Gov. Daniels to be named Purdue's next president

Purdue University’s Board of Trustees is expected to select current Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as Purdue’s next president at a meeting Thursday, according to at least two Indianapolis-based media outlets.

The Indianapolis Star and WISH-TV have both confirmed via anonymous sources that Gov. Daniels will be named the University’s next president.

Gov. Daniels’s press secretary Jane Jankowski said in an e-mail the Governor’s office has no comment.  Spokespeople for Purdue University and Purdue University Board of Trustees were not immediately available for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Gov. Daniels’s current term will end in January 2013. Current Purdue president France Córdova announced in July 2011 that she would step down when her contract ends this current month, according to WISH-TV.

John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, laid out advantages for both Purdue and Gov. Daniels if he is named as the University’s next President.

“He would be able to leverage fundraising like no other person that I could think of in Indiana,” Ketzenberger said. “That’s increasingly important as the legislature has reduced funding for higher education in the last five years, some of it ironically under Governor Daniels’s request.”

Ketzenberger also pointed out a trend of hiring private sector executives to fill higher education administrative spots. If Daniels were selected, he said, he will bring a corporate mindset to higher education administration, which has historically valued a background in academia.

“I think it’ll be interesting to see how someone from politics and the private sector approaches higher education,” Ketzenberger said.

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