Purdue University

Giving to Purdue

University Development Office

Sue Zahn

“I give to women’s self-defense programs at PNC because I’m grateful that we offer these courses on campus at no charge to women who are seeking these skills.”

Each gift, no matter the size, is a vote of confidence in the University and a testament of loyalty to the Boilermaker family. Purdue employee donors are passionate about their support. But before they give there is a story. Today, read why Susan Zahn, senior police dispatcher and secretary to the chief of police at Purdue University North Central, gives.

Sue Zahn

Helping people is what Sue Zahn does. A dispatcher for the Purdue North Central campus police department, she handles calls for assistance with a multitude of services, including lockouts and escorts.

She also helps in ways that are not directly related to her job. In addition to giving to the Rape Aggression Defense (R.A.D.) Systems, Zahn teaches the free course at the PNC campus. The largest women’s self-defense network in the United States, R.A.D. offers realistic self-defense tactics and techniques, and is taught by R.A.D.-certified instructors like Zahn.

Sue Zahn

Before coming to PNC, Zahn lived in the Pittsburgh area and worked as a police dispatcher there. “As an experienced police dispatcher, I’ve heard many calls for help,” she says. “I recognize the need for women to have the knowledge to make an educated decision about resistance. Our campus is very safe, but many of our students either come from other areas where crime of this sort is more pronounced or travel through those areas.”

She also teaches Self-defense Awareness and Familiarization Exchange (S.A.F.E.), a program about how to become more aware of one’s surroundings. As a member of the Indiana Campus Sexual Assault Primary Prevention Project (INCSAPPP) committee, Zahn presents Bystander Intervention training to encourage people to act in some safe way in a problematic situation.

Says Zahn, “The amount I contribute could never come close to representing the value of the empowerment women experience after completing R.A.D. and the other self-defense programs I’m affiliated with.”


* Faculty and staff who would like to share their own thoughts and stories about supporting Purdue should contact stewardship@prf.org or 49-43872.