Welcome to the Big Read community!
The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
The Big Read is designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment. Ball State University is one of 75 not-for-profit organizations to receive a grant to host a Big Read project between September 2015 and June 2016. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with Arts Midwest.
From September 2015 to June 2016, Ball State University will collaborate with the Muncie public library, Muncie Action Plan, and the other organizations and institutions to provide the community wide reading activities for the local citizens and students in Muncie, Indiana . For the detailed information about this project, please read the following information.
Book selected for the Big Read program: Fahrenheit 451
About US
Program Director
Dr. Bo Chang, Assistant Professor of Adult and Community Education, Department of Educational Studies at Ball State University, will design, manage and facilitate the implementation of the Big Read program activities, and provide coordination, as well as administrative oversight of the programming. She is specialized in adult learning in the community context and has conducted adult learning projects in a variety of international community contexts. She was the Ball State 2011-2012 Emerging Media New Faculty Fellow. She received the 2011 Early Career Scholar Award from the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Adult Literacy and Adult Education Special Interest Group.
Program Support
Dr. Jayne Beilke, Chair and Professor of Secondary and Foundations of Education, Department of Educational Studies at Ball State University, will provide coordination and leadership support, as well as administrative oversight of the programming. She will work with the community partners to implement the Big Read activities.
Lisa Renze-Rhodes, Senior Media Relations Manager at Ball State, is committed to leading the University Marketing and Communications team to direct promotional activities and manage relationships with the media.
Muncie Community & Partner Participation
Local
Libraries and schools:
Ginny Nilles, Director of the Muncie Public Library, will support the Big Read activities through the use of the library's facilities and resources and will organize the book club for adults and teenagers in the fall of 2015.
Peggy Lewis, Director of the Ball State University Schools Network, will work with the teachers and the faculty to manage and organize the Big Read reading activities in the Muncie public schools through the Clinical Practice Network and the Professional Development Schools.
Suzanne Rice, Assistant Dean for Public Services from Ball State's Bracken library, will support the Big Read events to be hosted in Bracken library.
Sarah Smurr, Instructor of ESL at Ball State's Intensive English Institute (IEI), will organize the reading activities for both native students and international students primarily from China, Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
Lynn Engle, teacher of Language Arts at Muncie Central High School, will organize the reading activities for Muncie Central High School students.
Stephen Merkle, chairperson of Language Arts at Muncie Central High School, will organize the reading activities for Muncie Central High School students.
Tim Sheffield, teacher of Language Arts at Muncie Central High School, will organize the reading activities for Muncie Central High School students.
Muncie Community:
Dr. Jayne Beilke, Chair and Professor of Secondary and Foundations of Education, Department of Educational Studies at Ball State University, will collaborate with several community youth-serving agencies such as local Boys and Girls Club and the Roy Buley community center to organize the reading activities for students. Each agency will be asked to participate in the Big Read in some way -- attending lectures, holding book discussions, and viewing the film version of Fahrenheit 451. The activities of the Big Read could be incorporated into existing tutoring or enrichment programs at the community centers.
Dr. Ruby Cain, Assistant Professor and director of M.A. Degree Programs in Adult & Community Education Program and in Executive Development for Public Service Program, and Director of the It Is Well With My Soul in the Department of Educational Studies at Ball State University, will assist in the Big Read community outreach and help to organize a Big Read activity for IIWWMS F.U.N. Muncie at Bethel A.M.E. Church.
Mr. Larry Strange, Coordinator and a professional planner of the Muncie Action Plan (MAP), will support and promote our city-wide Big Read events in the Muncie community.
Big Read Website Management
Muncie Big Read Brochure
Ball State University Immersive Learning Teams
Immersive
learning is to embed learning in the local community context. Students learn
through interacting with the community partners and organizations.
13 Ball State graduate students have registered for the immersive learning course EDAC 632 (Organizing Adult and Community Education Programs; Instructor: Dr. Bo Chang), which is supported by Ball State University Teachers College Immersive Learning Mini-Grant and Ball State University Building Better Communities Fellows.
Students are from interdisciplinary programs, such as Adult and Community Education, Sociology, Biology, Public Relations, Secondary Education, Educational Leadership, Executive Development and Public Service, Career/Technical Education. Students in this course are working with the community partner, Mr. Larry Strange, Coordinator and professional planner of the Muncie Action Plan, to manage and organize the Big Read activities in Muncie, Indiana. They will use organizational and management theories to analyze the structures and management styles of the organizations in Muncie, to fully utilize the community resources and the support from community organizations to market and organize the Big Read program in Muncie community.
Here are our immersive learning student teams:
Group 1
13 Ball State graduate students have registered for the immersive learning course EDAC 632 (Organizing Adult and Community Education Programs; Instructor: Dr. Bo Chang), which is supported by Ball State University Teachers College Immersive Learning Mini-Grant and Ball State University Building Better Communities Fellows.
Students are from interdisciplinary programs, such as Adult and Community Education, Sociology, Biology, Public Relations, Secondary Education, Educational Leadership, Executive Development and Public Service, Career/Technical Education. Students in this course are working with the community partner, Mr. Larry Strange, Coordinator and professional planner of the Muncie Action Plan, to manage and organize the Big Read activities in Muncie, Indiana. They will use organizational and management theories to analyze the structures and management styles of the organizations in Muncie, to fully utilize the community resources and the support from community organizations to market and organize the Big Read program in Muncie community.
Here are our immersive learning student teams:
Group 1
Group 2
Desiree
Soptelean
Group 3 |
Kyndra
Haggard
|
Debbie
Shidler
|
Spencer Matheny
|
Mike Burks
|
David Sarah
|
Group 4
Jillian
Simmons
|
Brent
Baumer
|
Kelly
Neal
|
Activities
Kick-Off event: September 22, 2015, 5:30 pm-6:30 pm; Location: Ball State University Student Center (Cardinal Hall A and B).
Dr. Jonathan R. Eller, Chancellor's Professor of English and the Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts (IUPUI), will talk about the historical contexts and the cultural themes of Fahrenheit 451. Music and videos will be provided. Dr. Eller will bring a few artifacts to the Kick-Off event. Participants will receive copies of the book, reader's guide, and brochures of the book discussions and other Big Read events being held in Muncie.
Special event 1: Public forum: November 30, 2015, 6:30 pm-8 pm; Location: Kennedy Library, Meeting room.
Dr. Cecil Bohanon, professor of Economics at Ball State University, Allen Hutson, Risk Analyst, Dr. Robin Blom, assistant professor of Journalism from Ball State University, and Sam Weller, a professor at Columbia College Chicago and Ray Bradbury's authorized biographer, will be our panelists to lead the community wide public forum. They will speak about a variety of controls in the past and the present, such as government control, media control, political control, etc. Then the participants share their stories about control reflected in their daily life, in the legal system, in education, and in TV and newspapers, to be followed by a discussion to conceptualize the participants' stories.
Special event 2: City-wide Artistic Competition: February, 2016. Location: Ball State Student Center.
Participants will use artistic formats (music, movies, dancing, painting, performances, etc.) to express the themes of the book.
Here is the procedure:
1. Participants will post the links of their work (such as a video or picture) to the Muncie Big Read Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/munciebigread) and invite the public to evaluate their work by clicking Like. The winners of the first round will be those contestants who have the highest number of Likes.
2. The winners of the first round will display their work at the Ball State Student Center during the artistic competition event in February, 2016 (the specific date will be updated when it is decided). The audience attending the event will select their favorite works and decide the final winners of the artistic competition.
3. The event will be reported through multi-media.
Keynote Session: November 9, 2015, 10 A.M. - 11. A.M. Monday. Location: Muncie Central High School.
Dr. Jonathan R. Eller, Chancellor's Professor of English and the Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts (IUPUI), will talk about the contexts and the themes of the book Fahrenheit 451, and introduce Ray Bradbury's views on the influence of technology and media on our lives, to be followed by Q&A and a short discussion on these topics. Dr. Eller will bring a few artifacts to the keynote session.
10 Discussions: September 2015-June 2016. Locations: Ball State Student Center and Ball State Bracken Library; the three Muncie Libraries: Carnegie, Kennedy, and Maring-Hunt.
We will organize at least 10 discussions based on the main themes of the book. Resources from newspapers, the film and documentaries will be shared. Controversial topics will be discussed, such as the Edward Snowden event, power, manipulation and social control; hackers, censorship, and knowledge freedom; Facebook, data control and privacy in knowledge sharing; Independent thinking, conformity and totalitarian states; The “mobile” generation and the “book people”; memory-tradition and the Cloud world; the change of reading habits influenced by technology, etc.
Dr. Jonathan R. Eller, Chancellor's Professor of English and the Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts (IUPUI), will talk about the historical contexts and the cultural themes of Fahrenheit 451. Music and videos will be provided. Dr. Eller will bring a few artifacts to the Kick-Off event. Participants will receive copies of the book, reader's guide, and brochures of the book discussions and other Big Read events being held in Muncie.
Special event 1: Public forum: November 30, 2015, 6:30 pm-8 pm; Location: Kennedy Library, Meeting room.
Dr. Cecil Bohanon, professor of Economics at Ball State University, Allen Hutson, Risk Analyst, Dr. Robin Blom, assistant professor of Journalism from Ball State University, and Sam Weller, a professor at Columbia College Chicago and Ray Bradbury's authorized biographer, will be our panelists to lead the community wide public forum. They will speak about a variety of controls in the past and the present, such as government control, media control, political control, etc. Then the participants share their stories about control reflected in their daily life, in the legal system, in education, and in TV and newspapers, to be followed by a discussion to conceptualize the participants' stories.
Special event 2: City-wide Artistic Competition: February, 2016. Location: Ball State Student Center.
Participants will use artistic formats (music, movies, dancing, painting, performances, etc.) to express the themes of the book.
Here is the procedure:
1. Participants will post the links of their work (such as a video or picture) to the Muncie Big Read Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/munciebigread) and invite the public to evaluate their work by clicking Like. The winners of the first round will be those contestants who have the highest number of Likes.
2. The winners of the first round will display their work at the Ball State Student Center during the artistic competition event in February, 2016 (the specific date will be updated when it is decided). The audience attending the event will select their favorite works and decide the final winners of the artistic competition.
3. The event will be reported through multi-media.
Keynote Session: November 9, 2015, 10 A.M. - 11. A.M. Monday. Location: Muncie Central High School.
Dr. Jonathan R. Eller, Chancellor's Professor of English and the Director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts (IUPUI), will talk about the contexts and the themes of the book Fahrenheit 451, and introduce Ray Bradbury's views on the influence of technology and media on our lives, to be followed by Q&A and a short discussion on these topics. Dr. Eller will bring a few artifacts to the keynote session.
10 Discussions: September 2015-June 2016. Locations: Ball State Student Center and Ball State Bracken Library; the three Muncie Libraries: Carnegie, Kennedy, and Maring-Hunt.
We will organize at least 10 discussions based on the main themes of the book. Resources from newspapers, the film and documentaries will be shared. Controversial topics will be discussed, such as the Edward Snowden event, power, manipulation and social control; hackers, censorship, and knowledge freedom; Facebook, data control and privacy in knowledge sharing; Independent thinking, conformity and totalitarian states; The “mobile” generation and the “book people”; memory-tradition and the Cloud world; the change of reading habits influenced by technology, etc.
Guest Speakers
Dr. Cecil Bohanon, professor
of Economics at Ball State University, and Allen Hutson, a Risk Analyst at AECS,
will be one of our panelists to lead the community wide public forum. They will also
be our guest speaker to lead one of the discussion sessions.
Cecil Bohanon and Allen Hutson co-authored an article entitled The Economics of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
For more information about Dr. Bohanon, Please check the following webpage: Dr. Cecil Bohanon
Cecil Bohanon and Allen Hutson co-authored an article entitled The Economics of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451.
For more information about Dr. Bohanon, Please check the following webpage: Dr. Cecil Bohanon
Sam Weller, a professor at Columbia College Chicago and Ray Bradbury's authorized biographer, will be one of our panelists to lead the community wide public forum. For more information about Sam Weller, please check the following webpage: Sam Weller |
Sonya Paul, Director of Business Develop
at the Cancer Services of East Central Indiana, will be our guest speaker to lead
the discussion session for the patients and employees at the Cancer Services of
East Central Indiana. She will also work with artists to support the City-wide
Artistic Competition.
|
We will update the website when we have more detailed information about other guest speakers.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank the following
colleagues and all the organizations and volunteers who kindly supported
our program:
Dr. Karen Ford, Associate Professor of Curriculum Instruction at the Department of Educational Studies, Ball State University, contributed to our initial project proposal writing.
Stephanie L. Sisco, CRA, Sponsored Projects Administration at Ball State University, contributed to our project budget writing and helped us deal with the budget related issues.