Seeing People Again

Like most of you, it has been a long time. With the increase in vaccination rates and the current CDC guidance, the opportunities to meet in person are increasing each day. While it is wonderful to see people, it is still a bit disconcerting – Do I shake hands, hug, bump elbows, do the knuckle bump? I have gotten a chance to do them all! Once we get through the ritual, we very quickly turn to normal conversation and get a chance to talk and laugh in a way that is not always possible with a virtual experience. 

As we move forward, it will be exciting to transition back to in-person meetings while finding ways to take the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and use them to further our educational goals. For example, Jerry Shively, the Associate Dean of International Programs in Agriculture, has been running the Global Ag Innovation Forum online since March with more than 2,000 registrants from 100 countries. 

Jerry has been able to tap into speakers from across the world while reaching a broader audience of people who were not likely to travel to West Lafayette for an in-person conference. While the attendance for the live, online events has been steady, the recorded events are being seen by a much wider audience. This is a great example of how we can learn from events held during the pandemic and set up future programs that may encompass both in-person events and virtual or recorded options to maximize our impact.

Extension is another place where we’ve seen new opportunities over the last year. Under Jason Henderson’s leadership, we saw an 80 percent increase in participants in Extension programs during the pandemic. Hosting programs – both live and recorded – online allowed our Extension educators to reach audiences that may never have participated in local, in-person meetings and workshops. 

Some subject areas saw tremendous growth during the pandemic, including gardening, food preservation, food safety and farmers markets. Led by the Nutrition Education Program (SNAP-Ed) and Master Gardeners, Purdue Extension assisted with 329 community gardens creating 356 unique partnerships, which produced more than 1 million servings of food. 

We have to embrace these lessons learned over the last year, particularly in the remote environment, while providing ample in person opportunities. In particular, we are excited to be back to in-person 4-H Fair events in all 92 counties (compared to 56 in person and 92 virtual fairs last year) and virtual options in every county. Our field days at the Purdue Ag Centers will be either virtual or in-person, depending on the topic. We have already had a good crowd for the grazing workshops in southern Indiana and are looking forward to continued success with the on-farm events throughout the summer and fall.

As we look to August, it will be exciting to be back to the vibrant campus environment we all expect at Purdue. Our incoming freshman class has increased by 7 percent compared to last year, and we are looking forward to welcoming both our new and returning students to campus. 

Classrooms will be back to full density and we are already planning a variety of opportunities for students to help get them reintegrated into campus life. Protect Purdue guidelines (which continue to evolve) will still be in effect. These measures will help us offer our world-class educational experience while continuing our record of everyone working together in a safe environment. 

It is a fun time to be in the College of Agriculture with the opportunity to make the future on campus, in the field, at the fairs or online even brighter than the pre-pandemic days! 

On the road again: New solutions for old problems

Self-curing concrete, self-healing roads, and concrete that reduces the global carbon footprint. Purdue University engineers are looking at new ways to pave roads, ways to extend the life of roads and ways to make roadwork less resource- and carbon-intensive.

Ten Purdue students can win a year's worth of in-state tuition - by choosing to get a COVID-19 vaccination

Vaccination against COVID-19 may be the golden ticket for  10 lucky Purdue University students. An Old Gold-en Ticket to be precise. No purchase necessary. No need to hunt for chocolate bars.