Purdue to connect with Hendricks County on community visit

Martin C. Jischke

President Martin C. Jischke and other university officials will visit Brightpoint North America L.P, Edmondson Liberty Farms, CINERGY Corp., Puritan-Bennett, Rolls-Royce, as well as other locations.

Victor L. Lechtenberg, the university's vice provost for engagement, said Purdue welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with business and community leaders.

"By learning more about communities' accomplishments and challenges, Purdue can better determine what resources it has to offer," Lechtenberg said. "Purdue wants to serve as an economic development partner to Hendricks County so that its businesses and farms can gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. We also want to do our part to support continuing education."

This is the sixth year Jischke and university leaders have conducted daylong visits to Indiana communities. More than 60 previous stops have ranged from Gary to Jasper and from South Bend to Lebanon. Future visits are planned for Elkhart and New Albany.

Several activities are scheduled for the Hendricks County visit:

• 8:15 a.m. — Tour Brightpoint North America L.P., 501 Airtech Parkway, Plainfield. Brightpoint is one of the world's largest distributors of mobile phones and other wireless products. It processed 42 million wireless devices in 2005. Brightpoint also is the largest customer for the Indianapolis Federal Express site.

• 10 a.m. — Visit Cinergy Corp., 1000 East Main St., Plainfield. Based in Cincinnati, Cinergy Corp. was created in 1994 from the combination of the Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company and PSI Energy Inc., the largest electric utility in Indiana. CINERGY officials will provide a company overview and also discuss renewable energy resources. The company has worked on three projects with Purdue's Technical Assistance Program, which connects companies with Purdue resources and assists them in implementing state-of-the art technologies.

• 11:40 p.m. — Attend a luncheon sponsored by the Hendricks College Network at the Vineyard Room at Chateau Thomas, 6291 Cambridge Way, Plainfield. The Hendricks College Network is a source for residents, businesses and community organizations to obtain information about post-secondary educational opportunities available in and around Hendricks County. Jischke will speak about the importance of post-secondary education and Purdue's role in making learning a lifelong pursuit. Rusty King, HCN board president, serves on the Purdue advisory committee for the College of Education. He also was recognized with a Distinguished Education Alumni Award in Community Achievement in 2005.

• 1:15 p.m. — Visit Puritan-Bennett manufacturing facility, 2800 Airwest Blvd., Plainfield. Puritan-Bennett, a division of Tyco Healthcare, produces respiratory products for the health-care industry. It has worked on six projects with Purdue's Technical Assistance Program.

• 2:30 p.m. — Visit Rolls Royce Engineering, 2601 Metropolis Parkway, Suite 150, Plainfield. Rolls-Royce operates in four global markets: civil aerospace, defense aerospace, marine and energy. Its customers include 500 airlines; 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators; 160 armed forces and more than 2,000 marine customers, including 70 navies. The company also has energy customers in nearly 120 countries. Rolls-Royce employs 8,000 people in North America, including 550 Purdue graduates. It works with Purdue's Center for Advanced Manufacturing and the College of Engineering to implement state-of-the-art technologies. Purdue School of Engineering graduate Brad Belcher serves as the chief experimental engineer for the Joint Strike Fighter F136 engine, which is being designed in part at the Plainfield facility.

• 4 p.m. — Visit Edmondson Liberty Farms, 10842 Hodge St., Clayton. Operated by Purdue trustee Barbara Edmondson, her husband, Benjamin, J. Ben and Michael Edmondson, Edmondson Liberty Farms produces soybeans and corn in Hendricks, Putnam and Morgan counties. Specialty corn is a significant part of its income, and the Edmondsons grow waxy corn for National Starch and identity preserved corn for Cargill. Edmondson Liberty Farms also maintains no-till practices and plans to use an electronic satellite device for precise field operations.

• 5:30 p.m. — Attend an alumni reception at the Vineyard Room at Chateau Thomas. Jischke and university leaders will visit with Purdue alumni who live in Hendricks County.

• 7 p.m. — Attend the annual meeting of the Hendricks County Economic Development Corp. at the Prestwick County Club, 128 S.R. 267, Avon. Jischke will make remarks on economic development.

Jischke, who came to Purdue in August 2000, is the university's 10th president. He previously served for nine years as president of Iowa State University, another land-grant institution. His experience in higher education also includes 17 years as professor and dean at the University of Oklahoma and five years at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Jischke was the founding president of the Global Consortium of Higher Education and Research for Agriculture. He served as chairman and board member of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and as a board member of the American Council on Education, National Merit Scholarship Corp., and the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities.

He currently serves as chairman of the Association of American Universities, which represents the top 62 research universities in North America, and also is the current chair of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors. Jischke also is on the board of the American Council on Competitiveness and the national board of Campus Compact, an organization of university presidents and college deans that helps students learn about citizenship through community-service opportunities. The Indiana Chamber of Commerce honored Jischke in November with its Volunteer of the Year Award.

After receiving his doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1968, Jischke joined the faculty of the University of Oklahoma's School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. During his 17 years at Oklahoma, he served in multiple capacities. He became director of the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering in 1977. He served as dean of the College of Engineering from 1981 to 1986, and he was named the university's interim president in 1985.

Writer: Marydell Forbes, (765) 496-7704, mforbes@purdue.edu

Sources: Victor L. Lechtenberg, (765) 494-9095, vll@purdue.edu

David Petritz, associate vice provost for engagement, (765) 494-8489, dpetritz@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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