Established in 1981, the Special Boilermaker Award honors a member of the Purdue faculty or staff who has contributed significantly to the improvement of the quality of life or the betterment of the educational experience for a substantial number of Purdue students.
Nominations will be accepted July 1 through August 1. Nominations will not be considered unless accompanied by a one-page description of the nominee’s accomplishments.
Consideration will be given to nominee contributions that meet one or more of the following criteria:
Nominations may be made by any person or group affiliated with Purdue University—students, faculty, staff, or alumni. The award will be chosen by the Special Boilermaker Award selection committee.
Recipients are honored during an on-field award presentation at a Purdue football game, and nameplates are added to a plaque in the Dick and Sandy Dauch Alumni Center as well as the awards obelisk on the Purdue Mall.
Patsy earned a bachelor’s degree in food and nutrition in business from Purdue in 1969, in addition to an MBA in food marketing from Michigan State University in 1970. She retired from Kraft Foods in 2006 after 36 years in corporate food marketing and marketing communications management.
A community volunteer, Patsy serves on the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana Advisory Board and the Purdue College of Health and Human Sciences Dean’s Leadership Council, in addition to the President’s Council Advisory Board. She is a former member of the Health and Human Sciences Alumni Board. Patsy held several offices from 2006 through 2013, including president and treasurer. She serves her community’s Discover Indianapolis Club in Fishers, holding several leadership roles for over 10 years.
Patsy has received several honors, including the Purdue University Nutrition Science Department Hall of Fame recipient in 2009 and the Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences Distinguished Alumni Award in 2016. She also received the college’s Gold and Black Award in 2016, an honor reserved for donors who have moved the college forward by committing exceptional financial resources.
In addition to endowing two scholarships, the Patsy J. Mellott Scholarship and Patsy J. Mellott HHS Scholarship, she established the Patsy J. Mellott Teaching Innovation Award in the College of Health and Human Sciences in 2013. In 2015, she endowed the Patsy J. Mellott Women’s Tennis Coach Performance Award. She is a lead donor in the Christine M. Ladisch Faculty Leadership Award and the Purdue Women’s Network Virginia C. Meredith Scholarship for the College of Health and Human Sciences.