Purdue selects 1st female president

On Monday, Purdue University’s board of trustees announced that France A. Córdova, an astrophysicist who is chancellor of the University of California at Riverside, will serve as Purdue’s next president. \nCórdova will be the first Hispanic woman to be Purdue’s president.\nHer hiring follows the selection and appointment of IU Interim Provost Michael McRobbie as IU’s new president. McRobbie and Córdova will take their positions in July at IU and Purdue respectively.\nShe will succeed Martin C. Jischke, who is retiring in July after serving as Purdue’s president since 2000, according to a press release. \nJ. Timothy McGinley, chairman of Purdue’s board of trustees, said Córdova emerged from an “outstanding” pool of people. \n“Dr. Córdova stood out as the right person at the right time for Purdue,” McGinley said in a press release. \nCórdova was recently the chief scientist for NASA.\nMcGinley said in a press release that her “resume is truly out of this world.”\nCórdova is known on the Riverside campus in California for leading plans to create new medical, law and public policy schools, as well as helping to make the university one of the most socioeconomically diverse in the nation.\n“Purdue will be the energizer for the state’s economy,” Córdova said in a press release.\nBut Córdova is not leaving Riverside without opposition. McGinley said students and faculty members at Riverside campaigned to keep her at the California campus when news leaked about her candidacy in recent months, according to a press release.