Purdue Agriculture welcomes transfers from 2-year colleges

By TOM CAMPBELL

Scott Renshaw would be the first to tell you. Even the best of students may not be ready for a place like Purdue after high school graduation.

Renshaw earned straight A’s at South Knox High School near Vincennes, so grades didn’t hold him back from a four-year college program. But when he graduated as class valedictorian in 1991, the idea of attending a school like Purdue seemed overwhelming, too daunting for such a shy person.

Renshaw settled in at Vincennes University, a two-year institution. He got good grades, and two years later, he was ready for Purdue’s West Lafayette campus.

Whittaker

“Some people aren’t academically or emotionally prepared for college when they get out of high school, and a two-year college is a great place for them,” says Dale Whittaker, associate dean of agriculture and director of academic programs for the school.

Indeed, 24 Vincennes University students who enrolled in Purdue’s College of Agriculture for the fall ’03 semester were following a path that Renshaw helped blaze.

“We’ve had a long and successful relationship with Vincennes University,” Whittaker says. “Their students get a good foundation in general education as well as in science.”

Overall, 134 students with diverse secondary education backgrounds — ranging from Hawaii Pacific University to Black Hawk College to Ivy Tech and everything in between — continued their academic careers in Purdue’s College of Agriculture during the current school year.

One of the missions of the Office of Academic Programs is to make it easier for those students to find their way to Purdue Agriculture.

“Before a student even takes a course at a community college or other school, we want them to know whether their coursework will transfer to Purdue,” Whittaker says.

Their pathway to Purdue may not be the shortest distance to a degree or the most direct route to a successful career, but ultimately it can be every bit as rewarding.

Scott Renshaw found his calling away from agriculture, but that doesn’t diminish the pride Purdue takes in helping along the way.

“Absolutely,” says Martin Okos, Renshaw’s adviser in food process engineering while Renshaw was a Purdue Agriculture undergraduate student.

“The fact that he left does not diminish what he accomplished while he was here or what he accomplished after he left,” Okos says. “What I’m most proud of is when a student gets to do what they want to do in life, when they find the career that is right for themselves. And clearly, Scott has done that.”

Contact Whittaker at dwhittak@purdue.edu