Purdue's first-ever Day of Giving set for April 30

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University has set aside April 30 to celebrate its first-ever Day of Giving, encouraging students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors and friends from all campuses to contribute to the university.

The Purdue Day of Giving, a 24-hour, online event, will focus on student affordability and accessibility, among other areas, and will feature Web-based social media components to engage donors. The day's theme is "Opportunity Granted."

"Purdue is known for producing graduates who launch dreams and achieve greatness," said President Mitch Daniels. "Our goal with the Day of Giving is to bring together the Purdue family to make that opportunity more affordable for more students."

While those who give to Purdue during the Day of Giving can direct their gifts to any fund they choose, donations to the President's Student Affordability and Accessibility Fund will be matched dollar for dollar, thanks to an anonymous donor.

Academic and non-academic units across the West Lafayette campus will participate in the Day of Giving, including all of the colleges. Those units will compete with each other and the regional campuses to raise the most dollars and engage the highest percentage of participants.

Also during the day, live-stream Web events will feature Purdue Moves, a range of initiatives designed to broaden Purdue's global impact and enhance educational opportunities for its students.

Those making Purdue Moves presentations will be Jay Akridge, the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, on plant science, at 10:15 a.m.; Timothy Ratliff, the Robert Wallace Miller Director of the Center for Cancer Research, on drug discovery, at noon; Sunil Prabhakar, professor and head of the Department of Computer Science, and Jennifer Neville, associate professor of computer science and statistics, on growing computer science, at 4 p.m.; and Leah Jamieson, the John A. Edwardson Dean of Engineering, on strategic growth in engineering, at 7 p.m.

From 3-6 p.m., a cookout will be held on Memorial Mall, which is open to students and others from campus.

Those wanting to donate on the Day of Giving will have several options:

* Online at DayOfGiving.purdue.edu.

* By texting Purdue to 41444.

* Toll-free by phone at 800-319-2199.

More information on Purdue Day of Giving, including events and how to donate, is available at DayOfGiving.purdue.edu. 

Writer: Judith Barra Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu

Sources: Mitch Daniels, president@purdue.edu

Amy Noah, vice president for development, 765-494-1704, arnoah@prf.org