Ball State’s Healthy Lifestyle Center recognized ‘100,000 Award’
• Ball State University’s Healthy Lifestyle Center (HLC) has been recognized for its dedication to the neighbors and communities it serves.
The Healthy Community Alliance of East Central Indiana (HCA), in its annual partner meeting, presented its “100,000 Award in Memory of Dr. George Branam” to the Healthy Lifestyle Center. The annual award is given to an organization that supports the work of the HCA through outstanding leadership, innovative collaborations, and an unwavering dedication to improving the health and well-being of the community, according to a release.
“This award has special meaning for me personally, as I valued Dr. Branam as a personal mentor for many years and benefited immensely from his friendship and collegiality,” said Leonard Kaminsky, director of the Fisher Institute for Health and Well-Being at Ball State. “Speaking on behalf of our dedicated faculty, staff, and collaborators, we deeply appreciate this recognition and look forward to continued service to our fellow community members.”
The “100,000 Award” is named in honor of the late George Branam, a “steadfast champion of community health and wellness,” according to the HCA. The number 100,000 represents Branam’s lifetime miles completed to train for, and compete in, 66 running marathons.
Ball State’s Healthy Lifestyle Center, which has been in operation since 2018, strives to assist individuals in practicing healthy lifestyle behaviors to improve their personal health and well-being, which will result in improved health outcomes for the population of Delaware County. The HLC provides education, services, and programming to the local community, while also utilizing the resources of Ball State’s College of Health to provide individual and group consultations from staff with expertise in nutrition, exercise science, health behavior change, social supportive services, fall prevention and medicine.
The Healthy Lifestyle Center, which has received multiple grants from the Ball Brothers Foundation and other agencies, operates primarily from the Health Professions Building on the Ball State campus, but also provides support services at Meridian Health Services on Tillotson Avenue.
For more information about the Healthy Lifestyle Center, call 765-285-1293, or email [email protected].
• Aaron Paige, assistant professor of music (voice) at Ball State University, was one of just 35 people chosen for a fellowship program designed to elevate and engage Black and Latinx music educators.
Paige is part of the inaugural class of Cleveland Institute of Music’s (CIM) Future of Music Faculty Fellowship Program, according to a release from Ball State.
“I am honored to be selected,” Paige said in the release. “None of this would be possible without (retired) professor of Music Meryl Mantione and associate teaching professor of Music Performance Yoko Shimazaki-Kilburn. As Ball State faculty mentors, these scholars are pristine examples of this University’s commitment to shaping young talent. Their relentless encouragement — even when I sometimes don’t deserve it — nudges me every day to be a better teacher, leader, and Cardinal.”
Paige is a former member of the Singing Sergeants of the United States Air Force Band, where he held the tenor section leader position. His time in the Air Force Band included 12 national tours, two Super Bowls, and performances of the national anthem at 47 professional sporting events. He has performed for a few U.S. presidents, as well as heads of state from Italy, France, China, Croatia, Poland, Canada, and Lithuania.
Paige has presented lectures and recitals on African American music in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institute at the National Museum of American History, National Air and Space Museum, and National Museum of African Art. He has also been a featured soloist at the White House, Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, and DAR Constitution Hall.
The inaugural Future of Music Faculty Fellowship class was unveiled in late June. Selection for this program involved a competitive process that drew 160 applicants from 30 states and seven countries. The applicants were considered based on the strength of their music background, education and application materials, as well as their dedication, skill and drive to succeed within the complex world of academia.
Members of this inaugural fellowship class come from 20 states across America. Their areas of study include instrumental, jazz and vocal performance; music education; composition; conducting; and ethnomusicology, musicology and music theory.
• Susan McDowell, vice provost for research at Ball State University, has been named an Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) Council on Research Leader Fellow.
The APLU Council on Research (CoR), which is comprised of senior research officers at the nation’s public research universities, created the fellowship to enable individuals who are new vice presidents, vice chancellors or vice provosts for research, or aspiring to these positions, to develop critical new knowledge and skills.
McDowell, who is one of eight new fellows, will join three previous cohorts of fellows that were selected earlier this Summer and introduced at the 2021 CoR Virtual Summer Meeting.
In her role at Ball State, McDowell provides leadership to the university’s Sponsored Projects Administration and to the Office of Research Integrity. She also manages the Teacher-Scholar Program, which affords opportunities for first- and second-year undergraduates to collaborate with research mentors. McDowell also serves as the lead for Ball State in the Aspire Alliance, part of the National Science Foundation-funded INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) programming.
McDowell received baccalaureate degrees in biology and secondary education from Thomas More College, a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, and conducted postdoctoral training at Eli Lilly & Co.
Announcements of awards, scholarships and other honors given to local residents and entities can be sent to Robin Gibson at [email protected].
