May 5, 2005
Indy rolls out welcome to Campaign for Purdue
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The $1.5 billion Campaign for Purdue put the spotlight on Indianapolis Thursday evening (May 5), led by business leaders who already have raised $217 million from this area.
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At a black-tie dinner – the first Boilermaker Ball – at the Indianapolis Convention Center, Purdue President Martin C. Jischke highlighted what the gifts to date mean to the Indianapolis area.
"Thanks to the hard work and generosity of many of the people in central Indiana, Purdue is able to extend its reach and impact far beyond West Lafayette," Jischke said. "This university makes an impact throughout our state, and nowhere more than in Indianapolis. We want to be a starter on this hometown's team. It would seem that the people of the Indy area agree."
Throughout the evening, speakers highlighted contributions from, and benefits to, Indianapolis. Some Indianapolis-related Purdue projects include:
• Purdue's Center for Paralysis Research, which is helping paralyzed patients at Indiana University School of Medicine to regain some sensation. Andara Life Sciences Inc. has purchased the license for the technology behind the breakthrough – called an oscillating field stimulator – and announced last week that it will base its operations at Indianapolis' INTECH Park. The park, located on the city's north side, has partnered with the Purdue Research Park to become Indianapolis' second Certified Technology Park.
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The paralysis center's director, Richard Borgens, the Mari Hulman George Professor of Applied Neuroscience in the School of Veterinary Medicine, also has documented promising results from injecting a polymer into dogs, reversing paralysis if administered within 72 hours of injury. That research also has recently been licensed.
The research is supported by the state of Indiana and Mari Hulman George. The Hulman George family owns and operates the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with Mari Hulman George serving as chairman of the board and Anton "Tony" George serving as president and CEO.
• Purdue Opportunity Award scholarships, launched during the Campaign for Purdue, ensure coverage of the full cost of tuition, room and board during the first year at Purdue for students from each of Indiana's 92 counties who have high financial need, face personal hardship(s), and/or are experiencing other extenuating circumstances. The program was expanded last fall so that as these Boilermaker students become sophomores Purdue also will provide scholarships up to $2,500.
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One of the current students from Marion County, Tung Ho, was among the evening's speakers. Also five more Marion County students will be awarded this financial assistance package this spring. The first of those has already been identified: Alyson Nixon, a student at Scecina Memorial High School, who has been accepted to the Purdue College of Education. She has been a member of Habitat for Humanity for three years and also is a Promise to Keep peer mentor at her high school.
Purdue Board of Trustees chairman J. Timothy McGinley and his wife, Jane, sponsor first-year Purdue Opportunity Award scholarships to support five students in Marion County and five in Tippecanoe County.
• A multipronged effort by EPICS, Purdue's Engineering Projects in Community Service, which links classes of students from the West Lafayette campus with projects across the state, including several in Indianapolis. For example, biomedical engineering students this fall will be working with doctors and therapists at St. Vincent Pediatric Rehabilitation Center to design and develop assistive technology to enhance life for patients.
The students already are partnering with the carpentry shop at the Indiana State Women's Prison to design and build museum exhibits and learning toys and studying the hands-on science displays of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis to spread that expertise to schools. The EPICS Idea-to-Product Entrepreneurship Initiative 2005 winning team, with members from Indianapolis and Carmel, created "Talk-a-Toy," a project that developed toys to help youngsters learn English, spelling and mathematics.
The national pioneer in these programs, Purdue is helping form programs modeled after EPICS at universities across the country, including Butler. Two alumni of the Purdue EPICS program have formed a team at Bedford North Lawrence High School, where students are developing aids for classmates with disabilities.
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The National Academy of Engineering this spring honored the Purdue EPICS program and its leaders with the 2005 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education. The three professors responsible for the program declined most of their share of the $500,000 prize. Instead, most of the money will go toward the program itself.
• Science Bound, a Purdue program that helps encourage Indianapolis Public Schools students to prepare for college and provides full scholarships. More than 160 IPS students are involved – preparing for careers involving math, science or math-science education – and this spring Purdue will offer the opportunity to 100 more. These students take part in special classes and experiences outside the classroom.
Sponsors for the program include numerous Indianapolis businesses and foundations.
• Faculty recruitment through endowments to support their research teams and efforts. Of the $52.5 million in gifts from Indianapolis business and civic leader William E. Bindley, almost half is earmarked to fund endowed faculty positions – each on average costing $1.5 million – called chairs or professorships. Bindley is matching one-for-one every such gift made by others, and to date has matched nine professorships.
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Bindley is chairman of the Indianapolis-based private equity investment firm Bindley Capital Partners LLC and founder of Bindley Western Industries, a Fortune 200 company that was acquired by Cardinal Health in 2001.
At tonight's event, the most recent of the nine matches Bindley has helped fund was announced: Thomas L. and Patty Hefner have funded an endowed chair in the Krannert School of Management to be called the Duke Realty Corporation Chair in Finance.
"The education I received in finance and logic at Purdue enabled me to enjoy a fulfilling and successful career," said Hefner, the former CEO and chairman of Duke Realty. "Duke Realty Corp. was very good to me, so we wanted to recognize the company by providing this personal contribution for the finance chair."
An Indiana native, Hefner received his bachelor's degree in industrial management from the Krannert School in 1970.
"A stipulation is that whoever holds that position must teach at least one undergraduate course per year," Hefner said. "Our goal is to emphasize the importance of the undergraduate program – not only to the university, but also to the state of Indiana."
Richard A. Cosier, Krannert School dean and Leeds Professor of Management, said endowed chairs are important for the long-term growth and success of the school and the university.
"The finance area at Krannert is strong, and the marketplace for finance professors is extremely competitive," Cosier said. "Tom and Patty Hefner's gift will allow us to recruit and retain a world-class teacher and researcher."
The professor chosen to hold this chair will be a teacher and recognized scholar in the fields of finance or venture capital. The total chair endowment is $2 million. These funds will provide yearly earnings to underwrite the salary and research needs of the chosen professor while the endowment principal remains intact in perpetuity.
Duke Realty Corp. is the largest publicly traded office and industrial real estate company in the United States. The company owns, manages or has under development more than 115 million square feet of industrial, office and retail properties in 14 major U.S. cities.
Another Indianapolis couple also is helping through Purdue's planned gift program.
Al and Shary Pyclik Oak, Purdue alumni from Indianapolis, have made a deferred gift of $500,000 to help support a faculty position in the School of Civil Engineering.
"My business experience with my company and my own personal experience at Purdue taught me about the importance of having outstanding faculty to teach outstanding students," said Al Oak, who is chairman and CEO of Paul I. Cripe Inc., an architectural, engineering, surveying and consulting firm in Indianapolis. "Purdue is a world-class university because of its people, its faculty and its students."
He earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering in 1968 and received a Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award from Purdue in 1998. She earned a dual degree from Purdue in elementary education and childhood development in 1969.
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"After Al and I married and moved to Evansville, I received my first teaching job because the principal wanted someone who had a strong knowledge of science," said Shary Oak. "He said he knew that someone with a degree from Purdue would have that background. After we moved to Indianapolis, I worked for 10 years in Al's company, and I understand the engineering business and Purdue's role in educating future engineers."
Shary Oak said attending Purdue provided more than a strong educational foundation.
"We were high school sweethearts in our hometown of South Bend and attended Purdue together, where we met some lifelong friends," she said. "In fact, an engineer who works for Paul I. Cripe is a Purdue graduate and the son of one of my sorority sisters through the Alpha Chi Omega."
Al Oak added, "We have several Purdue engineering graduates working at Paul I. Cripe, and not because I graduated from Purdue, but because we get quality engineers from Purdue."
The Indianapolis campaign co-chairpersons are Bindley and his wife, Mary Ann, and Jerry and Rosie Semler. Bindley earned his bachelor's degree in industrial economics from the Purdue School of Science in 1962. In 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Purdue's Krannert School.
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Jerry Semler is chairman of the board of OneAmerica Financial Partners (formerly American United Life Insurance), which has made possible a Purdue professorship in marketing. Born in Indianapolis and raised in Decatur, Ill., and Evansville, Ind., Semler earned his bachelor's degree at Purdue in industrial economics in 1958. He later graduated from the Stanford University Business Executive Program. In 2002 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Krannert School of Management.
Purdue President Emeritus Steven C. Beering and his wife, Jane, are the campaign's honorary co-chairs.
To date, the Campaign for Purdue has raised $1.139 billion toward its $1.5 billion goal. The top 12 Indianapolis contributors to the Campaign for Purdue, which began in 2000, are:
• Lilly Endowment: $72.5 million, most for Discovery Park.
• William E. Bindley: $53.7 million, for professorships, scholarships, Bindley Bioscience Center in Discovery Park.
• Robert L. and Terry L. Bowen: More than $3.86 million for the Bowen Civil Engineering Lab, Science Bound, Bowen Chair in Construction Engineering Management and athletics.
• Showalter Trust: $3.23 million for professorships and programs.
• Regenstrief Foundation: $3 million to establish Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering in Discovery Park.
• James F. and Lois Ackerman:$2.41 million for a chair in agricultural economics, the Aquatics Center, the Spurgeon Golf Training Center, Ross-Ade Stadium.
• Eli Lilly and Company Foundation: $2.2 million to support five academic units and their programs at Purdue: engineering, science, veterinary medicine, management, pharmacy.
• Guidant Foundation Inc: $1.86 million for diversity and student support in management, engineering and pharmacy.
• Lorene J. Burkhart: $1.84 million for the Center for Families, College of Consumer and Family Sciences.
• J. Timothy and Jane C. McGinley, $2 million, Purdue Opportunity Awards.
• Pedro and Barbara Granadillo, $1.5 million, chair in the School of Industrial Engineering.
• Anonymous, $1.5 million, chair in College of Education.
Writer: Jeanne Norberg (765) 494-2084, jnorberg@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
Note to Journalists: Video b-roll is available by contacting Jesica Webb, Purdue News Service, (765) 494-2079, jwebb@purdue.edu
Sources and Background
Paralysis Research:
Richard B. Borgens, (765) 494-7600, cpr@purdue.edu
Purdue anchors Indy's newest technology park, 3 companies move in
Purdue licenses paralysis treatment to Indiana-based Andara Life Science Inc.
Spinal cord injury patients show improvement in early device study
Borgens work sponsored by well-known family of Indy Speedway fame
Purdue Opportunity Awards:
Sarah Helm: assistant director, orientation and new student programs, (765) 496-2462, shelm@purdue.edu
Purdue trustees give $3.28 million for scholarships, meet challenge
EPICS:
Leah Jamieson, (764) 494-4966, lhj@purdue.edu
Edward Coyle, (765) 494-3470, coyle@purdue.edu
William Oaks, (765) 494-3892, oaks@purdue.edu
National Academy calls engineering program a national model
Purdue to help 5 more universities engineer community service
Governor honors Purdue's EPICS program with volunteer award
NSF helps Purdue engineers expand service-learning nationally
Science Bound:
Wesley Campbell, director, Science Bound, (765) 494-0018, wesleyl@purdue.edu
Science Bound students to bust some bridges
Science Bound students 'dig it' with Purdue anthropologists
Multicultural learning community students bond with Science Bound
Science Bound to announce major gifts at annual dinner
Science Bound students to explore careers with Indy business leaders
Campaign for Purdue:
Source: Murray Blackwelder, senior vice president for advancement, (765) 496-2144, mblackwelder@purdue.edu
Purdue fund-raising campaign tops $1 billion, goal raised
Purdue employees give $42 million to campaign, bar raised
Gift from Hefners:
Duke Realty home page
PHOTO CAPTION:
Tung Ho, at right, a Purdue freshman supported by a Purdue Opportunity Award scholarship, smiles as he stands next to Douglas Christiansen, Purdue's dean of enrollment management. Ho spoke to a gathering of Purdue supporters in Indianapolis Thursday evening (May 5) at the first Boilermaker Ball. The evening celebrated more than $217 million in contributions from the Indianapolis area to the $1.5 billion Campaign for Purdue. A portion of that money supports the Purdue Opportunity Awards, which covers the full cost of tuition, room and board during the first year at Purdue for students from each of Indiana's 92 counties who have high financial need, face personal hardship(s), and/or are experiencing other extenuating circumstances. The program was expanded last fall so that as these students become sophomores, Purdue also will provide scholarships up to $2,500. Ho, who is one of as many as 10 Marion County students that will have received this award before next semester, told the 300 people gathered at the Indiana Convention Center that he had left Vietnam at age 8 with his mother for a better live in America, but then faced hurdles when his mother became ill. He vowed to repay the generosity that made the scholarship possible by helping the next generation of students who have financial need. (Purdue News Service photo/Mark Simons)
PHOTO CAPTION:
Jerry Semler, a co-chairperson for the $1.5 billion Campaign for Purdue's Indianapolis effort, announces that more than $217 million has been raised from the Indianapolis area. Semler is chairman of the board of OneAmerica Financial Partners (formerly American United Life Insurance), which has made possible a Purdue professorship in marketing. (Purdue News Service photo/Mark Simons)
PHOTO CAPTION:
Incoming Purdue Board of Trustee Tom Spurgeon shares a moment with Al and Shary Pyclik Oak, at right, Purdue alumni from Indianapolis, who have given Purdue a deferred gift of $500,000 to help support a faculty position in the School of Civil Engineering. Al Oak is chairman and CEO of Paul I. Cripe Inc., an architectural, engineering, surveying and consulting firm in Indianapolis. (Purdue News Service photo/Mark Simons)
PHOTO CAPTION:
Richard Borgens, director of Purdue University's Center for Paralysis Research, helps paralyzed dogs like Kady walk again with the help of treatments like polyethylene glycol (PEG) injections. In a recent study, more than half of the paralyzed dogs that received injections of the polymer within 72 hours of traumatic spinal injury were standing or walking again within weeks. (Credit: North Texan Magazine)
PHOTO CAPTION:
A group of Indianapolis Public Schools students takes part in a Science Bound activity on the Purdue University campus. The Science Bound program helps encourage participants to prepare for college and provides full scholarships to Purdue for students pursuing careers in math, science or math-science education. (Purdue University file photo)
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