Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Purdue University is in a unique position to help Indiana grow, the university's president told attendees at a Rotary luncheon Friday.
"Purdue is uniquely situated to help Indiana and to help you," said Dr. Martin C. Jischke. "In particular, Purdue wants to play a bigger role in the economic development of the state."
Jischke said he believes the future of Indiana and the nation depends in part on "harnessing the capital of great universities like Purdue."
A university's contributions include not only an educated work force, he said, but also results of the research of the faculty and students. For example, faculty on the Purdue campus includes a Nobel Prize winner, a researcher whose work on viruses could lead to a cure for the common cold, a faculty member who did the preliminary work for MRIs and an agronomy researcher who has developed a breed of soybeans that are resistant to the soybean cyst nematode.
These and other advances, he said, can save Hoosiers millions of dollars and "make a difference in people's lives."
Higher education also increases a person's earning power, he said, and that increases more as the level of education rises. According to 1999 statistics, he said, the average U.S. high school graduate makes $22,000 per year. With an associate's degree, that increases to just below $30,000; with a four-year degree, to $38,000; with a master's degree, $47,000; and with a doctorate, $62,000.
The typical starting salary for a graduate with a degree in electrical or computer engineering is $52,000, he said, and for a student with a Ph.D. in that field is $100,000.
Indiana has a strong emphasis on manufacturing, Jischke said: "No other state has as high a percentage of manufacturing job."
With a global economy moving toward knowledge-based jobs, he said, Purdue could be an asset in helping Indiana "capture a larger share of this economy. ... We have all the tools for Indiana to succeed and we want to do it."
State support of higher education is a concern, he said. "I'm very nervous about what's happening in Indianapolis - revenues are soft and government expenses are growing."
Still, he believes state leaders understand the "relationship between long-term prosperity and the quality of higher education and the capacity of a university to solve problems and create new opportunities," he said.
He's proud of Purdue's tradition and accomplishments, and pointed out that it's the "home of 22 astronauts," including Neil Armstrong.
"We like to say at Purdue," he said, "that when they asked us for the moon, we delivered."
