Board approves new online degree program; updates regional campus diplomas; moves residence hall project forward

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Purdue University Board of Trustees on Friday (October 12) approved the creation of a new online graduate degree program on the West Lafayette campus, the renaming of an undergraduate degree program on the IUPUI campus and the alumni center on the Purdue Fort Wayne campus, new verbiage for regional campus diplomas, and the plans for two new residence halls on the West Lafayette campus.

Trustees endorsed the creation of a new online Executive Master of Health Administration degree program in the College of Health and Human Sciences, subject to approval by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, and approved renaming the current Construction Engineering Management Technology program at IUPUI to Construction Management.

In other regional campus news, the board ratified a minor change to the diplomas awarded by the Trustees of Purdue University to graduates on the Purdue Northwest and Purdue Fort Wayne campuses. The overall diploma design remains unchanged, with only a minor alteration that replaces the city in which the diploma was received — a long-standing practice — with the name of the campus location.This move ratifies a practice in use at the Purdue Northwest campus since 2016. The board also approved updating the name of the alumni center on the Fort Wayne campus to the Steel Dynamics Keith E. Busse Mastodon Alumni Center (previously the Steel Dynamics Keith E. Busse IPFW Alumni Center) to reflect the recent realignment of the campus.

For the West Lafayette campus, Trustees approved detailed plans and specifications for the previously announced construction of two new residence halls. After empowering a team to explore the construction of the two facilities in June, selecting Plenary Properties Purdue LLC as the preferred proposer for the public-private partnership (P3) in July and approving the terms of the P3 agreement in August, the board on Friday approved more specific project details, including exact square footage and height, room typologies and counts, and major maintenance items and replacement intervals.  

In other action, trustees designated several members to serve as the board’s representative on three Purdue-affiliated boards of directors. The board reappointed Sonny Beck as its delegate to the Purdue Research Foundation board, and Malcolm DeKryger and Michael Klipsch to the Ross-Ade Foundation board. 

Sources: Jay Akridge, akridge@purdue.edu

Michael B. Cline, 765-494-8000, mbcline@purdue.edu

Beth McCuskey, bmccuske@purdue.edu