Purdue to celebrate Homecoming with 3 building dedications, announcements

The university will celebrate completion of its new computer science and biomedical engineering buildings as well as the first radiation therapy veterinary facility in Indiana. Gifts to be announced will help fund a mechanical engineering facility and the new Discovery Learning Center in Discovery Park, while others will support students in aviation technology and liberal arts.

"With only nine months to go, our $1.5 billion Campaign for Purdue has made possible a incredible array of buildings, scholarships and professorships," said Murray Blackwelder, senior vice president for advancement. "To date, our alumni and friends have contributed more than $1.4 billion to help us achieve our strategic plan, and I look forward to June when we celebrate the successful completion of this campaign."

Here is a list of upcoming events, many of which are open to the public:

• Friday, Sept. 15. 11 a.m. — Dedication of the $20 million Richard and Patricia Lawson Computer Science Building, located at the corner of Third and University streets. The new building consolidates the computer science program from five buildings to two. All regular faculty in the Department of Computer Science will have offices in Lawson. It provides meeting rooms and space for 45 faculty, 55 teaching assistants and 70 research assistants and houses four classrooms, five instructional labs and four research labs. The university raised $7 million in private funds from 430 donors to leverage an additional $13 million from the state of Indiana to fund the 100,000-square-foot building.

• Saturday, Sept. 16. 10 a.m. — Two major gifts to Purdue's School of Mechanical Engineering will be announced at the President's Council pregame breakfast in the Purdue Memorial Union ballrooms. Membership and ticket required to attend.

• Monday, Sept. 18. Noon — Purdue and its Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences will hold an invitation-only lunch in the Dauch Alumni Center to honor its founder and his spouse— Max (Mack) and Ruth Steer of West Lafayette — for their contributions to the department, including more than $1 million in gifts.

• Tuesday, Sept. 19. 6:30 p.m. — FedEx Corp., which is donating a recently retired airplane to the Department of Aviation Technology, will turn over the keys to university leaders at the Purdue Airport. Students will use the jet to learn about the mechanics and systems of an aircraft equipped exclusively to carry cargo. The Boeing 727-100, formerly used as a cargo plane, was taken out of service by FedEx in late July. It arrived on campus from the FedEx facilities in Indianapolis on Aug. 1.

• Wednesday, Sept. 20. 6 p.m. — Purdue will dedicate the $2 million Linda and William Fleischhauer Radiation Therapy Facility for the School of Veterinary Medicine. The ceremony will take place adjacent to the entrance of the Small Animal Hospital at Harrison and Marsteller streets. The facility is the only one in Indiana.

• Thursday, Sept. 21. Time to be announced — A groundbreaking will take place and gifts will be announced to the Discovery Learning Center, one of 10 interdisciplinary research centers in the university's Discovery Park. The event will take place at the site of the planned building, which is at Intramural and Nimitz drives. The $10 million building that will house the center is expected to be completed in 2008. With the new building, the Discovery Learning Center will provide laboratories where experts in academia, industry and K-12 education will come together to focus on learning for the future. Collaborations will be formed with other centers in the study of learning aimed at improving instruction and application of new knowledge in the science, technology, engineering and math disciplines and beyond.

• Thursday, Sept. 21. 6:30 p.m. — NBC News journalist Andrea Mitchell will give the keynote address at the Krannert School of Management's sixth annual Leadership Speakers Series in the Purdue Memorial Union. After dinner, the Krannert alumni awards will be presented. The deadline to purchase tickets for this event has passed.

• Thursday, Sept. 21. 7 p.m. — The Homecoming Pep Rally will take place at Slayter Center. The Homecoming king and queen will be crowned to reign over the weekend events. The Purdue "All-American" Marching Band, Spirit Team and Dance Team will perform. Football coach Joe Tiller will make brief remarks.

• Friday, Sept. 22. 10:30 a.m. — Purdue will dedicate a new $25 million biomedical engineering building — the first of its kind in Indiana. The four-story building will serve as the gateway to Purdue's Discovery Park. Research in the new facility will range from the development of nanoscale diagnostic and therapeutic devices that can be implanted in the body to new materials and therapies to repair damaged and diseased body parts. The Indiana General Assembly authorized Purdue to issue bonds to cover $13 million of the building's cost and provided $2.5 million for the 2003-04 fiscal year and $5 million the following fiscal year to develop the new undergraduate program and expand the graduate program. The remaining funds for the building came from private donations, including $5 million from the Whitaker Foundation, an independent foundation based in Arlington, Va. The event will take place in a tent on the south side of the building, which is located on the east side of South Intramural Drive.

• Friday, Sept. 22. 11:30 a.m. — A major gift to support biomedical engineering will be announced, and Leah Jamieson will make her first speech as dean of the College of Engineering at the Engineering Dean's Lunch. The event, also in the tent on the south side of the biomedical engineering building, is open to alumni and friends by invitation only.

• Friday, Sept. 22. 8 p.m. — Boilermaker Night Train Parade will begin on Russell Street, head south, turn west on State Street, turn north on MacArthur Drive, turn east on Third Street, head north to Intramural Drive, then end after turning west on Stadium Avenue. Purdue President Martin C. Jischke is grand marshal. Fireworks will follow.

• Saturday, Sept. 23. 9-11 a.m. — The entire community is invited to enjoy Homecoming on the Purdue Mall, featuring family-friendly activities, food and live entertainment.

Writer: Jeanne V. Norberg, (765) 494-2084, jnorberg@purdue.edu

Source: Murray Blackwelder, (765) 496-2144, mblackwelder@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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