During the summer of 1968, the Vice President for Student Affairs at Ball State University, established the Office of Special Programs. Personnel of the Office were charged with the responsibility for developing and providing special services for students with low academic records so that collegiate success and persistence might be enhanced. The Director of Special Programs was directly charged with the responsibility for providing academic counseling, advice relative to course selections, and for marshalling existing university academic and ancillary support systems as necessary to improve college persistence behaviors among students classified for "Admission with Warning."Personnel of the Office of Special Programs developed and implemented a program designed to provide special academic and supportive services to "Admission with Warning" students. The Directed Admission Student Experimental Program was implemented in the fall of 1968. The program included a remedial reading course, a remedial writing course designed specifically for students identified for the DASEP experience. Personal counseling and special Curricular Advising services were provided to all DASEP students. Over the period from 1968-1972 a total of 274 students were selected to be participants in the DASEP group, and a total of 273 students were identified for inclusion in a control group.The purpose of this study was to determine whether students admitted to the Ball State University Directed Admission Student Experimental Program (DASEP) during the period from 1968 to 1972, persisted to program completion more frequently than did similar students in an identical non-DASEP control group. If the null hypothesis relating to the major purpose was not accepted, differences among DASEP persisters and non-persisters would be investigated.A second purpose of the study was to collect and analyze evaluative perceptions from participants of the Directed Admission Student. Experimental Program relative to the special services provided.The research was planned to test the null hypothesis relating to persistence in the DASEP program and to secure evaluative perceptions about the services from 274 DASEP students.The investigator collected data on persistence in the DASEP program from 265 DASEP and 255 control group students. Data were statistically treated by means of the chi square statistic. The .05 level was used for hypothesis acceptance or non-acceptance. In order to secure evaluative perceptions about services provided participants in the DASEP program, a Likert type instrument was developed and sent to 250 participants in the DASEP program. Review of the data led to the following conclusions:There was no statistically significant difference found between the DASEP group and control group students in persistence to the completion of their individual educational program.Less than one-half of the DASEP students perceived the services provided by the Reading Clinic to be helpful.Slightly more than one-half perceived the services of the Writing Clinic to be helpful.Depending upon the service, about one-half of the students perceived the special Curricular Advising services to be helpful.About one-third perceived the subjects taught in the seminar class to be helpful.Slightly less than one-half of the DASEP students perceived counseling, provided by the staff of Special Programs to be helpful.In a summary question, 94 percent of the DASEP students perceived the DASEP program had been beneficial to them.

Lack of physical activity, poor nutritional habits, and unmanaged stress have all been linked to health problems. The present study investigated attitude change toward exercise, good dietary habits, the importance of nutrition information, and stress management due to participation in the Fitness/Wellness course taught by the School of Physical Education at Ball State University. It also examined the effect of gender and class standing on the four dependent variables. A pretest/post-test design was utilized to administer the Attitude section of the Wellness Knowledge, Attitude, and Behavior Instrument. The population of 1213 included 59% females and 41% males. Sixty-six percent were freshmen, 22% sophmores, 7% juniors, and 5% seniors. A Paired T-Test showed an overall significant difference between pretest and post-test scores for all four dependent variables. P values for exercise, nutrition information, and stress were all 0.0001. The P value for dietary habits was 0.0021. A MANOVA analysis did not reveal a significant difference when gender or class standing were examined. P values consisted of .091 and .185 for gender and class standing, respectively. / Fisher Institute for Wellness

The project addresses the role of urban parks and open spaces in the downtown community through written document and as well as through conceptual design of proposed project using the principles derived from some current movements, the traditional American towns, and some successful cases. The goal of this project is to study how to revitalize downtown's community through the physical design of urban parks and open spaces in the community. Heekin Park and surrounding neighborhoods in Muncie, Indiana are selected as the sites for this study. Literature reviews, case studies, and analysis of site context are included in the study. Design recommendations for the open spaces in surrounding neighborhoods and a concept for Heekin Park are the written and graphic product of the project. The solutions can be used as a general recommendation to improve the conditions of open spaces in downtown community. The concept for Heekin Park will be used to illustrate the potential of the site as an attractive space for the people of Muncie, IN. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Expected Family Contribution as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid process and college student persistence to graduation at Ball State University.The population for this study was defined as 3,772 Ball State University full-time students who matriculated in the fall of 1995. The sample equaled the population. In response to the research question, the sample was divided into five subgroups (Full-Pell, Partial-Pell, No Pell-Need, No Pell-No Need, and No-FAFSA).It was determined that students at Ball State University with greater financial need (Full-Pell and Partial-Pell) persist and graduate at smaller rates than students in the other financial subgroups. In addition, students with high financial need are more likely to academically disqualify than other students. Statistically significant differences existed between the average rates for graduation and academic disqualification, and the graduation and academic disqualification rates for the Full-Pell and Partial-Pell groups. Institutions may need to determine if they are meeting the financial and academic needs of students from low-income families. / Department of Educational Leadership

While the graduate assistantship experience exists as an opportunity for aspiring professionals to gain practical experience, little research exists regarding one's selfefficacy beliefs related to specific responsibilities of an assistantship. This study of assistant residence hall directors at Ball State University aided seasoned Student Affairs professionals as they trained, supervised and mentored graduate students. Four first-year and four second-year assistant residence hall directors and three full-time residence hall directors, who were alumni of the graduate program and assistantship at the University were interviewed during April of the Spring 2004 semester. The researcher created an interview guide using Bandura's (1977) concept of self-efficacy. The researcher and later an unbiased individual identified themes within the data and offered recommendations for the application of the findings as well as recommendations for possible future studies. / Department of Educational Studies

Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death for children aged 5-19 Twenty-two million children are injured each year and approximately one quarter of these injuries occur on school premises. Schools must provide nursing services to children who attend school, but ratios of registered nurses to students is higher than the 1:750 recommended ratio. Current school teachers believe pre-service teachers should be trained in emergency care in teacher training programs. Yet, no research has been conducted to evaluate pre-service teachers’ knowledge and attitudes toward emergency care. The purpose of the study was to investigate pre-service teachers’ knowledge of and attitude toward emergency care in the school setting. A cross sectional group-comparison survey design was used. A 40-item questionnaire was administered to pre-service elementary teachers at Ball State University located in Muncie, IN. The questionnaire consisted of questions from “Emergencies in the school setting: Are public school teachers adequately trained to respond?” and Urban public school teachers’ attitudes and perceptions of the effectiveness of CPR and automated external defibrillators. Sub-group comparisons were made using bivariate and multivariate analyses of similar demographic, attitude, and knowledge questions. Findings indicated that pre-service teachers have a positive attitude toward emergency care, low levels of knowledge about emergency care, and a low level of willingness to provide emergency care in schools. In addition, when comparing pre-service teachers who had received emergency care training to those who did not, a statistically significant difference was found in their knowledge about emergency care. Emergency care training has limited influence on pre-service teachers’ attitudes and willingness to provide care. / Department of Physiology and Health Science

Incorporation of social media during a crisis provides many benefits for universities, including opening two- way communication with stakeholders, informing the public quickly with updated information, and reaching a wide range of audiences. This case study aimed to explore whether Ball State incorporates social media into their crisis planning and what are the main reasons of using social media. Also, this case study aimed to see whether the university differentiates between crisis management and an emergency response. The researcher incorporated an online survey, Interviews, and documents to obtain detailed information about using social media in Ball State University. The results found that Ball State incorporates social media especially Twitter in their crisis planning. The study found that Ball State differentiates between a crisis and an emergency. / Department of Journalism

This project will address the environmental and social issues associated with conventional community planning and propose solutions to these through written documentation as well as through masterplan-scale concepts of a proposed mixed-use project using principles derived from the New Urbanist movement. The site chosen to display these conceptualizations is that of the existing Delaware County Fairgrounds located in Muncie, Indiana. Two concepts for a traditional neighborhood development shall be the graphic product of the project. The concepts shall be used in a comparison of the potential for New Urbanist design principles applied within the confines of existing zoning and development regulation and New Urbanist-derived design principles applied in an unrestricted setting. The concepts will be used to illustrate the potential of the site as a primarily residential space. / Department of Landscape Architecture

The purpose of this project was to apply the Quick Response System II (QRS II), developed by Alan J. Horowitz, Center for Urban Transportation Studies, University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, to the city of Muncie, Indiana.The QRS II model is one example of recent computer models intended for micro-computers, which may be useful for smaller cities with limited planning staff or computer capabilities. The main point is to be able to forecast the impacts of urban developments on highway traffic and the impacts of highway projects on travel pattern.QRS II determines the total number of person-trips generated by each zone of the study area. It accomplishes this step for three trip purposes: home-based work, home-based nonwork, nonhome-based trips. It then distributes these trips from any given origin zone to any given destination, converts highway person-trips to vehicle-trips and assigns them to the links in the highway network based on travel time, and finally split the number of person-trips between transit and automobiles. QRS II also was used to determine the impact of new construction on the surrounding street system.The purpose of the pro t was not to do a complete transportation study. It was rather a test application of QRS II using the 1980 census data of the city of Muncie. We simply tried to get QRS II set up, running, and calibrated according to the findings of the model. The following chapters show the theory behind it, the different outputs, the advantages and limitations. / Department of Urban Planning

In the typical general chemistry environment, the use of lecture and laboratory are important components to the instruction. The Center for Authentic Science Practice in Education (CASPiE) Project, now being implemented at Ball State University, uses a research module approach to provide laboratory instruction. This new approach not only engages students in authentic research practices but applies the Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) concept to the learning environment. In this study, the implementation of training techniques and the overall development of the peer leaders at Ball State were investigated. As a result, several recommendations are presented to improve the overall experience of the peer leaders and the students they serve. These include the continuation of current training techniques with more emphasis given to reflection with the peer leaders and the faculty of their impact and the institution of a training schedule for peer leaders that includes student learning styles, module content and instrumentation, and techniques for interacting with students. / Department of Chemistry