Muncie, Ind., July 24, 2014—Ball State journalism instructor John Strauss, a former Associated Press manager and veteran broadcaster, has been named interim general manager for Indiana Public Radio (IPR) and WIPB Public Television.
Strauss serves as faculty adviser to The Ball State Daily News and is part of the team developing the school’s new Unified Media Lab, a digital newsroom helping student journalists work together and learn cross-platform skills in broadcast, print and online.
Two years ago, he began IPR’s Indiana Weekend show, which has won awards including best public affairs program and best radio documentary from state journalism groups. For WIPB, the PBS affiliate in Muncie, he produced and hosted Faith, Hope & Community, an hourlong public forum on race in 2012.
The interim position fills the general manager roles formerly held by Marcus Jackman of IPR and Alice Van Dyke of WIPB while the school prepares a national search for a manager of the newly unified operations, said Dan Lutz, associate vice president for information technology at Ball State.
“John will assess all aspects of our operations, including programming, membership and development, and look for ways to grow our service to the community and collaboration with academic departments on campus,” Lutz said.
“In particular, we’ve asked him to explore new immersive learning opportunities that could leverage our broadcast facilities to the benefit of both the students and our community partners.
Strauss has a background that includes 10 years as an AP manager in Indianapolis, Nashville and New York City, experience as a reporter and weekend anchor at NBC affiliate WNDU-TV in South Bend and several positions at The Indianapolis Star, where he covered government and politics, and most recently was a digital news editor. He has presented on the subject of website multimedia to news and public relations groups in Indiana, New York, New Mexico, South Dakota, Florida, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
A former chair of the journalism department’s Undergraduate Policies Committee and former member of the University Senate, Strauss has helped lead several Ball State immersive learning experiences, including student coverage of the Associated Press Media Editors national conference in Indianapolis last year. He currently has a grant from the Indiana Supreme Court to fund a project in which students are helping county courts develop social media tools to communicate with the public.
Strauss earned his master of arts in telecommunications-digital storytelling from Ball State and has a business degree from the University of Notre Dame. He and his wife, Martha, have two grown daughters, including one who finished her graduate work at Ball State’s Center for Information and Communication Sciences this summer.
A PBS affiliate, WIPB Public Television is licensed to Ball State University and serves nearly 1.5 million people in east central Indiana and western Ohio. WIPB endeavors to educate, entertain and engage the communities we serve through distinctive television programs and enriching outreach services. For more information, call 800-252-9472 or visit WIPB online at www.wipb.org.
Indiana Public Radio is a service of Ball State University, a Public Radio International affiliate, and a National Public Radio member station. Its format includes news and classical music broadcast on WBST 92.1FM Muncie, WBSB 89.5FM Anderson, WBSW 90.9FM Marion, WBSJ 91.7FM Portland, and WBSH 91.1FM Hagerstown-New Castle. More information and online streaming is available at www.indianapublicradio.org.
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