One of the great pleasures of being the Dean for the College of Technology is meeting with our alumni. I learn so much from their experiences since leaving Purdue and how their degrees helped them in their careers. I also have the opportunity to meet fascinating alumni who have had great careers and life experiences.
This week I am in Arizona meeting with alumni, and this morning I had the pleasure of meeting with JoAnne Adams Griffith, whom our college named a Distinguished Technology Alumni (DTA) in 2004. JoAnne has had a fascinating career after graduating from Purdue with a BS in Supervision. Her career included HR leadership positions at Viacom, MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures, and ABC after starting in manufacturing with Zimmer.
One of the topics we spent a long time discussing was related to diversity. When JoAnne was a student at Purdue, she was one of only a few women students in the college. She persevered in spite of many hurdles and outright acts of discrimination. She then went onto an amazing career where she was asked on a number of occasions to lead diversity efforts in business. I believe we can learn a lot from JoAnne as our college further focuses our efforts and attention on diversity and inclusivity. I hope to bring JoAnne to campus soon so she can share her experiences and guide us in our diversity efforts.
