Q1: Your roots are in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Tell us a bit about the path you took that brought you here to Fort Wayne eight years ago.
It has been quite a journey! Like many of our students at Purdue Fort Wayne, I was the first in my family to attend college and worked my way through school. Fort Wayne feels very familiar to me because growing up in Allentown, I now see it as a mirror image. I earned my bachelor’s degree in chemistry at Purdue University as an out-of-state student and then went on to earn my Ph.D. at Stanford University. There is no question that my Purdue degree opened many doors and significantly advanced my career.
I began my professional career working in the private sector and held a number of rewarding positions in corporate research and management at AlliedSignal, Inc. This intensive experience afforded me the opportunity to lead and manage projects from early laboratory research to commercial products.
Having that background and insight was enormously beneficial to me when I transitioned into higher education and a 26-year career at the University of Texas at Arlington. While there, I was able to significantly increase the university’s academic and research profile — advancing student success, overall enrollment, research expenditures, federal relations and philanthropy driving regional impact in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Serving in several pivotal leadership roles at UT Arlington, including provost and vice president for academic affairs, as well as senior advisor to the president, positioned me perfectly for the opportunity to serve as the inaugural chancellor for the newly created Purdue Fort Wayne.
Q2: You came to the University as it was transitioning from IPFW to PFW. What has that experience been like, and how does it feel to have established the university solely as PFW?
I consider myself fortunate to have joined the university at such a pivotal point in its development. I did not come to PFW to build my resumé; I came to build a legacy, to truly make a difference. The transition to become Purdue University Fort Wayne touched literally every aspect of the university, and I’m so proud of how our students, faculty, staff and alumni approached it and handled it, all the while keeping its focus on our local community.
As disruptive as it could have been, the transition actually served to pull our university community together and make it even stronger. PFW achieved a focus that likely never would have been possible as a combined university. That, to me, reflects true Midwestern values.
One particular aspect that I thought would be extremely difficult to achieve happened almost overnight — much quicker than I had anticipated. As we began to rebrand the institution, the Purdue University Fort Wayne name stuck almost immediately and was quickly adopted, both internally and externally. This helped us claim and solidify our new identity right out of the gate and enabled the university to move forward from a position of confidence and strength.
At the same time, we understood our responsibility to support the newly formed IUFW. We continue to work closely to ensure IUFW students have a seamless campus experience and to assist in their growth and impact on the community.
Q3: PFW has exceptional programs available to its students to help them prepare for their future careers. How do these programs prepare students to enhance economic development throughout our region?
We do pride ourselves on our focus to help students achieve an education — including graduating with a Purdue degree — that will help position them to build successful careers in their chosen fields, right here in northeast Indiana. Our academic programs are closely aligned with the needs of the region, and we actively collaborate with leaders in business and industry to connect our students with career opportunities. Through our Career Development Center and our academic leadership team, we actively create pathways for students to transition into the workforce.
Northeast Indiana offers almost unlimited opportunities for internships, practicums, and mentorship that provide our students with relevant hands-on opportunities to supplement their classroom and laboratory experiences. In addition to our full-time faculty, we also employ numerous part-time lecturers from business and industry who bring real-time expertise and insights to the classroom.
A huge advantage we have is that northeast Indiana, especially Fort Wayne, aggressively pursues economic development opportunities that attract large, international companies to the region, most recently Amazon and Google. Creating a thriving business climate provides outstanding career opportunities for our students and alumni and creates a perfect storm for continued and sustained economic growth.
Q4: Does PFW partner with area businesses and organizations that encourage graduates to stay in northeast Indiana to fill the employment pipeline?
Yes, absolutely. This is a vital role of a regional university, and we are very serious and deliberate about this aspect of our mission at Purdue Fort Wayne. I and members of our leadership team meet regularly with area executives, civic leaders, and elected officials to stay abreast of the needs of northeast Indiana and to develop solutions that help bolster our regional and state economies.
We are so fortunate to have the unbeatable combination of a great university in a great city. We work hard to provide students with a first-rate education that prepares them not just for their first jobs, but for fulfilling vocations. Pair that experience with all that Fort Wayne has to offer, including exciting career opportunities at some stellar companies, and the outcome is that our graduates build their lives and careers here.
Q5: As Chancellor, what is a goal of yours (or for the university) in 2025?
A pervasive goal is to continue to increase Purdue Fort Wayne’s student enrollment to fill the gaps in our workforce pipeline. The strength and economic vitality of our university is key to ensuring our ability to meet the critical needs of our region and the state of Indiana.
We are making huge strides in campus construction with two major projects now underway that will enable us to attract more students to the university, especially from outside the region. Construction is in progress on the $100 million Trace student apartment complex that will house up to 600 students, as well as our $25 million Surack-Sweetwater Music Industry Building. Keeping those projects on schedule during 2025 is key to having them completed and open in time to welcome students for fall semester 2026.
Another ambitious goal of ours is to enhance and focus our academic programs on critical employer needs. Beyond manufacturing, engineering, business and computer science, we are now working to reestablish a School of Nursing to help address the critical nursing shortage that Indiana is currently experiencing — and that is projected to get even worse in the years ahead. The realignment agreement between Purdue University and Indiana University that resulted in the creation of Purdue Fort Wayne in 2018 also contained a noncompete clause prohibiting PFW from offering programs in the health sciences. That noncompete clause was dropped in 2023. With five decades of nursing excellence under our belt, Purdue Fort Wayne is in a position to move quickly once we have assembled the necessary start-up resources, which is something we’re urgently working on.
Q6: Please share with us a bit about yourself outside of working hours! What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I have been an avid woodworker for many years now. I have a workshop in my home that provides a great place to relax, recharge, refocus and be creative in another dimension.
I love the process of planning a project, figuring out if I have the tools to get the job done, selecting the wood, and then working through all of the steps necessary to see a piece come to life. I enjoy the fact that there’s precision involved at every step, but that there are still some surprises along the way.
Knowing that I can tackle a woodworking project from beginning to end completely on my own is a nice balance for all of the work I do that involves committees, consensus and negotiation. It’s a refreshing contrast that keeps me balanced.
Q7: What is it about Fort Wayne that you most enjoy? What has kept you here since you first arrived in 2017?
Having attended Purdue University as an undergraduate, I know Indiana pretty well and feel right at home in Fort Wayne. As I indicated earlier, Fort Wayne reminds me of the city in which I grew up.
Fort Wayne has really blossomed during the past few years, including visionary downtown development, vast recreational amenities, and unparalleled cultural attractions. We are all so fortunate to live in a city like Fort Wayne that has so many of the positive attributes of a large city, but without the problems most large urban centers contend with.
I love working in higher education, and I thoroughly enjoy leading a premier institution like Purdue Fort Wayne in this first-rate city. It has been a great place to apply all that I have learned and experienced for the past three decades and, hopefully, make a lasting impact.
