Category: Black Boilermakers

article | Education

Pearl at Purdue: Marion Blalock offered mentorship, motivation that helped minority engineering students succeed

In three decades leading Purdue’s Minority Engineering Program, Marion Blalock created recruitment, retention and graduation initiatives for underrepresented minority students that were so successful that the MEP became a model for universities across the nation.
Harry ‘Snowy’ Clark and the 1902-03 Purdue track team

article | Education

After missing football team’s disastrous train ride, Harry ‘Snowy’ Clark became an athletic training pioneer at Purdue

Hired as Boilermakers’ first Black athletic trainer in 1900, Clark brought creativity, stability to emerging athletics programs Purdue’s Felix Haas Hall, originally known as Memorial Gymnasium, has 17 steps — one for each person who died in the 1903 train...
Sharita Ware, Indiana’s 2022 choice for Teacher of the Year, poses in her classroom at East Tipp Middle School. (Purdue University photo/Rebecca McElhoe)

article | Education

Carrying the torch: Q&A with Sharita Ware, 2022 Indiana Teacher of the Year

Purdue graduate, engineer and teacher inspires students to show up and be heard  Sharita Ware’s seventh graders at East Tipp Middle School near Lafayette spend their class time designing prosthetic legs for Barbie dolls. Her eighth graders are building and...

podcast | Experience

Podcast Ep. 50: Purdue Celebrates Black History Month

In this episode of “This Is Purdue,” we’re celebrating Black Boilermaker excellence with stories from three Purdue University alumni who have made significant giant leaps.   Amber Johnson (above, PhD computer science ’19), Sydney Simone (BA communication ’19), and Curtis Baylor...

article | Experience

Purdue partners with U.S. Navy to expand opportunities for underrepresented minorities in STEM

A new partnership between Purdue University, the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR), and a consortium of minority-serving institutions is working to grow the number of underrepresented minority researchers in STEM fields. African Americans and Hispanics comprise 32% of the country’s...

article | Experience

The Divine Nine

The fraternities and sororities of the National Pan-Hellenic Council A’manii Brown, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. (Epsilon Gamma Chapter) In discussions at Purdue, when we talk about diversity and inclusion and making sure marginalized communities own a sense of belonging...

article | Experience

Building a Dream Team

Purdue Polytechnic High School football program centers around collaboration, camaraderie Only eight students showed up at the first callout for the Purdue Polytechnic High School  (PPHS) football team. The innovative school was still in its infancy, but head coach Dante...

podcast | Education

Podcast Ep. 42: Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams to Lead Health Equity Initiatives at Purdue

In this episode of “This Is Purdue,” we’re welcoming Dr. Jerome Adams, Purdue University’s first executive director of health equity initiatives and professor of practice in the departments of Pharmacy Practice and Public Health. Dr. Adams, the former Indiana state...

video | Education

Paying for College: Purdue Freshman and Parents Make a Plan

At first, Quentin didn’t know if paying for college would be a possibility for him and his family. He originally planned on joining the military and going to college later so he could save up. But Quentin and his parents...

video

Purdue Names Residence Halls for Parker Sisters: A Documentary

While it feels like distant history to some, it wasn't long ago that university experiences were not integrated. By acknowledging the history of Purdue University, we know the students whose early actions for equity and access to education impacted the...

article | Education

An American legacy with Boilermaker roots

Seeds planted by civil rights trailblazers Winifred and Frieda Parker still growing today, tomorrow During the early stages of the American civil rights movement and well before the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, sisters Winifred and Frieda Parker were...

article | Education

Freshman and parents make college costs game plan

How an Indiana native who originally planned on enlisting before going to college found his path to Purdue Before his junior year of high school, Quentin Betts didn’t know if college might be in the realm of possibilities for him...