Ball State University president Geoff Mearns joins us for an end-of-the year reflection on the holidays, the recent $35 million Lilly Endowment grant to the university involving the nearby Village business district, and a first-hand or first-foot report on his recent broken ankle. Mearns suffered the injury in a barnburner of a ping pong match in Bracken House, with his son Geoffrey.

Stan Sollars is IPR’s Morning Edition host and a senior lecturer in Ball State’s Department of Media.  Contact him at stansollars@bsu.edu.