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

Stories

Office Landscape

Office Landscape

Freehafer Hall, once lauded as example of early open office plan, demolished

Construction crews quietly demolished Freehafer Hall of Administrative Services over the course of several weeks this winter as part of the State Street redevelopment project slated to plot a new roadway through the site. Although it was razed with little fanfare, when it opened its doors in 1970, the administrative services building (as it was then known) was heralded on the cover of Administrative Management magazine as the “Offices of the Year.”

Boilermake

Boilermake

Hackathon challenges students to develop innovative solutions in 36 hours

By 1:00 a.m. on the second night, the gym is tense with energy. At 27 hours in, a scheduled late-night snack pro-vides enough of a boost to drive participants through the final hours of Boilermake 5. The student-run hackathon attracted more than 2,000 applicants this year for about 500 randomly selected spots. Surveying the room, Boilermake cofounder Brittany Vacchiano (S’14) was amazed at how much the event has grown over the past three years.

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.

Aviation Memorial

Aviation Memorial

It’s been nearly 20 years since two aviation technology students and their instructor — all experienced pilots — died in a plane crash at the Purdue Airport, but Tom Carney (T’71, MS A’77, PhD S’84) recalls the morning of September 12, 1997, vividly. Carney was one of two administrators who waited near the crash site for hours until emergency crews were able to remove the fallen aviators from the wreckage on what he calls “the longest and saddest day of my life.”

Railroad Club

Railroad Club

Tucked away in the basement of the Purdue Memorial Union, an entire world is unfolding under the watchful eyes of members of the Purdue Railroad Club (PRRC). Prompted by advances in model train technology, the club tore out a nearly 50-year-old model in 2008 to rebuild the present-day layout. The new track, the third in this location, spans more than 600 square feet in two rooms. Seven years later, there is much work left to be done.

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.”