Ball State's 152nd Commencement

by Arthur W. Hafner, Dean of University Libraries

On Saturday, May 3, 2008, Ball State University celebrated its 152nd commencement. Approximately 2,600 students received diplomas at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.

As Dean of University Libraries, I would like to make some comments and share some observations.

Our graduating students have many people to thank for all of the help they have received along the way — significant others, parents, siblings, grandparents, in-laws, faculty mentors, and employers. And there is another group, too. They are the Ball State alumni who have gone before them since our graduates are the beneficiaries of our alumni’s earlier achievements.

Graduation initiates each of our students into the proud family of alumni who have offered their best. Now, because of what each of our students has accomplished at Ball State, each graduate is positioned to live a better life, to enjoy better opportunities, to hold better jobs, to have better choices, to achieve and build wealth, and to contribute to the communities in which each lives and works. In short, graduation from Ball State allows each of our graduates to claim his/her bliss and joy in the world.

Graduation marks the official completion of an important chapter in each student’s life. In leaving the Ball State campus and Muncie, a part of each student remains.

I urge each graduating student, as a proud new alumnus or alumna, to stay in contact with Ball State, to lend his/her voice and provide financial support for alma mater’s continued growth and development. The University's name recognition, the quality and reputation of its programs, and its success for recruiting and graduating leaders for tomorrow reflects directly upon each graduate and impacts the value of each graduate’s own degree.

As well, I urge each of our graduates to make the effort to stay in touch with fellow students, to develop a strong network of friends and contacts, and to commit one’s self to excellence and focus all creativity and time to make the world a better and more just place, influencing others to do the same.

I hope each graduate of the Class of 2008 will support important community resources, such as libraries that are open and available to everyone for self-education, since these facilities touch and enhance the lives of everyone within their sphere of influence.

As our graduates face tomorrow, my suggestion is that each quickly build on past achievements by setting new goals and seize opportunities that are waiting for you. Everything begins with an idea and happens through action.

I wish each graduating Ball State student abundant good health, happiness, and both financial and personal success.

Dean of Libraries Expresses Appreciation to the University Libraries’ Personnel for their Work and Service during Fiscal Year 2006-2007

I want to express my thanks and appreciation to everyone who works in the University Libraries providing library and information services — professional and paraprofessional personnel, graduate assistants, and student assistants. Each of you, individually and collectively, has provided another year of thoughtful, caring, and creative service for the Ball State University Community.

Over the course of fiscal year 2006-2007, our turnstiles counted 1,301,390 visits to the University Libraries. This is an increase of 2.5% over the previous fiscal year. Thousands of students take advantage of the programs, services, and collections that our personnel manage and provide for research, learning, and classroom instruction.

Over the past 12 months, many times your specific work made a difference in the lives of our customers. Through using the University Libraries, our customers receive many benefits:
• Librarians and other specialists to help them with their research and papers
• Access to rich content for knowledge building and creation
• Physical and digital space for pursuing research and learning projects
• Computers, software, and other technology for their creative use
• Individual and collaborative spaces for group learning, study, and classroom enhancement

We are now in the first few weeks of the new fiscal year. Each of us is busy implementing various plans for excelling again during the academic year to further delight and serve our students and faculty through library and information services. Our objective is to increase the role of the Libraries in the academic life of Ball State University.

As Dean of University Libraries, each day I am grateful for the privilege to serve our students and faculty, and I hope you are, too. Our work — yours and mine — is an opportunity for us to be part of a great university like Ball State and to help others to pursue academic success and achieve their dreams.

As we move into the new fiscal year 2007-2008, I look forward to all of the spectacular happenings that are ahead as we develop and promote the University Libraries for the benefit of our students and faculty.