October 4, 2004

Purdue to celebrate Homecoming with $42 million in gifts

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue University will celebrate Homecoming with more than 20 events Oct. 14-23, announcing more than $42 million in new gifts, dedicating four new buildings and breaking ground on two more.

Millennium Building exterior
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"Coming home to Purdue is taking on a new meaning," said Murray Blackwelder, Purdue senior vice president for advancement. "Our alumni don't come home just to share the past anymore. They come home to witness the future. That future is happening here at Purdue.

"People are amazed at how far we've come in the past three years since we announced our strategic plan and our $1.3 billion Campaign for Purdue."

On the southwest corner of campus, for example, Discovery Park is rising out of the ground, with one building complete, three more well under way, one ready for construction and another on the architect's drawing board. The university will dedicate one of those buildings, break ground on another and accept gifts for programming for Discovery Park's Biomedical Engineering Building and Discovery Learning Center.

"We'll also celebrate the completion of fund raising for the jewel of the College of Engineering, our $47.7 million Millennium Building, and break ground on a new radiology unit for the School of Veterinary Medicine," Blackwelder said. "A major gift will kick off fund raising for an expansion of the Department of Aviation Technology, all part of a 40th anniversary celebration for our School of Technology."

Three buildings will be named – the new Visual and Performing Arts, Computer Science and Millennium buildings – in conjunction with gift announcements. The new dining court at Stadium Avenue will be dedicated and named. Alumni will have their first chance to experience the new $16 million Dauch Alumni Center.

Purdue also will announce gifts for programming and about a dozen professorships, awarded to attract and retain the most talented leaders in their field.

The schedule follows:

9 a.m.– The School of Technology will celebrate its 40th anniversary. Event location: Purdue Bell Tower.

11:30 a.m. – The Department of Aviation Technology will announce a gift to launch the fund drive for new academic space. Event location: Purdue Airport, Hangar 2, which is attached to the terminal.

6:30 p.m. – News veterans Ben Bradlee and Bob Woodward will be featured in the Krannert Leadership Speaker Series. Event location: Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms. (Tickets required)

6:30 p.m. – Football coach Joe Tiller and some members of the team will participate in the Homecoming pep rally. Event location: Slayter Center.

10:30 a.m. – The School of Agriculture will announce a gift to support a professorship. Event location: Pfendler Hall auditorium.

Noon – School of Liberal Arts will celebrate the completion of fund raising for Phase II of the new $41 million Visual and Performing Arts Building, name the facility, announce gifts and honor a major donor. Tours will follow. Event location: Visual and Performing Arts Building's dance studio, Room 1179.

3 p.m.– The university and its graduates will dedicate the new Dauch Alumni Center. At Grant and Wood streets, the $16 million, two-story, red brick facility is the first building at Purdue dedicated to its 350,000 living alumni. Once inside the doors, visitors enter into the Spurgeon Hall of Spirit, which showcases Purdue alumni achievements and the university's history and aspirations. Event location: Parking lot south of new building.

6:30 p.m. – The Homecoming parade, with the theme "Purdue Around the World," will start at Stadium Avenue and Russell Street and end at Slayter Hill. Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady will be the grand marshal. Fireworks will follow.

10 a.m. – Purdue will officially name its College of Engineering's new $47.7 million Millennium Building and celebrate the completion of fund raising for the facility. Some of the gifts that helped fund the project will be announced. The building will be the new home of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, School of Materials Engineering and Department of Engineering Education. Event location: Corner of Stadium and Northwestern avenues.

11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. – Homecoming activities will be centered on the Purdue Mall. More than 50 schools, departments and organizations will offer interactive displays, highlights of research and programs, activities, and food. Live performances will be featured on the stage between the Engineering Administration Building and the Purdue Bell Tower. Several gift announcements will be made after 2:15 p.m. on the stage, and the new Computer and Science Building will be named in recognition of a major gift. At 3:30 p.m. the "All-American" Marching Band and Purdue President Martin C. Jischke will lead the crowd from the Purdue Mall to Ross-Ade Stadium for the start of the Homecoming football game.

4:30 p.m. – Purdue Boilermakers take on the University of Wisconsin Badgers in Ross-Ade.

4 p.m. – The university will break ground for the $10 million e-Enterprise Center and announce gifts for the new $10 million Discovery Learning Center, a research facility that will establish the university as a leader in discovering new ways to learn. Both are part of Discovery Park. Event location: Tent off Intramural Drive south of State Street and the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.

10 a.m.– The university's dining court south of Ross-Ade will be named and dedicated. Event location: Tent out side the building at Stadium Avenue and Russell Street.

11 a.m. –The School of Veterinary Medicine will break ground and announce gifts for its new $1.4 million radiation therapy facility, the first in the state for pets and other small animals. The school also is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Department of Comparative Oncology. Event location: Adjacent to the entrance to the Small Animal Hospital on the east side of Lynn Hall, which is on the south side of Harrison street, two blocks west of Grant Street.

1 p.m. – Purdue will dedicate its new $7 million Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Discovery Park. Event location: In a tent by the building, southwest of State Street and Intramural Drive.

10 a.m.– The university will dedicate the $19.5 million addition to Forney Hall of Chemical Engineering. Event location: Auditorium inside the building, north side of Purdue Mall.

Noon – College of Engineering alumni will gather for the Engineering Dean's Club Luncheon and a presentation by Dean Linda Katehi, who will discuss the college's past, present and future. Numerous gifts will be announced. Event location: Tent at Purdue Memorial Mall. (Ticket required.)

4 p.m. – The university will celebrate the renovation of the area south of the Purdue Memorial Union. Thanks to a class gift, the university was able to take up the 85-foot by 45-foot reflecting pool that had stood on that spot for more than 45 years, replacing it with grass, walkways and flowers.

6 p.m. – President's Council Annual Dinner. Numerous gifts will be announced, as well as the total raised to date for the $1.3 billion Campaign for Purdue. Event location: Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms. (Ticket required.)

Writer: Jeanne V. Norberg: (765) 494-2084, (765) 449-4986 (home), jnorberg@purdue.edu

Source: Murray Blackwelder: (765) 496-2144; mblackwelder@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:
Purdue University will name and celebrate the completion of fund raising for its new $47.7 million Millennium Building, called the jewel of the College of Engineering, at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 16. The building – to be the new home of the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, School of Materials Engineering and Department of Engineering Education – will anchor the corner of Stadium and Northwestern avenues. (Purdue News Service photo/Dave Umberger)

A publication-quality photograph is available at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/images/+2004/millenium-nite.jpg

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