Thank you for another great year
May 11, 2026
Dear Boilermaker students and colleagues,
We arrive again at the end of another academic year where each of you contributed to untold numbers of shared successes and experiences.
Because of your exceptional work each day, this time of year we take the opportunity to celebrate with each other and with more than 10,000 students who this weekend will become our newest Boilermaker alumni.
Despite challenges and uncertainties impacting higher education institutions, your collective efforts propelled Purdue to new milestones in many dimensions, including the highlights below.
- Student access and success: The latest six-year graduation rate of 84.6% is our highest ever, with the time to degree at a new low of 3.84 years. And students from Indiana and beyond want to come to Purdue in record numbers despite the national demographic cliff.
- Faculty research funding: Even with significant drop in federal funding nationwide, as of the end of April, Purdue had no reduction in its total federal funding level and is 6% ahead of last year in total research funding, including a continued surge in industry support.
- Philanthropic support: Despite ongoing turbulence in the financial markets, the “Victories & Heroes” fundraising campaign is ahead of schedule. On our 2026 Purdue Day of Giving, more than 34,400 gifts of support were received, including record participation from current students.
- Physical infrastructure: By the end of summer, we will have opened two new residences for students at West Lafayette. In 2026-27, the Nursing and Pharmacy Education Building, the new building for the Daniels School of Business, and the Academic Success Building in Indianapolis will open, part of the university investment across 27 construction projects despite funding limitations from the state.
- Community growth: Since last August, more than 17,500 passengers have flown the commercial air service at the new Amelia Earhart Terminal at Purdue University Airport. West Lafayette will also soon see the number of hospitals go up from zero to three as job creation and economic growth drive prosperity and opportunities.
Whether it’s at the Grand Prix or in Ford Dining Court, during a walk through Spring Fest or the run around campus with students, I have learned firsthand from many Boilermakers. We will together keep Purdue as the most stable and strategic university in the country. Thank you for all that you do every day as our university continues with excellence at scale in the discovery, dissemination and deployment of knowledge.
Boiler Up!
Mung Chiang
President, Purdue University