Our Call to Beneficence

Betsy Ross is a Ball State graduate who became one of the first women to break into national sports news. Today, she is the president of Game Day Communications, a sports and entertainment communications firm based in Cincinnati.  Betsy graduated from Ball State in 1972 with a degree in journalism. After working in print and television media in South Bend, Indiana, she became a television news anc...

Jim Champy is a leading expert on management issues involving business engineering, a topic for which he wrote a New York Times best-selling book that has sold more than two million copies. In addition to being the co-author of Reengineering the Corporation , Jim was most recently chairman emeritus of consulting for Dell Services. Before that, he was chairman of consulting and head of strategy for...

Dr. Lee Ann Kwiatkowski—or Dr. K as she is affectionately known in the community—serves as the director of public education and CEO for Muncie Community Schools (MCS). When she accepted the role in July 2019, Dr. K assumed leadership of the innovative partnership between MCS and Ball State. Over the past five years, she has helped the district make good progress in achieving our collective goals:...

Greg Fehribach is an attorney and the founder of The Fehribach Group, a consulting firm specializing in accessibility, universal design, and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. He is also a proud two-time graduate of Ball State who made history as the first student with a disability to be elected to serve as the University’s student body president. On this new season of “Our Call...

Dwight Smith is an innovative producer of reality television shows in Hollywood. He’s also a proud graduate who, in his own words, grew up as a “Ball State baby.”  In this episode, Dwight talks about how our University fostered his love for the entertainment industry and how one of his favorite professors helped him launch his career in Hollywood. Dwight also describes the evolution of the product...

Randy Pond is an accomplished Ball State graduate who presently serves as the chair of our University’s comprehensive fundraising campaign. As our May Commencement speaker, Randy inspired our graduates with his story about being a first-generation college student. After graduating from Ball State in 1977, he embarked upon a successful and fulfilling career that allowed him to serve as a corporate...

Sutton Foster is a two-time Tony Award winning actor, singer and dancer. She is also an instructor at Ball State University. Fresh off her starring role alongside Hugh Jackman in the revival of The Music Man , Sutton returned to Ball State this Spring to prepare for an upcoming concert series and to teach and mentor our students, as she has been doing since 2010. In this episode, Sutton shares mor...

Earlier this month, Jeff Mitchell began his tenure as Ball State’s new director of athletics. Already he has identified his vision for the next era of Ball State Athletics—a vision inspired by his previous experience leading athletics departments at universities across the country.  In this episode, Jeff talks about playing baseball in his youth and how his passion for the sport led to becoming a...

Mali Jeffers graduated from Ball State University in 2004. Since then, she has combined her passion for art and design with her skills in advertising and marketing to serve as co-founder of GANGGANG, a cultural developmental firm. Together with her husband, Alan Bacon, Mali is committed to building culture and community in her hometown of Indianapolis. Since founding GANGGANG in 2020, Mali’s firm...

Kate Doerksen is a 2005 graduate of Ball State who, as a Cardinal, excelled on the court and in the classroom. As a star on our women’s basketball team, Kate earned several MAC Honors, as well as a spot in our Athletics Hall of Fame.  While majoring in entrepreneurship at Ball State, Kate was empowered by her professors to believe she had the grit and the passion required to start her own business...

For more than 30 years, Jennifer Mearns has been the life partner of Geoffrey S. Mearns, President of Ball State University. She is also a mother, a grandmother, and an accomplished professional, having worked in sports marketing before becoming an executive recruiter. In this episode, Jennifer shares more about her family, her college experience, and her initial impressions of Geoff when they fir...

Angela Ahrendts is an accomplished Ball State graduate who, over the course of her career in business, has provided visionary leadership at the helm of companies including Burberry, the luxury fashion house, and the tech giant Apple. In this episode, Angela reveals the sign that (literally) pointed her to study at Ball State. She also talks about how her undergraduate experience provided her with...

Stedman Graham is an author, an educator, and an entrepreneur. After earning his undergraduate degree from Hardin-Simmons University in Texas, Stedman served in the Army, mostly overseas, where he also played in the European professional basketball league. While in the military, Stedman also earned his master’s degree in education from Ball State. In this episode, Stedman shares why he chose to at...

Michael Lewis was hired as Ball State’s new men’s basketball coach in March. Coach Lewis’ arrival ushers in a new chapter of leadership for Ball State Athletics. It’s also an exciting new chapter for Michael, who has returned to his home state after spending the past three years serving as an assistant coach at UCLA.  In this episode, Coach Lewis talks about his youth playing basketball in Jasper,...

Dan Towriss graduated from Ball State in 1994 with a degree in actuarial science. Over the course of his career, he’s led a number of successful insurance company acquisitions and earned a reputation for growth and a return on investment. Today, he is the CEO and President of Group 1001, an insurance holding company based in Indianapolis with assets valued at more than $58 billion. In addition to...

Kayla Davion graduated from Ball State in 2017 with a degree in musical theatre from our College of Fine Arts. Before she even finished her undergraduate career, Kayla landed a part in her first Broadway show, Waitress . Since that initial opportunity, she’s consistently appeared in several shows on the Great White Way, landing roles in the musicals King Kong and Tina: The Tina Turner Musical .  I...

From 1984 to 2000, Dr. John Worthen served as the 11th President of Ball State University. During his tenure, Dr. Worthen earned the respect and admiration of his colleagues—and the campus community—on account of his effective leadership of the institution.   In this episode, Dr. Worthen recounts growing up as a child during the Great Depression and what inspired him to pursue a career in higher e...

Deborah and James Fallows are experienced, accomplished journalists who have influenced culture through their insights on politics, foreign affairs, and life in America. Together, the Fallows wrote Our Towns , a best-selling book that was published in 2018. Our Towns describes how they spent four years traveling 100,000 miles in their single-engine plane.  The couple reported from dozens of cities...

From 2004 to 2014, Dr. Jo Ann Gora served as the 14th President of Ball State University. During her tenure, she championed immersive learning, created a new brand—“Education Redefined”—for the institution, and successfully engaged with some of our most prominent graduates, including David Letterman. Dr. Gora shares what it was like to grow up in the 1960s, what drew her to academia, and why she w...

Dick Emens was just a young boy when his father, John R. Emens, became the sixth president of Ball State. It was 1945. That same year marked the end of the Second World War—and the beginning of a tremendous period of growth for Ball State.  In this episode, Dick talks about what it was like to grow up on campus during that time. He also reflects on how his father’s transformative leadership and op...

Brandon Pope is an anchor reporter for Chicago’s CW26. He’s also an award-winning television host, media critic, and columnist.  In the years since he graduated from Ball State in 2014, Brandon has applied the skills he learned in the classroom, along with the power of networking, to stand out in one of the country’s biggest media markets. He’s also parlayed his digital media expertise into a cont...

Kent “Oz” Nelson is a Ball State graduate whose discipline, compassion, and common sense propelled him in his climb up the corporate ladder at UPS. In 1959, Oz began his decades-long career at UPS just two days after graduating from Ball State. He began as a sales and customer service representative, and he retired as chairman and CEO of UPS in 1997.  In this episode, Oz talks about the professors...

Tiara Thomas is a Grammy and Oscar award-winning singer-songwriter who graduated from Ball State in 2012.  Tiara grew up in Indianapolis and, shortly after completing her undergraduate degree in telecommunications, landed a record deal that opened the door to her professional aspirations of becoming an artist.  In this episode, Tiara reveals how her dream of winning a Grammy began when she was jus...

Renae Conley is an accomplished Ball State graduate who presently serves as the chair of our university’s Board of Trustees.  Renae grew up in Muncie, earned her bachelor’s degree and her MBA from Ball State, and then embarked upon a successful and fulfilling career that allowed her, time and again, to break the glass ceiling. In this episode, Renae talks about the mentors who helped shape her car...

Ashley C. Ford is a New York Times-best selling author, podcaster, and educator. Her debut memoir, “Somebody’s Daughter,” chronicles her life growing up as a young Black girl in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ashley’s book was chosen by Oprah Winfrey for publication under her imprint, “An Oprah Book.” In addition to being on a first-name basis with the former queen of daytime talk TV, Ashley has written nat...