A great way to celebrate 100 years of excellence
The Purdue Agronomy Centennial Celebration provided nearly 500 individuals the perfect reason to return to campus in November.
You could use several words to describe the weekend — fun, exciting, enlightening, special — but our favorite word is “successful!”
We kicked off the celebration November 16 with lunch at the Ross-Ade Stadium Press Box in the Buchanan Club. There were 260 alumni, faculty, staff, and friends who enjoyed eating an assortment of wraps, meeting new friends, and reconnecting with old ones. They also got to see us present the 2007 Agronomic Achievement Award to Bob Avenius, James Monger, Bill McFee, and Lance Murrell.
After lunch, Agronomy Ambassadors gave campus tours to some, while others attended four Back to Class sessions in Lilly Hall of Life Sciences and Pfendler Hall. The classes were well attended and the instructors and classes were:
- Dev Niyogi “Climate Change – A Lot of Hot Air?”
- Darrell Schulze “Taking GIS to the Field”
- George Van Scoyoc “The New Classroom”
- Gebisa Ejeta “Feeding the World”
- Cale Bigelow “A New Turf Species for Ross-Ade Stadium”
That evening featured a reception at the University Plaza (formerly known as the University Inn Conference Center & Suites). It was a relaxing, fun, and informal gathering.
The fun continued on November 17 with Agronomy Ambassador campus tours and the Old Oaken Bucket Tailgate in the new Beck Agricultural Center at the Agronomy Center for Research and Education. Unfortunately, the Purdue-IU game did not kick off until 3:30 p.m. and our tailgate was from noon to 4:00 p.m. We made due while watching other football games, playing games, touring the new Beck Agricultural Center, and of course, eating some incredible food.
The evening concluded with the breathtaking Gala in the North and South Ballrooms of the Purdue Memorial Union. The gala featured the presentation of the inaugural Legends of Agronomy awards to John D. Axtell, Keller E. Beeson, William H. “Bill” Daniel, Wayne F. Keim, Oscar W. “Ozzie” Luetkemeier, Fred L. Patterson, Mervill O. “M.O.” Pence, John B. Peterson, Fred E. Robbins, George D. Scarseth, Sandy S. Spitznagle, and Alfred T. Wiancko.
