Welcome

Purdue University is an academic community whose major activities are learning, discovery, and engagement. Engagement occurs off-campus and represents connection and involvement with constituents and communities - locally, statewide, nationally, and globally. Public/university partnerships are defined by mutual respect for what each partner brings to the table. Discovery is research, scholarship, and creative activity that reveals new knowledge. Discovery activities take place most often in laboratories, libraries, and the field. Learning occurs in countless encounters among students, faculty, staff, and administrators in classrooms and labs, residence halls, fraternities and sororities, cooperative houses, recreational and athletic facilities, theaters and concert halls, union, cultural center, libraries, studios, art galleries, and other locations in the Greater Lafayette area.

Student Services seeks to relate to this learning and to support the overall mission of the institution in some very practical ways. In partnership with all members of the campus community, we promote efforts to achieve educational equity and multiculturalism. We strive to improve the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of our students. We offer services including financial aid, academic record keeping, support for organized student housing units, a learning resource center, programs of physical and mental health care and information, and assistance in removing both physical and psychological barriers to college. We hold a significant concern for the emotional and physical safety and welfare of students. Our broad range of support and extra-curricular programs enhance student development and embrace the philosophy of life-long learning.

Staff members within Student Services are educators first and foremost, and our work begins with a commitment to the uniqueness of each student. This principle guides us as we assist students in making important decisions affecting their academic and personal lives. We believe, as do faculty, that students need to be active participants in the learning process and that the best learning takes place in situations where a balance of challenges and support exists. The developmentally-based learning which occurs in the myriad of activities and opportunities supported by Student Services is an important lifetime complement to the discipline-based learning that occurs in the classroom. Opportunities for this guided learning abound at Purdue in residence halls, 74 Greek chapters, 12 cooperative houses, more than 740 registered student organizations, volunteer programs, three ROTC units, bands and ensembles, choral groups, the career center, convocations and lectures, and the many other activities, seminars, workshops, and programs which promote and recognize this out-of-classroom learning.

Thomas B. Robinson
Vice President for Student Services