Get ReConnected - April 2016

Purdue Day of Giving

What is Purdue Day of Giving?

Purdue Day of Giving is an online, system-wide effort to build a better, stronger, more affordable Purdue. For 24 hours, students, alumni, faculty, staff, parents and friends come together to grant opportunities and transform lives. Through challenges, interactive leaderboards, and a little good old-fashioned rivalry, participants are motivated to give back in hopes of pushing their favorite campus, college, school, program or unit to the top!

How can I give?

Visit dayofgiving.purdue.edu/university-residences/ on April 27! The minimum gift requirement is $10, and every gift is amplified by the University, which gives out bonus money based on every department’s percentage of the campus-wide total money raised. You decide where your gifts go to, with University Residences providing several funds to choose from:

• RAISE FUND (offsets RA position costs)
• UR Student Leadership (clubs, awards, student programs)
• General Funds (can designate specific hall or award)

Every gift makes a difference. Thank you for supporting Purdue University Residences!

How else can I help?

1. Follow University Residences at Purdue on Facebook, and Res Life at Purdue on Twitter and Instagram to stay up to date on all things UR!

2. Using Facebook or Twitter, share our Day of Giving “Bigger and Better” video to help University Residences win bonus money from the University. The five departments with the most shares win $1,000!

3. Participate in campus-wide hourly challenges on April 27:

12 p.m. - Most Creative Purdue Day of Giving Selfie on social media with hashtags #PurdueDayofGiving and #PurdueUR - $2,000

3 p.m. - Film yourself (or a group of people) singing chorus of “Hail Purdue” and post on Instagram with hashtags #PurdueDayofGiving and #PurdueUR - $2,000

7 p.m. - Most creative photo of your kids in Purdue gear on Twitter or Instagram with hashtags #PurdueDayofGiving and #PurdueUR

8 p.m. - Most creative picture of your pets in Purdue gear on Twitter or Instagram with hashtags #PurdueDayofGiving and #PurdueUR

Any time - Most Creative Social Post using the Sharing Feature from the Thank You Email or Confirmation Page (I Gave Challenge) after you give

 Please note:  All times are EDT (Purdue time) only. 

President of Residence Hall Association re-elected

Residence Hall Association president Saurabh Kadam has been re-elected by his peers for the 2016-17 school year. Kadam is a sophomore international student from Qatar, originally from India, who is studying civil engineering while residing at First Street Towers at Purdue. Kadam began his hall government career in his freshman year as an RHA representative for Earhart Hall, which eventually led to his decision to apply to become president. “The learning curve with the job is immense, and it’s important to understand that you have to lead not only seven people, you have to lead 40 representatives from every residence hall, the proxies you have, and the presidents that come. More importantly, you’re the voice for 13,000 students on campus,” Kadam said.

During his next year as president, Kadam hopes to make RHA a student government based organization to act for student inclusion and advocacy. This goal will not have as many barriers since Kadam spent his first year building important relationships around campus, such as with Carl Krieger, Director of Residential Life, and Barb Frazee, Executive Director of University Residences. “Having them invest their trust in us, and then to perform in the capacity they expect us to, I think that relationship is established. Now, I can focus more on the personal relationships I need to be building with our residents,” Kadam said.

While creating new and keeping old relationships, Kadam will be striving to take RHA to the next level. To do so, RHA needs to see where their presence on campus is now, what they need to do to make that presence more felt, and how they can personally impact more residences. The kickoff to the implementation of these new goals took place at the leadership symposium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted by Hulman Motorsports CEO Mark Miles in March. Each university in the state was allowed to send three students to the symposium, Kadam being one of them. Frazee nominated Kadam for the opportunity, which not only permitted him to join in on the tradition of “Kissing the Bricks,” but also connected him with numerous peers across the state.

“That was a great experience for me to be with people who have the same thought process as you and the same aspiration as you. It’s not a competitive environment, but a collaborative environment,” said Kadam. The symposium was an exceptional event for leaders of all types of student organizations to learn new skills and enhance old ones. These opportunities are an affirmation of Kadam’s decision to come to Purdue, a choice to travel halfway across the world he originally made in the ninth grade. The university was able to grab Kadam’s attention through international reputation and connections. “The head of our student council was a friend of mine, and he decided to go to Purdue. I decided to look at Purdue’s rankings and the programs they had to offer, and I told my parents ‘I’m going to Purdue,’” Kadam said.

Once all is said and done with his studies, he plans to see what the civil engineering market has to offer here or at home. “Ideally I want to go see my parents. It’s been a while, so I want to go work with them a little bit, and then depending on whether I get an offer here or not, I’ll basically go home,” Kadam said.

RHA has done well on campus with Kadam as president, and with the reelection from his peers, the student body is looking forward to seeing what he has planned for the upcoming year.

Writer: Sheila Swibes

Accenture’s Mosher caps year of executives-in-residence

Patrick Mosher is chief scientist for Sales & Marketing Talent Solutions at Accenture Strategy, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. The Purdue alumnus was the fourth executive-in-residence of the academic year, succeeding Bridget Epp (vice president of sales, fine wine and education; Wente Vineyards), Art Norins (founder and CEO, Nor1), and David Bevirt (senior vice president of leasing, Brookfield).

Mosher’s week-long stay included visits to classes in communication, engineering, management, and dance, as well as project consultation with Honors College students and several informal events with Residential Life groups, such as a racquetball tournament with Cary Quad residents. He also presented “The Impact of ‘Big Data’ on our Daily Lives,” an event open to the Purdue community at Third Street Suites. Mosher was the first returning executive-in-residence, previously serving in spring 2015.

“This is a great opportunity for me to get to know the future leaders in this world. These are people who are going to shape our future,” Mosher said.

Mosher earned a chemical engineering degree from Purdue in 1983, as well as master’s degrees in organizational communication (1987) and human resources (1988). His campus involvement included stints as a counselor and staff resident in Cary Quad, a student senator in Terry Courts, and president of Shreve Club. He also danced for Purdue Repertory Dance Company and performed in Purdue Theater musicals.

“People say ‘you haven’t done any chemical engineering’ and I haven’t, but my work is kind of the same. With chemical engineers, you have a problem to solve, and you apply an algorithm to that situation. I’m doing that every day in my career, but the components I’m dealing with aren’t chemicals, they’re people,” Mosher said. “I left Purdue as an unfinished Ph.D. student, and I feel like I’m still doing research for my Ph.D. 28 years later.”

Mosher has worked for Accenture for 27 years and currently consults with clients across many industries to optimize large-scale sale and marketing organization, culture, and processes. He has traveled across the globe for Accenture, working with clients such as Best Buy, Cisco, Dell, Dupont, Hershey, Medtronic, Microsoft, and Pepsi.

Writer: Matt Watson