Purdue Northwest celebrates 50th anniversary of Title IX

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Hello again, Purdue Northwest colleagues!

The PNW Pridecast, your internal faculty and staff news podcast, is back. Once again, this is Kale Wilk, Communications Specialist in Marketing and Communications, and I’m ready to guide you through more important university updates.

Purdue Northwest celebrates 50th anniversary of Title IX

This year Purdue Northwest, along with higher education institutions around the U.S., is recognizing the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the landmark piece of legislation passed in 1972, which reads “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.” The 37 famous words were actually composed by then Indiana Senator Birch Bayh.

While similar legislation, such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act, had barred discrimination based on sex in places of employment, Title IX’s inclusion in the Education Amendments was very much intended to help women in achieving equal access in federally-funded education institutions. The legislation has had far-reaching implications on providing women equal opportunities in acceptance in educational spaces, equal treatment to their male peers, and adequately investigating and preventing incidents of sexual violence. Each higher education institution is required to designate an employee as a Title IX coordinator to ensure compliance and oversee any complaints of sex discrimination or observe for any patterns in systemic problems arising from such complaints. Here at Purdue Northwest, you can contact Linda Knox or Laura Odom.

Title IX is also highly celebrated in regard to its implications for equal access in sports. The legislation helped pave the way for women to fight for equal resources, facilities, and treatment compared to their male peers in many different sports.

The PNW Athletics Today program on WJOB, hosted by Athletic Director Rick Costello, recently brought on several guests to talk about the importance of Title IX for women’s sports. Here are some thoughts from Courtney Locke, assistant athletic director for Strategic Initiatives and head women’s basketball coach, as well as a former women’s basketball player at Rutgers:

“I think our initial thought is that it’s great that things are changing, but we still have a long way to go,” said Locke. “We talk about Title IX and to us it’s the floor, not the ceiling. Sometimes we think if we’re just in compliance with Title IX that we’re good, and we still have a long way to go.

“I think this is the place where people are finally starting to recognize that our product and the things that we do as female student-athletes and coaches is just as equal if not better, because their games are sold out and they’re doing phenomenal, and that we deserve just as much as our counterparts.”

Here’s Rick Costello with some additional telling statistics:

“Believe it or not in 1965 only 8% of medical students were female, only 4% of law students were female, and 7% of high school athletes were female. Those numbers are so drastically low. But you really have to understand what was going on in the 60s to understand what the fight for Title IX is all about.”

PNW Athletics will be celebrating Title IX with recognitions for female student-athletes during their respective sports. You can also catch interviews with several of PNW’s female student-athletes on WJOB and JedTV.

For more information about Title IX at PNW, you can visit the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion’s website at pnw.edu/edi.

Center for Justice and Post-Exoneration Assistance launches

PNW’s Center for Justice and Post-Exoneration Assistance (CJPA), led by Dr. Nicky Ali Jackson, professor of Criminal Justice, recently hosted a successful launch celebration at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster. The event officially marked the advocacy center’s launch and honored several individuals for their work in support of CJPA or exonerees. The keynote speaker was Yusef Salaam, one of the five exonerees in the Central Park jogger case in New York City. Salaam also serves on the CJPA’s advisory board.

The CJPA will work on criminal justice and legal policy reform to avert miscarriages of justice and to help inmates requesting support following a claimed wrongful conviction. The center can also serve as a conduit for inmates alleging mistreatment in prisons. The center now has an intake form where letters from inmates can be examined for possibility of factual innocence, which can then result in further review.

While the center is mostly focused on serving and acting in Indiana, it will also consider cases out-of-state. The center is investigating two cases at this time, and the center’s staff and PNW students are collaborating with criminal justice and law students at other institutions, including Boston College, UCLA, the University of Illinois, and the University of Michigan.

The CJPA is also connected to the ongoing work of the Willie T. Donald Exoneration Advisory Coalition, also founded by Jackson, which actively helps with material assistance for exonerees.

“Nothing is quick in this work we do,” said Jackson. “Don’t expect to see an exoneration in a year, two, three, four, or five. It probably won’t happen, and the average exoneration takes nine years — average!

“I love that our students are working with other universities. I think that’s so important for our students to see that there is a world out there and that there are other students who are just as passionate as they are. I think it’s really neat that they’re going to be able to work together.”

To learn more information, visit pnw.edu/cjpa.

Doctor of Technology program receives approval

The Higher Learning Commission recently approved PNW to begin offering its new Doctor of Technology applied research program. The new degree, which will be offered through the College of Technology, is PNW’s second applied doctoral program, joining the university’s already highly successful Doctor of Nursing Practice in the College of Nursing.

The Doctor of Technology degree is a distinct program in this academic discipline, as it is the only on-campus doctoral program in the technology field of its kind. The applied-research professional doctoral program will allow students to expand and apply knowledge and research to solve practice-based problems in several technology-related fields. The degree is designed to encompass best practice techniques that can be implemented in business, industry, government and non-governmental organizations, as well as by entrepreneurs.

The College of Technology plans to have its first cohort in spring 2023.

To learn more information, visit pnw.edu/technology.

Recent news

Finally, we are pleased to share a handful of faculty and staff recognitions.

• The Purdue University Board of Trustees recently ratified the appointment of Veera Gnaneswar Gude as PNW’s NiSource-Meyer Charitable Foundation Professor of Energy and the Environment. Gude is a professor of Civil Engineering in the College of Engineering and Sciences and director of the PNW Water Institute.
• Jodi Allen, Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) and assistant professor in the College of Nursing, was recently given the Spirit Award by the staff of the local Sojourner Truth House in Gary, a day shelter that assists economically disadvantaged women and their children. Allen first became involved with the shelter when she was a PNW nursing student and continued that partnership when she began teaching full-time in 2015 by taking FNP students to provide service and gain practical community nursing experience.
• Another piece of College of Nursing news, Assistant Professor Julia Rogers recently published the ninth edition of McCance & Huether’s Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults and Children. Fellow College of Nursing faculty members Jodi Allen and Corinne Djuric, clinical instructor, contributed chapters to the book.

The textbook is the most commonly used text in graduate nursing programs in the U.S. According to Rogers, her textbook lays the groundwork for students to understand every disease they will likely see in their careers. New to this edition is a section on COVID-19 and emerging science boxes which highlight current research and clinical developments on specific diseases.

• Kristin Burton, assistant professor of Entrepreneurship, was recognized as the Northwest Indiana Influential Woman of the Year in Education at a late September awards ceremony. This is the second consecutive year PNW’s College of Business faculty members have won the prestigious award, as Raida Abuizam, associate dean of Accreditation, Assessment and Graduate Studies for the College and professor of Operations Management, was recognized in 2021.
• Finally, Jacob Lenson, assistant vice chancellor for Campus Planning, Infrastructure, and Facilities was recently honored in The Times of Northwest Indiana’s annual 20 under 40 awards.

The annual awards program was created to identify and honor individuals who have shown outstanding leadership and have become key players in the growth and development of Northwest Indiana.

Stephen Turner, vice chancellor for Finance and Administration, noted Lenson has earned a reputation as a well-respected and highly talented design professional whose work has helped transform PNW’s facilities, including the addition of the Nils K. Nelson Bioscience Innovation Building and the community-facing resources on Indianapolis Boulevard in Hammond.

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That’ll do it for this installment. Visit pnw.edu/pridecast to catch up on past episodes, connect with employee resources, and to submit your own internal news. You can use our Qualtrics form or email us at pnwpridecast@pnw.edu. 

I’m Kale Wilk, signing off, and I’ll connect with you again in a few weeks.