Purdue Trustees Approve New Degrees, Building Name

July 20, 2012

News Release

In other business, trustees approved a bachelor's degree program in environmental and ecological engineering for the West Lafayette campus, a bachelor's degree program in technical communication at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and a bachelor's degree program in applied computer science at IUPUI.

No new state funding is being requested for any of the programs and no additional learning resources are necessary. All three programs are scheduled to begin this fall and require approval from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

The goal of the environmental and ecological engineering program is to prepare graduates for employment in those fields or to continue education in an advanced degree program or a related field, Lechtenberg said.

"A distinguishing feature of the program is the interdisciplinary approach and the contributions from faculty across several disciplines of engineering," Lechtenberg said. "Complex modern environmental problems cannot be solved by traditional environmental engineering alone, and require contributions, change in design practices and altered problem-solving approaches across engineering disciplines."

Lechtenberg said the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts employment in environmental engineering will grow much faster than average, with the addition of almost 17,000 jobs by 2018. Growth in employment in the field in Indiana is expected to be equivalent or better than national projections, he said.

The technical communication degree is designed to prepare graduates for entry-level technical communications work or graduate work in technical communication or related fields. It also is geared toward students who want a double major, pursue work in a technical field relevant to technical communication, and people in mid-career who want to upgrade their skills.

Technical communication is a growing, dynamic field as technology becomes more complex and specialized, Lechtenberg said.
Preparing students for jobs in the computer science and information technology field is the objective of the applied computer science program.

Lechtenberg said computer science is one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy in Indiana and the nation. In 2008 and 2010, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development listed computer software engineer as the top job on the "Hot 50 Hoosier Job" list, he said. Two other IT industry positions requiring a bachelor's degree also were on the list.

Source: Purdue University

July 20, 2012

News Release

West Lafayette, Ind. -- Purdue's Board of Trustees on Friday (July 20) approved renaming the general recreation building on the West Lafayette campus the France A. Córdova Recreational Sports Center in honor of the university's most recent president.

The facility is in the final weeks of a $98 million renovation and expansion driven by a student initiative backed by Córdova to undertake the project and establish a student fee to finance it. She also played a key role in students' work on the center's design and features with architects, engineers and Howard Taylor, Purdue's director of recreational sports.

"The Córdova Recreational Sports Center places Purdue once more among the nation's universities with the finest campus recreational facilities," said trustees' chair Keith Krach. "From the cardio and strength options and the climbing wall to the atrium and health resources, it will serve as a campus center to advance student well-being and success."

The original center, which opened in 1957 with 148,700 square feet, was the first university building in the United States created solely to serve students' recreational sports needs. Among several updates through the years, an addition in 1981 added 62,500 square feet. Even so, when Córdova arrived at Purdue in 2007, the facility ranked last in the Big Ten in square feet per student.

The current expansion, for which construction began in spring 2010, will bring the size to about 355,000 square feet. The facility is scheduled to open in the fall semester.

Córdova led the process of making students' desires and design ideas a key part of the project approved by trustees on June 20, 2008. The center is a central part of the campus Student Success Corridor - a concept originated by Córdova - along Third Street. Construction is about to begin on a Center for Student Excellence and Leadership and a residence hall to the east.

"Dr. Córdova stated from the beginning that student success would be one of the hallmarks of her presidency," Krach said. "This center and the manner in which it came about testify to her commitment to that goal. It is highly appropriate for her name to be on the building."
Signage is planned to go above the east and west entrances and on the lawn near the center's southeast and northeast corners.

Many of the large residence halls are within a few blocks of the recreation center to the northeast and south. Immediately west of the Córdova Recreational Sports Center are the Boilermaker Aquatic Center and the Turf Recreation Exercise Center, as well as intramural fields.
"Our goal was to incorporate the students' desires and interests into the building, based on extensive surveying and focus groups, and President Córdova encouraged and enabled this process," Taylor said. "It has been a campus-wide effort with great results."

Source: Purdue University