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April 10, 1998
Food Science receives $500,000 Kresge Grant
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Students and researchers in the new Food Science Building at
Purdue University will study ways to improve food quality thanks to a $500,000 challenge
grant from the Kresge Foundation.
The Kresge Foundation is a private, independent foundation that funds projects in
higher education, health, science and the environment, arts and the humanities, public
affairs, and human services. Half of the money awarded to the Department of Food
Science will be used now to purchase analytical laboratory equipment for the new $22 million
building under construction on the West Lafayette campus. The other $250,000 will
be set aside in an endowment to maintain the equipment if Purdue meets the terms
of the Kresge challenge grant.
"We are very excited about this new equipment and the opportunities it will provide
for student research," said Philip E. Nelson, head of the Department of Food Science.
"The equipment will help students learn and will allow them to experiment with ways
to improve food products. Having hands-on, analytical experience is extremely valuable
in today's food manufacturing industry."
The grant, the fourth Kresge Foundation award received by Purdue, also is giving a
boost to fund-raising activities for the new building.
"Based on the conditions of the Kresge Grant, we must raise $1 million for an equipment
maintenance endowment within 18 months to qualify for the second $250,000," Nelson
said. "At the present, we're more than half the way there, but we only have until
March of 1999 to raise the rest."
Completion of the 120,000-square-foot facility is scheduled for this summer, with
classrooms and laboratories ready for use by fall semester. The new building, funded
by the state of Indiana, will feature 36 teaching and research laboratories, a 9,000-square-foot pilot laboratory, a 60-station computer laboratory, and a computer-integrated
manufacturing laboratory. Nelson said the new research facilities and equipment will
help the Department of Food Science recruit and retain high-caliber students and
faculty and to competitively seek industry and government research grants.
Purdue's Department of Food Science is the fastest-growing food science program in
the country and has a 100 percent placement rate for its graduates. Purdue President
Steven C. Beering has said that the new food science and biotechnology complex "will
help spur tremendous economic development within the state's food processing industry,
a business sector with huge international growth potential and for which Indiana
is very well positioned to become a leader."
CONTACT: Nelson (765) 494-8256; e-mail, nelson@foodsci.purdue.edu; Web, http://www.foodsci.purdue.edu
Purdue students recognized for
honors, achievements
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Ten Purdue University students have been recognized for their
achievements.
-- Katherine Burke and Julie Willis, both second-year Master's of Fine Arts students,
were selected to appear in Indiana Repertory Theatre productions for next season
as part of a new internship agreement between the theater group and Purdue. Burke,
of Des Plaines, Ill., has been cast in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois," the season-opener. Willis,
of West Frankfort, Ill., will appear in the holiday production of "A Christmas Carol."
-- Eight students were recognized for their scholarship by Gamma Sigma Delta, an honorary
society for Purdue's Schools of Agriculture, Consumer and Family Sciences, and Veterinary
Medicine. They are:
- David W. Hefty, Auburn, Ind.
, a junior majoring in agricultural economics.
- Nicole R. Evanson, Carmel, Ind.
, a junior majoring in youth, adult and family services.
- Justin Millard, Bloomington, Ind.
, a junior majoring in restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management.
- Jennifer A. Brown, Fishers, Ind.
, a student in the School of Veterinary Medicine
- Mary T. Rakowski, Bremen, Ind.
, a student in the School of Veterinary Medicine.
- Rebecca Figler, Schaumburg, Ill., a senior majoring in natural resources and environmental
sciences.
- Doris Choy, Hong Kong, a senior majoring in restaurant, hotel, institutional and
tourism management.
- Margaret R. Warner, St. Clair Shores, Mich., a student in the School of Veterinary
Medicine.
Purdue Notebook
Appointments and promotions:
-- W. Randy Woodson, head of the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture
since 1996, has been named associate dean and director of Agricultural Research Programs
in the School of Agriculture. A native of Fordyce, Ark., Woodson joined the Purdue faculty in 1985. Since then, his research on the physiology of flowering plants
has earned him worldwide attention. In 1994, he received the Agricultural Research
Award from the School of Agriculture. As administrator of all research programs in
the School of Agriculture, Woodson will oversee 295 faculty who devote about 40 percent of
their time to research with annual outlays of $47 million. He succeeds Bill Baumgardt,
who retired.
-- Marvin Smith has accepted the position of associate director in the Division of
Financial Aid. He will have overall responsibility for management of the client services
area, records management area, and the gift/scholarship area. Smith has 10 years
of experience in student financial aid administration, having worked as a graduate research
assistant, administrator, peer counselor program supervisor and staff trainer at
Purdue. For the past four years, he managed the financial assistance office at Ivy
Tech State College in Lafayette.
-- Dean M. Ballotti has accepted the position of director of Horizons, a federally
funded program in the Office of the Dean of Students to assist first-generation and
low-income college students. Ballotti has been a member of the Horizons staff since
1993, most recently as coordinator of science and technology. Ballotti earned bachelor's
and master's degrees from Purdue.
-- Two veteran officers in the Purdue Police Department, Steven R. Dietrich and Linda
J. Stump, have been named captains of the Investigation Division and Patrol Division,
respectively. Dietrich, a graduate of West Lafayette High School and Purdue, previously was captain of operations; Stump, a graduate of Lafayette Jefferson High School
and Ball State University, was a detective lieutenant. Dietrich joined the Purdue
police force in 1984; Stump joined it in 1985.
* * * * *
Campus activities:
-- Students in the School of Consumer and Family Sciences will present findings from
their independent honors research projects from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April
17, in Room 311, Stewart Center. Undergraduate honors students from the Departments
of Foods and Nutrition, Restaurant, Hotel, Institutional and Tourism Management, Child Development
and Family Studies, and Consumer Sciences and Retailing work with professors to complete
the independent research projects. This year the research covered areas such as the relationship between carbohydrate intake and calories, past victimization
and social adjustment, differences between the self-perceptions of bullies and victims,
holiday shopping in the Lafayette area, long-distance relationships and adjustment
to college, an evaluation of Tippecanoe County's First Step Program, school readiness,
socialization of religious beliefs and values, and the role of market mavens in the
marketplace. Many of these papers are later presented at conferences or published
in scientific journals. The presentations are open to the public.
-- Purdue's Office of Continuing Engineering Education will offer the seminar "The
Year 2000 Problem -- It's Not Just a Technical Issue" May 1. The program will be shown
from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. in Room 268, Potter Engineering Center. The program will
feature in-depth discussions with international experts on issues related to the problems
caused by computer programs that will not be able to recognize the year 2000, including
management and legal issues. In addition, the program includes case studies to illustrate how businesses and other organizations are solving the problem. Registration
deadline is April 22. The cost is $30 per participant. To register, call (765) 494-7017.
-- A Purdue student who died recently will be recognized during the monthly Golden
Taps ceremony at 10 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, at Spitzer Court, Cary Quadrangle. The
student is Jeffrey S. Grott, who was a senior majoring in mechanical engineering
technology from Michigan City
. The ceremony is open to the public and is conducted monthly when a member of the
student body has died the month before. The activity is sponsored and coordinated
by Pendragon, the Cary Quadrangle student leadership honorary.
* * * * *
Faculty and staff honors:
-- Gamma Sigma Delta, an honorary society for Purdue's Schools of Agriculture, Consumer
and Family Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine, recently honored three faculty members.
Receiving the Award of Merit for contributions in research, teaching, Extension or
service were S. Suzanne Nielsen, professor of food science, Thomas E. Pearson, professor
of restaurant, hotel, institutional and tourism management, and Dr. Gordon L. Coppoc,
professor of veterinary pharmacology and head of the Department of Basic Medical
Sciences.
-- Carl Botan, associate professor of communication, has been selected to work on a
national two-year project to identify trends and issues in public relations education.
Botan will participate in the new Commission on Public Relations Education, a consortium of representatives from eight allied communications organizations. The commission
eventually will recommend educational models for studying public relations.
* * * * *
Alumni honors:
-- Gamma Sigma Delta, an honorary society for Purdue's Schools of Agriculture, Consumer
and Family Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine, recently honored three of its alumni
who have made outstanding service contributions to the schools. The honorees are:
- Don Villwock, owner/operator, Villwock Farms in Edwardsport, Ind.
Among his achievements are inclusion of his farm in the Indiana Farm Management Tour
and the Governor's International Ag Days Tour in 1989. He was appointed by President
George Bush as Indiana's state executive director of the Agricultural Stabilization
and Conservation Service in 1992.
- Richard Higgins, Cincinnati, who was recognized as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs
in the nation in 1997 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Higgins is president
of the Seasoning Division of Technology Flavors and Fragrances and former owner of
Sealfa Inc. He is also a member of the advisory board of Purdue's Department of Restaurant,
Hotel, Institutional and Tourism Management.
- Dr. Roy Coolman, orthopedic and neurological surgeon at St. Joe Center Veterinary
Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind.
Coolman has represented the Indiana Veterinary Medical Association on the advisory
committee to the Purdue Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and has served on the
Purdue Veterinary Alumni Liaison Committee. He and his wife have also been foster
parents to more than 20 teen-agers in Allen County.
Compiled by J. Michael Willis, (765) 494-0371; e-mail,
mike_willis@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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