University Residences and Dining & Culinary welcomed housing and food service professionals from across the Big Ten to campus for the Big Ten Housing Conference, held October 23-25.
The conference saw 160 professionals from across the Big Ten gather to network with peers, listen to presentations and learn from each other. Hosting the conference gave Purdue the chance to show off its best, and the planning committee responded with programming and themes that highlighted outstanding programs, people, services and facilities, as well as Indiana businesses and the Greater Lafayette community.
Conference events provided Purdue the opportunity to showcase recent dining upgrades to Earhart Dining Court as well as The Burrow, located in Cary Quad. The keynote luncheon highlighted the pristine Great Hall in Honors College and Residences, and other events allowed participants to see University Residences and Dining & Culinary facilities as well as the Spurgeon Club in Mackey Arena. Guests could also take a walking campus tour. Purdue’s ability to continue delivering a high-quality residential experience while keeping tuition and room and board costs frozen stands out among its Big Ten peers.
“Every time we’re on a call or we meet with anyone in the Big Ten, everyone is impressed that we’ve been able to keep our tuition and rate freezes,” says Azrielle Nunnally, senior director of operations for University Residences and Dining & Culinary. “To be able to show that we’re doing this while adding and improving our facilities, and continuing to deliver strong programming is something we take a lot of pride in.”
University Residences has opened five new residence halls in the last decade and will add two more by 2026, beginning with a new facility at the corner of Third Street and McCormick Road in 2025. The two new facilities will contribute to a 35 percent increase in the number of on-campus beds since 2013.
“We’re excited that we’re able to show the amount of students that we have living with us,” says Chris Skiba, director of capital projects. “Our new buildings that we’ve brought online since the tuition freeze are a big part of that. Not many universities have been able to build this many residence halls in such a short time.”
University Residences’ unique Executive in Residence (EiR) program was highlighted as Dave Omholt, a franchise investor and consultant who has served as an EiR, delivered the keynote address at a luncheon during the conference. EiR brings successful Purdue alumni and executives to campus where they live among students for up to one week and interact with students in various settings, ranging from classrooms and meeting rooms to racquetball courts and dining courts. Omholt represented a program that will celebrate 10 years in 2024 and now includes an ambassador program, a learning community and opportunities to travel to visit participating executives during spring break.
As part of the conference, professionals divide into cohorts to discuss topics of relevance to their areas of expertise. These cohorts allow professionals to build their networks and work collaboratively to plan, respond to challenges and improve processes and programming on their respective campuses.
“It’s important to be able to speak with your colleagues about experiences everyone is going through,” says Christa Pazera, director of Residential Life. “I can talk to someone from a local school, but nobody is going to get it like somebody who has 10,000 students who live and dine with them under that housing and dining services umbrella and all the things that encompasses.”
While other conferences deliver general housing or dining programming, cohorts at the Big Ten Conference allow for a more specific exchange of information to take place. Cohorts range from areas such as information technology and marketing to dining services, learning communities, student conduct and residential life.
“These make sure every part of the department is represented in some way,” says Coree Burton, assistant director of multicultural education for University Residences. “Many housing conferences are very hall director-driven, but we need to think about our support staff, our facilities and more. It’s nice that this conference has a dining component, a facilities component, a director’s component and so forth. I really enjoy that.”
The success of the 2023 conference can be attributed to the year spent planning and coordinating the myriad of details to make the event run smoothly. Planning began with a debrief on the way back from last year’s conference, which was held at Penn State University. The year leading up to the conference was filled coordinating everything from registration and hotels to room decoration and themes. The planning committee was able to obtain sponsors and highlight local businesses as part of the conference.
“It’s a great chance for them to give back to us,” says Missy Gulick, outreach and engagement coordinator for the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Life and part of the conference’s planning committee. “It’s also a chance for them to get their products and services in front of the entire Big Ten. We’re able to highlight our partnerships and give them a chance to get in front of an audience they might not already have.”
The Big Ten Conference planning committee included 21 professionals from across University Residences, Dining & Culinary and the Office of the Vice Provost for Student Life.