Trustees approve department name change, projects, resolutions
July 17, 2015
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Purdue University’s Board of Trustees on Friday (July 17) approved changing the name of the Department of Consumer and Family Sciences at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne to the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
Trustees also approved renovation projects in McCutcheon Hall and the Forney Hall east wing, as well as resolutions of appreciation for former trustee Bruce White and donors who have given $1 million or more to Purdue.
IPFW's Department of Consumer and Family Sciences will be renamed as the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. The name change, which will not require any additional resources, more accurately reflects the department's mission and function, said Provost Deba Dutta.
"The hospitality management program offered at IPFW is focused on training students for management positions in the hospitality and tourism industry," he said. "The present name is reminiscent of the outdated notion of home economics and does not reflect its mission now.”
The authorization to award a construction contract for the Forney Hall east wing project will allow work to move forward on a $6.2 million project to renovate the College of Engineering lab space in the building.
The east wing includes three stories, a basement and ground floor structure, in which labs will be updated with new fume hoods, exhaust systems, electrical and lighting systems, and HVAC. There also will be renovations to existing graduate student office spaces, as well as the creation of new office space. Work will complete renovations to the original 1938 portion of Forney Hall in support of the College of Engineering’s strategic growth plan. The project will be financed with repair and rehabilitation and chemical engineering departmental funds.
Kettelhut Construction Inc. was selected as the contractor. Work is scheduled to begin this month, with planned building occupancy in November 2016.
The board’s Physical Facilities Committee on Thursday (July 16) voted to move forward to plan, finance, construct and award a construction contract to renovate bathrooms in McCutcheon Hall. The fifth of nine phases of University Residences’ bathroom renovations, the $4.8 million project will revamp community bathrooms on floors 1-8 of the hall’s south tower.
The residence hall was built in 1962, and the renovation will update the design to increase the size of restrooms; update electrical, plumbing and exhaust features; and reconfigure spaces to provide greater ADA accessibility and privacy. The project, to be financed with housing and food services departmental funds, is scheduled to begin in May 2016 and be completed in August 2016.
Trustees also approved a resolution of appreciation for Bruce W. White, who served as a member of the Board of Trustees from July 2011 to February 2015. White, a 1975 graduate of Purdue, helped establish an endowment fund for future Hospitality and Tourism Management students at Purdue's West Lafayette campus. Through the Bruce and Beth White Family Foundation and the Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation, the Calumet campus of Purdue University Northwest was able to expand and enhance its hospitality and tourism management program, which was renamed the Purdue University Calumet White Lodging Center for Hospitality and Tourism Management.
The board also approved resolutions of appreciation for donors John Templeton Foundation (College of Liberal Arts), Stephen Linowiecki (College of Health and Human Sciences), William B. Elmore (School of Electrical and Computer Engineering) and two anonymous donors (Department of Computer Science in the School of Science and the Center for Drug Discovery in Discovery Park). The donors contributed $1 million or more to the university.
Sources: Deba Dutta, dutta@purdue.edu
Robert E. Olson, senior director of energy and construction, 765-494-8000
