Features
Kat Braz
The Purdue Herbaria

An insider’s look at a university collection so valuable, the professor who built it once stole it back.

The earliest herbarium—a collection of plant samples preserved for scientific study—dates to 16th-century Italy, when the Bologna physician and botanist Luca Ghini (1490–1556) sought to make plant material available to his students in winter when the plants were dead or dormant.

The specimens were flattened between two pieces of paper to remove moisture. Once dried, they were mounted on paper sheets with notations on the plant’s name, where the plant was gathered, and any distinctive features. The pages were bound into volumes to enable transport from one location to another, thus making plant material from faraway places available indefinitely.

The Purdue Herbaria
Features
Kat Braz
A Window into Westwood Manor

The Stewarts at Westwood

Robert Bruce Stewart (HDR M’68), known as R.B., joined the Purdue University staff as controller in 1925. At that time, Purdue enrolled 3,000 students, the physical plant was worth $3 million, and the endowment totaled $340,000.

Stewart, who went on to become the university’s first vice president and treasurer, is credited by many with influencing the character and growth of Purdue University. He spent 36 years building the university both fiscally and physically.

A Window into Westwood Manor
Profiles
Kat Braz
A Story in Stones

Geochemist Marissa Tremblay ’12 analyzes Antarctic rocks to unravel Earth’s climate chronology and predict the planet’s future environment

A geologic field excursion to Death Valley during spring break her first year at Barnard set Marissa Tremblay ’12 on course to becoming a scientist. She entered college intending to pursue a law degree, but stepping foot on that vast, desolate desert landscape marked with sand dunes ignited a curiosity to uncover the stories in stones.

A Story in Stones
Features
Kat Braz
Call of the Wild

50 Years of Wolf Park

Founded by Purdue ethologist Erich Klinghammer in 1972, Wolf Park began as an experiment to study wolf behavior. The pioneering research conducted there over the past 50 years contributed to a better understanding of the apex predator and facilitated its reintroduction into the wild.

Call of the Wild
Profiles
Kat Braz
Come From Away

Twenty Years After 9/11 Longhorn Reflects on the Unexpected Detour—and the Subsequent Broadway Show—that Altered His Life’s Trajectory

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Kevin Tuerff and his then-partner, also named Kevin, were on an Air France flight bound for New York City. The couple had just wrapped up a European vacation and they were eager to get home. A sudden drop in elevation over the Atlantic Ocean was the first sign that something was amiss. Then came an announcement from the cockpit.

Come From Away

History

The Purdue Herbaria

The Purdue Herbaria

An insider’s look at a university collection so valuable, the professor who built it once stole it back.

The earliest herbarium—a collection of plant samples preserved for scientific study—dates to 16th-century Italy, when the Bologna physician and botanist Luca Ghini (1490–1556) sought to make plant material available to his students in winter when the plants were dead or dormant.

The specimens were flattened between two pieces of paper to remove moisture. Once dried, they were mounted on paper sheets with notations on the plant’s name, where the plant was gathered, and any distinctive features. The pages were bound into volumes to enable transport from one location to another, thus making plant material from faraway places available indefinitely.

Come From Away

Come From Away

Twenty Years After 9/11 Longhorn Reflects on the Unexpected Detour—and the Subsequent Broadway Show—that Altered His Life’s Trajectory

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Kevin Tuerff and his then-partner, also named Kevin, were on an Air France flight bound for New York City. The couple had just wrapped up a European vacation and they were eager to get home. A sudden drop in elevation over the Atlantic Ocean was the first sign that something was amiss. Then came an announcement from the cockpit.

Lt. Bardach Comes Home

Lt. Bardach Comes Home

Remains of soldier killed in Vietnam return to Indiana after 51 years

Ann (Bardach) Vollmar (LA’67) will never forget the cold January day in 1968 when an army captain from Fort Harrison knocked on the door of her family’s Westfield, Indiana, home. Her father was away in New York City for business, and her mother was still at work in downtown Indianapolis. Vollmar was home alone with her younger brother, and the two of them knew the captain’s visit must be related to their oldest brother, 1st Lt. Alan Bardach (M’66), who was fighting in Vietnam.

Summer Party Rages On

Summer Party Rages On

Cary A unit friends celebrate 45th annual reunion

Ask any Cary Quad resident circa 1974, “Who was the biggest jerk who walked the halls?” and you were likely to hear the same answer: Chuck Harville (P’76, DP’89). It was a mantle he didn’t mind. It can be fun to be the instigator. In those days, orientation programs were less structured, and as leader of A unit orientation, it fell to Harville to assimilate the frosh.

Wild Bunch Rides Again

Wild Bunch Rides Again

Facing graduation in December 1981, John White (T’81) made his Tarkington Hall buddies swear that they weren’t going to be like every other group of yahoos who promise to stay in touch, but never actually reunite. And so it was agreed that no matter how far away from campus they may roam, the members of The Wild Bunch (TWB) would return in five years to gather on Tark’s back dock. Things didn’t go exactly as planned.

Pfendler Hall Vault

Pfendler Hall Vault

Agricultural Hall, built in 1901 in the Beaux-arts Neoclassic style, served as the epicenter for agrarian teaching and research at the university for seven decades. It was renamed Entomology Hall in 1969 when the department took up occupancy in the building. When it faced demolition in the 1990s, preservationists vocalized their desire to save the second-oldest building on campus.

Forestry and Natural Resources was a growing department that required more space and also had access to the funds needed to mount the $16 million renovation. The John S. Wright Fund for the Promotion of Forestry in Indiana, established by an 1892 Purdue alum, provided $12 million.

“The vault was part of the original building, and during renovation as much effort as possible was put into retaining the building’s historical appearance, such as the woodwork, tin ceiling, and terrazzo floors,” says Bill Hoover, FNR professor emeritus.

Cary Risk Table

Cary Risk Table

Generations of Cary Quad men will recognize the hand-drawn Risk table that has anchored student gathering spaces since the 1970s. It currently resides in the fourth floor lounge of Cary Southwest. The strategy game released by Parker Brothers in 1959 is one of the best-selling board games of all time. But the identities of the students who created the Cary Risk table are unknown. Dave Brozenick (E’77), whose misspelled name appears on the underside of the table, claims he had nothing to do with it. “I vaguely remember that whoever made it put my name on it and spelled it incorrectly.”