Regarding new years, Nobel Prize winning poet T.S. Eliot was quoted saying, “To make an end is to make a beginning.”

Purdue University Northwest (PNW) entered 2018 and wrote an exciting chapter in its history, filled with several firsts, shattered records and new beginnings. In years to come, 2018 will be remembered as a momentous one for PNW.

Here are some highlights of 2018 at PNW.

  • Purdue Northwest grew to three destinations through the $12 million gift by the Gabis family of the former Taltree Arboretum & Gardens near Valparaiso. The site is now the Gabis Arboretum at Purdue Northwest and remains one of the country’s most vital arboretums, open to the public.


  • Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward Humes enlightened students in March about our wasteful ways as he hosted a panel discussion on his book, “Garbology: Our dirty love affair with trash—and the way back.”


  • PNW brought together community leaders and advocates working on the front lines of the opioid crisis in northwest Indiana for a day-long conference at the Westville Campus.


  • PNW’s College of Business received a prestigious recognition from AACSB International for its pilot partnership with Junior Achievement of Chicago-Northwest Indiana. PNW was among only 30 institutions recognized globally.


  • Supporters of PNW raised a record $1,058,979 in 24 hours in April during Purdue Northwest’s Day of Giving.


  • In July, the NCAA approved Purdue University Northwest athletics for its third and final provisional year to becoming a full member of NCAA Division II.


  • For the second consecutive time, PNW’s College of Nursing was named as one of 16 “Centers of Excellence” by the National League of Nursing.


  • PNW began a new collaboration with the Society of Innovators of Northwest Indiana, further enhancing its role as the Region’s gateway for creators, innovators and entrepreneurs.


  • The ground at PNW’s Hammond Campus shook in August for the ceremonial groundbreaking on the new $40.5 million Bioscience Innovation Building.


  • Purdue Northwest shared the national spotlight as the Sinai Forum kicked off its 65th season with Former FBI Director James Comey. Other noted speakers for the year included Washington Postreporter Robert Costa and legendary college football coach Lou Holtz.


  • In October, PNW’s Westville Campus hosted the university’s first nationally-televised political debate in Indiana’s hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate.


  • The Purdue Northwest Counseling Center on Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond, housing PNW’s Marriage and Family Therapy Center, and Community Counseling Center, officially opened.


  • Men’s soccer became PNW’s first NCAA Division II team ever to host a postseason conference match.


  • Purdue Northwest awarded its first applied doctoral degrees in the College of Nursing—a poetic ending to the year.

This leads us back to Eliot, who also said, “For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice.”