Founders

3 total works

Divided Paths, Common Ground

by Angie Klink

Published 30 March 2011

In the early 1900s, Mary Matthews and Lella Gaddis forged trails for women at Purdue University and throughout Indiana. Mary was the first dean of the School of Home Economics. Lella was Indiana's first state leader of Home Demonstration. In 1914, Mary hired Lella to organise Purdue's new Home Economics Extension Service. According to those who knew them, Lella was a "sparkler" who travelled the state instructing rural women about nutrition, hygiene, safe water, childcare, and more. "Reserved" Mary established Purdue's School of Home Economics, created Indiana's first nursery school, and authored a popular textbook. Both women used their natural talents and connections to achieve their goals in spite of a male-dominated society. As a land grant institution, Purdue University has always been very connected to the American countryside. Based on extensive oral history and archival research, this book sheds new light on the important role female staff and faculty played in improving the quality of life for rural women during the first half of the twentieth century. It is also a fascinating story, engagingly told, of two very different personalities united in a common goal.

The Dean's Bible

by Angie Klink

Published 15 March 2014

Like pearls threaded one-by-one to form a necklace, five women successively nurtured students on the Purdue University campus in America's heartland during the 1930s to 1990s. Individually, each became a legendary dean of women or dean of students. Collectively, they wove a sisterhood of mutual support in their common-sometimes thwarted-pursuit of shared human rights and equality for all. While it is focused on changing attitudes on one college campus, The Deans' Bible sheds light on cultural change in America as a whole, exploring how each of the deans participated nationally in the quest for equality. The story rolls through the "picture-perfect," suppressive 1950s, the awakening 1960s, women's liberation, Title IX, 1980s AIDS and alcohol epidemics, the changing mores for the disabled, and ends in the twenty-first century.

Pledge and Promise

by Angie Klink

Published 15 July 2022

Pledge and Promise documents the important historical significance of fraternity, sorority, and cooperative life at Purdue University. Featuring more than 250 photos, this pictorial volume tells the fascinating stories of how Greek and cooperative organizations have evolved, while honoring their core values since 1875. Pledge and Promise also highlights a sampling of the people who have contributed and benefited from their associations with these student groups. Featuring heartfelt, inspiring, humorous, and even disheartening accounts, this narrative reveals successes and setbacks.

Greek and cooperative organizations have always offered valuable, life-affirming opportunities and powerful traditions that foster personal growth and lasting career skills. With this attractive, richly illustrated book, Boilermakers who once called a fraternity, sorority, or cooperative "home" will be reminded of the spirit of fun and the enduring bonds nurtured throughout their formative years at Purdue University.