Leadership in Action Award recipients and ceremony announced

The Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence has awarded four members of the Purdue faculty, staff and student body the 2016 Leadership in Action Award for their exemplary leadership within their respective areas of expertise.

The recipients will be honored at an awards ceremony and reception 2 p.m. Feb. 11 in Purdue Memorial Union, Room 118. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

Professor Joan Fulton will receive the award for faculty members who display exceptional leadership. She is the associate head of the Department of Agricultural Economics. She received her bachelor's degree in business from the University of Saskatchewan, master's from the University of Western Ontario and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She started working at Purdue in 1997. Fulton was chairperson of the University Senate in 2010-11. She chairs Purdue's New Ventures Team and is director of Purdue's Agricultural Innovation and Commercialization Center.

Two staff members, Ashley York and April Sauer, will be recognized this year.

York is the coordinator of academic advising and student services in the Department of Animal Sciences. She received a bachelor's degree in agriculture education from Purdue and a master's degree in education from Ball State. At Purdue, she helps students through the Summer Transition, Advising and Registration program, which guides incoming undergraduate students through creating their initial course schedule. She also works closely with the 3+1 program, which helps students obtain both a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in seven years.

Sauer is the managing director of the Center for Food and Agricultural Business. She received a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of New Mexico and a master's in business administration from Wake Forest University. She manages daily operations and staff, along with the yearly management and projection for the professional staff team.

The final honoree, Purdue graduate student Priyanka Brunese, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Technology Leadership and Innovation. She was one of two Purdue students selected for the second class of Emerging Leaders in Science and Society fellows in 2015. The leadership program included 15 students from Purdue, Stanford University, the University of Washington and the University of Pennsylvania.

For more information on the award recipients or ceremony, contact Patrice Buzzanell, Butler Center director and Chair for Leadership Excellence, at 765-494-3317 or buzzanel@purdue.edu.

Writer: Megan Huckaby, 765-496-1325, mhuckaby@purdue.edu

Source: Patrice Buzzanell, 765-494-3317, buzzanel@purdue.edu