Purdue, Wabash Form Digital Education Partnership

Purdue University and Wabash, formerly Wabash National, have formed an educational partnership that will train employees to implement and lead digital efforts to match pace with the changing industry.

Purdue says Wabash will put select employees through Purdue’s online data science in finance and data storytelling courses, as well as five certificate programs, which include data science, applied data analytics, business analytics, information management and cybersecurity. Wabash intends to pay for tuition, fees and books.

“We understand as a forward thinking organization that this can be powerfully enabled in significant part by digital transformation,” said Dave Teeter, senior director of talent and organizational effectiveness. “It is critical that we enhance our collective organizational understanding of the concepts within this space and utilize them to move our business forward and create additional value for our customers.”

Last year, Purdue and Wabash announced a five-year research and development partnership that applies subjects such as advanced engineering and quantum computing to materials science and electric vehicles.

Amanda Garman, manager of talent, learning and development at Wabash, says the partnership will eventually expand.

“This first cohort of students is a pilot,” Garman said. “We have a small subset of employees utilizing the program now, with the expectation that we grow participation exponentially over the coming years.”

Teeter and Wabash Chief Financial Officer Mike Pettit are part of the first student cohort and are enrolled in Purdue’s data storytelling class.