on several occasions from the drain pipe behind the trailer courts. Salmonella paratyphi was found on the December 28 sampling date. It's presence in the creek shows human wastes are entering the stream.Chemical data, collected on December 28, indicate a heavy load of organic matter is entering Cardinal Creek at the Ball State trailer court drain pipe. Of all the sites sampled on this date, highest values for nitrogen and phosphorus and the lowest values for oxygen were found at the trailer court location.In conclusion, data collected in this study shows that water entering Cardinal Creek from the drain pipe located by the Ball State trailer courts, contains human fecal material. Measures should be taken to correct the situation.

This creative project has investigated the development potential of the "trackside" area as defined in the project. The project site is located on the south end of the central business district of Muncie. The area contains many historically significant buildings such as; the Federal Building, Robert's Hotel, Cohen Block, Marsh Building, Goddard Warehouse and Union Station to name a few. The study included an inventory process of existing conditions, urban spaces, building significants, figure ground study, assets and liabilities and analysis.This inventory process formed the basis for the urban design proposal which indicates the development potential of the area. The overall proposal is broken down into four sub-areas for easier explanation. These areas are named for the function or character trait that is significant to each: Conference Center Area, Plaza Node, Passive Cultural Center and the Railroad Node. In addition to a proposal for each subarea, the study indicates a concept analysis explaining the development idea. / Department of Architecture

This study tried to find support for the hypothesis that newspaper labor coverage has declined since the early 1980s. It used a content analysis of 240 issues of the Muncie (Ind.) Star and the Muncie Evening Press, a morning and an afternoon newspaper, measuring labor stories in terms of frequency and square column-inches. Labor stories were defined as news items that concerned wage earners or unionized personnel, including salaried union members. The period studied was from 1979 to 1994. Composite months were created for each newspaper representing the years 1979, 1984, 1989, and 1994, yielding eight bodies of data. Newshole from a representative sample of 40 issues, drawn from the larger sample of 240, was also analyzed to obtain daily newshole means in square column-inches for each of the eight bodies of data.To determine significance, data were compared using chi-square analysis. Newshole content did not significantly change for the Evening Press, but it did significantly increase for the Star from '79 to '94. No support was found for the hypothesis that the Evening Press's labor coverage would significantly decrease from '79 to '94. Also, no support was found for the hypothesis that the Evening Press's cumulative labor coverage over the years studied would be significantly greater than the Star's. However, the Star was found to have significantly decreased labor coverage in '94 when compared to '79, supporting the second hypothesis. When the increase in daily newshole mean was considered, this significant discrepancy was even more striking.The Star was found to have carried slightly more labor stories than the Evening Press over the period analyzed. This difference was not significant. Each newspaper experienced a decline in number of labor stories when comparing 1979 to 1994. The Star's decrease was found to be significant, but the Evening Press's decrease was not.The strongest support for the overall premise of declining newspaper coverage was that the Star's number of labor stories per year and the space devoted to those stories decreased significantly over the 15-year period while its newshole means increased.Also, while the Evening Press's labor coverage in square column-inches did not decrease, its number of labor stories per year did decrease uniformly over the four years analyzed.The Evening Press unexpectedly showed less labor coverage than the Star, in number of stories and in total space of coverage. However, its square column-inches per story mean was slightly higher than the Star's, suggesting that the Star carried more labor briefs than the other newspaper. This result can be explained by the Star's greater newshole means allowing it more space for briefs. / Department of Journalism

The major purpose of this study is to examine the mayoral years of Leonidas A. Guthrie, from 1905 to 1910. Guthrie (1875-1964), a Muncie, Indiana lawyer, reform leader, and philanthropist, served as mayor during a period when Muncie began to evolve into a modern city. His administration saw a number of changes in Muncie as the city entered the twentieth century, including the first brick streets and the widespread installation of electric street lights. In spite of these advancements, Guthrie, who kept exhaustive notes on every facet of his life, left no chronicle of his mayoral years amidst the large collection of his personal papers housed at Special Collections at Ball State University.Further research discovered that Guthrie's term was marred by controversy surrounding the city fire department and the Great Goddard Fire of 1907, the Interurban Strike of 1908, and the battle between the "wet" and "dry" elements which eventually led to the passage of the local option law and a "dry" vote for Delaware County. Therefore, this dissertation is a, chronological account of Guthrie's administration and an examination of the controversies and political turmoil surrounding Guthrie's mayoral years. / Department of History

This project involved making a series of woodcut and intaglio prints based on Muncie's urban landscape. The idea of a generic specific - a place unique to one area yet readily recognized across the industrialized world as familiar - is introduced and explored. In addition the idea of impermanence and flux is discussed in terms of how the time that I am living in now has its own unique features that will be obsolete, ruins, or altogether forgotten in the next fifty to seventy-five years. The work also explores the aesthetic merits of buildings like gas stations and vehicles - objects that are generally unconsidered in that way. In completing this series a historical documentation of this period of time was created, valuable to both those living now and those to come. / Department of Art

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the transportation estimation in Metropolitan Muncie for the year 2000 done in 1975. The basis for evaluation is the present situation data. From these findings I expect to learn from what was correct and what was inaccurate in their projections. Finally, this study could present several recommendations for long-range transportation planning study in the future.Barton-Aschman Associates (B-A-A) transportation planning for Metropolitan Muncie for the year 2000 based on the year 1975 is a part of Delaware-Muncie Metropolitan Transportation Estimations. The B-A-A had done many studies for Metropolitan Muncie, including a comprehensive plan, to support transportation projections. Land-use, socio-economic, and vehicle travel were examined in order to produce accurate transportation estimates. Socio-economic variables for Metropolitan Muncie are population, occupied dwelling units, employment, and automobiles.Trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, trip assignment, and traffic volume are projected in the final estimations. But this project focuses on relationships among variables: land-use, zoning change, population, occupied dwelling units, employment, average daily traffic volume (ADT), assigned over service volume, and level of service (L.O.S.) that were projected by the B-A-A and for the present situation in Metropolitan Muncie.Overall proposed land-uses in the transportation study coincide well with the actual situation 1992. But commercial land-use growth along West Bethel Ave and McGsllinrd Ave in Metropolitan Muncie was not foreseen by the transportation study.Overall estimations of population and occupied dwelling units in Metropolitan Muncie agree well with the present situation. But in tract 9.01, 19.01, and 19.02 in north Metropolitan Muncie the present situation does not follow the transportation estimations closely and major differences appear between socio-economic estimations and the actual situation. Estimations of employment by the B-A-A are not closely with the present situation.Overall transportation estimates of average daily traffic volume and assigned over service volume in Metropolitan Muncie picture the present situation well on several roads but also not so well on the other roads. The B-A-A projections of Level of Service (L.O.S.) are very close with the present situation. / Department of Urban Planning

The newspaper industry is undergoing a substantial amount of change because of dwindling profits and diminishing subscribers. Many newspapers are attempting to reinvent themselves by integrating the Internet and new media into their editorial missions. One example of this is Gannett's push to transform its newsrooms into "Information Centers." The author of this creative project works in one such newsroom that underwent the change and has documented the challenges in Web log format. / Department of Telecommunications

This study examines the effects of homeownership, tenancy, and vacancy on the preservation of historic housing stock. Using six blocks within the Emily Kimbrough Historic District as my study area, I utilized city directories and deed transfers to determine the number of housing units each year as well as the percentages of ownership, tenancy, and vacancy for each home. I developed a rating system to assess the current condition of each home and completed statistical analysis of the association between ownership rates and current condition. The results of the study are a repeatable methodology for critically examining homeownership. The findings defy popular assumptions of the benefits of homeownership, showing no association between homeownership and present housing condition. The methodology of this study is useful in determining whether city governments should establish homeownership programs as a viable preservation strategy. / Department of Architecture