Molly Gilbert

Director of Student Success Technologies

Molly Gilbert serves as the Director of Student Success Technologies. With over a decade of experience in student services at Purdue University, she is a collaborative and process-oriented leader dedicated to supporting student success.

In her role, Molly oversees BoilerConnect and helps support Smart Plan, along with other campus-wide academic and student success technology platforms. She acts as the primary contact for vendors and Purdue users of these systems, leading the collaborative efforts required for their successful implementation and maintenance. Her responsibilities also include directing the assessment of these technologies' impact and engaging with campus leadership to evaluate and enhance their design.

Prior to her current position, Molly served as an academic advisor and later in academic advising administration. Though she was a Purdue student for four years, she earned a Master of Science in Therapeutic Recreation, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in General Studies from Indiana University.

Outside of work, Molly is married to a Purdue firefighter, and together they have two kids and a dog. She loves spending time outdoors, getting lost in a good book, and volunteering in the Greater Lafayette community. On weekends, you’ll most likely find her cheering on her kids at the soccer field!

Ashlyn Ruff

Senior Program Administrator

Ashlyn Ruff serves as the Senior Program Administrator at Purdue West Lafayette. She works closely with campus partners to enhance advising outcomes through the use of technology and ongoing process improvements.

Ashlyn supports Purdue students by assisting with catalog and degree requirements in collaboration with the Registrar’s Office. She partners with academic departments to clearly communicate degree requirements and optimize student technologies. Ashlyn leads the development and delivery of training sessions on Student Success Technologies for advisors and staff across the West Lafayette campus. In addition, she maintains and troubleshoots BoilerConnect, ensuring effective use of this critical student success platform. Ashlyn also leads the BoilerConnect Advisory Team to guide the platform’s strategic direction and oversees BoilerConnect Department Trainers, providing ongoing updates and training to support their work.

Prior to her current role, Ashlyn spent over ten years in Exploratory Studies at Purdue as a recruiter and advisor. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Media from the University of Indianapolis and a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication from Purdue University.

When she’s not working, Ashlyn loves spending time with her husband and three boys. Come fall, she goes full holiday mode—putting up Halloween decorations in September (yes, really!) and decking the halls for Christmas by November. Her family are big Disney fans, and their favorites include Hocus Pocus, Cars, Hercules, and The Nightmare Before Christmas—because who says holidays can’t be magical all year round?

May Cheng

Senior Program Administrator

May Cheng serves as a Senior Program Administrator and supports Purdue Indianapolis, Purdue Online, and Purdue Polytechnic Statewide as the primary contact for student success technology platforms. She works closely to resolve issues, develop policies, and drive platform adoption. May also provides training and onboarding to the Indianapolis and Online campus partners and assists with implementing BoilerConnect Student to enhance student engagement across campuses.

Prior to her current role, May spent over five years supporting student success and retention in Fort Wayne. She earned a Master of Arts in History from Loyola University Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Indiana University.

May enjoys reading books in a variety of genres (bonus points if it includes teamwork, unlikely alliances, and mysteries), getting deep into new interests, dreaming about traveling, and scrolling through Yelp for new restaurant recommendations!