Meet Dr. Joe Misiewicz one time and you’ve got an ally for life. Just ask any of the nearly 10,000 students he’s influenced in more than 50 years of teaching.
The grandson of Polish immigrants, Dr. Joe never thought he’d go to college. But this only son of Walter, the Chrysler factory worker, and Lillian, a Jeep hub cap maker, was East Detroit High School newspaper and yearbook editor, and class president.
Misiewicz earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Eastern Michigan University, where he was news and sports director, and hosted a classical music radio show.
At the University of Michigan, he was encouraged to become a teacher, earned his doctorate, and made it a personal goal to ensure all his students got a job.
He has impacted thousands of students beginning at Eastern Michigan in 1971. Then came Morehead State, Central Missouri State, Bradley and Central Michigan, where he directed the launch of “News Central,” a student-run, daily, cable newscast still broadcasting today.
Dr. Joe joined Ball State University in 1990, was chair of the Department of Telecommunication, GM for the campus public radio and TV stations, and continued teaching part-time for almost 13 years after he retired. Over the years he has led both Indiana’s public and commercial state broadcasters’ associations.
He continues connecting in retirement as host of “All Kinds of People” a weekly, on-air radio talk program on WMUN-FM 92.5 Muncie and on Podbean.com.
Dr. Joe and his wife Kerri have traveled the world. He has visited or taught internationally, including in Poland, Austria, Germany, Taiwan and Brazil.
Equally comfortable in meetings on The Hill, acing points on the tennis court, entertaining terminally ill children with puppets, or donning a red nose and conducting the Muncie Symphony as Razzo the Clown, Dr. Joe says he feels most blessed that he can just as easily shoot off a text to one of the 22 Ball State “Dr. Joe” scholarship winners or a former student– all to maintain connections and encourage relationships.
