Press Release - December 08, 2009

WHITE FAMILIES GIFT TO ENHANCE PURDUE CALUMET HTM PROGRAM

MERRILLVILLE, IN  (December 08, 2009) – Purdue University Calumet is poised to become a leader in hospitality and tourism management (HTM) education, thanks to a $5 million gift the Dean & Barbara White Family Foundation and the Bruce & Beth White Family Foundation are making to the university.

The gift is the largest in monetary value ever received by Purdue Calumet. It will be used to enhance the university’s HTM undergraduate program of study, renamed the Purdue University Calumet White Lodging Center for Hospitality and Tourism Management. In part, the gift will fund renovation and conversion of the current Purdue Calumet Conference Center at the south end of campus into a nearly 13,000 square feet, state of the art, HTM instructional facility.

Additionally, the gift will support a scholarship fund for high performing, high potential hospitality and tourism management students and introduction of an HTM Honors Program. The remainder of the gift will be used to establish two endowed professorships within the program—one in hospitality finance, the other in food and beverage management.

“White Lodging Services and the White family have been longtime partners and supporters of Purdue Calumet,” University Chancellor Howard Cohen said. “This extremely generous gift, for which we are most appreciative, will have a dramatic and transformational effect on our program, enabling us to be more responsive to the needs of a growing industry that is very important to our region.”   

More than 250 students study hospitality and tourism management at Purdue Calumet, with growth projected to reach 400 student majors over the next five years. The Purdue University Calumet White Lodging Center for Hospitality and Tourism Management program will continue to offer baccalaureate and associate degrees, minors and professional certificates that provide a business foundation for students preparing for management and other supervisory positions in restaurant, lodging, travel, tourism, gaming, recreation and event planning industries. Nearly 20 percent of all Indiana jobs relate to the hospitality industry.

“We have been very impressed with Chancellor Cohen’s leadership and wanted to support his vision for the continued growth of both the facilities and the program’s academic offerings at Purdue Calumet,” White Lodging Services Chairman and CEO Bruce White said. “We believe the campus is a great asset to the greater northwest Indiana region, and the hospitality program is one that is primed for growth and offers great opportunity to students.”

Michael Flannery, head of Purdue Calumet’s Department of Behavioral Sciences in which the university’s HTM program has been housed academically, says the renovation and conversion of the Calumet Conference Center will provide for the program state-of-the-art facilities that include a teaching kitchen, beverage service laboratory, working restaurant, computer labs and faculty offices.

“Working strategically, our plan is to develop a world class hospitality center, hire additional top level faculty and staff, and initiate a scholarship program that focuses on developing future industry leaders,” Flannery said. “Over the years, White Lodging Services has hired many of our HTM graduates for management positions. These exciting developments will result in a program that produces better prepared graduates in hospitality and tourism management.”

Purdue Calumet and White officials also expect the enhanced program and new center to foster partnership and articulation opportunities with culinary programs throughout northwest Indiana and the Illinois community college system. “We have been fortunate to employ many Purdue Calumet students and graduates and have found them to be well prepared, ambitious and steady contributors to our company’s growth and success,” White said. “We hope to build and grow on that relationship by providing these expanded facilities and even greater faculty support.”

Programmatic planning for the new center will begin in early 2010 with construction and renovation to commence this summer. The center is expected to be fully operational in time for the start of the 2011-12 academic year.

Additional information about the Purdue University Calumet White Lodging Center for Hospitality and Tourism Management program is available by contacting 219/989-2384 or visiting http://webs.calumet.purdue.edu/htm/.

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