Daniels recognizes 33-year Purdue veteran with One Brick Higher Award

July 2, 2015  


Mitch Daniels and Robert Wild

President Mitch Daniels on Monday (June 29) presented Robert Wild, assistant head of the Department of Chemistry and a 33-year veteran of Purdue, with the One Brick Higher Award. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons)
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President Mitch Daniels on Monday (June 29) honored Robert Wild, assistant head of the Department of Chemistry and a 33-year veteran of Purdue, with the One Brick Higher Award. Wild retired at the end of the 2014-15 academic year.

The One Brick Higher Award is a special recognition given to Purdue faculty, staff and students who go beyond the requirements of their role and through extraordinary effort to improve the lives of those around them, increase the effectiveness of the workplace or prevent or solve problems.

"Dr. Wild has dedicated his entire professional career to Purdue University, and our university is much better off because of him," Daniels said. "Over the past 33 years, Dr. Wild has consistently reinvented himself to adapt to a changing student body and faculty, and his impact on Purdue is evident throughout the Department of Chemistry."

Wild came to Purdue as a chemistry graduate student in 1977 after completing a Bachelor of Science in chemistry at Illinois Benedictine College (now Benedictine University). He completed his doctorate at Purdue in inorganic chemistry in 1982.

In his role as assistant head of the Department of Chemistry, Wild served as the director of graduate admissions and oversaw academic support services for laboratory management/safety, course scheduling, academic advising, procurement, K-12 outreach and communications.

Recently, he led the design and construction of the Drug Discovery Facility, and the newly minted Leighty Commons, which serves as the entrance to the Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry. He also authored the nomination of Wetherill Laboratory as a National Historic Chemical Landmark, and helped the department navigate the process to becoming the first U.S. chemistry department accredited by the Royal Society of Chemistry, based in the United Kingdom.

"Dr. Wild is a lifelong Boilermaker and exemplifies what it means to build this university 'one brick higher,'" Daniels said.

Writer: Charlie Henry, 765-496-2644, cghenry@purdue.edu 

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