Tinto’s (1993) Theory of Individual Departure from Institutions of Higher Education conceptualized the decision making process students navigate when committing to institutions of higher education and persisting to graduation. Transfer students are gaining the attention of administrators and policy-makers because of the high level of transfer activity in higher education. Many of these students face a uniquely difficult transition when moving from one institutional environment to another. The phenomenon, known as transfer shock, is the overall integration and adaptation difficultly that transfer students face (Hills, 1965). Since previous institution cumulative grade point average (GPA) is a criterion used in transfer admissions decisions, it was studied. Six-year graduation totals were also observed in the study because they indicates student commitment to their institution and goals toward graduation. The purpose of this study was to examine Ball State University entering transfer students and how to predict post-transfer GPA and six-year graduation based on previous institution cumulative grade point average, age, sex, previous institution type, and BSU college. Regression analysis was used to make predictive models for post-transfer GPA and six-year graduation using the observed variables (i.e., previous institution cumulative GPA, age, sex, previous institution type, and BSU college). The sample consisted of 1,857 entering transfer students at Ball State University, a state-assisted, residential university with high research activity in Muncie, Indiana. Previous institution cumulative GPA averaged 2.994 while the average post-transfer GPA was 1.681. Nearly 60% of the sample achieved six-year graduation. The results of the revised model for predicting post-transfer GPA found only previous institution cumulative GPA, age, previous institution type, and whether or not the student was in CAST to be statistically significant predictors. The model used to predict six-year graduation found previous institution type, age, sex, previous institution type, and three of the BSU colleges (CAST, CCIM, and TC) to be statistically significant predictors. When applied to the data, the six-year graduation prediction model correctly predicted six-year graduation at a rate of 79.6% and had an overall correct prediction percentage of 63.6% of the time. Suggestions for practice and recommendations for future research were included. / Department of Educational Studies

A growing body of research suggests that certain environmental conditions may positively contribute to the healing process. Consequently, the medical and design professions are now exploring how the medical environment - both indoors and out - can better support the health and well being of its patients and their caregivers. Landscape architects and environmental psychologists are contributing to the growing interest in healing environments by exploring the relationship between nature, therapeutic gardens, and patient healing.One result of this interest has been the formulation of design recommendations for therapeutic gardens serving specific populations such as those with Alzheimer's Disease, AIDS or psychiatric illnesses. However, little attention has been given to therapeutic gardens designed to meet the needs of cancer patients even though a number of such gardens already exist. The purpose of this project is to identify design guidelines for therapeutic gardens that support the health and well being of cancer patients and to use these guidelines to design a model garden.The research for this project focused on two areas. First, literature review and interviews with employees of Ball Memorial Hospital were used to establish a base knowledge of cancer, including the emotional, physical and psychological characteristics associated with it. Next, characteristics of healing environments for cancer patients were determined through literature review, review of case studies and interviews with Ball Memorial Hospital employees. Based upon this research, design guidelines were established for therapeutic gardens serving cancer patients and applied in a design for Ball Memorial Hospital's soon to be completed CancerCenter. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The focus of this creative project is the interior rehabilitation of Renaissance Place, a historic alley-type structure in Downtown Muncie, Indiana, circa. 1895. The emphasis is on the rehabilitation of three of the six units with sensitivity to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Digital lighting studies of the interior space are completed for different times of the year by using a program called Accurender 3. The techniques and products introduced through this project will be presented to the owner. The final product is also intended to be inspirational for other individuals rehabilitating similar structures with desire to incorporate ADA and LEED guidelines. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

Cuno Kibele was the most prolific and most influential architect to live and work in Muncie, Indiana, in the first decades of the twentieth century. From 1905 to 1927, Kibele designed Muncie's grandest public buildings as well as schools, churches, factories, and commercial buildings. Kibele is most often identified with these buildings. The purpose of this thesis is to study a portion of Kibele's work that has been generally overlooked, his residential designs.Kibele was a reputable residential designer in Muncie. He was a sought-after architect for the city's rising middle class who lived in the suburbs just outside of town. Kibele's residential designs were unlike his other types of commissions in their simplicity and restraint of form and style. Kibele did not include stylistic details in his residential designs to the extent that he did in his other commissions. The few stylistic elaborations that Kibele did include in his residential designs were common-place Craftsman and Prairie style details.Kibele's residences were not high style or innovative in design, however they incorporated the latest social thinking and technological advances. In the early decades of the twentieth century, middle class residential design in America underwent a dramatic transformation. The Victorian home, with its rambling, asymmetrical plan, dense cluttered interior, and ornate detailing was pushed aside in favor of a new, modem aesthetic that favored simple clean lines, reduction of ornamentation, and an open interior arrangement. Kibele's residential commissions demonstrate the modem design principles that resulted from this transformation: the inclusion of modem technological advances; a kitchen redesigned for efficiency; simpler outline and reduction of ornamentation; a simple, open floor plan; and provisions for healthy living. / Department of Architecture

This project is for Rinker Center for International Programs at Ball State University to provide useful information to international and American students. The project consists of ten video interviews with the director of Rinker Center for International Programs and nine international students presenting Ghana, France, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Turkey. Each interviewee provides cultural differences between American culture and their cultures. In addition, the interviewees tell their personal solutions for coping with cultural difficulties based on their experiences in the United States or different cultures. The director was given three questions and the nine international students were asked ten questions.Each video interview is categorized under country menus and question menus designed with Adobe Macromedia Flash 8 to be navigated by clicking each menu button on a computer. / Department of Telecommunications

This project focused on the integration of metal and book forms. Each piece addressed infertility and how this condition affects a couple, both physically and socially. The seven projects are connected through content interest and metal-smithing skills. The techniques used include: casting, sheet construction, enameling, hinge construction, resin insets, xerography and silver etching with Image-On. In additional to the metal-based artworks, this creative project also includes six large-scale photographs to illuminate the experiences of infertile individuals and couples. Three contemporary techniques - de-enameling, Image-On transfers, and Xerography - were used for the creation of Based on a True Story. This was the first usage of Image-On transfers and de-enameling during a creative project at Ball State University. / Department of Art

While the globalized restructuring of manufacturing economies has marked many cities in the Midwest as places in decline, urban residents continue to mold the changing landscape to meet their needs and desires. Gardening is one socio-spatial practice that has expanded within the spaces left behind by a shrinking population and vacated industrial, commercial and residential properties. But not enough researchers have grappled with the social and political aspects of gardening. Gardens in general, and vegetable gardens in particular, sit at the nexus of a range of human constructs: urban land use, aesthetics, property law, social and class structure, economy and food. More specifically, little has been written on the distinguished history of urban gardening in Muncie, especially within the context of the “Middletown Studies” sociological tradition. Qualitative GIS represents an emerging mixed methods approach to geographic inquiry and a promising venue for an embedded exploration of gardening. Engaging with several “channels” of data collection, including participant observation, I use such an approach to combine fieldwork, spatial analysis, ethnographic inquiry, and an archival survey into an examination of how urban gardening in Muncie relates to broader economic forces. I ask what roles does gardening play in the physical landscape and social sphere of the south side of Muncie. / Department of Geography

The primary purpose of this paper is to document the two-year development of The East-Central Indiana Community Singers, Incorporated. In these two years the goals were to strive for more professional musicianship in performance and to promote the group's becoming a self-sustaining organization. By a clear exposition of the methods utilized in dealing with the major difficulties, the writer hopes to be of assistance to others engaged in such endeavors, and to encourage the development of other community choral organizations. Beginning conductors hope for professional situations that will allow ample time for research of the literature and for the selection, preparation, and rehearsal of music for performance. Such professional opportunities are not only rare but are most often reserved for those with considerable experience. As director of the Community Singers, the writer is fortunate in having had such an opportunity. Many orchestras are able to pay for professional services; the writer feels that it is also possible for choral organizations to achieve a higher-position in the professional music world.The development of a community chorus is a great challenge that can grow into a professional opportunity. It requires musicianship, a commanding rehearsal technique, the belief that what one is doing is really important, and the willingness to do all the little tasks of mobilizing an organization. It is an exercise in the music education of a miscellaneous group of amateur singers and of the members of a community (the audience), the majority of whom are not likely to be musically educated. It involves cultivating the skills of those with minimal proficiency while, at the same time, fulfilling an obligation to provide a quality experience for the more talented singers. It also involves supervision of the growth of the non-musical aspects of an organizations e.g., the development of a sustained funding program and the improvement of public relations in the community.This document speaks, therefore, to the musician whose primary drive is naturally focused on his own musicianship and the musical development of an ensemble. Its message is that in order to achieve these primary goals, the young director must find ways to attract reliable singers and develop greater audience interest. He is forced to divide his energy to encompass virtually all other aspects of a young, developing organization.Paralleling an account of the actual development process is a brief history of the foundation of the East-Central Indiana Community Singers. An analysis of the state of the group at the end of its first season is also given. The document will then proceed with a description of all pertinent methods used to develop stability during the chorus' second season. The methods will cover both rehearsal-performing goals and ancillary organizational activity.The year's experience as director of the East-Central Indiana Community Singers has been invaluable to the author of this paper. At the outset she conceived of her responsibilities as being primarily musical. In fact, as a musician she was invited to assume the position as conductor of the group, and as a musician she accepted that contract. In the body of this document is overwhelming evidence of the fact that such a position in an arts organization in the United States involved many talents and energies not necessarily related to music. This writer feels that her experiences have been typical of the experiences any conductor faces in a similar endeavor. Therefore, although the work of developing a community choral organization has been of great value to her personally, she is convinced that the process described here in detail can be of practical use to others. The description is augmented by appendixes that include copies of financial business papers, correspondence, representative publicity and performance dates. These materials provide the interested reader with procedural models that can be adapted for use by other organizations.Regarding specific documentation of the development of the Community Singers, the writer includes a tape of the performance in English of the Brahma Requiem, as it was recorded on March 30, 1980, in the Masonic Auditorium of Muncie, Indiana, with full orchestra, a chorus of eighty-seven singers, and a generous audience.

The study describes the growth and development of professional nursing education at five different sites in Muncie, Indiana, Middletown, U.S.A., beginning with the first surgical hospital and training school in 1906 and ending with the graduation of the first class from the generic baccalaureate program in the Department of Nursing at Ball State University in 1968.The review of literature traces the historical development of professional nursing education from the Nightingale Training School in London in 1860 to pioneer American and Indiana training schools in the early 1900s. Significant studies related to the development of hospital and collegiate schools of nursing were reviewed by decades from 1910 to 1968.A chronological approach involving primary sources was used to identify developmental changes in 1) administrators and organizational control, 2) facilities, 3) faculty positions and qualifications, 4) curriculum, 5) number of graduates, 6) policies related to students and financing, and 7) accreditation by the state of Indiana and the National League for Nursing.Findings indicated professional nursing education in Muncie, Indiana followed the general trend in the development of the hospital training school in America. Due to the close proximity of the hospital to Ball State Teachers College, the development of the curriculum was facilitated in science instruction and combined degree programs enabling the school to rank average or above compared to other schools of similar size in Indiana and the nation. Well qualified nurse educators appointed to the position of Director, endowments, continued interest in nursing education by the Ball Brothers, community leaders and physicians contributed to the quality of the education offered to nursing students. Difficulty in financing the hospital school eventually led to closure. The use of state and federal funds enabled the establishment of nursing education in the University with opportunities for further growth and development.

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