Remarks by Purdue President Martin C. Jischke at the April 17 dedication of David C. Pfendler Hall of Agriculture

Good morning. This is a very exciting day!

Photo by Tom Campbell Purdue President Martin C. Jischke (left) congratulates David (left) and Peter Pfendler at the April 16 dedication ceremony of Pfendler Hall.

Today we are celebrating a fusion of the great history and heritage of this university, with the excitement and potentials of its future.

Today we are celebrating the fulfillment of all our yesterdays and the promises of tomorrow.

Purdue is one of the great universities of this nation and world.

It emerged in the 19th century, out of the Morrill Land Grant Act, with missions we now call learning, discovery, and engagement.

By the start of the 20th century, Purdue had already grown into a prominent institution that was about to play a major role in one of the greatest cultural and economic advancements of all time.

Beginning in the early 20th century, Purdue and other land-grant universities revolutionized American agriculture by taking science out of the laboratories and onto the farms.

Land-grant universities, and the people who served them, helped to build the United States into the number one agricultural nation in the world.

All of this was just beginning to emerge in 1901 when this building we are celebrating today first opened.

It opened as the original home of the entire College of Agriculture.

Imagine the pride of the Purdue people on the day that they first dedicated and opened this building more than a century ago.

It is not hard to imagine how they felt. It is the same way we feel today.

The walls, halls, classrooms, and laboratories of this building witnessed the history of American agriculture through the 20th century.

The story of agriculture is written in its bricks and mortar. Moreover, the history and story of our campus is told in this red brick structure that has been greeting Purdue people spring, summer, winter, and fall for 103 years.

This is our heritage. This is where we have been. This is what we are building upon as we reach for preeminence in the future.

We join our parents, grandparents, and greatgrandparents in celebrating the preservation of our past and the birth of our future.

When this building first opened, it celebrated the pride of visionary Purdue people who saw the potential of this university for our state and nation.

In the great tradition of Purdue, they were building one brick higher. Today, we are called to build another brick higher.

Today this important part of the history of Purdue has undergone a $16 million facelift.

The best of its history and tradition have been preserved, while at the same time expanding its potential and updating its technology to meet the needs of 21st century learning, discovery, and engagement.

Today we are celebrating what was once among the oldest, and is now among the newest, research and teaching facilities on this great campus.

The restored, renovated, and expanded Pfendler Hall provides the Department of Forestry and Natural Resources with state-ofthe- art laboratory facilities and much-needed space.

It will help to advance forest science and establish the department's preeminence among institutions throughout the world.

This great building first opened seven years before David Pfendler was born. Dave enrolled at Purdue in 1925 and graduated in 1932, his studies having been interrupted by the Great Depression.

He returned to Purdue in 1936 and began 38 years of service before retiring as professor and associate dean of agriculture in 1974.

Upon his retirement, then President Arthur Hansen said: “As long as this university exists, it shall contain a part of Dave Pfendler, who served it and its students so well for so many years.”

The renaming of this building as Pfendler Hall ensures Dr. Hansen's promise in our time.

Upon his retirement in 1974, Dave reflected on the past. He said: “When I first came here, the College of Agriculture I wanted to study under and work for didn't exist. We invented it.”

That also describes Purdue's role in everything we are doing today.

As the next great revolutions in agriculture, engineering, science, and technology emerge, Purdue will be among those helping to invent them.

Congratulations to all of you.

Thanks to everyone who helped to make this day possible. Today we are dedicating a remodeled, expanded Pfendler Hall.

But in larger sense, what we are doing today is rededicating ourselves to the promise that Purdue learning, discovery, and engagement will impact the next 100 years with the same power and endurance as in the century just past.

Hail Purdue.

These plaques hang in the David C. Pfendler Hall of Agriculture, which is named for a Purdue alumnus who was a Purdue counselor and administrator for 38 years. The renovation and expansion of the second-oldest building on campus was financed primarily by $12 million from the John S. Wright Fund for the Promotion of Forestry.