It is official: the Purdue Polytechnic Institute has set an enrollment record at West Lafayette, including 912 new beginners and a total enrollment of 4,757 (including 163 Ph.D. students), all while outpacing the University’s record increases. As I have mentioned in recent blogs, we have a lot to be excited about: growing popularity, with enrollment to prove it; tremendous progress in achieving our transformation goals; a large influx of top-quality faculty; record research awards; and, potentially, a new building.

Wow! Where do I start? We have so much to celebrate, and the future of our college could not be brighter. Allow me to share some thoughts on several exciting topics: enrollment, transformation, student success, faculty hires, a potential new building and the Sesquicentennial.

We must stay diligent as educators in the 21st century. If we are to prepare graduates for the future workplace, we must be as nimble and innovative as the industries we serve.

With our learn-by-doing environment, increased enrollment, additional faculty, and expanded research portfolio, we need more teaching lab, research, and office space. It’s a good problem to have, reflective of a vibrant, growing college.

The curriculum transformation we are implementing is placing the college and Purdue in a strong position to produce more STEM graduates, and our growth is occurring at the right time for a nation desperately in need of leadership in education innovation.

The faculty coalesced around five interdisciplinary research impact areas which transcend normal departmental silos and provide opportunities for faculty to engage with each other to solve important problems.

In nearly every blog entry I write, I mention that these are exciting times for our college. Here I go again! Please allow me to share some excitement about our college’s research efforts.

We received the University’s census data for this academic year in early September, and I would like to share several items deserving special mention.

I would like to welcome all faculty, staff, and students back for another academic year. It has been a very busy summer with many faculty working on the college’s transformation, students and faculty studying abroad, faculty identifying grand challenges in a research workshop, and our staff working hard on meeting our enrollment targets and getting everything ready for the start of fall classes.

Since the inception 52 years ago of the College of Technology, now transformed into the Purdue Polytechnic Institute, numerous degree programs, majors, minors, departments, and schools have been created, phased out, merged, or modified, all of which has led to the present organizational state of the college. I believe the time is right for the college to reorganize once more to be effectively aligned and continue our Purdue Moves transformation.