Purdue trustees approve named professorships, posthumous degrees

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (June 15) approved the appointment of three named faculty, awarded four posthumous degrees and issued resolutions of appreciation for two outgoing deans and the institution’s top donors.

Karen Plaut was named the Glenn W. Sample Dean of the College of Agriculture, Steven F. Son was named the Alfred J. McAllister Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Suresh Jagannathan was named the Samuel D. Conte Professor of Computer Sciences.

Plaut was selected as dean of the College of Agriculture on May 21 after serving in an interim capacity since July 2017. She came to Purdue in 2010 as associate dean and director of agricultural research and in 2013 was named senior associate dean of research and faculty affairs. Among other accomplishments at Purdue, she led the development of the Institute for Plant Sciences, a multidisciplinary, multifaceted research and education initiative to dramatically enhance Purdue’s global impact in the broad area of plant sciences.

Son’s research focus is on energetic materials combustion, nanoscale energetic materials, microscale energetics (microenergetics), heterogeneous combustion, reactive materials, combustion synthesis and explosives safety. He joined Purdue in 2006, previously holding positions as a technical staff member, J. R. Oppenheimer Fellow and project leader in the High Explosives Sciences Group at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Jagannathan is an internationally known leader in programming languages and has made notable contributions in the areas of functional programming, type theory, program analysis, and concurrent and distributed systems. He joined the Department of Computer Science in 2002 and served as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 2013-16, during which time he received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service, the Department of Defense’s second-highest civilian award.

Trustees voted to award posthumous bachelor’s degrees to Anastasia J. Chapman (College of Liberal Arts), Cole D. Petty (College of Agriculture), Lucas B. Shanker (College of Science) and Dominic C. Vargas (Krannert School of Management).

The board approved resolutions of appreciation for two deans who are leaving their positions in July. Christine M. Ladisch will step down as dean of the College of Health and Human Sciences July 31, and Maryann P. Santos will step down as dean of the College of Education on July 15.

Trustees also approved a resolution of appreciation for those who recently have contributed $1 million or more to the university. Friends include Jeannie and Jim Chaney, to support the College of Pharmacy; The John H. Schnatter Family Foundation, to support the Krannert School of Management; Gerald and Nanette Lyles, to support the Krannert School of Management; Nils Nelson, to support Purdue University Northwest; Ed and Beatriz Schweitzer, to support the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Steve and Diane Dumbauld, to support the School of Industrial Engineering; Thomas and Mary Howatt, to support the Krannert School of Management; Vanessa Castagna, to support Purdue Bands and Orchestras; Marshall and Susan Larsen, to support the Krannert School of Management; Don and Liz Thompson, to support the College of Engineering; anonymous, to support the Davidson School of Chemical Engineering; anonymous, to support Purdue University; and anonymous, to support the Purdue Research Foundation. 

Sources: Karen Plaut, kplaut@purdue.edu

Steven F. Son, sson@purdue.edu

Suresh Jagannathan, sjaganna@purdue.edu

Christine M. Ladisch, ladischc@purdue.edu  

Maryann P. Santos, msdb@purdue.edu