We are continuing our search for a new Associate Dean in the School of Business and Information Technology. A revised job announcement has been posted and is available on the PG website. The revised announcement is the result of a number of factors that include, but are not limited to:

• An expansion of the role as evolving opportunities such as analytics, manufacturing, and computer science continue to present themselves.

• Convergence of the disciplines in our school.

• Our growing focus and emphasis in STEM.

We have great opportunities in front of us. This role is extremely important, and we are being very deliberate as we search to find the individual who will help lead us into the future.

This year’s Day of Giving is scheduled for April 24.  As a reminder, donations given during the Day of Giving will help fund scholarships for our PG students.  Throughout the day there will be a few hourly social media challenges including:

12pm EST "Most Creative Selfie,"

3pm EST "Sing the Hail Purdue Chorus" (virtual group recording version??),

7pm EST "Creative picture of kid(s) in Purdue Gear," and

8pm EST "Creative picture of pet(s) in Purdue gear"

Much more information regarding this special event will be forthcoming during the month.

Our next Purdue Global University graduation ceremony will take place on May 4, 2024. 

The graduation will held in our traditional location of West Lafayette, IN.  Purdue Global offers a virtual graduation in addition to the on-location event.  The SBIT on-site ceremony will take place at 9:00am and you’ll have the opportunity to watch the ceremony live via the PG website.  SBIT will have 566 individuals participating in the graduation ceremonies, and if you are able, I encourage to make the time to watch the event … it is always an uplifting event and great reminder of the reason behind the work that we commit ourselves to.

The Journey of Kaplan/Purdue through 25 years!

  I have observed a lot of changes over the years during my journey from working in admissions to my current role as adjunct faculty. I started in the admissions department at Kaplan College in 1999. I worked in the Ft. Lauderdale office and during that time there were no computers. I remember our admission inquiries were printed out daily and we had to check the inquiry binder to ensure no one else on the team had put an information call or placed any referrals in the admissions binder. Our admissions team would check the admissions binder to make sure we were not speaking to a potential applicant that someone on our team had previously spoken to. We followed this process to ensure there was fairness for all team members.

Once a student enrolled, they mailed or faxed in their enrollment agreement. The student was then sent specific course material related to their program to complete their assignments and once completed they were sent back in for grading by an instructor. The turnaround time was approximately two weeks. Hard to believe at that time there were no computers!

In 2001, I became the Associate Director of Admissions, in which the position required screening, interviewing, and training new advisors in admissions. In addition, I was the admissions trainer which included three days of intensive training for new admission advisors in product knowledge, effective communication skills, listening skills and role-playing. I utilized the white board to train new advisors and we did a lot of real-world scenarios in person. Role playing consisted of back-to-back chairs in person going through various scenarios. Three years later, I became the Director of Admissions. At that point in time, there were only fifteen team members per director. 

Approximately in the year 2002, one computer was added to admissions to check inquiries. In admissions, my team was so excited to not use the admissions binder anymore. Instead of strategically taking turns to use the binder, we took turns to use the computer. A year later we all had computers. It was great for us to have our own computers instead of waiting on one computer.

In 2003, I was leading an admissions team that was screening applicants for Concord Law School. The online law school courses inspired me to attend Concord Law School. In 2006, I graduated from Concord Law School. Concord was owned by Kaplan at the time. 

In 2004, Kaplan, Inc decided to offer online and on campus programs. The programs were divided.  Kaplan University had online bachelor's and graduate degrees, and Kaplan College offered classroom-based instruction and focused on associate degree programs. I was still working at that time within the Ft. Lauderdale campus leading an admissions team.

In 2006, I decided to move back closer to my mother in the Tampa area where I was raised. There was no physical Kaplan College campus at that time, so I decided I wanted to pursue becoming a faculty member online. I started my teaching career at Kaplan teaching Academic Strategies. Teaching new students was exciting because I was able to be instrumental in them adapting to college. At that time the LMS Blackboard was in place. 

In 2012, I transitioned to teaching independent study business courses and organizational behavior courses for Kaplan College online. I enjoyed the independent study courses because students were able to obtain the missing credits to graduate. They were so excited to complete the course and apply for their diploma.

In 2017, Purdue University acquired Kaplan. There was at that point in time a transition into Brightspace LMS. Brightspace enabled various features for faculty. Annotations were able to be used in feedback, and BONGO was used within Brightspace to allow students to participate in seminars. The online format enabled the instructor and students to engage within a live platform. Students seemed to really enjoy the new platform. 

In 2018, I started teaching Business Communication and I have been teaching the course ever since. I enjoy helping new students through any obstacles that they may experience in their first course.  In addition, my supervisor, Jack Deem, is a great mentor, and supervisor. Jack was instrumental in getting me involved in a research group and within our research group we will be having an article publication entitled A MODERN META-ANALYSIS OF GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN WORK ETHIC which will be written in the Journal of Applied Business Research later in the year.

I have enjoyed seeing all the changes over time during my 25 years at Kaplan/Purdue University. As an institution, working together, we have changed a lot of student lives. My goal is to be a part of the educational journey for another 25 years.