Ball State University, commonly referred to as Ball State or BSU, is a public coeducational research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States, with two satellite facilities in Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, industrialists and founders of the Ball Corporation, acquired the foreclosed Indiana Normal Institute for $35,100 and gifted the school and surrounding land to the State of Indiana. The Indiana General Assembly accepted the donation in the spring of 1918, with an initial 235 students enrolling at the Indiana State Normal School – Eastern Division on June 17, 1918.
Ball State is classified by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education as a doctoral university: higher research activity and a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. The university is composed of eight academic colleges: the College of Applied Sciences and Technology. College of Architecture and Planning, the College of Communication, Information, and Media, the Miller College of Business, College of Fine Arts, College of Health, College of Sciences and Humanities, and Teachers College. Other institutions include Burris Laboratory School, the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities, and the Center for Business and Economic Research.
As of 2016, total enrollment was 21,998 students, including 17,011 undergraduate and 4,987 postgraduate. Ball State students hail from across Indiana and the United States and around the world. The university offers about 190 undergraduate majors and 130 minor areas of study and more than 140 master’s, doctoral, certificate, and specialist degrees. There are more than 400 student organizations and clubs on campus, including 34 fraternities and sororities. Ball State athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are known as the Ball State Cardinals. The university is a member of the Mid-American Conference and the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association.
Intel Corporation ranked Ball State as the “most unwired” campus in the nation in 2005. The university’s academic and administrative buildings, residence halls, and green spaces have wireless access fed by 625 Wi-Fi access points. The university was ranked eighth by U.S. News & World Report’s “up-and-coming” colleges and universities in 2011.
Architect magazine ranked the university’s Department of Architecture in the top three nationally for digital design and fabrication and one of six schools committed to social justice in the United States in 2010. In 2007, Planetizen ranked the urban planning and historic preservation programs 17th and seventh in the nation, respectively.
U.S. News & World Report has ranked the Miller College of Business’ entrepreneurial management program in the top 15 in the nation since 1999. Ball State University students and faculty have earned 43 Emmys and 126 Regional Emmy nominations.The Teachers College graduate program was ranked 81st in the nation by U.S. News & World Report in 2013. The Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities and Burris Laboratory School have been included in Newsweek’s “Best High Schools” as recently as 2013.