December 29, 2006

Purdue President Martin C. Jischke made these comments during a Champs Sports Bowl event at the Kennedy Space Center in Orlando, Fla.

Campaign for Purdue hits mark, more yet to come

There is no better way to end 2006 than by spending this evening with the Purdue University family as we prepare for a bowl game. Our ninth bowl in 10 years! That is a record that makes us all proud.

And what better place for us to celebrate than here at the Kennedy Space Center where Purdue people have played such a key role in the history of space exploration. Twenty-two Purdue graduates have been selected as astronauts. This includes Mark Polanski, who just returned from commanding a shuttle mission.

The story of Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong's journey to the moon and back is all around us this evening. Neil inspired Mark to become an astronaut.

Mark was a boy in July of 1969, and his grandparents took him to baseball game in Yankee Stadium. They stopped the game. The booming voice of an announcer told the crowd that Neil and Buzz Aldrin had just landed safely on the moon. Organ music started, and everyone in that stadium stood and sang "God Bless America."

Mark Polanski has never forgotten how he felt that day. And neither have we.

Purdue's history in air and space goes right back to the Wright brothers. Cliff Turpin, a Purdue graduate, helped the Wright brothers redesign their engine and controls. He learned to fly from Orville. He became one of the original Wright Exhibition Flyers, demonstrating flight to the nation. More than 35 percent of all U.S. manned space flights have had Purdue graduate on board.

The next Purdue astronaut scheduled to launch is Andrew Feustel, in 2008. There are now five Purdue graduates listed as active or management astronauts: Mark Polanski, Andrew Feustel, John Casper, Janice Voss and David Wolf.

We have an incredible history.

At the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., several years ago, Neil Armstrong noted that virtually every display in that great building involves a Purdue person in some way.

I know we are here tonight to celebrate our football program, our role in space and to have fun. But allow me just one moment to talk about what has happened at our university.

Six years ago, we set about the business of creating strategic plans. We are now in the final seven months of our plans. We are reaching our goals. We said we would build more than three-quarters of a billion dollars in new facilities. We did it. Since our plans began, we have $786 million worth of new facilities completed, under construction or in the planning stage.

We said we would add new faculty. We did it. To date we have added 251 faculty, and we will reach our goal of 300 by next fall.

We said we would step up efforts to recruit and keep top faculty for our students and state. We did it. When our Campaign for Purdue and strategic plans conclude next June, we will have doubled the number of endowed professorships.

We said we would increase our research program. We did it. We doubled it.

We said we would increase student financial aid and scholarships. We did it. We have increased it 66 percent in six years.

We said we would increase diversity. We did it. Diversity is at record levels. The number of African-Americans in our freshman class this fall is 30.4 percent higher than five years ago.

We said we would increase engagement with our state. We did it. Purdue is now perceived around Indiana and the nation as the leader in university engagement, especially when it comes to education and economic development.

We said we would launch interdisciplinary, cutting-edge research that would impact our state. We did it. Our Discovery Park has grown from an idea six years ago to a $330 million research and learning complex that has changed the culture of our university and opened incredible potentials for our state.

We are receiving record numbers of applications for admissions. We are enrolling the academically best-prepared classes in our history. Study abroad and internships are up.

Our graduation rate at Purdue is at its highest point in history. A Purdue education has never been better. A Purdue diploma has never been worth more. We told people six years ago that we would transform Purdue into an even more world-renowned university.

We did it, and more. You did it. And I want you to know how much you are appreciated. You have helped to make the difference. I appreciate your commitment, hard work and tremendous abilities. It is a joy for me personally to be able to work around people such as you.

One reason for our many successes has been the Campaign for Purdue. When we started all this, we set our goal at $1.3 billion. Frankly, we didn't know for sure if we could make it. It was a challenging goal, as all goals should be. But we put our faith in the people of Purdue. And that was a wise thing to do.

As you know, we passed the $1.3 billion mark. We have raised our goal to an even more challenging level — $1.5 billion.

We have all been working very hard. I have just received the latest Campaign for Purdue numbers from Murray Blackwelder. I am going to announce them publicly for the first time to this group this evening.

With six months, three days a couple hours, minutes and seconds still left in our campaign, we have raised — get ready, Boilermakers. This is the big one.

My friends, we have reached our Campaign for Purdue goal of $1.5 billion!

This is an accomplishment worth celebrating on our bowl trip to Orlando.

You have been a key to this. Do you remember when we announced this campaign in September of 2002?

It seemed an enormous undertaking. It was.

But you have succeeded. And you should be very proud.

The campaign will continue until the end of June. We want to discover just how far we can go. And we still need to raise more money for facilities to meet our objective in that one final area. So this is not a time to rest. It's time to keep moving forward. And it is also a time to celebrate.

Thank you for everything you are doing. You are making a difference in the future of our students and in the life of this university. What we are accomplishing at Purdue today will set a new vision and standard for higher education in the 21st century.

Related news release:
Purdue meets $1.5 billion Campaign for Purdue goal