Ball State Professor Lindsey Blom Earns MAC’s 2021 Outstanding Faculty Award For Student Success

Dr. Lindsey BlomDr. Lindsey Blom

By Ball State Marketing & Communications—

MUNCIE, Indiana – Dr. Lindsey Blom, a professor of Sport and Exercise Psychology at Ball State University, has earned a high honor from the Mid-American Conference (MAC) for her dedication to student fulfillment.

Blom today was announced as the overall winner of the 2021 MAC Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success. This is the second consecutive year a Ball State educator has earned this recognition, after Jennifer Palilonis, the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Multimedia Journalism, won the overall conference award in its inaugural year in 2020.

This annual award recognizes the outstanding efforts by faculty at schools within the MAC who support students, enhance the collegiate experience, establish and support inclusive environments, prepare students for success after graduation, and promote lifelong learning.

“Professor Blom earned this great honor as a result of her dedication to the success and welfare of our students,” Ball State President Geoffrey S. Mearns said. “I am proud that, for the second consecutive year, one of our outstanding teachers has received this recognition. It is a reflection of the commitment of our faculty and staff to the success of all of our students.”

“I am incredibly honored by this recognition,” Blom said. “Student success is the goal of all of the decisions we make on campus and across the MAC. Over the past 13 years at Ball State, I have had the opportunity to work with incredible students, at both the undergraduate and graduate level, across campus. I am regularly impressed by their energy, innovative ideas, dedication to Muncie and surrounding communities, hard work, and passion. They energize and encourage me every day.”

Blom has excelled in her pursuits of investigating positive youth development through sport, using sport to promote peace at the individual, community, and international levels, and providing support for Ball State’s student-athletes.

Blom, who coordinates Ball State’s master’s degree program in Sport & Exercise Science, also serves on a number of boards, including for Ball State’s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Dream Sports Africa, and the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Sports Psychology. A former semi-professional soccer player who in 2014 was inducted into the Georgia Southern University Athletics Hall of Fame, Blom also serves as Ball State’s faculty athletics representative.

“I love working at Ball State, as it is such a student-focused campus,” Blom said. “It is a University that encourages diverse thought and works to implement science in world-changing, tangible ways — driven by students, and supported by faculty.”

Blom’s research work emphasizes holistic athlete development, with a specific focus on maximizing the benefits of sports participation through a mastery and cooperative approach fostered by trained coaches and supportive parents.

Her recent projects include exploring the peace indicators and development of purpose in Liberian youth involved in a sport for development program; conducting sport for social change programs in India, Jordan and Tajikistan; developing a values-based curriculum that can be infused into recreational sport leagues; and running local after-school sport for peace and leadership programs with elementary school children.

Throughout her academic career, Blom, a fellow and president-elect at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology, has co-authored numerous journal articles, book chapters, and a book, Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Soccer. She has more than 15 years of consulting experience as a certified mental performance consultant (CMPC), and has served as a youth soccer coach, working with children ages 4 to 18 in recreational, competitive, and school-based settings.

“Dr. Lindsey Blom is a model professor. She excels in teaching, research, and service. Yet, what jumps out is her student-centered focus, and passion for teaching and mentoring students,” said MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher. “I congratulate Dr. Blom on being selected to receive the Mid-American Conference Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success.”

 

About Ball State
Founded in 1918 and located in Muncie, Ball State University is one of Indiana’s premier universities and an economic driver for the state. Ball State’s 21,600 students come from all over Indiana, the nation, and the world. The 790-acre campus is large enough to accommodate first-rate facilities and 19 NCAA Division I sports, but our welcoming and inclusive campus is small enough to ensure the friendliness, personal attention, and access that are the hallmarks of the University. Destination 2040: Our Flight Path establishes Ball State’s ambitious goals for our second century. We Fly!