Purdue News

March 19, 1999 Purdue Agriculture to hold high-tech student recruitment event WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Purdue University School of Agriculture will give prospective students a taste of campus life and communication technology Sunday, March 28. More than 450 Indiana high school students who have been accepted to the School of Agriculture have been invited to one of 15 receive sites where they will have a chance to meet faculty, current agricultural students and Purdue ag alumni from their area. The centerpiece of the event will be a live, interactive teleconference from campus. "Technology will play a critical role in the education of each of these young men and women, and we thought a high-tech student reception would be an appropriate introduction," said Karl Brandt, associate dean of academic programs for the School of Agriculture. The videoconference will be satellite uplinked from the West Lafayette campus to county offices of the Purdue Extension Service and to IHETS sites around the state. Purdue ag alumni will be the hosts at each site, and faculty and students will be on hand to answer questions. The theme of the event is "Purdue Ag Pays," and the focus will be on careers, fields of study and campus life. Faculty will handle the academic questions, students will talk about the college experience, and alumni will talk about career paths. The students received personal invitations two weeks ago. "Many of these students probably have been using computers since they were in fourth grade," said Christy Denault, a communications specialist in the dean of agriculture's office. "They're e-mailing back their R.S.V.P.s from their own accounts on Rocketmail, Yahoo and Hotmail. They are very comfortable with technology." The prospective students also are tapping into the Prospective Purdue Ag Student Web site (http://www.purdue.edu/ag-admissions), Denault said. The reception will start at 2 p.m. EST, Sunday, March 28. Receive sites are in Allen, Bartholomew, Clark, Delaware, Dubois, Howard, Lake, Marion, Marshall, Monroe, Ripley, St. Joseph, Tippecanoe, Vanderburgh and Wayne counties. CONTACTS: Brandt, (765) 494-8472; Denault, (765) 494-9505 Compiled by Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; sig@ecn.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu To the Purdue News and Photos Page