WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University officials will conduct a public hearing July 13 on proposed tuition and fees to be paid by students attending any of the university’s campuses during the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 academic years.

The proposal calls for a $388 increase for resident students and a $1,394 increase for nonresident students. This translates into a 5 percent resident tuition increase and a 6 percent nonresident tuition increase for continuing students each of the next two academic years at the West Lafayette campus.

Although Purdue was given an apparently flat budget in the state appropriations process, 8 percent was one-time “stimulus” funding. Purdue actually received a cut of 8 percent in its recurring funding for operations, or $21 million over two years at the West Lafayette campus.

“The state has worked hard to give us the best budget possible, and we’ve made significant budget reductions at Purdue over the past year. Nevertheless, we still have critical university needs that are substantially underfunded,” Purdue President France A. Córdova said. “Our proposal addresses these critical needs, protects students who come from the neediest families and preserves the high educational quality at Purdue.”

There also will be a new $500 fee per academic year for new West Lafayette campus students tied to strategic plan improvements for academic programs. However, first-time Indiana undergraduate students will have this $500 fee rebated this year, using the stimulus funding provided to Purdue by the General Assembly. Students enrolled prior to the summer of 2009 will not be assessed the fee. Funds generated by the proposed strategic plan fee will be used to invest in academic curricula, financial aid, student success programs, and assist in attracting and retaining top faculty.

Purdue also will use the stimulus funds to help with $400 million in facility repair and rehabilitation needs.

Randy Woodson, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, said most of the tuition increase will go to student aid and faculty support.

“The faculty make Purdue a world-class institution and attract students who aspire to a truly competitive education. We will invest in programs that help ensure our students are successful and improve retention and graduation rates. We also will enhance our investments in financial aid to keep Purdue affordable for all students,” Woodson said.

The new tuition and fee structure, with the one-year credit for first-time students, would result in a $388 increase in the 2009-10 year for all resident students on the West Lafayette campus. Tuition and fees in 2009-10 would be $8,138 for resident students. Tuition and fees for 2010-11 would be $8,544 for returning residents and $9,070 for returning sophomores and first-time resident students.

Nonresident students returning to the West Lafayette campus would pay $1,394 more, and nonresident first-time students would pay $1,894 more for the 2009-10 academic year. Tuition and fees in 2009-10 would be $24,618 for returning nonresident students and $25,118 for nonresident first-time students. Tuition and fees for 2010-11 would be $26,096 for returning nonresidents and $26,622 for nonresident first-time students.

Some programs, such as engineering, management, pharmacy and veterinary medicine, have fee differentials, which are additional fees to defray the higher costs of these programs. Fee increases are proposed for these programs as well. New this year is a $500 differential fee for College of Technology students who start this fall on the West Lafayette campus.

Purdue currently ranks ninth in the Big Ten for resident undergraduate tuition and has been listed as one of the nation’s best value educations by The Wall Street Journal’s SmartMoney magazine.

“Comparing alumni salaries within five and 10 years after graduation against their tuition cost, the magazine listed Purdue as ninth in the country. The payback to graduates was 197 percent,” said James Almond, vice president for business services and assistant treasurer.

The university also has been aggressive in raising financial aid and cutting costs.

“On the West Lafayette campus, we’ve cut almost $10 million from departments and schools and eliminated 146 positions for the next fiscal year,” Almond said. “We also managed our debt and were able to save the state $8.5 million over the last two years.”

For 2008-09, total financial aid and student support on the West Lafayette campus was budgeted at $467 million, and three out of four Purdue students receive some form of assistance. In 2008-09, for a student with a family income below $40,000, the net cost for tuition, room and board was an average of $1,666 after all forms of aid were counted. Students who qualify for federal financial aid will have their tuition and fees offset with additional Purdue aid.

More information on tuition and fees can be found online at http://news.uns.purdue.edu/tuition/

Fees for Indiana students at other Purdue campuses are assessed on a per credit hour basis. Rates for resident and nonresident students, respectively, are:

• Purdue Calumet - $210 and $471
• Purdue North Central - $213 and $502
• Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne - $231 and $549

These rates represent a 5 percent increase for resident students and a 6 percent increase for nonresident students.

The public hearing will begin at 9 a.m. July 13 in Stewart Center, Room 326, as a special meeting of the executive committee of the university’s board of trustees. The proposed fees will be discussed, and the public will have a chance to comment. The executive committee will act on behalf of the board and will vote on the fee proposal and the 2009-10 system-wide conceptual budget plan during the meeting.

A videoconference connection also will permit public input from Purdue’s regional campuses.

Those wishing to speak at the hearing should notify the board of trustees’ office in advance at 765-494-9710, or e-mail trustees@purdue.edu. Each speaker will be scheduled in the order they register and allotted three minutes to make comments at the hearing, which will last 30 minutes.

Written comments also may be submitted via e-mail or sent to the Office of the Board of Trustees, Hovde Hall, 610 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, IN 47907.

Anyone wanting to offer testimony at one of the statewide campuses should contact the chancellor’s office at that campus for directions to the videoconference location. Those locations and phone numbers are:

• Purdue Calumet: Purdue Calumet Conference Center (Room 135); 219-989-2673
• Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne: Kettler Hall (Room 178); 260-481-6103
• Purdue North Central: Technology Building (Room 134); 219-785-5511

This special meeting is in addition to the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on July 9 and 10.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Digital media, including Google Earth, digital storytelling and blogs is the theme for this year’s James F. Ackerman Colloquium on Technology and Citizenship Education at Purdue University.

Citizenship Education 2.0: Digital Media in a Networked World, will be held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana on June 18-20.

Two dozen scholars will attend the conference, Citizenship Education 2.0: Digital Media in a Networked World, on June 18-20. The conference is sponsored by the James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship.

Scholars will present research on how technology, especially the Internet, has changed the way citizens interact with each other and their government and the future of education, says Phillip VanFossen, the Ackerman Professor of Social Studies Education and director of the Ackerman Center.

More information about the conference and registration is available online at http://www.edci.purdue.edu/vanfossen/colloquium/index.htm. Space is limited for the general public, but anyone interested in attending sessions should contact Kathy Reppert at 765-494-4755, kreppert@purdue.edu.

The Ackerman Center was established through a gift in 1993 from James F. Ackerman, a Purdue alumnus, and his wife, Lois.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — To help ensure that students succeed academically once at Purdue, the university will require incoming students to have completed four years of high school math.

“We want Indiana students to succeed, and we want Purdue students to do well and excel,” says Randy Woodson, Purdue’s executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. “We know four years of math during high school is one of the best ways to prepare for college because it puts students on the right track from day one to do well in the classroom.”

Students who completed their high school sophomore year this spring should plan on taking math during their senior year if they want to get in to Purdue.

The requirement will take effect for the fall 2011 incoming class. Students who completed their high school sophomore year this spring should plan on taking math during their senior year if they want to get in to Purdue. This admission requirement applies to all baccalaureate programs.

This change is not about selectivity, but about success, Woodson says. The vast majority - 95.1 percent - of Indiana students attending Purdue already takes four years of college preparatory math, such as algebra, trigonometry, precalculus and calculus.

“Studies show that completing one additional unit of intensive high school math increased the odds of completing a bachelor’s degree by 73 percent,” says Ken Sauer, the interim Indiana commissioner for higher education. “We emphasize four years of math in our ‘Reaching Higher’ plan. Not only do we want to make a college education accessible for students, but we want students to have the right preparation to succeed and graduate.”

This also serves as a reminder that the senior year does matter, says Pamela Horne, dean of admissions and assistant vice president for enrollment management.

“Students need to look at their senior year as the first year before college, rather than their last year of high school,” she says. “A runner would never take a year off from training before a marathon, so we don’t want students to take it easy academically during their senior year, but rather be ready to hit the ground running here.”

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University will award degrees at five campuses and seven College of Technology locations throughout Indiana during commencement ceremonies in May.

Commencement at the West Lafayette campus is scheduled for May 15-17 at Elliott Hall of Music. An estimated 5,792 degrees will be presented in four ceremonies that weekend, including 4,423 undergraduate degrees, 223 professional degrees, 795 master’s degrees and 351 doctoral degrees.

Purdue President France A. Córdova will address graduates at each ceremony. The ceremonies will feature two large video screens above the Elliott Hall stage. The screens will display a close-up image of each graduate receiving his or her diploma.

A live feed of the ceremonies also will be available online at mms://video.dis.purdue.edu/graduation. This link will not become active until May 11.

Each graduation candidate is guaranteed four tickets to the commencement. Candidates can request up to two additional tickets; however, extra tickets are not guaranteed. Doors open to guests 90 minutes prior to the ceremony.

The ceremonies for the West Lafayette campus are:

• May 15. 8 p.m. Colleges of Liberal Arts and Science. Lauren M. Mioton of New Orleans, who will receive a bachelor’s degree from the College of Science, will provide the class response.
• May 16. 9:30 a.m. Colleges of Education and Engineering, and the School of Veterinary Medicine. Marriner H. Merrill of Provo, Utah, who will receive a doctorate degree from the College of Engineering, will provide the class response.
• May 16. 2:30 p.m. Colleges of Agriculture and Consumer and Family Sciences, and the School of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences. Kelly L. McMains of Indianapolis, who will receive a bachelor’s degree from the College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Health Sciences, will provide the class response.
• May 17. 9:30 a.m. School of Management and the College of Technology. Laura E. Kightlinger of Indianapolis, who will receive a bachelor’s degree from the School of Management, will provide the class response.

Commencement videos for each school will be available. A DVD costs $30, and order forms are available at Stewart Center’s Loeb Playhouse box office, by calling (765) 494-3933 or visiting http://www.purdue.edu/registrar/commencement. Order forms can be submitted both before and after each commencement ceremony.

Commencement times and locations at other Purdue campuses are:

• Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. 7 p.m. May 13 at the Memorial Coliseum and Exposition Center, where 760 Purdue degrees will be conferred.
• Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Degrees will be awarded on May 10 in two ceremonies in Halls A-B-C of the Indiana Convention Center. The first ceremony, at 10 a.m., will include the schools of Dentistry, Education, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Informatics, Law-Indianapolis, Medicine, Nursing, Physical Education and Tourism Management, Public and Environmental Affairs, Social Work, and the University Graduate School. The second ceremony, at 3 p.m., will include the Kelley School of Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering and Technology, Herron School of Art and Design, Journalism, Liberal Arts, Library and Information Science, and Science.
• Purdue Calumet. 1:30 p.m. May 17 at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, where 662 Purdue degrees will be conferred.
• Purdue North Central. 7 p.m. May 18 in the Athletics-Recreation Center at Valparaiso University, where 307 degrees will be conferred.

College of Technology commencements at locations around the state are:

• Anderson/Muncie. 2 p.m. May 16 at the Anderson University Flagship Center, 2701 Enterprise Drive, where 17 degrees will be conferred.
• Columbus/Greensburg. 6 p.m. May 12 at Columbus Learning Center, where 22 degrees will be conferred.
• Kokomo. 6 p.m. May 13 at Havens Auditorium, Indiana University at Kokomo, where 32 degrees will be conferred.
• Indianapolis. 9:30 a.m. May 17. Elliott Hall of Music, where two degrees will be conferred with a West Lafayette campus ceremony.
• Lafayette. 2 p.m. May 9 in Stewart Center’s Fowler Hall, where 77 degrees will be conferred.
• New Albany. 6 p.m. May 14 at the Ogle Center Auditorium, Indiana University Southeast, where 30 degrees will be conferred.
• Richmond. 6:30 p.m. May 15 at the Vivian Auditorium in Whitewater Hall at Indiana University East, where 30 degrees will be conferred.
• South Bend/Elkhart. 6:30 p.m. May 11 at Riverside Terrace, 426 Lincoln Way East, Mishawaka, where 28 degrees will be conferred.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A plan has taken root to turn Purdue University’s West Lafayette campus into a garden spot.

The Purdue Arboretum project officially launched during last weekend’s Spring Fest. Spring Fest visitors were invited to learn about the arboretum at the E.C. Stevenson Pavilion, located behind the Horticulture Building and south of the Agricultural Mall.

Viburnum cassinoides, or Witherod Viburnum, is one of the hardy viburnum species that may be added to the special collection.

“The arboretum project is intended to increase the number of woody plant species on campus for learning, engagement and discovery purposes,” said Matt Jenks, Purdue professor of horticulture and the arboretum director.

Jenks said the arboretum idea has been around for a few years but began to take shape this past fall when a campus committee was formed.

“One of the things that got me started on this was the decline in the diversity of plant material on campus for use in the woody plants class that I teach,” Jenks said.

“We plan to focus the arboretum collection on superior landscape plants for the Midwest. In addition, we want to create two special collections of all the hardy maples and hardy viburnums of the world.”

A viburnum is a shrub or tree.

The Purdue Arboretum will meet the arboretum guidelines of the American Public Gardens Association.

“Among other things, an arboretum needs to be open to the public and have signage to provide interpretation of the plant material,” Jenks said.

Most of the guideline requirements can be met with existing resources, “but we would love to see the arboretum expand from where it is now to become a significant collection of woody plants and special gardens,” Jenks said.

The university’s grounds department will play a major role in operating the arboretum, he said.

“We hope the arboretum promotes environmental sustainability and makes the campus a much more beautiful place,” Jenks said.