Past PURA Award Winners
Recipients of the Arthur G. Hansen Recognition Award
This award recognizes a college, school, department, or division each year that excels in fostering a strong relationship between its retirees and Purdue.
| 2003 - | Cooperative Extension Service | 2014 - | No Award Presented |
| 2004 - | Department of Agronomy | 2015 - | Cooperative Extension |
| 2005 - | Department of Animal Sciences | 2016 - | College of Health and Human Sciences with special recognition to the Office of Student Services |
| 2006 - | School of Aeronautics and Astronautics | 2017 - | Human Resources |
| 2007 - | No Award Presented | 2018 - | Department of Health and Kinesiology |
| 2008 - | Housing and Food Services | 2019 - | Purdue Fire Department |
| 2009 - | Cooperative Extension Service | 2020 - | No award presented |
| 2010 - | No Award Presented | 2021 - | Epsilon Sigma Phi of the College of Agriculture's Cooperative Extension Services |
| 2011 - | No Award Presented | 2022 - | The College of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extensions Services |
| 2012 - | Department of Nutrition Science | 2023 - | |
| 2013 - | Department of Biochemistry |
Recipients of the Betty M. Nelson Special Recognition Award
This award recognizes persons or entities that have greatly improved the lives of Purdue retirees or made outstanding contributions to PURA.
| 2004 - | Harland W. White, the first chair of the President's Advisory Council on Retirement. |
| 2005 - | Ismail Center for Health, Exercise, and Nutrition (Purdue) |
| 2006 - | Department of Human Resource Services |
| 2007 - | Purdue Marketing Communications |
| 2008 - | Office of Special Events, University Development |
| 2009 - | Purdue Federal Credit Union, Bob Falk, President & CEO, and Jackie Hoffman, VP Human Resources & Marketing |
| 2010 - | Roy Johnson for Highest Quality Service to PURA |
| 2011 - | Martha Chiscon for Outstanding Work as Chairperson of PURA's Benefits Committee |
| 2012 - | Katherine "Kate" LaMar, Benefits Customer Service Administrator and insurance liaison for PURA |
| 2013 - | Michele A. Salla, Human Resources employee, for her outstanding services as PURA's advisor |
| 2014 - | Don K. Gentry, Chair of PURA's Health Insurance and Benefits Committee, for his extensive community, PURA and Purdue University services |
| 2015 - | W. Scott Rumble, past president of PURA and pastchair of the PurposefulLiving in Retirement Committee for unending contributions to PURA and Purdue retirees. |
| 2016 - | Jeris Eikenberry, PURA's Piano Man, past long-time chair of the Hospitality Committee, and member of two others for all he has done over the years for PURA. |
| 2017 - | Melinda Bain, past president, for outstanding service to PURA. Among her many accomplishments were chairing the highly acclaimed Big Ten Retirees Association Conference hosted by Purdue in 2017 and not only initiating the PURA Student Scholarship Endowment but raising funds and securing a $50K matching grant for it. |
| 2018 - | Ann Pickett and Sarah Johnson, long-time co-chairs of the annual PURA Kickoff luncheon. |
| 2019 - | Olivia Wood, past president. |
| 2020 - | No award presented. |
| 2021 - | Larry Pherson - Benefits Chair |
| 2022 - | David Caldwell, member of the PURA Annual Spring Conference Committee and Scott Ksander, Chair of the PURA Media Communications Committee were recognized for their outstanding efforts and work with PURA. |
| 2023 - | Karen Lembcke, served over 11 years as a member (and Chair) of our Communications Committee which included overseeing our monthly Newsletter. |