Purdue Notebook

January 28, 2005

Appointments and promotions

– Tim Luzader, director of the Center for Career Opportunities, has been elected president of the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The organization, founded in 1956, is the leading source of information for career services practitioners on college campuses who advise students and alumni in career development and the employment process, and for human resources professionals who recruit and hire college graduates.

– Kimber Nicoletti, special projects coordinator in youth development and agricultural education and minority outreach coordinator for the Communities Against Rape Initiative, has been named director of LaFasa, the Latino faculty/staff association. The organization was founded in 2001 to help develop and communicate the needs of Purdue's Latino faculty and staff.

Faculty and staff honors

– Randy Roberts, professor of history, has been named a distinguished lecturer by the Organization of American Historians. He will speak at colleges and universities for the next five years as a representative of the Organization of American Historians. Roberts also was recently featured in the Ken Burns documentary "Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson." Roberts, who wrote "Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes," served as a contributor on the film about the boxer who dealt with racism in the 1910.

– Ray Kavanaugh, professor and head of the hospitality and tourism management department, was elected to the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation Executive Committee at the organization's January meeting in Sarasota, Fla. In May, Kavanaugh will begin a one-year term as association treasurer. The following year, he will be vice chairman. Kavanaugh will take the board chair position in May 2007. In 2004 the association's membership expanded by 43,000 restaurant locations to a total of 358,000 members.

Student honors

– Christopher Fleenor, of Orleans, Ind., was named the 2004 winner at the National Young Farmer Institute in Orlando, Fla. The topic for the Young Ag Leader category was "How is the agriculture industry going to overcome the challenges the industry will face in the coming years?" Fleenor, a sophomore studying agronomic business and marketing, encouraged farmers and others involved in agriculture to "Think, Plan and Act." He stressed the importance of risk management and realizing what the goals are for an individual's farm, business or career.

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