Ball Venture Fund Winners Announced

Funding decisions are planned in June.

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Independent Colleges of Indiana has chosen five Indiana universities as Ball Venture Fund winners. The Ball Brothers Foundation of Muncie sponsors the competition that provides funding for start-up projects.

ICI received 28 entries from 21 institutions for $84,000 in funding. The 20th annual winners were:

• Ancilla College (Donaldson): “Expanding Learning Opportunities”- Ancilla’s $3,000 award will provide support to students with physical, mental, emotional, and learning related disabilities.  The program will offer additional resources such as assistive technologies, established behavior interventions, and materials to promote time-management and organizational skills, allowing students with special needs the opportunity to develop these skills.
• DePauw University (Greencastle): “Roadmap for Students of Color in Computing Program”- DePauw’s $25,000 grant will address the severe underrepresentation of students of color in computing (SoCC) by widening the current institutional pipeline.  Attaining near parity in the number of women and men majoring in computer science, as well as integrating insights from focus group work with students of color, will guide efforts to understand the importance of belonging in students’ persistence and success in Computer Science.
• Earlham College (Richmond): “Nurturing Community Collaboration and Student Leadership at Miller Farm”- Earlham’s $9,000 award will help support the college’s sustainable agriculture program through initiatives aimed at moving Miller Farm towards a goal of becoming a hub of learning, collaboration, ecological restoration, and food justice.  Specifically, this grant will help with designing and installing an outdoor kitchen space on-site to facilitate the hosting of community events and purchasing a two-wheeled tractor.
• Manchester University (North Manchester): “Innovative First Year Experience Course Design: Supporting Student Success Through Grit/Resilience, Leadership, and Service”- Manchester’s $24,000 award will be used to reinvent and launch an innovative First Year Experience (FYE) course.  In order to better meet the needs of first-year students and to positively impact first- to second-year retention, Manchester will reframe both the content and delivery method by creating a one-credit course for first year students that addresses socio-emotional factors, including grit, resilience, sense of belonging, and growth mindset.
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute): “Connecting with Code Summer Program” – Rose-Hulman’s $23,000 will be used to expand its successful Connecting with Code summer camp that targets K-8 underserved students in west-central Indiana through scholarships and access to ongoing educational resources.  The program is a series of week-long, half-day summer camps, with each camp having a different coding focus from Game Design to Lego Mindstorm.