2000
Jerry Rawls, president and chief executive officer of Finisar Corp. and a 1968 Krannert master's alum, pledges $10 million to the Krannert at the Frontier Campaign. The gift is the largest in Krannert history and one of the largest at Purdue. In recognition of his generosity, the Purdue Board of Trustees votes to name the new Krannert facility Jerry S. Rawls Hall.
Steven and Linda Webster pledge $2 million for the Krannert campaign. Steven Webster, vice chairman of the board of R&B Falcon Corp., serves on the Dean's Advisory Council and as a member of the campaign cabinet.
Gordon Wright, the Basil Sidney Turner Professor of Economics and Management, passes away Jan. 11 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Until a few days before his death, he continued to work on building plans, faculty recruitment, and other Krannert projects from his home. The School plans to honor his memory by naming the Gordon P. Wright Classroom in Rawls Hall.
Steve Green, a Krannert faculty member since 1987, is named the Basil Sidney Turner Professor of Management.
A group of Krannert alumni at Accenture, pledge $1 million for the creation of the Accenture Professorship in Information Technology. Joe Forehand, a 1972 MSIA graduate, is Accenture's chief operating officer and managing partner.
An e-business option is added for MSM students beginning in the fall of 2000. Thirteen courses relating to e-business are planned to be taught by faculty from Krannert and other schools.
Martin C. Jischke becomes Purdue's 10th president on August 14th. He previously was president at Iowa State University.
2001
The Master of Science in Management (MSM) degree is officially changed to a Master of Business Administration (MBA). The name change, which does not require any change in curriculum, is made to conform to other top business schools.
In its first-ever survey, the Wall Street Journal ranks the Krannert MBA program the sixth-best in the world. The survey is based exclusively on the opinions of corporate recruiters.
The first Krannert Leadership Speakers Series event is held in Carmel, Ind., and features a keynote address from basketball legend and author Bill Russell. More than 400 people attend the event, which is supported by the Krannert School Alumni Association. Jerry Semler, the chairman, president, and chief executive officer of American United Life Insurance, receives the first Krannert Business Leadership Award for his corporate and community activities.
Purdue alumna Susan Butler, a managing partner in the office of the chief executive officer at Accenture, donates $750,000 to endow the Susan Bulkeley Butler Chair in Operations Management. The $1.5 million endowment also includes contributions from Harold Greenberg and Al Schleicher, both members of the Dean's Advisory Council.
Krannert Executive Education Programs are ranked in the top 20 in two worldwide rankings. Business Week places Krannert 14th, while Financial Times ranks the School 17th.
Formal groundbreaking ceremonies are held for Rawls Hall. The building receives an award before construction begins, as AS&U magazine's Architectural Portfolio awards honor the open design and layout of the center space.
2002
MBA students Dan Gertner and Tuan Tran take first place in the growth-fund category at the University of Dayton Redefining Investment Strategy Fund (RISE) competition. Their win is based on a presentation and the performance of the Krannert Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF). The pair is flown interviewed on CNBC and featured in Business Week.
Prabuddha De is named Accenture Professor of Information Technology. He previously was Sherman-Standard Register Chair in Management Information Systems at the University of Dayton. Senior Associate Dean Bob Plante is named James Brooke Henderson Professor of Management.
Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh discusses corporate responsibility and ethics with a group of undergraduate Krannert students on the West Lafayette campus. The Krannert School brings several speakers to campus to discuss ethics in the wake of national scandals. Among the speakers is Jack Beatty, senior editor with Atlantic Monthly, who covers Enron and ethics during the Lilly Endowment Entrepreneurial Speakers Series.
Network Appliance of Sunnyvale, Calif., donates a terabyte of data storage for use in Rawls Hall. The storage hardware is valued at $275,000.
Purdue University announces the largest private fund-raising effort by any university in the state. The Campaign for Purdue is scheduled to raise $1.3 billion by the year 2007. Krannert alumnus Bill Bindley, chairman and chief executive officer of Bindley Capital Partners LLC and a member of the Krannert Dean's Advisory Council, donates $52.5 million to the University, the largest single individual gift in Purdue history. Part of the money funds the Bindley Bioscience Center in Discovery Park.
2003
Several Krannert faculty members hold a reception for Vernon Smith, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who launched his groundbreaking research at Purdue. A seventh-floor laboratory in the Krannert Building is named in Smith's honor.
Charalambos (Roko) Aliprantis is named a Distinguished Professor of Economics. David Denis is named the Burton D. Morgan Chair of Private Enterprise.
Former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh and former Southwest Airlines CEO Howard Putnam speak to Krannert faculty, staff, and students in The Purdue Series on Corporate Citizenship and Ethics, a collaboration between the Krannert School and the School of Education.
Through the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship, the Krannert School conducts the first Purdue Life Sciences Business Plan Competition. A total of 46 teams from around the country compete for $147,000 in prize money, with $100,000 coming from lead sponsor Roche Diagnostics Corp. The winning entry, formed by principals from the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Rochester, developed an application that allows early detection of eye diseases.
Jerry S. Rawls Hall opens for fall semester classes. On October 2, the Krannert School dedicates Rawls Hall. The baseball-themed ceremony includes the reading of letters from President George W. Bush and Senators Evan Bayh and Richard Lugar, and a "first pitch" from lead donor Jerry Rawls. That evening, Tim Russert of NBC's "Meet the Press" is the keynote speaker for the Krannert Leadership Speakers Series before a sold-out crowd at the Purdue Memorial Union Ballrooms.
Alok Chaturvedi, associate professor of management, is named director of Purdue's Homeland Security Institute.
2004
The Krannert School is ranked a #1 MBA program by the Wall Street Journal in its annual survey of recruiters. Krannert finishes ahead of 43 other schools that have a concentration of recruiters from a regional geographic area. Dean Rick Cosier is interviewed live on CNBC in conjunction with the top ranking. Krannert is also ranked the Most Improved Program by BusinessWeek, finishing 21st in its survey.
Krannert begins an Undergraduate Enhancement Program, which includes an Undergraduate Management Communications Center. Students are encouraged to use the center to improve their presentation skills.
Krannert undergraduate advisor Deb Bearden receives the 2003-04 Purdue Student Government Outstanding Academic Advisor Award.
Jack Barron is named the Loeb Professor of Economics, succeeding John Carlson, who retires. Also retiring is former Krannert Dean Keith Smith.
The Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Purdue’s Discovery Park is dedicated. Krannert Dean Rick Cosier is director of the center, which teams with the Lilly Endowment to conduct Opportunity for Indiana Business Plan Competitions in three Indiana locations.
Gerry McCartney returns to the Krannert School from the Wharton School to serve as assistant dean for information technology.
Krannert alumna Marge Magner (MSIA ’74) of Citigroup is ranked #19 among “The Most Powerful Women in the World” by Forbes magazine.
2005
For the second straight year, Krannert is ranked a #1 MBA program by the Wall Street Journal, this time besting 46 other schools listed in the regional category. U.S.News & World Report ranks the Krannert School undergraduate program #12, its highest placement in a decade.
Krannert professors Bill Lewellen and John McConnell are named among the top 10 prolific finance professors over the last 50 years in a study published in the Journal of Financial Literature. Professor David Denis and Keith Smith also place among the top 6 percent of researchers in the study.
Ananth Iyer is named the Susan Bulkeley Chair in Operations Management, and Leroy Schwarz is named Louis A. Weil Jr. Professor of Management. Tina Betts Davis joins the Krannert staff as Director of diversity initiatives. Three of the School’s most visible faculty members retire: Arnie Cooper, who was a member of the first graduating Krannert master’s class; former Dean Dennis Weidenaar; and Phil Scaletta, who joined the faculty in business law in 1966.
Professor Emeritus Jay Wiley, who came to Purdue in 1938 as an instructor and was affiliated with Purdue for 66 years, dies at the age of 91.
Two alums are honored for gifts of $1 million to Purdue University and the Krannert School. William Kassling (BSIM ’67), and his wife, Patricia, and Tom Page (MSIA’63), and his wife, Evelyn, are recognized before a sellout crowd at the Krannert Leadership Speakers Series event featuring keynote speaker Steve Forbes.
MBA students have three new interdisciplinary study options in global supply chain management, analytical consulting, and technological innovation and entrepreneurship.
2006
The administration structure of the MBA and Krannert executive Education Programs (KEEP) is combined to better serve the needs of students and employers. Bill Lewellen, who has served as director of KEEP since 1985, returns full-time to the faculty. Professor Jerry Lynch is named academic director of full-time and executive education master’s programs.
Krannert undergraduate and graduate students travel to China as part of agreements the School signs with three Chinese universities as part of Purdue’s Asian Initiative. The agreements with Zhejiang University, Tsinghua University, and Beijing University call for a range of programs, including education, research, and faculty and student exchanges.
The Global Supply Chain Management Initiative, headed by Professor Ananth Iyer, hosts a conference at Purdue. Corporate executives and Krannert experts discuss topics such as logistics, intellectual property protection, and radio frequency identification (RFID).
2007
The Krannert School portion of the $1.7 billion Campaign for Purdue finishes at $93.8 million, 12 percent better than its goal of $83.4 million. The school privately funds Rawls Hall and 10 new faculty chairs during the campaign.
The school announces a $2 million gift from alumnus Steven Webster (BSIM '73) that will complete improvements to the Krannert Building, including and expansion of undergraduate facilities and a renovation of the Management and Economics Library.
Krannert junior Liz Lehmann becomes the first female to win the Purdue Grand Prix go-kart race.
The School of Management holds its 50th anniversary celebration during Homecoming Weekend in October. The three-day event includes a number of guest speakers, alumni panels, special luncheons, and a musical performance by the Buckinghams. Speakers includes Vernon Smith, who started his academic career at Purdue and won a Nobel Prize in economics, and alumnus Hugo Sonnenschein (MSM '63, PhD '64, HDR 96), president emeritus of the University of Chicago.
2008
Former Senator Paul Sarbanes, co-author of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, speaks in the Purdue Series on Corporate Citizenship and Ethics. The series is co-hosted by the Krannert School and the James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship in Purdue's College of Education.
Economics Professor Emeritus George Horwich, who was at Purdue for all of part of five decades, passes away at age 83.
Krannert Dean and Leeds Professor of Management Rick Cosier begins a one-year term as chair of the AACSB board of directors. The Krannert School is reaccredited by AACSB after a positive report from the visiting accrediting team.
Krannert's newest degree offering, the Master of Science degree in Finance (MSF), enrolls 25 students in its first class. The MSF leverages the established MBA core curriculum with a concentrated focus on finance, accounting, economics, and quantitative methods.
The Krannert School restructures its academic programs into the departments of economics and management. Inaugural department heads are Jack Barron (economics) and Manu Kalwani (management). Krannert also offers undergraduate students more study options with a move from minors to concentrations.
Krannert Executive Education Programs (KEEP) celebrate their 25th anniversary. The Executive MBA (EMBA) Program is ranked 20th among U.S. schools by U.S.News & World Report and 22nd worldwide by the Wall Street Journal.
2009
Cornell Bell, the long-time director of the Dr. Cornell A. Bell Business Opportunity Program (BOP), passes away at age 84. Dr. Bell mentored hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students during his tenure of more than three decades at Purdue. A celebration of his life is held in the Krannert Drawing Room.
The Krannert School revises the curriculum for its MBA and MSIA programs. The changes are geared to provide a more tailored curriculum, more experiential learning, more time to collaborate with other students and faculty in small groups, greater exposure to diverse teaching methods, and increased opportunities for global study trips.
Purdue welcomes its first class in the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV). The week-long on-campus training helps train veterans disabled post-9/11 to start their own businesses. Purdue is one of several universities involved in the EBV consortium.
Rick Cosier announces he will step down as dean of the Krannert School following the 2009-10 academic year. He remains at Purdue as Leeds Professor of Management, and also serves as co-director of the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship.
The undergraduate advising and administrative offices move to the newly renovated third floor of the Krannert Building. The space was formerly occupied by the Management and Economics Library, which is undergoing its own renovation.
Samuel Allen (BSIM ’75) becomes the ninth CEO in the 172-year history of Deere & Co. Allen began his career at Deere in 1975 as an industrial engineer.