Purdue has officially established its own Indianapolis campus following the IUPUI split on July 1. Although the Purdue University in Indianapolis (PUI) campus is largely made up of leased classrooms, dorms and parking spaces from IU, there are plans in the works to establish more extensive Purdue facilities in the near future.
“[The] university has the rights to develop land north of Michigan Street which currently comprises the surface parking lots and parking garages. We have the opportunity to develop that over the next 150 years, which is the length of our ground lease, IU for those 28 acres,” said Jay Wasson, vice president for physical facilities and chief public safety officer. “We're looking at appropriate use of that land over time, what types of buildings make sense to go, where, what the size of those buildings are and how we create quality outdoor space to complement the building as well.”
Currently, Purdue is considering building a facility with classrooms, labs, collaborative student spaces and more. The building is also expected to include a residential tower for PUI students.
“In the near term, our board of trustees have authorized us to move forward with the first Purdue purpose-built facility on those 28 acres, and that development will be on the northeast corner of Michigan Street and California street, so just east of the gateway garage. That facility will comprise several floors of the base that will be dedicated to academic programs, active learning classrooms, some science labs, some project maker space as well as community collaboration spaces,” Wasson said.
With the current progress, the hope is to start construction in early 2025 and have the building opened by 2027. The remaining 28 acres used for future projects will be highly dependent on the needs of the PUI student population.
“As part of the master plan that I referenced before, which is looking out 30 to 40 years into the future, a lot of it will be dependent on what the trajectory of enrollment growth is at Purdue and Indianapolis, we had about 800 new beginners this fall, and we're really excited about them joining the Purdue family,” Wasson said. “We'll need to sort of see what enrollment looks like over the next couple of years, and that will help us determine what and how quickly to build additional buildings.”
Aside from enrollment, Purdue is looking to expand options for its research program and partnerships with Indianapolis companies to expand opportunities for future PUI students.
“We're looking at not just academic space or student residential space, but also what types of space we need to successfully deliver our research program. In addition to the 28 acres that I referenced, we're also looking at other collaborative opportunities across the city of Indianapolis,” Wasson said. “We have partnerships already with Dallara out in Speedway, and we do a lot of work with Eli Lilly already. You may have seen an announcement of Purdue working with Elanco as part of our One Health Initiative, so it's very possible that we'll have some space that's marveled into some of these other locations across the city as we grow our footprints in Indianapolis.”
Even with plans to fully expand the PUI campus, it will still be considered a part of the Purdue West Lafayette main campus. As noted by Purdue president Mung Chiang during the PUI Boiler Gold Rush, Purdue West Lafayette will function as a “north campus” while Purdue in Indianapolis will be a “south campus.”
Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Business Journal
“Our Indianapolis pursuit is a direct extension of the West Lafayette campus. We have instructors that are traveling back and forth, and we have teaching assistants that are traveling back and forth depending on the class,” Wasson said. “We want our Indianapolis students to feel like they're part of the Purdue flagship experience. So we've got shuttle buses that make multiple trips a day back and forth between Indianapolis and West Lafayette.
As for current facilities and services provided to PUI students, Purdue is leasing much of its space from Indiana University. This extends to parking spaces/garages and other services available to PUI faculty, staff and students.
“From a facility standpoint, we started operations this fall using leased space in five existing IU Indianapolis buildings, and we're so grateful to Indiana University for allowing us to do that,” Wasson said. “Right now, Purdue has a services agreement with IU to provide several services for Purdue affiliated persons, whether that be faculty, staff or students, parking is one of those (designated) areas. So parking will continue, at this point, to be operated by Indiana University Indianapolis, and there's other services, like the library, for example, that will be managed in a similar way here in the foreseeable future.”
Purdue will also continue to lease student housing spaces at North Hall and Lux on Capitol for the next few years until more permanent spaces are available for students.
“We anticipate that continuing for the next few years, until we get our new facility constructed, and depending on protected enrollment, if we need to go out and lease additional beds or work with IU to get additional beds in North Hall or elsewhere,” Wasson said.
Despite the split, Purdue is still seeking to maintain a strong relationship with IU in order to provide the best for their collective student population.
“I think that both IU and Purdue view this reimagined presence and Indianapolis as a fantastic opportunity we continue strong collaboration with IU, and hopefully the students see that, whether it's through the services agreement that I referenced, or certainly some of the collaborative research that has been and will continue to take place. So you know, Indianapolis is a wonderful community, and you know, and we're just happy to be a part,” Wasson said.
Abigail Godsen (she/her) is a junior majoring in Applied Information Sciences with a minor in Classics. She is Campus Editor for The Campus Citizen. When she isn’t writing, Abby likes to cook, do crossword puzzles and drink a lot of tea. She can be summoned using anything shiny or books.
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