Appointments, honors and activities

Appointments, honors and activities

• Nielsen Pereira, executive director of the Purdue Gifted Education Research and Resource Institute and associate professor of gifted, creative and talented studies, has been elected as an at-large member for the board of directors of the National Association for Gifted Children, the largest gifted organization in the United States.

• Kristine Marceau, associate professor of human development and family science and co-director of the Methodology Center at Purdue, has been named the associate dean for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in the College of Health and Human Sciences.

• Laura Murray-Kolb, professor and head of the Department of Nutrition Science, has been announced as the first Sharon Rulon Broadhead Head of Nutrition Science, thanks to a gift from 1965 College of Health and Human Sciences alumna Sharon Rulon Broadhead. The $2.5 million endowed headship will fund Nutrition Science’s next giant leap under the discretion of Murray-Kolb.

• The College of Health and Human Sciences has named two accomplished faculty members to permanent leadership positions within the college. Elizabeth “Libby” Richards has been appointed head of the School of Nursing, and Jason Cannon has been appointed head of the School of Health Sciences.

• Purdue Global Law School was recently honored with Insight Into Academia’s 2026 Excellence in Innovation Award: Law Schools for its Foundations for Law School Excellence (FLEX) preadmission program. Launched in May 2025, FLEX is a Purdue Global Law School initiative that has significantly improved persistence and performance for its students. Since its inception, 89% of FLEX students have persisted to their third term versus only 60% for non-FLEX students.

• Several degree and advanced certificate programs offered by Purdue Global School of Nursing received reaccreditation from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The master’s degree program in nursing and postgraduate advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) certificate programs at are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. The APRN certificate programs include family nurse practitioner, adult-gerontology acute care, adult-gerontology primary care and psychiatric mental health.
• Purdue University-West Lafayette was named a Top 20 CLEP Test Center, receiving the 2026 CLEP Honors Achievement Award for administering the highest volume of CLEP exams among test centers in 2025. The site was recognized June 10 at the CLEP Honors Reception in San Antonio, Texas. The CLEP Honors Award is an annual College Board program recognizing CLEP test centers for administering high exam volumes. It supports students of all ages in earning college credit, saving them time and money on the path to a degree.

• Shihling Chui-Dwyer, career services consultant at Center for Career Opportunities, was recognized with the award of service to international students at this year’s National Career Development Association (NCDA) annual conference July 1. NCDA is a national organization of career practitioners, which also includes members from countries outside the U.S.

• Three faculty members in the Department of Nutrition Science were recently honored at NUTRITION, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition. Qing Jiang, professor of nutrition science, received the Mary Swartz Rose Investigator Award for outstanding research on the safety and efficacy of bioactive compounds for human health. Patricia Wolf, assistant professor of nutrition science, received the Vernon Young International Award for Amino Acid Research, which is given to an investigator within 10 years of postgraduate training for a single outstanding piece of research or for a series of papers in a related area of amino acid metabolism. Tzu-Wen Cross, assistant professor of nutrition science, received the 2026 Nutrition Society of Taiwan Award for work in improving understanding and cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. in nutritional matters of common interest and concern. All three awards are bestowed by the American Society of Nutrition Foundation.