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• President Córdova launches a 10-year ("decadal") funding plan initiative to find new sources of income to support the University as it continues to achieve the promise of its strategic plan in the face of uncertain state funding. The plan has three components: Efficient & Effective Purdue, Global Purdue and Innovative Purdue. An Innovation and Commercialization Center will expand proof-of-concept, prototype development and scale-up activities and provide a single point-of-entry for support services. An Applied Research Institute will engage in university-based contract research to solve technical programs for industry and government.
• Purdue opens the 34,000-square-foot Turf Recreation Exercise Center, a $4 million phase of the $98 million renovation of the Student Fitness and Wellness Center.

• The Sustaining New Synergies team of faculty, staff and students, who began work in December 2009, completes its work, recommending strategies for reducing the operating budget by $67.4 million. Many steps already taken include:
  
  
  • Reducing projected pay increases, cutting $26.8 million.
  • Implementing the information technology plan, expected to save $10 million by fiscal year 2013 and $15 million long-term.
  • Reallocating $8 million in additional revenue from interest income, administrative cost recovery from University Residences, and facility and administrative cost recovery from sponsored programs.
  • Conducting a retirement incentive program taken advantage of by 509 full-time-equivalent employees, with an estimated savings of $6.6 million.
  • Enhancing efforts to reduce healthcare costs ($5 million).
  • Implementing strategic sourcing, increasing buying power to save $2.9 million by fiscal year 2013 and more as the initiative develops and expands.
  • Reducing energy costs ($2 million).
• An international alumnus' experience with Purdue leads him to choose Lafayette as home for a $100 million, 435,000-square-foot aluminum extrusion manufacturing facility and office. It will employ 150 people within two years. A division of the Nanshan Group, based in China, the company will be known as Nanshan America Advanced Aluminum Technologies.
• Purdue agrees to lease space from the Purdue Research Foundation to house the new Seng-Liang Wang Hall of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Hayes Triangle Project to be built on Northwestern Avenue across from the Purdue Mall. Nearly $15 million in gifts will be used to construct the hall, with the remainder coming from the capital reserve for buildings. The facility also is expected to provide apartment housing and commercial space.

• Purdue establishes the Center for Global Food Security to take up the challenge of getting enough food to people who need it the most today and producing enough to meet even greater demand in the years to come.
• Purdue is listed as one of the top 50 institutions worldwide most published in Nature journals.
• The University Senate forms a core curriculum steering committee. Codification and course selections are expected by fall. Students will begin using this curriculum fully in 2013.
• A National Science Foundation grant of $1.25 million launches a sustainable energy learning program for rural Indiana teachers.
• Purdue announces plans to expand its distance-learning program to 10,000 by 2012-13.
• Several Purdue graduate programs are ranked in the top 10 by a U.S. News & World Report survey. They are:
  • Agricultural and biological engineering, 1st
  • Analytical chemistry, 2nd
  • Speech-language pathology, 2nd
  • Civil engineering, 3rd
  • Aerospace/aeronautics/astronautical engineering, 6th
  • Production/operations 6th
  • Audiology, 9th
  • Mechanical engineering, 9th
  • Pharmacy, 9th
  • Industrial/manufacturing engineering, 10th
• Bloomberg Businessweek survey of job recruiters ranks Krannert seventh among undergraduate business schools.
• Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences LLC announces that it is relocating its Seed Quality Control Lab to Purdue Research Park. The lab is currently based in Iowa.
• The Department of Communication is promoted to a school and named the Brian Lamb School of Communication for alumnus and C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb.
• The Global Business Engagement Initiative is launched to forge links between Indiana and the global market.
• The country of Colombia partners 14 of its institutions with Purdue and is paying for more than 60 doctoral and postdoctoral students to attend Purdue. An earlier agreement was signed with the minister of education.

• Ground is broken for Ray W. Herrick Laboratories, a hub of industry-oriented research in areas ranging from advanced automotive technologies to smart buildings. The labs are getting a new, expanded home, which will be built in phases. Phase I will include the Center for High Performance Buildings, which involves research and development of technology for sustainable, energy-efficient and occupant-friendly buildings. It also includes facilities for advanced engines and powertrain, electromechanical and controls systems, thermal sciences and vibrations research. Phase I is financed from private and company donations as well as an $11.75 million grant from the National Institute of Standards' Construction Grant Program. This building will be completed in the spring 2013. Subsequent phases, for which funds are being raised, will include the Center for Advanced Acoustics Research and the space to house technical support, where students and technical staff will work collaboratively to design, build and prepare rigs for the experimental research. The total cost of the project is expected to be $31 million.
• Purdue North Central Chancellor James B. Dworkin is named chairman of the board of Campus Compact, a nonprofit coalition of more than 1,100 college and university presidents - representing some 6 million students - who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education.
• Purdue launches "Lift-A-Boiler-Up," a campaign to raise funds to support student retention when a student's family experiences unexpected economic difficulty.

• President Córdova signs an agreement with China Agricultural University to create a joint research center to address issues of global food security and hunger.
• The U.S. State Department selects Purdue to lead one of six U.S.-China EcoPartnerships, which will focus on sustainability issues including environmental challenges posed by alternative energy and climate change in the two countries.
• Purdue graduates the first five students to complete degree work through its Science Bound program. Science Bound mentors sixth- to 12th-grade Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) students and encourages them to take classes in preparation for future careers in science, engineering, technology, agriculture, math-science education and related fields. Upon acceptance to Purdue, Science Bound students receive a full four-year tuition scholarship to study in an approved field. The Indianapolis business community also supports the program.
  At IPS, 31 additional students earn their high school diplomas. Twenty-nine will attend college, one entered the military and one moved out of state. Of those who graduated, 17 will attend Purdue.

• An independent study reports that the Purdue Research Park network provides an annual economic impact of $1.3 billion to Indiana's economy. One of the largest private employers in the state, the park has invested more than $584 million in infrastructure, provides $48 million in annual state tax revenue and employees in a park-based companies earn an average annual wage of $63,000.
• Internship study abroad program expanded to include an option in Beijing.

• The University encourages students to make healthy choices by adding an online tutorial about the risks of alcohol and a medical amnesty policy for students who call for help when they or a friend have a medical problem related to alcohol.
• Renovation of the Research Data Center is completed. The project in the Mathematical Sciences Building will increase the reliability of the data center and support the addition of two computer clusters to support campus researchers in the coming years.
• More than 1,700 Purdue students study abroad, choosing from options in 57 countries.
• Purdue raises $227.3 million through fundraising for the fiscal year that ended June 30, marking the highest annual total since the $1.7 billion Campaign for Purdue ended in 2007. The new total is $12.4 million more than was raised in 2009-10 and exceeded $200 million for the 10th consecutive year.
• The Board of Trustees approves the formation of an Honors College, expected to admit first-year students in fall 2013. It will build on the success of the University Honors Program, which began in 2004. It started with 75 students and increased to 450 students this past year. In addition to this University-wide program, there are currently more than 1,250 students housed in five college-specific honors programs. One expected outcome is to attract more high-achieving Indiana students.

• Reports show that University-budgeted financial aid has risen from $19.8 million in 2006-07 to $41.2 million for 2011-12, which represents a 108 percent increase. Overall financial aid has risen from $433.8 million in 2006-07 to $571.4 million in 2011-12, which represents a 32 percent increase.
• A campus team of 18 faculty, staff and students forms to suggest and spearhead new ways to reduce high-risk drinking. The team is the first outgrowth of the University's participation in the newly formed national Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking, which links Purdue and dozens of other higher education institutions across the country.
• The White Lodging Center for Hospitality and Tourism Management opens at Purdue Calumet thanks to a $5 million gift from the Dean and Barbara White and Bruce and Beth White Family foundations. The goal is to enhance the program for undergraduates. The gift is the largest ever gift received by Purdue Calumet.

• Fall enrollment and student quality set records:
  • System-wide, 75,436 students enroll.
  • Freshmen arrive with the highest average SAT and ACT scores in Purdue history. SAT scores increase while state averages decrease. The critical reading plus math and writing score was 1731, up 34 points from 2008.
  • International students continue to choose Purdue WL, which ranks fourth overall and second among public universities for total numbers. The total international enrollment is 7,837 at Purdue WL, representing almost 20 percent of the student body.
• The University's first-year retention rate increases to 90.2 percent, an all-time high. The second-year retention rate is up to 82.5 percent.
• Boiler Gold Rush, Purdue's orientation program, serves almost 80 percent of the first-year class. Learning communities expand to 1,663 participants for 2011-12.
• Purdue develops plans for “Discovery College,” which is a much larger version of the current Undergraduate Studies Program. Starting in fall 2014, the college will admit freshmen who are undecided about their major and will ensure that they have a core curriculum and other fundamental courses for the first year to prepare them for making a choice of major.
• Purdue begins an assessment of its efforts to help students succeed. Called Foundations of Excellence, the six-month initiative will review efforts under way to help first-year students and suggest other steps the University might take.
• Purdue ranks 85th in the QS World University Rankings. Purdue's engineering and technology programs rise to 31st. Purdue is the state's only public university ranked in the top 100 overall.
• U.S. News & World Report ranks Purdue 23rd among all public universities and 62nd among all universities. The magazine acknowledges Purdue for its commitment to undergraduate teaching and programs that ensure student success. Purdue programs listed include first-year experience, internships, learning communities, and writing in the disciplines. Rankings for undergraduate programs in the top 10 are:
  • Biological/agricultural engineering, 1st
  • Production/operations management, 2nd
  • Aerospace/aeronautical/astronautical engineering, 4th
  • Quantitative analysis, 4th
  • Civil engineering, 5th
  • Industrial engineering, 5th
  • Engineering overall, 9th
• A leading aluminum company based in China announces it will give $10 million for Purdue's international programs, research, training and scholarships. The funds come from Nanshan Group Co. Ltd., which is the parent company of the Shandong Nanshan Aluminum Co. firm that will be opening in Lafayette next year.

• University dedicates:
  • The Bill and Sally Hanley Hall, an $11.5 million facility aimed at fostering research on families, aging and leadership.
  • Gatewood Wing of Mechanical Engineering Building. The $31 million wing adds 41,000 square feet, increasing the building's space by 55 percent. It is Purdue's first LEED building receiving Gold certification.
• Rakesh Agrawal, a Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, receives the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama. The award is the highest honor for technological achievement bestowed by the president of the United States.
• The Technical Assistance Program 25th anniversary annual report shows it has had nearly a $1 billion impact in Indiana since its inception in 1986.
• Steel Dynamics Keith E. Busse IPFW Alumni Center is dedicated at IPFW. The center was funded by individual donors and corporate donations.

• The renovation of Mackey Arena is celebrated. The Mackey Complex renovation and expansion includes $99.5 million in improvements to the 44-year-old facility's improved arena seating, ticket offices and other amenities for fans, as well as the opportunity to bring academic, athletic and training needs into one complex to benefit all student-athletes. Intercollegiate Athletics is self-supporting. The Mackey plan is funded by income generated through Big Ten Conference television agreements, gifts and other athletic department funds.
• President Córdova holds first presidential reception for Purdue alumni in Singapore. She also visited alumni in Hong Kong.
• The 173,000-square-foot Student Services Complex at IPFW opens, connecting Helmke Library, Walb Student Union, and the updated and expanded Hilliard Gates Sports Center.
• Purdue builds Carter, the fastest campus supercomputer in the United States. The computer is build with advanced, unreleased technologies from Intel and HP, and ranks 54th among all of the world's supercomputers.