Carolyn Percifield's career at Purdue started and flourished in the College of Engineering, where for twenty-six years, she held leadership positions in Corporate Relations, Development and Strategic Planning.

For the past eight years, Percifield was among the pioneers behind the unique country-university relationship that Colombia and Purdue have today. Her perseverance, wisdom and genuine interest for people helped the Colombia Purdue Initiative (CPI) to quickly progress from the first meeting with a small group of Colombian friends in 2010 to meetings with key Colombian alumni and friends, the Colombian education minister, the director of Colciencias, Colfuturo and Fulbright and many potential partner universities two months later. Then came the agreements with the ministry of education and Colciencias one month after. In the subsequent years, dozens of projects with Colombian institutions, both public and private, flourished. Today, CPI is a campus-wide, Colombia-wide initiative, designed to be a mutually-beneficial relationship that has so far advanced dozens of collaborations and projects on sustainable development, education and technology.

Respected, admired and loved by those that know her, Percifield is authentic, charismatic and energetic. When she befriends a person, she befriends the entire family, building lifelong relationships. She has a warm and caring nature and a contagious laughter. Her effervescent personality is matched with a pop of color in her attire. Her plans for retirement include spending time with friends and family, continuing to run, practicing yoga, and traveling to Colombia with her children to create new experiences with her Colombian friends and "the special place they call home."

These are some excerpts of an interview with Percifield where we talked about her experiences, contributions to CPI, and her plans, dreams and vision for the future.

"Sometimes it's not the multimillion dollar projects that make a difference. It's the small things that you do and the care and compassion that you bring to the planning and the execution that can make an impact on hundreds of people's lives. Often you don't even know until you're sitting in a room and you hear them talk about what an opportunity meant for them. Perhaps what they don't know is how life-changing it has been for so many of us here at Purdue. I cannot imagine my life now without Colombia in it."

 

2010 visit to Rionegro. From left to right: Juan Ochoa (UPB trustee), Arden Bement (Purdue executive), Manuel Santiago (Universidad de Antioquia trustee), Carolyn Percifield and Juan Ernesto de Bedout (Purdue alumnus)

 

What was one of the most rewarding experiences you had with CPI?

"One of the most rewarding experiences was when I joined the Proyecto Interchange. The project was started by Carol Handwerker from Purdue and Alejandro Roldán from Ruta N to teach advanced science online to high school kids in the Santo Domingo Savio comuna of Medellín. When I joined, their plan was to expand from the educational outreach they were doing virtually to bring some of the kids to campus for a personalized learning experience in collaboration with the Colombian Student Association at Purdue (CSAP), EPICS (Engineering Projects In Community Service), the Purdue Foundry, and the Gifted Education Resource Institute (GERI) summer camp. I did not know the kids, so it was more of an intellectual exercise at first. I didn't anticipate the emotional involvement these young people would have on me.

While the kids and I were together, we forged a strong human connection. The CSAP students and I made sure that one or more of us was at every meal with them, learning about each other and having fun, and occasionally, I would also visit with them for a little bit in the lounge after dinner. They brought with them these great big hearts and joyfulness that was infectious to me, the CSAP students, the GERI camp counselors and their fellow GERI campers. You would not have known that some of them came from very difficult circumstances.

I spent the first two days before their GERI experience and every morning of the first week with them in a creative program that I organized, which gave them an EPICS design experience paired with a Foundry-led high school entrepreneurship workshop. On the final day, each team presented their business plans to a roomful of professors, staff and PhD students and later to a visiting Colombian dignitary. Amazing.

Our first day together, it poured on us as we ran across campus - cold but laughing, we got totally soaked, because we did not yet have umbrellas. Another day, I arranged 5 a.m. access to the seventh-floor balcony of Ross-Ade Stadium so the film crew that was sent to document their journey could capture a Purdue sunrise and I hosted their chaperone to an evening picnic and music on the lawn of the Purdue Memorial Union. 2014 was a magical summer when 14 incredible, talented Colombian youngsters stole my heart.

 

 

Since then, we have brought three more Proyecto Interchange groups and I've had a different experience with each one of them. But somehow with each group, there is always a connection and they leave Purdue with a little more of my heart's real estate. I am still penpals with many of the kids and try to reconnect with them whenever I return to Medellin."

 

Will you continue to participate in Colombia-Purdue projects now that you are retiring?

“There are two things unfinished that are personally important to me and which I hope I can help see to fruition:

The first is to honor the memory of German Vanegas, the deceased father of one of my very dear Colombian friends. The project is helping IUE, a city university in Envigado, adopt EPICS into its design curriculum and lead ITASCA, a seven-university consortium in the development of the first Colombian network of EPICS campuses. 

The second project, with networks in mind, is working on helping all four cohorts of the Proyecto Interchange students connect with each other to develop a support network. My hope is not only that I would then be a lifelong member of that community along with the CSAP students, Carol, Alejandro and others who have touched their lives, but that they ultimately connect with and tap into our Colombia-Purdue network of alumni and reach out to others who have had or hope to have a Purdue experience. The idea formed after a CSAP sponsored Colombian Independence Day party where the students from Proyecto Interchange, UREP-C (Undergraduate Research Experience Purdue-Colombia), and CSAP were all together and it was just incredible -  high school students with visiting Colombian student researchers, Purdue PhD students and a few Purdue faculty and staff sprinkled in. I saw the potential for those who were being mentored to persist because of these new-found friends and to become the mentors and role models for others and each other as their lives continue to unfold."

 

How do you envision the future of CPI?

"I am confident it will continue for years to come. We have a long line of people who are active, involved and invested in this initiative. The fact that we started three endowments, one entirely through donations from faculty and staff, is a major milestone. Dozens of alumni, friends, staff and students have contributed hoping to make a difference for the generations that come after we are all retired. I will continue to contribute personally, but I truly believe that our Colombian alumni will not only add more to these existing endowments, but that they will also create new ones that reflect their specific interests. Their passion and commitment for both Purdue and their beloved Colombia was what inspired me to invest."

 

Carolyn Percifield's legacy has set CPI on a long-lasting and remarkable trajectory. She will be remembered for moving CPI forward with a focus on people and for generating excitement for the initiative among faculty, staff, students and the Colombian community.

 

2014 CSAP Independence Day Picnic