WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Styles from the mid-80s have not only gone out, but come back and gone out again, so Purdue University thinks it might be time to assess how sports mascot Purdue Pete could be made-over and updated for the 21st century.

Although Pete is scheduled for an extreme makeover, traditionalists need not fret. Purdue has no plans to modify or change the Boilermaker Special.

“Purdue Pete has undergone numerous changes in his history, and it’s been at least 25 years since Pete has been updated, so we are exploring how we can improve the mascot’s look,” said Morgan Burke, director of Intercollegiate Athletics. “We are studying the matter, and a new design has not been selected yet.”

Retired versions of Purdue Pete, as well as other Purdue images such as the Boilermaker Special, are preserved through a university program that stores and licenses vintage university logos. The program, called The Vault, is operated through Collegiate Licensing Co. and works with 180 universities.

“The Vault program is very popular, especially now because there is a rebirth in vintage and antique designs,” Burke said. “If there is a lot of alumni interest in an older image, then a retailer can work through Collegiate Licensing Co. on our behalf and other manufacturers to produce appealing merchandise. The current version of Purdue Pete will continue to be available on select merchandise.”

Purdue plans to redesign the mascot with student input and unveil the new look later this year. This will be the mascot’s sixth makeover. Funds for the redesign will come from the operations budget of the Office of Trademarks and Licensing. These funds are self-sustaining and involve no state tax dollars or student fees.

No redesigns are planned for Purdue’s official mascot, which is the Boilermaker Special, a replica of a Victorian-era locomotive.

Pete got his start in 1940 as an advertising icon for the University Bookstore, and he continues in that role. He then appeared in other places in 1944, when editors of the Debris yearbook put an adapted Pete on each page. Purdue Pete debuted on the football field in 1956 with a papier-mâché head and a bit of padding. Today, Pete’s head is crafted from composite materials such as glass fibers and resin in an aviation technology lab. In addition to the head, the four students who portray Pete wear shoulder pads and carry a hammer.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University has converted $81.75 million in outstanding student fee bonds from variable-rate to fixed-rate debt, saving Indiana $4.6 million.

Purdue’s financing team was able to convert the debt to a historically low long-term fixed rate of 3.47 percent, said James Almond, senior vice president for business services and assistant treasurer.

Purdue issues bonds for academic, athletic and residence hall facilities. The state of Indiana provides Purdue an appropriation to offset the cost of debt for academic facilities that the state financially supports. The savings on the actual debt service relative to the appropriation goes to the state.

“The state appreciates Purdue’s efforts to return appropriations because of debt service savings,” said Christopher Ruhl, state budget director. “Realizing the savings at this time is extremely beneficial given the current fiscal environment.”

In the 1980s, Purdue was the first university to issue variable-rate bonds, which are reset every seven days at a short-term interest rate. This financing strategy has saved millions of dollars over the years, Almond said. In fact, during fiscal years 2007-08 and 2008-09, Purdue returned $7.2 million to the state through the use of variable-rate debt financing.

“Through the active management of the debt program, the state has benefitted from low short-term rates in recent years. This refinancing secures a very attractive low long-term fixed rate,” Almond said.

“A patient and thoughtful approach over the years has enabled the university to lower its cost of financing.”

With the $4.6 million in savings for fiscal years 2009-10 and 2010-11, the total Purdue will return to the state for the fiscal years going back to 2007-08 is $11.8 million.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Around 20 students from Noblesville’s Guerin Catholic High School received more than a history lesson Thursday (Feb. 4) when they visited Purdue’s Hicks Undergraduate Library.

Purdue students, from left, Britney Young, Wesley Fleming, Lauren Seid and Osamudiamen Evbuomwan-Owa check out the C-SPAN exhibit 'American Presidents: Life Portraits' in the Hicks Undergraduate Library. The exhibit, which features oil portraits of all U.S. presidents, historic newspaper front pages and audio speeches from the last 17 presidents, is on display through Feb. 21. (Purdue University photo/Mark Simons)

In touring C-SPAN’s exhibit “American Presidents: Life Portraits,” the students were able to combine history with art and literature.

“It was just a different experience for our students to get information instead of the regular classroom,” said Meaghan Neman, teacher of the Guerin Catholic group of juniors. “Our students are pretty artistic, and art is something we tend to overlook in history. I thought it was very well done. Our students enjoyed it.”

The exhibit features the only complete collection of American presidential oil portraits by one artist, North Carolina painter and sculptor Chas Fagan, who happens to have another connection to Purdue. He sculpted the statue of Neil Armstrong that sits in front of university’s Armstrong Hall of Engineering, which was dedicated in October 2007.

Additionally, the exhibit includes photographs contributed by the White House Historical Association that capture each president’s time in the White House, historic newspaper front pages declaring presidential election results and audio speeches from each president dating back to 26th president Theodore Roosevelt.

“People seem to be enjoying the art and history,” said Dawn Stahura, a library assistant who organized the exhibit for Purdue. “It’s often older people who come over to see it, and students are already here in the library and many of them stop to look at it.”

Richard Blanton, a Purdue professor of anthropology, is glad he toured the exhibit.

“It’s beautiful – very interesting,” he said. “I liked the chronological layout, and I was interested in how the presidents are portrayed. The newspaper reporting was a very good idea. Overall, it’s a nice, brief summary of U.S. presidents. It’s not too long, and it’s readable. It’s visual and very attractive. My wife wants to see it, so we’ll probably go back.”

Guerin Catholic’s students took their visit a step further than simply viewing the exhibit. Each class member picked a president to analyze, and the group went into the iLab, a laptop-equipped instructions space within the library, to write papers.

“They analyzed the artwork for such things as hairstyle and clothing and the literature for what was going on at the time that might have affected their portrait,” Neman said.

The exhibit has traveled to many presidential homes and libraries and was on display in the nation’s capital during the 2009 presidential inauguration.

The exhibit will remain at Purdue through Feb. 21. Hicks Undergraduate Library hours are 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. Sundays.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University is seeking comments from the public in preparation for a comprehensive evaluation by a team representing The Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

The evaluation team will visit Purdue’s West Lafayette campus March 22-24 and will review the university’s ongoing ability to meet the commission’s criteria for accreditation.

Purdue has been accredited continually by the commission since 1913.

The public is invited to submit comments regarding Purdue University to: Public Comment on Purdue University; The Higher Learning Commission; 30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2400; Chicago IL 60602. Third party comments may also be submitted online via the Higher Learning Commission’s Web site.

Comments must address substantive matters related to the quality of the institution or its academic programs. Comments must be in writing and signed and must be received by Feb. 19. Comments should include the name, address and telephone number of the person providing the comments. Comments will not be treated as confidential. Those wishing to file comments are urged to download and read the document describing the third party commenting process from the Higher Learning Commission’s Web site.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue has determined that Nike did not breach its licensing agreement with the university when Honduran workers failed to receive full severance pay after their factory closed last January. However, the university has raised concerns about Nike’s data reporting.

The issue was brought to the university’s attention by its watchdog group, the Worker Rights Consortium, and by students who are members of the Purdue Organization for Labor Equality. Nike has said that the factories, run by subcontractors, had not been producing Nike collegiate apparel at the time the plants closed, despite its own data that appeared to indicate otherwise. Nike said its reports had been in error.

“We do not see a code of conduct violation by Nike. However, we are concerned about the accuracy of Nike’s reporting …” James Almond, senior vice president for business services, wrote in a letter to POLE that was released Monday (Jan. 11).

Because of those concerns, he has asked Nike to update the university by March 1 concerning specific steps being taken “to improve the management of factory data and data from licensed partners.”

In a letter to Nike, Almond noted that “failure to effectively remediate (the data reporting system) could lead to code of conduct violation.” The letter also noted that the company’s “continued involvement in attempting to find a solution (to the severance pay issue) creates the best chance for a meaningful resolution.”

The Worker Rights Consortium has acknowledged that it is debatable whether Nike is obligated to pay workers.

“The primary responsibility for payment resides with the factory,” Almond said. “Since the bankrupt factory can’t pay, the factory’s customers were asked to pay. The customers, New Holland/H.B. Sports and Liberty, have paid their bills to the factory, but they have not been able to assume the factory’s responsibility for the severance pay. Because Nike has ordered product through Liberty and New Holland, Nike then was asked to help.”

WRC asked Nike leaders “to do whatever they reasonably can to compel the contractors and suppliers to correct code of conduct violations … (and press) its direct suppliers to remediate the violations that have been committed.”

Nike reports that it has made numerous attempts to bring about resolution.

In addition to the WRC, Purdue also belongs to the Fair Labor Association, another watchdog group. The FLA has taken no position in the matter.

Purdue grants licenses to manufacturers of logo-bearing merchandise under a standard licensing agreement that requires licensees to pay royalties based on the wholesale price of the goods. Purdue’s projected total revenue from all vendors is just under $1 million this fiscal year. All revenue beyond administrative costs is divided between Purdue athletic scholarships and the general scholarship fund.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University’s College of Science is inviting parents and children to learn about computer science together through the “Are You Smarter than Your Fifth Grader?” program.

The program, a series of four workshops, offers programming and graphic design activities for students in grades four through six and their parents or guardians. Parent and student pairs will create their own digital world to tell a story and will work with robotics using the ALICE 3D graphic design program and PicoCricket design studio. Participants will be able to keep their PicoCricket Design Kit, valued at $250.

The workshops are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan.9, Jan. 23, Feb. 6 and Feb. 20 in the Lawson Computer Science Building.

The program is free, but a $25 deposit is required to register. The $25 will be returned to participants upon completion of all of the workshop sessions. A Motorola Foundation Innovation Generation Grant funds the program.

For more information, go to http://www.cs.purdue.edu/outreach