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- Library space is renovated at Purdue North Central to house the Student Success Center, which provides tutoring and testing services, the Writing Center and the Advising Center. Traffic increased nearly 75 percent in the first year.
- Purdue and at least 16 of its astronaut alumni dedicate the Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering, hailing the new $53.2 million building as a gateway to engineering research and education. A bronze sculpture of Armstrong sits outside the front doors depicting him as a wide-eyed freshman.
- Beck Agricultural Center, a $5.2 million facility for teaching, training and research opportunities, is dedicated.
- Philip Nelson, the Scholle Chair Professor in Food Processing, earns the World Food Prize -- the Nobel Prize of agriculture -- for his aseptic processing innovation. He is the founder of Purdue's Department of Food Science. In July 2010, the Purdue Board of Trustees named the Philip E. Nelson Hall of Food Science in his honor.
- Lilly Endowment awards $8.9 million to the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue to help with outreach efforts. By 2011, the Endowment's support grew to $20 million.
- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, speaks at Purdue.
- The Native American Educational and Cultural Center is dedicated, adding to the offerings provided by the Latino Cultural Center and the Black Cultural Center.
- The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship selects Indiana as the first site for its new national fellowship to encourage high school teachers to seek careers in teaching science, technology and math in high-need classrooms. The first class of teachers from rural schools started at Purdue in June 2009.
- Valparaiso businessman Harley Snyder grants Purdue North Central full possession of PNC - Porter County, the largest gift in the campus's history. The 11-acre, two-building site in Valparaiso has been home to PNC classes since 2000. The MBA program is located there along with 10 additional classrooms – all equipped with SMART technology.