Growing numbers of top Illinois high school graduates are opting for a Purdue University education at nearby Purdue University Calumet.

Located three miles east of the Illinois-Indiana state line and 25 miles southeast of downtown Chicago, Purdue Calumet’s 9,325-student Hammond, Ind. campus has seen enrollment from Illinois communities increase nearly 10 percent to 782 since 2006.

Part of the Purdue University system, Purdue Calumet offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in traditional Purdue academic strengths. Purdue Calumet graduates earn the same Purdue diploma awarded to graduates of Purdue’s parent campus in West Lafayette, Ind.

Unique to Purdue Calumet, however, has been its formal adoption this fall of experiential learning—the integration of traditional classroom and textbook learning with the applied learning that occurs within a work-related, real world experience. To earn their Purdue degree, all incoming, Purdue Calumet baccalaureate degree-seeking students must successfully complete two classes/equivalents of experiential learning within their major program of study.

According to Purdue Calumet Chancellor Howard Cohen, “A high quality education should integrate classroom and laboratory learning with learning that takes place in job- and other experience-related settings—the same settings in which we expect our students to work after they graduate. . .”

Additionally, Purdue Calumet has attempted to attract academically accomplished Illinois students by providing several types of merit scholarships.

The number of Illinois freshmen recipients of full tuition Chancellor’s Scholar Awards has more than tripled—from 13 to 40—since last year.

In addition to full tuition and related fees, the award covers a stipend for textbooks and 50 percent of living expenses in the university’s campus apartment-like complex, The University Village.

“It’s a university with the comfort of a hometown,” Samantha Bartucci, a marketing and management major from Steger, said. Bartucci, a continuing Chancellor’s Scholar Award recipient from last year, resides in The University Village and holds a campus job at the Fitness & Recreation Center.

Chicago resident Teundra Daw, a human resource management major, finds Purdue Calumet a convenient fit, as well.

Also a Chancellor’s Scholar resident of The University Village, Daw says she is impressed by the small-sized classes that provide each student an opportunity to learn from experienced faculty members.

“They take their jobs seriously; I’ve had professors who have been recognized for their work outside of Purdue Calumet,” Daw said, adding that some of her professors have published scholarly research and books.

Illinois freshmen scholarship recipients also have found benefits to classes with a student/teacher ratio of 23:1.

“You can tell that teachers really care,” Lauren Adduci, a freshman Chancellor’s Scholar and secondary education major in biology from Oak Forest, said.

With hopes of returning some day to her high school alma mater as a teacher, Adduci observes her professors’ teaching methods to help her determine which teaching styles she finds most effective.

“Their doors are always open,” Justin Michalowski, a mechanical engineering major from Calumet City, said about his professors, adding that he feels comfort knowing they are willing to work one-on-one with students. “I feel I’m getting a high quality education.”

Robert Fitzpatrick, Purdue Calumet Illinois regional admissions recruiter, said the increase in the number of Illinois and other out-of-state students enrolled at Purdue Calumet adds to the student body diversity and academic quality of the university.