Hawkins Hall offers a great environment for academically-focused undergraduate students who are interested in being close to their classes. Hawkins also has a vibrant international community that includes students from more than 22 countries and offers programming for residents to have the opportunity to meet and socialize outside the classroom with peers and faculty. We strive for our students to be academically and personally successful through our educational and fun events.

Facts about living at Hawkins

Hawkins is a co-ed hall. The hall has a combination of single and double rooms inside a 13-floor building with a shared or private bathroom. All rooms have air conditioning. 

In the Center of Everything

Hawkins is conveniently located close to the Purdue Memorial Union (PMU), academic campus, Hicks Library and Chauncey Hill Mall. Everything you need is in close walking distance, plus access to CityBus, parking garages and accessible underground tunnels make it easy to get around campus.

An Active Community

Programming at Hawkins Hall offers residents the opportunity to meet and socialize outside the classroom. Our diverse staff of resident assistants help organize such events as all-hall cookouts, bowling trips, recreational athletic competitions, shopping trips, movie nights, and cultural events. They also help plan a variety of educational programs that reflect the interests of the residents, such as Chicago trips, ski trips, Mardi Gras, and NASA guest speakers on their floors. We want residents to consider Hawkins a home away from home.

Hall History

In 1981, Graduate House West was renamed George A. Hawkins Graduate House in honor of the former administrator. Dr. Hawkins was on the Purdue staff for 44 years where he served as an engineering teacher and researcher, vice president for academic affairs, and dean of the School of Engineering.

Upon receiving his BSME from Purdue in 1930, he immediately joined the Purdue staff as a graduate assistant while he worked toward his master's degree, which he received in 1932. In 1935, he earned his PhD - only the third doctorate in engineering ever awarded at Purdue. Later, Hawkins studied theoretical thermodynamics and heat transfer under Max Jakob, the famed German researcher, at Illinois Institute of Technology. This work led to a book by Jakob and Hawkins that in turn led to Hawkins' citation as one of the nation's outstanding young research scientists in heat transfer. He was promoted to professor of mechanical engineering and thermodynamics in 1943. A decade later, having also served as an assistant graduate dean, he was picked to succeed A. A. Potter as dean of the School of Engineering. During his tenure, Hawkins recognized changing times and called for a massive shift toward more scientific orientation of engineering curricula.