Butler Center to honor distinguished women alumni at annual event

The Office of the Provost and the Butler Center for Leadership Excellence will celebrate alumnae who have made significant contributions in their academic and professional communities during the 2014 Distinguished Women Scholars program.

The 2014 honorees:

* Carole Ames earned her PhD in psychological sciences from Purdue in 1976. She is a dean and professor of educational psychology in the College of Education at Michigan State University.

* Virginia Ayres graduated from Purdue with a PhD in physics in 1985. She is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University.

* Gloria Muday earned her PhD in biochemistry from Purdue in 1989. She is a professor in the Department of Biology at Wake Forest University.

* Kathryn Stecke is the Ashbel Smith Professor of Operations Management in the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. She earned her PhD in industrial engineering from Purdue in 1981.

* Leslie Struble graduated from Purdue with a PhD in civil engineering in 1987. She serves as an affiliate in the department of materials science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

*Carolyn Perrucci serves as a professor in the Department of Sociology at Purdue. She graduated with a PhD in sociology from Purdue in 1965.

"By recognizing these impressive and accomplished women, we acknowledge our faculty's contributions to mentoring these successful scholars and also recognize Purdue's contribution to diversifying university faculty across the nation," says Laurel Weldon, interim vice provost for faculty affairs. "At the same time, we demonstrate for all of our students the possibilities that a Purdue doctorate enables. The recipients serve as role models to all of our scholars in the making."

The program will be held at 1 p.m. March 7 in the Anniversary Drawing Room of Purdue Memorial Union with a reception immediately following. The event is free and open to the public.

For more information about the event, contact Tammy Hoffman, assistant to the Butler Center for Leadership Excellence, at hoffm100@purdue.edu.