Purdue to graduate more than 1,700 students during summer commencement ceremonies

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — More than 1,700 graduating students will take their next giant leap during Purdue University’s two summer commencement ceremonies at Elliott Hall of Music on Aug. 3.

Jennifer Rumsey Download image

Jennifer Rumsey, a Purdue University alumna and native of Columbus, Indiana, serves as chair and CEO of Cummins Inc. and will deliver a keynote speech at both ceremonies. Purdue President Mung Chiang will be in attendance, and each ceremony will feature a student responder.

Of the 1,711 students eligible to participate in Purdue’s Summer 2024 Commencement 634 are undergraduates, 1,065 are graduate students, and 12 are students from Purdue Polytechnic’s statewide programs.

Commencement division dates and times

• Division I: Saturday, Aug. 3, 9:30 a.m. — College of Education, College of Health and Human Sciences, College of Liberal Arts, College of Pharmacy, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business
• Division II: Saturday, Aug. 3, 2:30 p.m. — College of Agriculture, College of Engineering, College of Science, Purdue Polytechnic Institute

The doors to Elliott Hall of Music will open 90 minutes before each ceremony, and tickets are required for entry. Each graduation candidate may request up to four tickets. Only clear bags or small clutch bags are permitted in Elliott Hall of Music, and all bags will be checked. More information can be found at the commencement FAQs website. The ceremonies will be livestreamed from the Purdue News YouTube channel and linked on the Purdue commencement website before each ceremony begins. 

About Rumsey

As chair and CEO of Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI), a Fortune 150 global power solutions provider based in Indiana, Rumsey oversees the strategic direction, growth initiatives and global operations for the company, which has more than 75,500 employees worldwide and achieved $34.1 billion in revenue in 2023. In her two years serving as CEO, the company’s revenue has grown by more than 50%. 

Rumsey has focused her 25-year career on advancing technologies and bringing products to market that power customers’ success and make a positive difference in the world. She was recognized in 2020 by the Society of Women Engineers for her contributions to engineering and efforts to create environments that attract and retain more women engineers. She was inducted as a Society of Automotive Engineers fellow in 2022, and in 2023 she received the Women Business Collaborative’s CEO Excellence in Gender Equity and Diversity Award, in addition to being recognized as one of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women. In spring 2024, Rumsey received an honorary doctorate of engineering from Purdue’s College of Engineering.

Rumsey earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue in 1996 and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998.

Shah, Gee to give student responses

Shruti Shah of Fremont, California, who is to receive a Bachelor of Science from the College of Health and Human Sciences, will be the student responder in the Saturday morning (Division I) ceremony. Shah completed internships with Berkeley Pharma Tech and the Stanford Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging. She was an undergraduate research assistant for the late Robert Proctor’s human factors lab and a research team member in The Data Mine corporate partnership program. After graduation, Shah plans to explore research opportunities in neuroscience.

Mark Gee of Johnston, Iowa, who is to receive a Doctor of Philosophy from the College of Agriculture, will be the student responder in the Saturday afternoon (Division II) ceremony. Gee has served as a Purdue Board of Trustees student member and has been involved in Purdue Space Day and the Purdue World Food Prize Youth Institute. He has completed internships with Corteva Agriscience, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, and the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation. As an undergraduate student, Gee was a Beering Scholar, earning three bachelor’s degrees in biological engineering, biochemistry and agronomy in 2019. He earned a Master of Science in Agricultural and Biological Engineering in 2022. After graduation, Gee plans to continue his professional career at Beck’s Hybrids in Atlanta, Indiana.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.

Writer: Kami Goodwin, kami@purdue.edu

Media contact: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu