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

Profiles

App is alumna's latest professional turn

App is alumna's latest professional turn

Sima Sistani '01 didn't take a straight line to eventually founding Houseparty

When she was growing up, Sima Sistani’s parents limited her TV time. One of the shows Sistani ’01 relished as a child was the sitcom Perfect Strangers, about a happy-go-lucky immigrant with an unbridled enthusiasm for all things American.

“We did the ‘dance of joy’ a lot,” Sistani says, referring to the silly kicking and chanting routine performed by the show’s lead characters. “I always loved to watch TV and movies, read books, or play games. The storytelling aspect really appealed to me. Because my parents wouldn’t let me watch more than thirty minutes of TV a week, I wanted it so badly. At the same time, Hollywood never felt like a space that was available to me as a first-generation Iranian-American growing up in Alabama who had no connections or ties to that world.”

Ceaseless Fascination

Ceaseless Fascination

Alumna treads an unconventional career path from chemical engineer to patent attorney

When a newspaper reporter asked teenage Janal Kalis (B.S. ’73, B.S. ’79) what she wanted to be when she grew up, Kalis replied, “a scientist or a lawyer.” In time, she would achieve both.

Kalis, now a patent attorney at Schwegman, Lundberg & Woessner in Minneapolis, grew up the eldest of five on a 160-acre family farm in south central Minnesota. The first in her family to graduate from high school, she first enrolled at the U of M as a history major. She received grants, worked part time, and took out student loans to pay for school. For one campus job, she prepared lecture slides for the art history department. “In those days we had huge projectors that heated up like ovens,” she says. “They were tricky to operate. Learning how projectors work was very useful.”

Happy Birthday, Doc

Happy Birthday, Doc

K-State’s oldest living football player turns 100

As a boy, Russell “Doc” Hardin ’46 dreamt of becoming a veterinarian. He never thought he’d have an opportunity to pursue that dream. Raised on a farm north of Knightstown, Indiana, during the Depression, there was a time when the family’s only income came from milking their 20 head of cattle — a chore Hardin started at age 9.

A Timeless Design

A Timeless Design

How Matt Bliss turned a family tradition into Modern Christmas Trees

As a child, Matt Bliss ’98 relished celebrating the holidays at his grandparents’ Broomfield, Colorado, home where the Christmas tree was anything but ordinary. Bliss’s grandfather, Lawrence Stoecker, designed his own tree, an artful cascade of concentric rings that hung from the ceiling.

He crafted the first model from cardboard in 1966 before experimenting with a second version made from Masonite and eventually settling on Plexiglas as the favored material. For five-year-old Bliss, his grandfather’s acrylic tree was a thing of wonder and a hallmark of the Mid-century Modern design aesthetic Bliss would grow to love.

Running the Show

Running the Show

Hustle and grit refine setter Hayley Bush’s standout performance

Moving from a hometown with a population roughly one-third the size of Purdue’s student enrollment required some getting used to for Hayley Bush, a junior in the College of Agriculture. The sense of family and familiarity of the landscape attracted her to West Lafayette.

Major Player

Major Player

Tyler Duncan nabs first PGA Tour title, realizing childhood dream

Tyler Duncan (M’12) swung his first golf club at 6 years old.

“My grandpa built clubs at the local golf course,” says the Columbia,Indiana, native. “He would just cut off a 3-wood, an 8-iron, and a putter, and I would just ride around on the golf cart and hit some shots with my grandparents.”

For Love of Family

For Love of Family

Tight-knit bonds formed among wrestlers leave lifelong impact

Dylan Lydy (HHS’19) came to college to wrestle. The fact that he also fell in love with his major was incidental. As a 21st Century Scholar, Lydy never had to worry about securing scholarship assistance as an undergraduate. The program covers up to four years of tuition. Lydy graduated with a degree in physical education in May. Now, his athletic scholarship is covering a fifth year, which he is using to pursue a master’s in sports and recreational management.

On and Off the Court

On and Off the Court

As a coach, Lindsey Hicks inspires students athletically and academically

Lindsey Hicks (LA’04) had no intention of coaching basketball. She’d just finished up playing professionally overseas for six season after college when she received a phone call that would change her life. The call was from Pam Stackhouse, who was an assistant women’s basketball coach at Purdue while Hicks was on the team.

“She called me on a random Wednesday, 11:00 a.m.,” Hicks says. “She asked me, ‘Lindsey, what are you doing?’ I told her, ‘Nothing. I’m not doing anything.”