Hundreds of student volunteers participated in summer ProjectX Safe Campus

More than 300 Purdue University student volunteers participated in a five-week consulting experience over the summer to help the University work on solutions to create a meaningful and safe on-campus return this fall.

The ProjectX Safe Campus virtual consulting experience included students from across campus. The students participated in teams of two to six students, with a recommendation that at least one team participant be earning a major or minor from the Krannert School of Management.

At the conclusion of the project, 67 project submissions were received from the student contributors. Details about how those submissions might be implemented this fall will be revealed at a later date.

“Students are a critical voice in everything we do at Purdue, and Protect Purdue is no different,” said Beth McCuskey, leader of the Protect Purdue Student Experience implementation team and vice provost for student life. “We rely on feedback, ideas and suggestions from the Purdue community -- especially our students.  Their ideas were well thought out, reflected new ways of thinking, presented a different perspective and helped us understand what they are thinking around the various topics presented.”

During the program, contributors participated in educational webinars, collaborated with teams members to generate reccommendations for the Protect Purdue Residential Life implementation team, and worked with 77 Krannert alumni mentors to finalize their presentations.

The consulting experience culminated with a virtual video submission, with corporate recruiters and alumni serving as judges. In the last week, the project concluded with four teams representing each of the case scenarios presenting live presentations to the Protect Purdue Residential Life implementation team.

ProjectX Safe Campus emanated from the Safe Campus Task Force and the Protect Purdue implementation team, groups convened by President Mitch Daniels to prepare the University for a fall return to campus. The project was coordinated through the Krannert School’s Communication Center. David Hummels, Safe Campus Task Force co-chair and the Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean of the Krannert School, and McCuskey provided resources to carry out the experience.