The first was a bachelor’s in speech-language pathology she earned in 1959. The degree marking the beginning of her 20-year career as a speech pathologist. The second opportunity came this year when the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences needed funding to jump-start construction of a new facility.

Higuera responded with a $10 million donation for the new Lyles-Porter Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Building.  “This was a wonderful opportunity for me,” she says.

The new facility will enable the nationally ranked program to expand its clinical and research work.  "The Lyles-Porter Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences facility is named in honor of both of the grandfathers of my four children," Higuera says.

Her father, William M. Lyles, Jr., graduated from Purdue with a bachelor's in civil engineering in 1935. He founded what is known today as the Lyles Construction Group. Her late husband’s father, George A. Porter, received a bachelor's in civil engineering in 1922.

Higuera is a third generation Boilermaker. Her grandfather, the late H. Gerald Venemann, retired from Purdue in 1954 as professor emeritus of mechanical engineering. Her mother, Elizabeth Lyles, earned a bachelor's in science in 1933 and a master's in science education in 1934. Her brothers, Gerald V. Lyles and William M. Lyles, also are Purdue alums. Her son, Thomas W. Porter, earned a bachelor's from Purdue in industrial engineering in 1985.

Higuera’s personal Purdue odyssey started when the teenager from Avenal, Calif., (population 3,000 at the time) arrived on the “big city” of the Purdue campus. Higuera was valedictorian of her high school graduating class of 55.

Despite her humble beginnings, her fellow Purdue freshmen thought Higuera had a glamorous background. “People from Indiana all imagined that because I was from California I must be from Hollywood. I didn’t do a whole lot to dissuade them, or to let them in on the fact that I was from this little oil town.”

In her first weeks at Purdue, she ran for class secretary, campaigning throughout campus with a chorus line of women friends  By the time she had won the election, Higuera had become a campus celebrity.

After graduating, Higuera worked in K-12 schools in California, including Kingsburg where she designed and implemented the district’s first speech therapy program. Later she ran a successful private practice. Higuera earned a master’s in audiology from California State University of Long Beach in 1969. In her thesis research, she performed neo-natal hearing screenings on 1,000 newborns in Los Angeles.

After her husband, Tom Porter, died in 1979, Higuera launched a new career as a travel consultant. After she married her current husband, Joseph Higuera, she launched her third career – as a poker player. Joseph was a dealer in Las Vegas when they met. “We traveled all over the world, playing poker. We played five days a week, six hours a day.”

These days Higuera takes care of Joseph, who suffered a debilitating illness in 2005. Higuera, though, says she feels blessed.  Her family’s successful business provided funding for the new building. Her four children are successful and happy. Her many careers have added a dash of adventure to life. And Purdue? That’s the place that taught her to shine.