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Dear Friends,
In my short time at Purdue, I have been impressed by the depth and volume of accomplishment among our students and members of the faculty and staff. Their achievements reflect positively on them, their departments and schools, and the College itself—but I am even more proud of the ripple effect their scholarly work and engagement has outside the College. Like me, you embrace the longstanding tradition of the liberal arts as a force for good in the world, and the news I highlight here demonstrates new ways that our faculty, students, and alumni continue to build on that legacy.
Three of our students will undertake global research in 2015–2016 with prestigious grants from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. John Fahey, Summer Forester, and Allison Turner will conduct research projects in Poland, Jordan, and Canada, respectively, simultaneously engaging with other scholars and local communities in their host countries.
Fenggang Yang, professor of sociology and director of Purdue’s Center on Religion and Chinese Society, received a $3.5 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to map the religious and spiritual landscape of China and how religions have flourished in its post-Communist era. As Professor Yang notes, it’s important to understand the evolution of faith in the world’s largest country, given the impact of religion on our lives and communities.
Our faculty members also extend their impact on our students with excellent teaching skills, demonstrated by Carol Cunningham-Sigman, professor and chair of the Division of Dance in the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Perfoming Arts. Professor Cunningham-Sigman was recently awarded a 2015 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award in Memory of Charles B. Murphy, the University’s highest undergraduate teaching honor.
CLA alumni and friends from around the country and the globe are also a force for good—as evidenced by how you came out in force on the University’s second Purdue Day of Giving, with 428 gifts totaling $583,454, including online donations from 31 states, the District of Columbia, Kuwait, and Denmark. Our faculty and staff echoed your support, as CLA won the University challenge for most faculty and staff donors.
The actions of our students, staff, faculty, and alumni attest to the level of excellence we can achieve together—and the impact we can have around the world.
Sincerely,
David Reingold
Justin S. Morrill Dean
College of Liberal Arts
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