Purdue STEM Teaching Facility

Media Toolkit
 Our Mission
To move Purdue and the world forward in
the fields of science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics.

Since its founding in 1869, Purdue University has strived to be at the

center of making the world a better place. Whether its pushing the
boundaries of exploration, taking giant leaps of innovation that will
improve the way we live, or leaving our footprints on the moon, the
Boilermaker Spirit can be felt throughout the world and beyond.

As students walk the hallowed grounds bearing the name of our

benefactor John Purdue, they continue the legacy of moving the world
forward and sharpening themselves for the challenges of tomorrow; just
as Purdue has been doing for over 150 years.
 The Value of the STEM Teaching Facility

The STEM Teaching Facility will be the first new space of its kind at Purdue in
nearly 50 years, housing labs of the future for the College of Science
Department of Biological Sciences and Department of Chemistry.

The building will welcome all Purdue students — inside and beyond the
College of Science — who take core courses in these areas. When its doors
open in 2020, the STEM facility will also set the stage for novel research and
course designs connecting chemistry and biology.
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.
President of Purdue University

Mitch Daniels currently serves as Purdue’s 12th

President, and brings with him a lifetime’s worth of
managerial experience from multiple sectors and
industries. Daniels was elected as the 49th
Governor of Indiana in 2004 and again in 2008,
where he helped position Indiana as a leader in
global business, research, and fiscal responsibility.
He has also served as President of North American
Pharmaceutical Operations at Eli Lilly & Co., a
senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
under President George W. Bush.

He has won numerous awards, national acclaim for

his budgetary acumen, and has kept a Purdue
education affordable by keeping tuition frozen for
the past seven years.
Patrick J. Wolfe
Frederick L. Hovde Dean of Science and
Miller Family Professor of Statistics and
Computer Science
Professor Wolfe leads the College of Science at
Purdue University and was recently named the 2018
Distinguished Lecturer in Data Science by the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. His
research is focused on the mathematical
foundations of data science.

A past recipient of the Presidential Early Career

Award for Scientists and Engineers from the White
House, he has provided expert advice on
applications of data science to policy, societal and
commercial challenges including to the US and UK
governments and to a range of public and private
bodies.
STEM Teaching
Facility fact sheet
● 110,000 square feet of
student-focused STEM learning space
● $64 million estimated project cost
includes new technology
● Biology and chemistry labs for 4 out
of 5 Purdue students
● Central location northwest of the
Elliott Hall of Music
● A Purdue research collaboration hub
● Construction started in summer 2018
● Doors to open in fall 2020
Press Release Excerpt
Purdue begins plans for landmark new science
teaching lab facility

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 2, 2017

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Science education at Purdue is

poised to take an important step forward with the
announcement of plans to build what would be the first new
facility dedicated to teaching labs constructed on campus in
nearly 50 years.
On the West Lafayette campus, roughly 60 percent of entering
freshmen are pursuing a science, technology, engineering or
mathematics (STEM) degree, and courses in science form part
of the core curriculum for every student on campus. Purdue’s
explosive growth in STEM fields places the university among
the top three in the nation for the number of STEM graduates
produced annually.
Plans for the new building would allow for the first time the
integrated teaching of biological sciences and chemistry,
strengthening links between these departments and within the
College of Science and beyond, for Purdue students in all
majors.
“As a leading STEM university, Purdue must have the
facilities to match the rapidly evolving sciences, and I can’t
emphasize enough the pressing need we have for this. In
fact, it is the single most important project that we are
considering, and waiting isn’t an option,” said Purdue
President Mitch Daniels. “As our economy becomes more
and more STEM-based, Indiana and the nation will need a
growing number of people grounded in STEM disciplines in
order to stay competitive. This new building will play a crucial
role in achieving that goal.”
For more information, visit
https://www.science.purdue.edu/about/STEM-facility.html
Modern Labs
Classrooms
Collaboration
Renderings
Building Q&A
How big will it be?
The STEM Teaching Facility will comprise 110,000 ft2
of student-focused learning space, labs, and a cafe
What was the cost?
Through a private research collaboration, the project
will cost an estimated $64 million, including
state-of-the-art laboratory equipment
What will it be used for?
The building will consist of 39 biology and chemistry
labs which will be used by 80% of Purdue students
Where will it be located
STEM Teaching Facility will have a central location on
campus, northwest of the Elliott Hall of Music
What’s the construction timeline?
Ground broke on the building in the summer of 2018,
and the doors are expected to open in the fall of 2020
Sample News Releases
Excerpts of Purdue University in the news
Purdue announces ongoing tuition freeze, staff
appreciation payment for WL campus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 18, 2019

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University President Mitch

Daniels announced Monday (Feb. 18) that Purdue plans to hold
tuition at 2012 levels for an eighth consecutive year — through
the 2020-21 academic year — and will provide a one-time $500
appreciation payment this spring to all West Lafayette campus
staff who make $75,000 or less and who were employed as of
Dec. 31, 2018. Eighty-three percent of all non-faculty Purdue
associates will receive the one-time payment. In addition,
Affordability measures are producing measurable results. Purdue has
Daniels said the university will offer a 2.5 percent merit raise
seen an increase in student applications and enrollment — Purdue’s
pool for West Lafayette faculty and staff for the fiscal year that
incoming freshman class in fall 2018 was the largest ever at 8,357. And
will begin July 1, the fifth consecutive year for a merit increase.
students and their families are better able to manage the cost of college
Tuition at West Lafayette will remain constant for the eighth year — total student borrowing is down 31 percent since 2011-12, and the
in a row, meaning six graduating classes will have earned their loan default rate three years past graduation for Purdue borrowers who
graduate is 0.8 percent compared with 2.5 percent in 2011.
Purdue degrees without ever having a tuition increase, and
Indiana residents continue to pay less than $10,000 per year in At the same time, Purdue is seeing dramatic increases in fundraising and
tuition. Combined with room and board rates that have been sponsored research, and has invested more than a quarter-billion dollars
held flat or lowered, current students’ total cost of attendance is since fiscal year 2016 for necessary capital projects and priority
lower than in 2012-13. The last time a tuition increase was initiatives.
announced at Purdue was when today’s freshmen were in
elementary school. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2XeRArc
 Purdue: $30M remodeling coming for Union
Club Hotel thanks to former trustee's gift

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 22, 2018

Dave Bangert, Lafayette Journal & Courier

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – As developers signal plans to plant at

least three new hotels near Purdue University, the school
played its hand Saturday, announcing a $30 million donation to
renovate the Union Club Hotel, making it what Purdue promised
would be a world-class feature in the Purdue Memorial Union.
Bruce White, a university trustee from 2011 to 2015 and
founder of White Lodging Services Inc., was among the donors
Purdue President Mitch Daniels was scheduled to announce on
the morning of the campus’ Homecoming game against Boston
College.
“We are excited to work with the White family on this
long-needed modernization of our historic Union,” Daniels said.
“We know our alumni, our future guests and our faculty and
staff will be equally thrilled to see the all new Union Club Hotel
come to life.”
Purdue didn’t lay out a timetable for the project. But plans
include adding a formal restaurant and bar, a “dramatically
changed” entry and atrium, and the conversion of some rooms
into suites.
White, who graduated from Purdue in 1975 with a degree in
management, has his company based in Merrillville. White Lodging has
more than 170 hotels in 21 states.
“I am pleased to be able to put our resources to work for the
renovation of the Union Club Hotel into a first-class facility that the
students, faculty and staff can be proud to call their own,” White said in
a university release.
Purdue built the Union Club Hotel in 1929, five years after the Purdue
Memorial Union opened.
The Union Club Hotel has more rooms, with 192, than any other hotel
or motel in Greater Lafayette, according to records kept by Visit
Lafayette-West Lafayette, the community’s visitor bureau. In a market
with 2,680 rooms, next on that list is Four Points by Sheraton, with 171
rooms in West Lafayette.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/2tEwYLz
Contact
James Crawley III

Director of Public Relations and Communications

Purdue University

crawlej@purdue.edu

765-494-0000