MUNCIE, Ind. — The Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Honors House announced it would temporarily close its space in the Fall of 2024. This was due to a groundbreaking enrollment of 600 new freshmen, now with nearly 1,400 active students.
The house was originally built in 1932 and renovated in 2009. Now, it faces another wave of construction to accommodate the increased number of students while keeping the original look and feel of the home.
“We have almost 1,400 total honors students on campus right now,” said Jim Buss, Dean of the Honors College.
“So with that growth and expansion of the need of students and the need for classes and faculty to hold those courses, it really has required us to think bigger. Both in terms of the number of students and the size of the space.”
With the expansion of the Honors House, they plan to add a brand new classroom, three new faculty offices, an additional space for students, an extra restroom, and an outdoor labyrinth and garden for students to use.
Despite the house being a hub for honors students, the space will be open to any student of any department. The Honors College will be a spot for all students to get together, whether that be in the original interior or even the breathtaking outdoors.
“Having this space and the classrooms, having our faculty all located here, our advisors located here, creates a sense of community,” Buss said.
“And of course with DeHority Hall, our residence hall across the street, really grounds that sense of community in space.”
The future of the Honors College embraces students everywhere, allowing them to come together for memories that will last a lifetime. The space provided will inspire students to love the people and services of Ball State.
Frank Diaz Morales, an Honors College Lead Peer Mentor, spoke about how special the Honors College is.
“We each have our own departments and colleges, but here at the Honors College, we take in all disciplines and all majors, and it really builds the community because not all of us are in the same major,” Morales said.
“We wanna definitely connect with our students, whether it's a student-to-student or professor-to-student, making sure we’re building those connections that can last a lifetime.”
The Honors House plans to stay open during business hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and will be actively open as early as the fall of 2025.
Contact Payton Mucker with comments at payton.mucker@bsu.edu.
