Three Purdue women honored at YWCA annual banquet

The YWCA honored three Purdue-affiliated women at its banquet on Wednesday (March 1). Mary Alice Nebold, a retired faculty member, was recognized as the Dr. Mary Keller Ade Woman of Wisdom. Cathy Potter, a retired development officer at Purdue, and Mangala Subramaniam, associate professor of sociology, were honored as Women of Distinction.

The annual banquet recognizes women who have made outstanding and inspirational achievements in volunteer or professional roles and have also demonstrated leadership, role modeling qualities and community involvement. Six other women from Greater Lafayette were also honored.

Nebold served as an award-winning member of the Purdue faculty from 1969 to 2002 and is currently a Purdue mentor.  Nebold is a community advocate and leader, having served as president of eight organizations. She was the first woman to serve as president of three of them (the Lafayette Kiwanis Club, the Kiwanis Foundation and Gamma Sigma Delta, an honor society recognizing leaders in agriculture and related sciences). Recently, she has begun writing histories of local clubs.

Potter worked as a development officer for the Purdue School of Veterinary Medicine and then for Purdue University Libraries. She was an active volunteer during this time. After retiring, she continued her volunteer work with Lafayette Urban Ministry, the League of Women Voters and others.

Subramaniam, associate professor of sociology, mentors graduate students at Purdue and also champions women’s causes and issues throughout the world. She is working closely with the organization implementing the HIV prevention program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in five states of India. Recently, she presented a paper about HIV at a workshop at the University of Oxford.

The first Salute to Women was held March 15, 1974, and was organized by the Lafayette Women’s Political Caucus. The YWCA became the sole sponsoring organization in 2000.

Writer: Kelsey Schnieders, kschnied@purdue.edu