Ball State Launches $17.7 Million Emerging Media Initiative

Ball State University unveiled a major initiative designed to advance the study of emerging media and to better prepare students for careers in a rapidly changing digital economy. The program, backed by $17.7 million in funding over the next five years from a combination of institutional and private sector sources, is another in a series of commitments the Indiana state university has made to become an area of academic excellence for the media industry. The emerging media initiative will be a combination of higher education and practical application. The goal is to attract and retain key faculty steeped with knowledge and understanding of emerging media, as well as fellows from within the industry. As part of that, the program will have an Emerging Media Faculty Fellows program, which BSU will provide incentives and start-up funding for the hiring of new faculty -- across the curriculum -- with expertise in the study and use of emerging media. One of the first Emerging Media Faculty Fellows is Mahesh Senagala. As BSU's newly appointed Irving distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Architecture, Senagala is working at the forefront of understanding emerging media's impact on architecture.