Purdue president to speak at India alumni event

October 27, 2014  


Note to Journalists: Media in India interested in interviewing Purdue President Mitch Daniels during his visit should contact Suresh Garimella, Purdue executive vice president for research and partnerships, at 949-002-1342, sureshg@purdue.edu

 

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University President Mitch Daniels will speak Nov. 4 in Mumbai during the Purdue India Alumni Dinner.

The reception and dinner, sponsored by the Purdue Alumni Association, will be 7-9:30 p.m. at The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. Daniels is scheduled to make remarks at about 8 p.m. The event is open to all Purdue alumni in India. For more information, or to register, email Mary Dennis, at mfdennis@purdue.edu.

The alumni event is part of a five-day visit to India, during which President Daniels and Suresh Garimella, Purdue executive vice president for research and partnerships, also will connect with university and corporate partners in an ongoing effort to make a global impact with research and educational research. Dennis, vice president for international alumni programs of the Purdue Alumni Association, also will be in India with Daniels and Garimella.

Close to 1,500 students from India are currently enrolled at Purdue, and thousands of Purdue alumni currently live in India. They are leaders in business, academics and government. The university has the second-largest international student population among U.S. public universities and is third overall, according to the Institute of International Education in 2013-14. India has the second-highest number of international students at Purdue.

Daniels became Purdue's 12th president in January 2013, and previously served for eight years as governor of Indiana. Under Daniels, Purdue has extended a tuition freeze for three consecutive years, curbed housing and meal costs, and partnered with Amazon to help with textbook savings.

The university also continues to change the way classes are taught, with the goal of redesigning 60 classes per year so that students — including all freshmen by 2017 — are more engaged in their curricular experiences, and expanding summer offerings to help students move more quickly to their degrees and increase the four-year graduation rate.

In fall 2013 the university introduced Purdue Moves, a range of initiatives to broaden Purdue's global impact and enhance educational opportunities for its students. Among the initiatives are expanding the plant science, drug discovery, engineering and computer science programs.

In the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings of undergraduate programs, Purdue was ranked No. 20 among U.S. public universities. Its overall engineering program was ranked ninth. In specialty engineering rankings, Purdue ranked No. 1 in biological/agricultural, No. 4 in civil and industrial/manufacturing, fifth in aerospace/aeronautical and astronautical, seventh in mechanical, and ninth in electrical/electronic/communications. Purdue's overall undergraduate business programs ranked 21st, with specialty rankings of third in production/operations management, fourth in quantitative analysis and 10th in supply chain management/logistics.

Purdue's College of Agriculture was ranked sixth worldwide in 2013 by Quacquarelli Symonds.

Purdue currently has several partnerships involving engineering, agriculture, business, science, technology, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, liberal arts and technology with institutions in India. The organizations include the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Punjab Agricultural University, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Patna University's Centre for Water Resources Studies, Birla Institute of Technology, B.S. Abdur Rahman University, Indian Institute of Management, and Satyam Computer Services Limited.

Purdue also has student exchange programs with the Birla Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Technology. Purdue also sponsors the GEARE program in Bombay.

Garimella, who is the Goodson Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue, also will be at the Nov. 4 event in Mumbai. Garimella, who also is director of the National Science Foundation Cooling Technologies Research Center, received his bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 1985. In 2010 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus Award from that institute. 

Writer: Greg McClure, 765-496-9711, gmcclure@purdue.edu 

Sources: Suresh Garimella, 949-002-1342, sureshg@purdue.edu

Mary Dennis, 765-494-5179, mfdennis@purdue.edu

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