From the Nominator

Beneficence, known as "Benny," is Ball State University’s iconic campus sculpture, symbolizing the generosity of the Ball brothers, whose land donation helped the university thrive. This spirit of generosity—beneficence—remains a core value for students, faculty, and alumni. Mentoring has long been part of Ball State’s culture of small class sizes and engaged faculty. It gained formal recognition with the university’s Destination 2040 strategic plan, which aims to provide “every graduate [with] access to a coach or mentor.” To achieve this ambitious goal, the alumni council developed the Next Level Alumni Engagement Plan which secured five years of funding for staffing two full-time mentoring professionals and enhanced funding for a networking platform with mentoring tools. This investment has yielded remarkable results: platform membership doubled to 10,000 in just two years, with over 20% of students participating, and more mentoring programs launching each semester. Ball State’s mentoring success stems from embracing existing programs rather than imposing rigid structures. By recognizing existing mentoring efforts of the 32 known mentoring programs, we foster goodwill and share best practices. Beginning July 2024, the alumni mentoring team hosts a monthly roundtable with program managers. These gatherings create a support system for mentoring program managers who are often working alone. While the programs differ in the audience served, type of mentoring program, the department it is housed in, and oversight responsibility, they share the goal of Beneficence through building social capital for our students and meaningful engagement for alumni.

From the Judges

Ball State’s mentoring efforts are uniquely collaborative, with no single entity claiming ownership. Initially, the foundation aimed to standardize mentoring under its platform but shifted toward supporting diverse approaches while promoting mentoring as a shared value of beneficence. The foundation now acts as a consultant and connector—offering training, resources, and platform access—while also coordinating campus-wide mentoring conversations and culture-building initiatives. The goal of fostering a university-wide mentoring culture that benefits both students and alumni is a solid goal and they are doing it a great job with it.