Purdue Notebook

June 3, 2005

Appointments and promotions

– Judith M. Nixon has been named head of Purdue's Humanities, Social Sciences and Education Library, effective July 1. Nixon has served in that position on an interim basis since 2003. She also will continue to serve as management and economics librarian on an interim basis through the end of 2005. Nixon came to Purdue in 1984 as the consumer and family sciences librarian from the University of Arizona, where she served as a reference librarian. She previously held a similar position at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. Nixon earned a master's degree in library science from the University of Iowa and a bachelor's degree in education from Valparaiso University.

Faculty and staff honors

– Leslie A. Geddes, Purdue's Showalter Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Bioengineering, received the Cor Vitae (Heart of Life) Award from the American Heart Association. The award is given annually to an individual for accomplishments and commitment to fighting heart disease and stroke. Geddes developed a heart monitoring system for NASA that has been adopted and is routinely used by the American medical profession to monitor patients. Geddes came to Purdue from Baylor University College of Medicine in 1974 to help the university develop an organized biomedical engineering program and create new technologies in the field.

– Thomas J. Templin, professor and head of the Department of Health and Kinesiology, began his term as president of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education at the group's national meeting in Chicago. The association is a nonprofit professional education that promotes basic knowledge about sport, physical activity and physical education among professionals and the general public. Templin will serve as the national spokesperson for the group as it advocates quality sport, physical activity and physical education programs.

Student honors

Recent Purdue graduate Eric Beckner has won the Barbara Cook Chapter of Mortar Board's annual calendar cover design contest. The design by Beckner, of Greensburg, Ind., will appear on the cover of the 2005-06 Mortar Board calendar. Annual proceeds from calendar sales fund Mortar Board fellowships and several other scholarships, awards and programs. Purdue's chapter of Mortar Board is named after Barbara Cook, who advised the group from 1956 to 1986.

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