Our Mission
President's Council was established in 1972 to recognize the distinguished alumni and friends who understand that the University can fulfill its educational goals only with their loyal support and financial involvement. These individuals have paved the way for the future and continue to support the excellent education afforded Purdue students.

Our Vision
President's Council members take the lead in encouraging individuals to engage in the process of private philanthropy necessary to achieve Purdue's preeminence.

Our History

2002: President's Council celebrates its 30th anniversary. Purdue launches The Campaign for Purdue; with an announced goal of $1.3 billion, it is the largest fundraising campaign in University history.

2001: Purdue reaches a new level of private support during the 2000–2001 fiscal year with gifts and pledges surpassing $173.9 million — a 53 percent increase over the previous year’s fundraising efforts.

2000: Martin C. Jischke becomes Purdue's 10th president.

1999: The University dedicates its Book of Great Teachers, rendered as a series of graceful bronze plaques, with the names of 225 professors chosen by students, alumni, and other faculty members as the most effective teachers in the University’s 130-year history.

1998: President’s Council membership grows to include more than 6,000. Private support for the University’s Black Cultural Center allows the new building, twice the size of the existing facility, to be completed at the corner of Third and Russell streets.

1997: Celebrating its first quarter-century, President's Council membership exceeds 5,900.

1996: President Beering announces that more than $7 million in private support has been raised to renovate and upgrade the Purdue golf complex. Council membership totals 5,240.

1995: Council membership reaches 5,100. The Purdue Bell Tower, partially funded through gifts from the Class of 1948, is dedicated.

1994: Purdue observes its 125th anniversary. The University celebrates the success of Vision 21, a five-year, fundraising campaign that exceeded its $250 million goal by reaching $322 million. President Steven Beering credits the President's Council tradition of support for the integral role it played in launching the campaign and reaching the goal.

1993: System-wide student enrollment reaches 65,403. Adaptive Learning Programs Laboratory opens in the Purdue Libraries with 15 workstations and adequate space for people in wheelchairs to maneuver.

1992: The President's Council grows to more than 4,000 members. The new Liberal Arts and Education Building opens.

1991: President's Council membership tops 3,500. Thanks in part to President's Council members, Purdue has 50 designated professorships, one of the most effective ways of attracting first-rate faculty members to the University.

1990: The Class of 1950 Lecture Hall opens for classes. It is named for the Purdue Class of 1950, which raised more than $1 million toward its construction. Purdue creates the Office of the Vice President of Human Relations to provide guidance on issues such as affirmative action, racial, and sexual discrimination, cultural differences, and women's programs.

1989: President's Council membership totals more than 3,000. Life Sciences Research Building renamed the Arthur G. Hansen Life Sciences Research Building in honor of President Emeritus Hansen, the first Purdue alumnus to serve as the University’s president. Purdue celebrates the 120^th anniversary of its founding. The Purdue Mall fountain, a gift from the class of 1939, is dedicated.

1988: Council membership continues to grow, reaching 2,734. Student enrollment continues to increase, as Purdue enrolls 56,161 system-wide.

1987: Council members number more than 2,000. Purdue has nearly $100 million in new construction projects either under way or in the blueprint stage. Enrollment at the West Lafayette campus soars above 33,000 for the first time in history.

1986: System-wide, Purdue enrolls 51,835 students. The first Presidential Honors Scholarships are awarded. These full-ride scholarships, now called Beering Scholarships and Fellowships, are designed to attract and retain students of the highest caliber. They provide tuition, room and board, and spending money to undergraduates recipients, who may convert the scholarship to a fellowship to pursue master's and doctoral studies at Purdue.

1985: The Life Sciences Research Building, built with funds from the Plan for the Eighties campaign, is dedicated.

1984: Purdue unveils a newly revised master plan for long-range development of the West Lafayette campus, signaling Purdue's "greening" and intent to make the campus more pedestrian-friendly.

1983: Steven C. Beering becomes Purdue's ninth president. Council membership reaches 1,449. System-wide University enrollment stands at 47,700.

1982: Council membership exceeds 1,300. Final total for the Plan for the Eighties campaign is nearly $44 million.

1981: Mr. and Mrs. Stanley N. Miller of Battle Ground, Indiana, bring the Council's membership to 1,000.

1980: The University launches an ambitious campaign of private support with the Plan for the Eighties campaign, and a goal of $34.2 million in outright gifts and bequests. The Purdue President's Council membership count is 786.

1979: Membership reaches the 646. Purdue Professor Herbert Charles Brown receives the Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

1978: Council membership now totals 482. The University announces establishment of a Cancer Research Center and receipt of a $500,000, three-year grant from the National Cancer Institute.

1977: Membership reaches 399. The A.A. Potter Engineering Center is completed and dedicated. The worst blizzard in recent memory hits the West Lafayette campus and closes school temporarily.

1976: Council membership hits 293. Purdue joins the nation in celebrating the nation's bicentennial. New construction under way at the West Lafayette campus exceeds $13.7 million.

1975: President's Council membership climbs to 212. President Arthur Hansen launches startup plan to bring about equity between men's and women's intercollegiate sports programs and meet new federal requirements of Title IX of the Educational Amendments.

1974: Membership in the Council exceeds 100. Purdue Memorial Union observes the 50th anniversary of its opening. Construction begins on the A.A. Potter Engineering Center.

1973: Council membership reaches 73 members. Perspective, the official University publication that now goes to more than 315,000 alumni, friends, parents of undergraduates, employees, and students, is established, with a first issue in September mailed to 145,000.

1972: Purdue President Arthur G. Hansen establishes the President's Council. Eugene P. Berg and his wife, Margaret, are the first members, and Eugene is the first Council chairman.