Ball State Talks Peace

By: Margaret Cude

On April 5 and 6, 2013, the Ball State University Center for Peace and Conflict Studies hosted the first ever Benjamin V. Cohen Peace Conference: Promoting Nonviolence at Home and Beyond . Co-sponsored by the City of Muncie, Benjamin V. Cohen Memorial Endowment Fund, and the United States Institute of Peace, the event drew presenters and audiences from across the US, and even a few from Canada.

With over 150 pre-registered attendees and more than fifty presentations, the Conference covered such varied topics as mediation techniques, racism, the crisis in Sudan, Muncie economic empowerment, pagan oppression, and conscientious objection.

“I was very impressed to know about the efforts of various centers and offices across Indiana,” said Janet Brown, Spiritual Life Commission, St. Luke’s United Methodist Church.

Friday’s kick-off included addresses from Dennis Tyler, Mayor of Muncie, Dr. Robert Morris, Associate Provost of Research and Dean of the Graduate School, and keynote speaker Pastor Steve Roese, President and Founder of Water is Basic.

Open Sessions on Supplemental Compensation

Three opportunities are scheduled to address questions about the supplemental compensation policy.

Supplemental Compensation Open Sessions – Bracken Library 215

a.       Tuesday, 4/16/13           11:30 am to 1:00 pm

b.      Wednesday, 4/17/13     11:30 am to 1:00 pm

c.       Thursday, 4/18/13          3:00  to 4:30 pm

This will be an open format for Q&A, as well as discuss policy basics. There will not be a formal presentation.  As time and attendance permit, specific individual scenarios can be reviewed.

These sessions are directed for faculty and professional personnel, individuals who enter supplemental compensation payments, as well as Chairs and Directors who approve supplemental compensation. 

Prior to attending a session, individuals should review the current policy located at http://spo.iweb.bsu.edu/supcomp/SupCompPolicy.pdf.

Supplemental Compensation is defined as “all compensation beyond the employee’s base salary, whether originating internally or externally, and processed through University Payroll and Employee Benefits.” This includes summer teaching.

Please refer all questions to: 

Jacqueline S. Davis, MA, CRA

Proposal Manager and Supplemental Compensation Coordinator

Sponsored Programs Office

Ball State University

Selected Grantweek updates from the Grants Resource Center for the week of April 1, 2013

Federal Budget Progress (No April Fool’s Joke)

Both the Senate and the House of Representatives passed budget plans for FY 13 and FY 14 recently, leaving GRC members one step closer to knowing the future landscape of Federal funding opportunities. It was the Senate’s first budget in four years. The Senate plan calls for almost $1 trillion in tax increases while cutting spending by roughly the same amount over the next decade. The plan addresses higher education by fully funding the Pell Grants Program, increasing aid for existing education programs, and increasing institutional and research support.

According to the Washington Post, the GOP-led House plan would lead to a “radical” reduction in the size of government, making large cuts in healthcare and social programs. The House plan hopes to move funding for higher education away from financial aid to policies that develop more innovative institutional options for students and their families.

Of course, neither of these plans will be implemented as is. Instead, they will set the boundaries for the coming debate. The real battle begins as Senate and House leaders meet to reconcile their competing visions and try to come up with something both chambers can approve and send on to President Obama.

Internationally Attended Conference Examines Print Culture

By: Margaret Cude On Friday and Saturday, March 15-16, 2013, researchers from around the world met at the E.B. and Bertha C. Ball Center for the “Print Culture Histories Beyond the Metropolis Conference,” hosted by the Center for Middletown Studies. “The animating idea of the conference is to explore the ways that printed material was produced, consumed, circulated, and encountered in smaller cities, provincial districts, rural settings, colonial outposts, and comparable contexts,” said Dr. James Connolly, Director for the Center for Middletown Studies and Professor of History.

From the NCIIA: E-Team Program for Faculty and Students

Next E-Team Stage 1 Deadline: May 10, 2013

Click here to meet our Fall Stage 1 E-Teams

NCIIA is pleased to announce a NEW E-Team Program, launched in fall 2012. The program provides early-stage support and funding of up to $75,000 for collegiate entrepreneurs working on market-based technology inventions.
Since 1995, our E-Team grants have been funding collegiate student and student/faculty teams to move ideas out of the lab and classroom and into the marketplace. The 2012-13 E-Team Program enhances this opportunity by providing expert entrepreneurial and venture coaching, experiential workshops, and a potential investment opportunity to help realize the commercial success of the technology inventions and innovations that come through our organization.
Selected E-Team Program participants may also be invited to exhibit their technologies at Open Minds, the annual showcase of breakthrough technologies from NCIIA's top student teams. The 2013 Open Minds exhibition will be held March 22-23 in Washington, DC at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, hosted by hosted by its Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.

From NCIIA: Course and Program Grants (Deadline May 10th!)

Course and Program grants strengthen existing curricular programs or build new courses and programs in invention, innovation, and technology entrepreneurship.

• Up to $50,000
• Grant period: one to three years
• Who may apply: Faculty from NCIIA member institutions

Upcoming submission deadline: May 10, 2013

Program overview
Course and Program grants are awarded to NCIIA member institutions for the purpose of strengthening existing curricular programs or building new programs in invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Successful Course and Program grant proposals present creative pedagogical approaches that generate and deploy E-Teams*, bringing real-life applications into the classroom setting and beyond.
*What's an E-Team?NCIIA defines an E-Team  as a multidisciplinary group of students, faculty, and industry mentors working together to bring a technology-based invention (product or service) to market. The "E" stands for entrepreneurship.

18th Annual Student Symposium Wrap-Up

The 18th Annual Student Symposium has come and gone and we here at the Sponsored Programs Office couldn't be more pleased with the way it turned out. The day started at 6 a.m. with a chilly check-in thanks to the snow that continued to blanket campus throughout Tuesday morning. Check-in ended at 9 a.m. and our twelve faculty judges spent the next three hours evaluating the projects. They had the increadibly difficult job of choosing the best projects based on content and display. After the individual judges scores were tabulated by Sponsored Programs Office staff we had our six winning projects. During the afternoon public display session more than four-hundred people made their way around the ballroom to view the projects set-up there. We hope that everyone, participants and audience members alike, took a few moments to enjoy the cookies and punch provided in the Alumni Lounge across the hall.

As the day came to an end everyone made their way to the Cardinal Hall for the presentation of the awards. We were very honored to have several special guests in attendance: Paul Sr. and Linda Litten and Dr. James Pyle. Mr. and Mrs. Litten's son, Jeffrey, is one of three former SPO staffers for whom the Keys/Litten/Smith award is named. Dr. James Pyle is a former director of the Sponsored Programs Office, having served in that capacity for 24 years. After a few brief remarks from Justin Miller, the current director of Sponsored Programs, the awards were presented by Dr. Robert Morris, Associate Provost for Research & Dean of the Graduate School. In total six awards were given, each accompanied by a $100 cash prize. Congratualtions to the award winner and their faculty mentors. (Complete list of winners at the bottom of this post.)

Lectures from the Researcher of the Year and the Creative Endeavor Awardee

Researcher of the Year and Creative Endeavor Awardee Lecture   Monday, April 15, 2013 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.   Bracken Library, Room 104
	Holmes Finch Department of Educational Psychology 2012-13 Researcher of the Year Lessons I’ve Learned in 20 Years of Statistical Practice
	Beth Turcotte Department of Theatre and Dance 2012-13 Creative Endeavor Awardee Ball State to Broadway
All are invited to attend the reception following the lectures.

STUDENT SYMPOSIUM TOMORROW!

Tomorrow is the 18th Annual Student Symposium hosted by the Sponsored Programs Office! We hope you will brave the snow to join us for an afternoon showcasing student research at Ball State.

Ball State University
Eighteenth Annual Student Symposium
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
1:30-5:00 p.m.
Second Floor, L.A. Pittenger Student Center

The Ball State University Student Symposium is an opportunity for students to present their creative and research projects in an afternoon poster session. The Symposium provides an opportunity for students to learn the process of preparing their work for public presentation and to practice speaking with those outside of their discipline about their scholarly endeavors. Attendees can learn about the wide variety of research and creative projects that Ball State students are a part of both inside and outside of the classroom.

Presentations of exceptional merit will be awarded a monetary prize, given in memory of former SPO staff members, Linda Keys, Jeffrey Litten, and Sandra Smith. The award presentation will begin at approximately 4:40 p.m. in Cardinal Hall.

Please feel free to contact us at SPO@bsu.edu or (765) 285-1600 if you would like further information.

Thank you, and we hope you can attend!

From The Chronical of Higher Education: Senate Moves to Limit NSF Spending on Political Science

Senate Moves to Limit NSF Spending on Political Science

By Paul Basken

Washington

Congress took a giant step on Wednesday toward easing the threat of another budget stalemate, but the price of securing that compromise will continue to be felt at research universities and especially at those involved in political science.

The Senate, by a vote of 73 to 26, approved a measure to finance the government through the end of the fiscal year, on September 30. The bill is expected to win approval in the House of Representatives.
But the legislation would restore very little of the 5-percent cuts in the budgets of the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation that took effect on March 1 as a result of a process known as sequestration.

And the Senate included an amendment that broadly restricts the ability of the NSF to approve any grants involving political science unless the agency can certify them "as promoting national security or the economic interests of the United States."