I attended Purdue University from the fall of 1977 to the spring of 1981.
Purdue is a Big Ten university, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, an hour northwest of Indianapolis, and two hours southeast of Chicago. Here is another map.
When I was attending Purdue, it had a student population of about 30,000, while the towns of Lafayette and West Lafayette had a population of about 100,000. The economic base of the region was 1) the univeristy, and 2) farming. (Since graduating, Isuzu has build an auto plant in Lafayette. All Rodeos and Troopers are now built there.)
I received a BS from the department of Geological Sciences. (now called Earth and Atmospheric Sciences) Since leaving Purdue, the department has moved to a new location. The building where I spent most of my undergraduate carrier now has a new addition, and is called the Schleman Hall of Student Services. Here is a really cool map of the campus.
College is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For me it was just a place to study. But thats ok. Its what I needed at that time. In four years, I attended one party. I went out on one date. I went to one concert (Elton John). I did go to almost all the home football games (I was there the same time as Mark Herrmann), but I never went to a basketball game. I did not belong to any organization or participate in any organized extra-ciricular activities.
I lived in the dorms (sorry... residence halls) all four years: Cary Quad my first year, Owen Hall my second year, and Shreve Hall my third and fourth year. Shreve was the progressive residence hall: it was co-ed. The buiding is shaped like an H. Eight stories on each side with a two story central region. The east side was female, the west side was male. The two story common area, with its lounge, offices, and cafeteria, was the co-ed part.
The Purdue that I knew is gone. The mall is now a quad. Where it use to open to the street now sits a massive engineering building. The fountain, which at least once a year was filled with green florecent dye prior to some football game, is now some strange water sculpture.
Even the smoke stack, Purdue's finger to the world, which could be seen for
miles, has been torn down and replaced by
this.
