Purdue Launching Faculty-in-Residence Program

The tuition and fee recommendations will now go to the Executive Committee for a May 31 public hearing

Purdue University has announced the creation of a program designed to provide mentorship for students. The Amelia Earhart Faculty-in-Residence program, which will begin this fall, aims to "foster personal relationships and intellectual growth."

The program will begin with one available position in the Vawter Hall of Windsor Residential Community. Purdue says the faculty-in-residence will be able to determine how to fulfill their responsibilities. Faculty will be required to make a two-year commitment to the program and will be given a furnished apartment.

"Having a faculty-in-residence is a proven and impactful way to emphasize the reality that learning does not begin and end solely in the classroom," said Jim Pukrop, associate director of Residential Academic Initiatives at Purdue. "A faculty presence in a residential community reinforces, through planned programs and serendipitous encounters, learning and connection as constant and vital processes that benefit individuals and communities as a whole."

The program is named for the famed aviator who served in a faculty-in-residence role at Purdue in the 1930s. The university says, upon being invited to Purdue in 1934, she chose to live among students in the Women’s Residence Hall.

"We wanted to recreate the impact Amelia Earhart had on the women of Windsor through her presence and mentorship," said Carl Krieger, director of residential life. "She embraced the possibilities inherent in the personal connections she could create by residing in a living and learning environment. We know that there are faculty here at Purdue who will want to continue her legacy."