April 15, 2005
Purdue employees give $42 million to campaign, bar raised
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The bar for the on-campus portion of the Campaign for Purdue will be raised this morning (Friday, April 15) to $50 million, the university announced as it celebrated $42 million in gifts from faculty, staff and retirees.
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With more than two years left in the $1.5 billion campaign, the university has brought in $1.127 billion overall.
"Purdue is truly gifted with generous faculty, staff and retirees," said Purdue President Martin C. Jischke. "They believe in this university – in what it is and what it can become. I am very gratified that so many have stepped forward. Almost 60 percent of our faculty have contributed, as have 40 percent of our retirees. Even 34 percent of our administrative, service and clerical staff are investing in the pride, power and promise of Purdue."
The announcement will be made at a 7-8 a.m. pancake breakfast in a tent on the Memorial Mall where administrators will don aprons and chef's hats to serve their employees. The R.B. Stewart Society, named for a legendary university leader, honored three couples in particular:
• Robert L. and Estelle Ringel have committed a gift of $100,000 from their estate for the Robert L. Ringel Gallery in the Purdue Memorial Union.
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Robert Ringel served as executive vice president for academic affairs for a decade – from 1991 to 2001 – and is currently a professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences as well as the Donald S. Powers Distinguished University Administrator. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Purdue.
"When we considered how we wanted to support Purdue, Bob and I were in immediate agreement: We felt the arts are the key to what makes this university a special place," Estelle Ringel said. "The creative arts shape the soul of the institution."
Robert Ringel added, "We truly believe that the arts, in all their magnificent forms of beauty, must have a prominent place wherever and whenever people gather to ask the profound questions of the ages.
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"The gallery is the learning environment, the archive and the studio of the lively and liberating mind."
The Ringel Gallery, part of Purdue University Galleries, offers visual art exhibitions and programming and is sponsored by the College of Liberal Arts with additional support from the Purdue Student Union Board and the Friends of the Galleries.
• Professor Phillip C. and Dorothy R. Wankat have established annual merit-based scholarships for transfer or entering freshmen engineering students. They also have endowed an unrestricted fund for the College of Education. He serves Purdue as director of undergraduate degree programs in the Department of Engineering Education and is the Clifton L. Lovell Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering. Both are Purdue alumni.
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• William D. and Roberta L. Griggs provided deferred gifts to Purdue Research Foundation. He served as secretary and assistant treasurer of the foundation until his retirement in 2001.
PRF is a nonprofit corporation that may accept gifts, administer trusts, acquire property, negotiate research contracts and perform other services helpful to the university. Among other services, it operates the Purdue Research Park, ranked best in the nation this fall.
Purdue founded the R.B. Stewart Society to recognize special benefactors who make commitments to the future of the university through their estate plan, said Murray M. Blackwelder, senior vice president for advancement.
Stewart, known as the father of the GI Bill, was the chief business officer for the university from 1945 to 1961. Membership in the society is available to individuals who set aside money for the university through estate plans or a life income gift arrangement, regardless of the amount.
Writer: Jeanne V. Norberg, (765) 491-1460, jnorberg@purdue.edu
Source: Murray Blackwelder, (765) 496-2144, mblackwelder@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION
Vice President for Human Relations Alysa Rollock, second from right, flips a pancake to William Griggs as Purdue President Martin C. Jischke and Provost Sally Mason help serve. The breakfast, which took place today (Friday, April 15), is the kickoff for the campus portion of The Campaign for Purdue. (Purdue News Service photo/Dave Umberger)
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