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Gold Lines

SPEAKERS

SPEAKERS
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SPEAKERS
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Keynote Speakers
Holly Wood

Senior Director, Health Equity Initiatives

Holly Wood serves as senior director for Purdue University’s Health Equity Initiatives, reporting to the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering and serving on Purdue’s Health Equity Initiatives team led by Executive Director Jerome Adams. With the aim of bringing the community voice back to campus and amplifying it nationally through Adams’s framework, she interfaces with faculty to raise interest in health equity projects; coordinates the Purdue Health Equity Council; drives health equity funding applications; gathers and provides the latest health equity data and information to better inform faculty work; and connects individuals across campus whose roles address diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Wood also oversees Purdue’s implementation of Indiana Healthy Opportunities for Everyone (I-HOPE), a $34-million initiative in partnership with the Indiana Department of Health that addresses the effects of health disparities across Indiana. Immediately prior to coming to Purdue, Wood served as a subject-matter expert in mitigating secondary childhood trauma through the implementation of a framework known as Handle With Care, which has been used throughout the U.S. to provide a feedback loop between first responders and school systems in order to give children grace during their school day, especially when they have been at the scene of a potentially traumatic event. Alongside her employment at Purdue, Wood stays engaged with state and local partners to continue to develop trauma-informed, resilience-focused strategies in Indiana communities.

Wood graduated from Indiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in criminology. She is a doctoral student in public health at Purdue after transferring in as a third-year graduate student in guidance and psychological services with a specialization in school psychology.
Kara Duncan Weatherman

(DP’94)

Professor, Pharmacy Practice
Director, Nuclear Pharmacy Programs

Kara Weatherman is a professor of pharmacy practice and director of Nuclear Pharmacy Programs with the Purdue University College of Pharmacy. She received her PharmD degree from Purdue, along with authorized user training for the handling of radioactive materials. After practicing as a nuclear pharmacist in both independent and commercial settings, Weatherman returned to Purdue to assume an academic role in Purdue’s Nuclear Pharmacy Programs.
As director of these programs, she is responsible for didactic and lab-based instruction in the nuclear pharmacy curriculum offered within the Doctor of Pharmacy degree program. Weatherman also coordinates the post-graduate Nuclear Pharmacy Certificate Program and a nuclear pharmacy continuing education program approved by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties.

Weatherman has authored numerous publications, including the Radiopharmaceuticals in Nuclear Pharmacy and Nuclear Medicine textbook, several book chapters, and continuing education programs, and has presented at various national and international venues. She is also director of the Purdue University Nuclear Pharmacy Continuing Education Program for recertification continuing education for board-certified nuclear pharmacists.
Libby Richards

(PHD HHS’12)

Professor and Director, PhD in Nursing Program

Libby Richards is a professor and director of the PhD in Nursing program at Purdue University. She is also a faculty associate for the Center on Aging and the Life Course and a faculty partner for the Center for Families. Her research examines the importance of social support for increasing and maintaining physical activity. She has received research funding through sources such as Purdue’s Centers for Families, Cooperative Extension, the National Institutes of Health, Indiana CTSI, and the American Nurses Foundation.
As a public health nurse, Richards widely disseminates health education about the importance of vaccinations, flu prevention, and physical activity promotion. She has reached audiences through such sources as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CNN, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune. Her online presence has wide public reach, with articles regarding the importance of vaccination and physical activity promotion in the Conversation, surpassing 2 million readers.

She has served in several leadership positions in the field of public health, including as a past board member for the Indiana Public Health Association and past chair of the Physical Activity Section of the American Public Health Association. She is the current chair for the aging research interest group of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Richards received her PhD in public health promotion from Purdue (health and kinesiology), her master’s degree in community health nursing from Indiana University, and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Sanjeev Narayanan

Department Head, Comparative Pathobiology
Professor, Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology

Sanjeev Narayanan is a professor and head of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology at Purdue University and serves as the interim associate dean for research in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Narayanan is a board-certified veterinary microbiologist and veterinary pathologist with 25 years of experience in infectious disease diagnostics and research. He has studied multidrug-resistant bacterial and fungal pathogens from animal and human sources and has headed several animal and public health grants and forums.

Narayanan’s current research is focused on developing and testing new antimicrobial drugs for their effectiveness against nosocomial infections such as Clostridioides difficile and Candida albicans. He also studies the role of environmental contaminants in the development of antimicrobial resistance.
Laura Murray-Kolb

Professor and Head, Department of Nutrition Science

Laura Murray-Kolb is a professor and head of the Department of Nutrition Science at Purdue University. She started her faculty career at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she continues to hold an adjunct faculty appointment, and then moved to Penn State, where she rose through the ranks from assistant to associate professor and served in the roles of graduate program director and interim head, before moving to Purdue in 2021.
Murray-Kolb’s research integrates her training in nutrition, child development, and cognitive psychology to study the neurophysiological and neuropsychological consequences of micronutrient deficiencies. Her work focuses primarily on iron deficiency in young mothers and their children, and she conducts many of her studies in low- and middle-income countries. Murray-Kolb has received numerous awards, including several from the American Society for Nutrition, one in recognition of her substantial body of independent research with relevance to improving child health, and another for her innovative work in advancing the field of global nutrition. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in global nutrition, public health, nutritional epidemiology, micronutrient metabolism, and nutritional pathophysiology, and has received multiple teaching awards. Additionally, she has served on the editorial board of The Journal of Nutrition for over a decade and sits on multiple taskforces and working groups aimed at better understanding the effects of micronutrient deficiencies on brain development.

This year, Murray-Kolb is chair of the Academic Nutrition Departments and Programs, an organization composed of heads of nutrition science programs throughout the United States. She was also recently elected to the board of directors for the American Society for Nutrition. Murray-Kolb earned her MS (1998) and PhD (2003) in nutritional sciences from Penn State, and completed a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship in psychology and human development.
Kyle Hultgren

(DP’06)

Clinical Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Practice
Director, Center for Medication Safety Advancement

Kyle Hultgren is a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice in Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy. His current research includes extensive work on dashboards and measurement systems for the evaluation and improvement of medication-use systems as well as the integration of publicly available social-media data as potential surveillance signals. As a result of this work, he guided the creation of SafeRx, a large, curated relational database containing millions of adverse drug events gathered using artificial intelligence tools.
Hultgren is responsible for the creation and dissemination of innovative online education programming for medical professionals targeted at expanding professional competency using nontraditional methods. In addition to his research, he has worked extensively to bring new safety concepts to medical professionals and holds three patents on medical devices designed to improve patient safety.

Hultgren founded a two-year post-PharmD fellowship in medication safety and regulatory affairs, a program that has now graduated 10 fellows. He lectures nationally and internationally on safe medication-use practices and received the College of Pharmacy’s Dr. Aziz Teaching Award in 2015.
Kenitra Hendrix

Director, Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory
Section Head, Bacteriology and Mycology
Clinical Associate Professor, Veterinary Diagnostic Microbiology

Kenitra Hendrix is a board-certified veterinary clinical microbiologist with over 15 years of experience in state diagnostic laboratories. She earned her DVM from Auburn University and her PhD from Washington State University, and she is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists. She currently serves as director of Indiana’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) at Purdue University.
Hendrix teaches microbiology in the doctor of veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing programs with a focus on diagnostic strategies and antimicrobial stewardship. Her research focuses primarily on understanding and controlling antimicrobial resistance, hospital infection-control best practices, and improving diagnostic protocols. Additionally, she has collaborated on clinical case reports and investigations of antimicrobial therapies.

Hendrix has established multiple collaborations with Purdue University Veterinary Hospital clinicians and their graduate students, in addition to scientists in other departments, at other institutions, and in federal government programs. She enjoys sharing knowledge that has practical application to practicing clinicians. Hendrix has served as chair of Purdue’s Antimicrobial Resistance Conference since its debut in 2023 and initiated the ADDL track at the Purdue Veterinary Conference in 2022.
Kei Hui

First Lady, Purdue University
Practicing Physician
Physician Advisor in Internal Medicine
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Indiana School of Medicine—West Lafayette

Kei Hui is excited and honored to serve as the First Lady of Purdue University. In her role as First Lady, she hopes to function as a catalyst for new Purdue families to integrate and thrive in a beautiful and rapidly growing community.
Hui completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital system in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was the program’s chief resident. Board-certified in internal medicine, she has been practicing as an academic hospitalist and internist since 2012, while mentoring and teaching medical residents at various programs. A naturalized citizen of the U.S., she has been proud to serve her communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Indiana.

At Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Princeton, New Jersey, she was the section chief of hospitalists. She then worked at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, where she was the advocate and director for residency patient safety and led quality improvement curriculum for the morbidity and mortality conference.

She also has a master’s in population health management from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of Hospitalist Medicine. She currently holds the role of physician advisor for several health care institutes.

Hui’s passions revolve around promoting children’s general well-being and practical learning. She volunteers at her children’s schools whenever time allows and hopes to bolster the community’s before- and after-school programs. She is also deeply interested in health promotion and preventive care at the community level. She looks forward to collaborating with the many organizations in her areas of shared interest.
Mung Chiang

President, Purdue University
Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mung Chiang is the 13th president of Purdue University and the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He was previously the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and executive vice president for strategic initiatives at Purdue University, as well as the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University.
Chiang founded the Princeton EDGE Lab in 2009 and then founded several startup companies and industry consortia in edge computing. As the science and technology adviser to the U.S. secretary of state in 2020, he initiated tech diplomacy programs for the U.S. government. Currently he serves on the inaugural board of the U.S. Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation and several corporate and nonprofit boards.

Chiang received his BS (1999), MS (2000), and PhD (2003) from Stanford University and an honorary doctorate (2024) from Dartmouth College. For his research in communication networks, he received the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award (2013), as well as the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award (2012), the IEEE INFOCOM Achievement Award (2022), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class of Mathematical and Physical Sciences 2024), the National Academy of Inventors (2020), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (2020).

Additional Speakers

Mung Chiang

President, Purdue University
Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mung Chiang is the 13th president of Purdue University and the Roscoe H. George Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He was previously the John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering and executive vice president for strategic initiatives at Purdue University, as well as the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University.
Chiang founded the Princeton EDGE Lab in 2009 and then founded several startup companies and industry consortia in edge computing. As the science and technology adviser to the U.S. secretary of state in 2020, he initiated tech diplomacy programs for the U.S. government. Currently he serves on the inaugural board of the U.S. Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation and several corporate and nonprofit boards.

Chiang received his BS (1999), MS (2000), and PhD (2003) from Stanford University and an honorary doctorate (2024) from Dartmouth College. For his research in communication networks, he received the NSF Alan T. Waterman Award (2013), as well as the IEEE Kiyo Tomiyasu Award (2012), the IEEE INFOCOM Achievement Award (2022), and a Guggenheim Fellowship (2014). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Class of Mathematical and Physical Sciences 2024), the National Academy of Inventors (2020), and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (2020).
Kei Hui

First Lady, Purdue University
Practicing Physician
Physician Advisor in Internal Medicine
Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor, Indiana School of Medicine—West Lafayette

Kei Hui is excited and honored to serve as the First Lady of Purdue University. In her role as First Lady, she hopes to function as a catalyst for new Purdue families to integrate and thrive in a beautiful and rapidly growing community.
Hui completed her internal medicine residency at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital system in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she was the program’s chief resident. Board-certified in internal medicine, she has been practicing as an academic hospitalist and internist since 2012, while mentoring and teaching medical residents at various programs. A naturalized citizen of the U.S., she has been proud to serve her communities in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Indiana.

At Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center in Princeton, New Jersey, she was the section chief of hospitalists. She then worked at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, where she was the advocate and director for residency patient safety and led quality improvement curriculum for the morbidity and mortality conference.

She also has a master’s in population health management from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and a fellow of Hospitalist Medicine. She currently holds the role of physician advisor for several health care institutes.

Hui’s passions revolve around promoting children’s general well-being and practical learning. She volunteers at her children’s schools whenever time allows and hopes to bolster the community’s before- and after-school programs. She is also deeply interested in health promotion and preventive care at the community level. She looks forward to collaborating with the many organizations in her areas of shared interest.
Kenitra Hendrix

Director, Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory
Section Head, Bacteriology and Mycology
Clinical Associate Professor, Veterinary Diagnostic Microbiology

Kenitra Hendrix is a board-certified veterinary clinical microbiologist with over 15 years of experience in state diagnostic laboratories. She earned her DVM from Auburn University and her PhD from Washington State University, and she is a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists. She currently serves as director of Indiana’s Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL) at Purdue University.
Hendrix teaches microbiology in the doctor of veterinary medicine and veterinary nursing programs with a focus on diagnostic strategies and antimicrobial stewardship. Her research focuses primarily on understanding and controlling antimicrobial resistance, hospital infection-control best practices, and improving diagnostic protocols. Additionally, she has collaborated on clinical case reports and investigations of antimicrobial therapies.

Hendrix has established multiple collaborations with Purdue University Veterinary Hospital clinicians and their graduate students, in addition to scientists in other departments, at other institutions, and in federal government programs. She enjoys sharing knowledge that has practical application to practicing clinicians. Hendrix has served as chair of Purdue’s Antimicrobial Resistance Conference since its debut in 2023 and initiated the ADDL track at the Purdue Veterinary Conference in 2022.
Kyle Hultgren

(DP’06)

Clinical Assistant Professor, Pharmacy Practice
Director, Center for Medication Safety Advancement

Kyle Hultgren is a clinical assistant professor of pharmacy practice in Purdue University’s College of Pharmacy. His current research includes extensive work on dashboards and measurement systems for the evaluation and improvement of medication-use systems as well as the integration of publicly available social-media data as potential surveillance signals. As a result of this work, he guided the creation of SafeRx, a large, curated relational database containing millions of adverse drug events gathered using artificial intelligence tools.
Hultgren is responsible for the creation and dissemination of innovative online education programming for medical professionals targeted at expanding professional competency using nontraditional methods. In addition to his research, he has worked extensively to bring new safety concepts to medical professionals and holds three patents on medical devices designed to improve patient safety.

Hultgren founded a two-year post-PharmD fellowship in medication safety and regulatory affairs, a program that has now graduated 10 fellows. He lectures nationally and internationally on safe medication-use practices and received the College of Pharmacy’s Dr. Aziz Teaching Award in 2015.
Laura Murray-Kolb

Professor and Head, Department of Nutrition Science

Laura Murray-Kolb is a professor and head of the Department of Nutrition Science at Purdue University. She started her faculty career at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she continues to hold an adjunct faculty appointment, and then moved to Penn State, where she rose through the ranks from assistant to associate professor and served in the roles of graduate program director and interim head, before moving to Purdue in 2021.
Murray-Kolb’s research integrates her training in nutrition, child development, and cognitive psychology to study the neurophysiological and neuropsychological consequences of micronutrient deficiencies. Her work focuses primarily on iron deficiency in young mothers and their children, and she conducts many of her studies in low- and middle-income countries. Murray-Kolb has received numerous awards, including several from the American Society for Nutrition, one in recognition of her substantial body of independent research with relevance to improving child health, and another for her innovative work in advancing the field of global nutrition. She has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in global nutrition, public health, nutritional epidemiology, micronutrient metabolism, and nutritional pathophysiology, and has received multiple teaching awards. Additionally, she has served on the editorial board of The Journal of Nutrition for over a decade and sits on multiple taskforces and working groups aimed at better understanding the effects of micronutrient deficiencies on brain development.

This year, Murray-Kolb is chair of the Academic Nutrition Departments and Programs, an organization composed of heads of nutrition science programs throughout the United States. She was also recently elected to the board of directors for the American Society for Nutrition. Murray-Kolb earned her MS (1998) and PhD (2003) in nutritional sciences from Penn State, and completed a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellowship in psychology and human development.
Sanjeev Narayanan

Department Head, Comparative Pathobiology
Professor, Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology

Sanjeev Narayanan is a professor and head of the Department of Comparative Pathobiology at Purdue University and serves as the interim associate dean for research in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Narayanan is a board-certified veterinary microbiologist and veterinary pathologist with 25 years of experience in infectious disease diagnostics and research. He has studied multidrug-resistant bacterial and fungal pathogens from animal and human sources and has headed several animal and public health grants and forums.

Narayanan’s current research is focused on developing and testing new antimicrobial drugs for their effectiveness against nosocomial infections such as Clostridioides difficile and Candida albicans. He also studies the role of environmental contaminants in the development of antimicrobial resistance.
Libby Richards

(PHD HHS’12)

Professor and Director, PhD in Nursing Program

Libby Richards is a professor and director of the PhD in Nursing program at Purdue University. She is also a faculty associate for the Center on Aging and the Life Course and a faculty partner for the Center for Families. Her research examines the importance of social support for increasing and maintaining physical activity. She has received research funding through sources such as Purdue’s Centers for Families, Cooperative Extension, the National Institutes of Health, Indiana CTSI, and the American Nurses Foundation.
As a public health nurse, Richards widely disseminates health education about the importance of vaccinations, flu prevention, and physical activity promotion. She has reached audiences through such sources as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, CNN, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune. Her online presence has wide public reach, with articles regarding the importance of vaccination and physical activity promotion in the Conversation, surpassing 2 million readers.

She has served in several leadership positions in the field of public health, including as a past board member for the Indiana Public Health Association and past chair of the Physical Activity Section of the American Public Health Association. She is the current chair for the aging research interest group of the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Richards received her PhD in public health promotion from Purdue (health and kinesiology), her master’s degree in community health nursing from Indiana University, and her bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Kara Duncan Weatherman

(DP’94)

Professor, Pharmacy Practice
Director, Nuclear Pharmacy Programs

Kara Weatherman is a professor of pharmacy practice and director of Nuclear Pharmacy Programs with the Purdue University College of Pharmacy. She received her PharmD degree from Purdue, along with authorized user training for the handling of radioactive materials. After practicing as a nuclear pharmacist in both independent and commercial settings, Weatherman returned to Purdue to assume an academic role in Purdue’s Nuclear Pharmacy Programs.
As director of these programs, she is responsible for didactic and lab-based instruction in the nuclear pharmacy curriculum offered within the Doctor of Pharmacy degree program. Weatherman also coordinates the post-graduate Nuclear Pharmacy Certificate Program and a nuclear pharmacy continuing education program approved by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties.

Weatherman has authored numerous publications, including the Radiopharmaceuticals in Nuclear Pharmacy and Nuclear Medicine textbook, several book chapters, and continuing education programs, and has presented at various national and international venues. She is also director of the Purdue University Nuclear Pharmacy Continuing Education Program for recertification continuing education for board-certified nuclear pharmacists.
Holly Wood

Senior Director, Health Equity Initiatives

Holly Wood serves as senior director for Purdue University’s Health Equity Initiatives, reporting to the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering and serving on Purdue’s Health Equity Initiatives team led by Executive Director Jerome Adams. With the aim of bringing the community voice back to campus and amplifying it nationally through Adams’s framework, she interfaces with faculty to raise interest in health equity projects; coordinates the Purdue Health Equity Council; drives health equity funding applications; gathers and provides the latest health equity data and information to better inform faculty work; and connects individuals across campus whose roles address diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Wood also oversees Purdue’s implementation of Indiana Healthy Opportunities for Everyone (I-HOPE), a $34-million initiative in partnership with the Indiana Department of Health that addresses the effects of health disparities across Indiana. Immediately prior to coming to Purdue, Wood served as a subject-matter expert in mitigating secondary childhood trauma through the implementation of a framework known as Handle With Care, which has been used throughout the U.S. to provide a feedback loop between first responders and school systems in order to give children grace during their school day, especially when they have been at the scene of a potentially traumatic event. Alongside her employment at Purdue, Wood stays engaged with state and local partners to continue to develop trauma-informed, resilience-focused strategies in Indiana communities.

Wood graduated from Indiana State University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in criminology. She is a doctoral student in public health at Purdue after transferring in as a third-year graduate student in guidance and psychological services with a specialization in school psychology.
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Keagan’s story

I’m walking with Grandparents University tour group near the steps of Hovde Hall. It’s a Thursday morning in July, and the only students around are between the ages of 7 and 14. I catch a snippet of a conversation between a grandmother and her grandson as she details the pranks she pulled with her friends around this area.

I smile because just a few months ago I was doing the same thing.

Grandparents University (GPU) is a two-day event where grandparents and their grandchildren embrace Purdue and all it has to offer.

Participants choose a specific major to study and attend a class taught by Boilermaker experts. The majors aren’t exactly like the ones we have here at Purdue, but they do get to do cool activities like creating hot sauce, designing monsters, flying drones, and cooking in a Purdue kitchen. It’s a great opportunity to see wisdom and curiosity combined in the classroom, as grandparents and their grandchildren collaborate on these projects. They’re equally willing to learn from the instructors —and from each other—while creating lasting memories.

They might not know it yet, but this Purdue experience at such a young age will help with their college decision in a few years.

My mother started working at Purdue when she was pregnant with me, so I’ve been familiar with the university my whole life. Many of my childhood memories are associated with different parts of campus, and these memories played a big part in my decision to attend Purdue. I was going to a place that I knew—a place I already considered a home away from home. In the same way, when these children make their college decisions, they will already have built connections with Purdue through Grandparents University.

It will also help they already have a Purdue degree!

At the end of GPU, the kids graduate just like regular students by walking across the stage of Elliott Hall of Music. They even have their own caps to decorate and keep—which is great because robe rentals would be a nightmare.

I had been to nine commencement ceremonies before my own in May, so I’m well-versed in Purdue graduations. Nevertheless, it was still fun to watch this one.

These children had learned so much more than what was taught in their major. They learned more about their grandparents and strengthened their connection with them. They learned about the university and what’s in store for them when they (hopefully) become Boilermakers. And at the Block Party, they befriended students they had never met before and hung out on Memorial Mall—just like regular college students.

It was almost exactly what I experienced throughout my college career. Yes, I got my degree and now  have a job as was intended on this life path. But I also made lifelong friendships and went outside my comfort zone in ways that helped me grow as an individual.

Purdue shaped me and continues to shape me. I credit a lot of my growth as a person and a professional to my college career here, and a lot of what I know to the professors and instructors I had throughout my education.

Through Grandparents University, you have the opportunity to provide the same transformative experience for future Boilermakers. You can be the Purdue instructor that inspires a path that lasts a lifetime.

Patsy J. Mellott

BS College of Health and Human Sciences, 1969
Fishers, IN

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.