Purdue News
Purdue News
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December 1, 2000 Airport director retires after 39 years of serviceWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Robert E. Stroud, director of the Purdue University airport, will retire Dec. 31, capping almost 40 years with Purdue – half of those in his present position.
Betty M. Stansbury will succeed Stroud effective Jan. 1. Stansbury recently served as assistant airport manager at the Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston from 1996-2000. "During the past 39 years Bob Stroud has served the university and the community with distinction," said Chuck Sharp, director of service enterprises. "During this period, the airport has experienced continuous improvement in facilities and constant change in Federal Aviation Administration regulations and levels of service. Because of his leadership, we are well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that will be available in the first years of the new century. "Betty's challenge will be to see that the visions of our recently revised master plan are recognized. Among those challenges are improvements in air service, construction of a new terminal facility and the completion of a new parallel runway." Stroud said that throughout his tenure, and increasingly since airline deregulation in 1978, he has battled to keep good scheduled air service. Since deregulation, more than nine carriers have provided service to and from Lafayette including Air Wisconsin, Delta, USAir and others. "I don't care who's name is on the side of the airplane as long as we keep good service," Stroud said. He has also been a key force in obtaining federal funds to develop the facility. "Initially, we didn't have any guaranteed allocation for federal funds," he said. "We just made sure we always had an improvement project ready to go. Whenever we would get a call telling us that funds had become available, we were ready with our project." Eventually, the FAA airport improvement program began providing funds routinely to airports with at least 10,000 passengers per year. The amount of funds has increased from an initial $250,000 to $1 million annually. The funds are used for federally approved improvement projects. "I've always been the most pleased that the operation has continued to be very safe," he said. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Stroud began his career at the airport in 1961 as assistant director. He was promoted to his present position in 1980, succeeding William S. Fletemeyer. Stansbury previously held positions as airports manager for the state of Oregon's department of transportation; assistant director of operations and maintenance of Wichita Airport Authority in Kansas; and as financial analyst and airport operations coordinator for the Robert Mueller Airport in Austin, Texas. Sources: Chuck Sharp, director of service enterprises, (765) 494-7102; cesharp@exchange.physfac.purdue.edu Robert Stroud, director, Purdue University Airport, (765) 743-3442; restroud@purdue.edu Writer: Bob Johnson, (765) 496-7704, bobwjohnson@purdue.edu PHOTO CAPTION: A publication-quality photograph is available at the News Service Web site and at the ftp site. Photo ID: Stroud
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