A meeting of the Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees convened at 8:42 a.m. on Friday, October 4, 2024, at the Indiana Historical Society, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, IN.

Committee members present included: JoAnn Brouillette, chair; Kevin Boes; Vanessa Castagna; Shawn Taylor and Susan South. Other trustees present: Sonny Beck; Michael Berghoff; Malcolm DeKryger; Michael Klipsch, and Gary Lehman. Theresa Carter participated remotely.

Officers and administrators in attendance: Mung Chiang, president; Patrick Wolfe, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and diversity; Chris Ruhl, chief financial officer and treasurer; Eva Nodine, senior vice president, assistant treasurer, and assistant secretary; Steve Schultz, general counsel; Cindy Ream, corporate secretary and senior executive assistant to the Board; and Ron Elsenbaumer, chancellor, Purdue University Fort Wayne.

I. (WL) APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the minutes for the meeting convened on August 2, 2024.

II. (WL) APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE GERALD AND EDNA MANN DIRECTOR OF THE BINDLEY BIOSCIENCE CENTER

Provost Wolfe submitted the request for approval to appoint Dr. Ramaswamy Subramanian as the Gerald and Edna Mann Director of the Bindley Bioscience Center. Dr. Subramanian brings a rich body of leadership and research experience to the Director position.

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Subramanian’s appointment as the Gerald and Edna Mann Director of the Bindley Bioscience Center. Supporting materials were filed with the minutes.

Dr. Subramanian noted that Bindley Bioscience Center allows Faculty to access high end instrumentation and technologies and participate in education by training students. He thanked the staff and the Deans of the colleges for their support for the past five years.

III. (WL) APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE REILLY PROFESSOR IN AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Provost Wolfe submitted the request for approval to appoint Dr. Alina Alexeenko as the Reilly Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Chemical Engineering. He noted that Dr. Alexeenko’s interests include in-space propulsion which is a hot topic currently. Dr. Alexeenko’s impact extends to her teaching and mentoring activities having graduated 20 PhD students and 23 MS students. She has many publications and has been the recipient of multiple awards.

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Alexeenko’s appointment as the Reilly Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics and Chemical Engineering. Supporting materials were filed with the minutes.

 

Dr. Alexeenko thanked the Board and noted that this has been her dream job. She shared that Purdue is the place of incredible opportunities.

IV. (WL) APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE PEDRO AND BARBARA GRANADILLO PROFESSOR IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Provost Wolfe respectfully requested approval to appoint Dr. Gesualdo Scutari as the Pedro and Barbara Granadillo Professor in Industrial Engineering. He noted Dr. Scutari is a leading expert in optimization theory, focusing on distributed algorithms with applications in signal processing and networking. He is widely published and his work has garnered significant recognition and citations.

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Scutari’s appointment as the Pedro and Barbara Granadillo Professor in Industrial Engineering. Supporting materials were filed with the minutes.

Dr. Scutari thanked the people who made this possible, including both his undergraduate and post-doc students. He thanked Dean Raman and Dr. Son. He thanked his wife and his family for their support.

V. (WL) APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE JAMES H. AND BARBARA H. GREENE PROFESSOR IN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Provost Wolfe respectfully requested approval to appoint Dr. Juan Wachs as the James H. and Barbara H. Greene Professor in Industrial Engineering. He noted that Dr. Wachs’ appointment in Biomedical Engineer, by courtesy, highlights Purdue’s deep connections with the IU School of Medicine. Dr. Wachs is an internationally recognized expert in the field of gesture-based human-machine interaction.

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Wachs’ appointment as the James H. and Barbara H. Greene Professor in Industrial Engineering. Supporting materials were filed with the minutes.

Dr. Wachs thanked the Board for the prestigious award. He thanked Dean Raman, Dr. Son, faculty, and his students for their support. He also thanked his wife and kids.

VI. (WL) APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE HUBERT AND AUDREY KLEASEN PROFESSORSHIP IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

Provost Wolfe respectfully requested approval to appoint Dr. Satish Ukkusuri as the Hubert and Audrey Kleasen Professor in Civil Engineering. Dr. Ukkusuri joined Purdue in 2009 as an Associate Professor in the Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering. Provost Wolfe noted that one thing that stands out is that Dr. Ukkusuri has published over 350 scientific papers in some of the best Journals in the world.

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Ukkusuri’s appointment as the Hubert and Audrey Kleasen Professor in Civil Engineering. Supporting materials were filed with the minutes.

Dr. Ukkusuri thanked everyone for the honor. He thanked Dean Raman and Dr. Lu along with his colleagues, students, and collaborators.

VII. (WL) APPROVAL TO APPOINT THE BLAKE FAMILY ENDOWED CHAIR IN STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Provost Wolfe respectfully requested approval to appoint Dr. Jeffrey Reuer as the Blake Family Endowed Chair in Strategic Management and Governance. Dr. Reuer is an accomplished scholar, an award-winning teacher, and widely recognized for his service and mentorship.

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval of Dr. Reuer’s appointment as the Blake Family Endowed Chair in Strategic Management and Governance. Supporting materials were filed with the minutes.

Dr. Reuer thanked everyone and mentioned that the first PhD program in his field was launched at Purdue. He recognized his wife who was with him, she is also a PhD alum from Purdue.

VIII. (WL) APPROVAL TO NAME THE EDWARDSON SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING

Provost Wolfe requested approval to Name the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering. He shared that later today, the Board will approve a gift from the Edwardson Family Foundation which will support the School of Industrial Engineering. The gift will go to support an endowment for undergraduate scholarships, a fellows endowment for graduate scholarships, matching funds initiative to help promote eight new faculty chair endowments, twenty new graduate student fellowship endowments and some discretionary funding for the head of the school to use as they see fit. President Chiang commented on the generous gift from John Edwardson and the Edwardson Family Foundation. He noted that Mr. Edwardson served on the Board of Trustees from 1995-2005 and was formerly the Chief Operating Officer of United Airlines and the Chief Executive Officer of CDW.

Upon proper motion duly made and seconded, the Academic and Student Affairs Committee voted unanimously to recommend full Board approval to Name the Edwardson School of Industrial Engineering. Supporting materials were filed with the minutes.

Dr. Son, James J. Solberg Head of School and Ransburg Professor of Industrial Engineering, mentioned it was an exciting day for Purdue Industrial Engineering. He thanked John and Fran Edwardson who, with this gift, will transform the educational and research experience for all faculty and students. He thanked the faculty, staff, students, alums, and former heads for their incredible work for the school. In closing, he thanked the development team.

IX. UNIVERSITY SENATE REPORT

University Senate Chair, Susan South shared highlights from the Senate meeting in September which included results from a poll that was distributed to Senate members. A copy of the presentation was filed with the minutes. President Chiang thanked Dr. South for her work as Chair of the Faculty Senate.

By consent, the meeting adjourned at 9:19 a.m.