HANDCRAFTED LEGACY
A commencement tradition is back in action thanks to a skillful Purdue Global administrator.
A New Era of Hospitality
The iconic Union Club Hotel reopened in August following a yearlong $35 million restoration that incorporates Purdue’s traditions, icons, and history and celebrates the University’s legacy. Take a tour of its sophisticated new spaces, and meet some of the students and staff who deliver memorable experiences for hotel guests. The moment you step through its […]
The Piano Man
Neon Cactus closes just shy of Bruce Barker’s 25th year at Rusty Bucket Piano man Bruce Barker (HHS’94) never touched a piano until his second semester, freshman year. Assigned to Terry Courts residence hall, Barker walked past the lobby piano countless times. In February 1988, he decided to sit down at the bench with his […]
One More Year
With Tokyo Olympics postponed, Steele Johnson grateful for more time Skateboarding isn’t necessarily a standard part of an Olympic diver’s exercise routine, but when Purdue’s Burke Aquatic Center closed down in the spring due to COVID-19, silver medalist Steele Johnson (LA’19) got creative with his workout. His normal training schedule involves five or six hours […]
One Happy Old Man
Animal sciences alumnus drafted in WWII, six credits shy of graduation Born and raised on a farm north of Knightstown, Indiana, Russell “Doc” Hardin (A’65) began milking cows at age 9. During the Depression, he recalls, the only income for the family came from milking their 20 head of cattle. Hardin remembers the country veterinarian […]
Dean for a Day
In the 1950s and ’60s, the Associated Women Students — an activity group encompassing all of Purdue’s women students — held an annual event known as Dean for a Day, during which students would switch places with the dean of women and her assistant deans. The deans would attend classes, and the students would fulfill […]
Building Momentum
Nyagoa Gony named to Big Ten Anti-Hate and Anti-Racism Coalition As the daughter of South Sudan refugees, Nyagoa Gony has social justice in her blood. Her parents fled the war-torn country and resettled in South Dakota, where Gony was born, before relocating to Lincoln, Nebraska. “I feel like I’ve always been an activist,” Gony says. […]
Rivet
A group of serious, hardworking intellectuals published Rivet, the campus humor magazine, according to the 1949 Debris. Circulated as Limp Rivet in 1947, the tome had shortened its moniker by the following year due to the “suggestive” title. “The clever style of presenting campus problems and discussing them with an air of superimposed authority has […]
Running the Show
Hustle and grit refine setter Hayley Bush’s standout performance Moving from a hometown with a population roughly one-third the size of Purdue’s student enrollment required some getting used to for Hayley Bush, a junior in the College of Agriculture. The sense of family and familiarity of the landscape attracted her to West Lafayette. “It’s definitely […]