A Special Thank You for Making History at Purdue

May 9, 2025

Dear Purdue University Colleagues and Students,

As we conclude this busy semester, we are excited to announce that today Eli Lilly and Company and Purdue University signed a partnership agreement where Lilly will provide up to $250 million to support and amplify medicine-related research by many colleagues and students at Purdue over the next eight years. From public data we have seen, this is the largest single university-industry research agreement in American history, blazing a new trail to the endless frontiers. For our state, its largest company and its largest university now expand collaboration at a scale never seen before. Against the backdrop of Lilly’s manufacturing facility in the LEAP Research and Innovation District, where Purdue will help launch the Learning and Training Center, today marks a monumental watershed in the generation of jobs, workforce and innovation along America’s Hard Tech Corridor. We thank Eli Lilly, one of world’s largest medicine companies under the leadership of David A. Ricks (BS ’90), for its pioneering impact on health in our society and for what is now the largest single research investment, from either public or private capital, in Purdue’s history.

Last week, with the highest participation ever on a Purdue Day of Giving, $105 million of philanthropic support was raised from 36,875 gifts. Every gift counts, as I enjoyed every step of running with students on campus that afternoon. And together, Boilermaker students, alumni and friends set another national record: the largest number of gifts ever received on a single day by an American university. Gifts included one from Professor Phil Low for the Low Institute for Therapeutics and another from Gregory (BS ’99) and Amy Baker for the Center for Health Analytics and Therapeutic Intelligence, both further strengthening Purdue’s One Health Initiative and overall accelerating “Victories and Heroes: Your Campaign for Purdue,” unveiled in February.

Next week, the 2025 Spring Commencement will celebrate the newest alumni of Purdue University’s main campus (Indianapolis, West Lafayette and online), Purdue Northwest and Purdue Fort Wayne. A new milestone in Excellence at Scale will be reached: For the first time Purdue will confer more than 10,000 degrees on the main campus alone in a single commencement. Upholding our tradition of reading each graduate’s name one by one, Purdue will have America’s longest university-level commencement, lasting 20 hours over the course of 10 sessions in the Elliott Hall of Music and again reminding us of Purdue’s values, character and impact.

Boiler Up and Hail Purdue!

Mung Chiang
President, Purdue University