WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Thanks to the generosity of two Purdue families – the Schleichers and the Owens – there will be two more namings within the Purdue Athletics footprint: the Dave and Jacque Owens Career Development Gateway and the Morgan and Kate Burke Southwest Entrance of Mackey Arena.
The Dave and Jacque Owens Career Development Gateway is the career development program within student-athlete development, and the naming reflects a gift by Dave and Jacque Owens to support the More Than A Game campaign's $18 million goal. Dave is a Boilermaker football alumnus, Jacque is a Purdue graduate, and their daughter Bailey is a member of the class of 2019. Both Dave's and Jacque's parents are Purdue alumni: Bob Owens, class of 1950, and Carol Browne Quinn, class of 1956.
The goal of the student-athlete development team is to empower student-athletes through education, entrusting them with the resources needed to succeed and providing entrepreneurship opportunities. At the heart of the student-athlete development team is the belief that every Boilermaker should have the opportunities to excel, which is why all initiatives can be traced to at least one of those key concepts: entrust, educate and entrepreneurship. The program resides within the Brees Academic Performance Center. This was a passion point for the Owens family as their company, Midland Trust, is now an 1869 Society member and has hired several Purdue alumni and two student-athletes in the last year. The grit and work ethic of Purdue graduates hires have been a perfect match for their company.
The Morgan and Kate Burke Southwest Entrance of Mackey Arena will be named in honor of the former Purdue vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics (1973) and his wife (1974), thanks to a gift by Richard and Alice Schleicher, daughter Kimra (1988), and family. The family has previously given to name the practice field within the Mollenkopf Athletic Center.
Burke's tenure as athletics director from 1993 to 2016 ranks as the second longest in school history, and during that time he made his name as one of the nation's visionary leaders in intercollegiate athletics. Among the many athletics facility projects Burke oversaw was the Mackey Arena Complex. The Southwest Entrance is adjacent to the intersection of Wooden and Tower drives across from Lambert Fieldhouse. The Morgan J. Burke Boilermaker Aquatic Center was named in 2017 in honor of Burke, who also was a Boilermaker swimmer and swim team captain.
The gift will be used to support the renovation of the men's and women's basketball locker rooms, a project that was put on hold due to the pandemic and is now being revisited. The locker rooms are vital to the success of the programs, with student-athletes spending nearly 1,200 days over a four-year career in these spaces, making facility enhancements necessary to attract the next generation of Boilermakers.
The Dave and Jacque Owens Career Development Gateway is the career development program within student-athlete development, and the naming reflects a gift by Dave and Jacque Owens to support the More Than A Game campaign's $18 million goal. Dave is a Boilermaker football alumnus, Jacque is a Purdue graduate, and their daughter Bailey is a member of the class of 2019. Both Dave's and Jacque's parents are Purdue alumni: Bob Owens, class of 1950, and Carol Browne Quinn, class of 1956.
The goal of the student-athlete development team is to empower student-athletes through education, entrusting them with the resources needed to succeed and providing entrepreneurship opportunities. At the heart of the student-athlete development team is the belief that every Boilermaker should have the opportunities to excel, which is why all initiatives can be traced to at least one of those key concepts: entrust, educate and entrepreneurship. The program resides within the Brees Academic Performance Center. This was a passion point for the Owens family as their company, Midland Trust, is now an 1869 Society member and has hired several Purdue alumni and two student-athletes in the last year. The grit and work ethic of Purdue graduates hires have been a perfect match for their company.
The Morgan and Kate Burke Southwest Entrance of Mackey Arena will be named in honor of the former Purdue vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics (1973) and his wife (1974), thanks to a gift by Richard and Alice Schleicher, daughter Kimra (1988), and family. The family has previously given to name the practice field within the Mollenkopf Athletic Center.
Burke's tenure as athletics director from 1993 to 2016 ranks as the second longest in school history, and during that time he made his name as one of the nation's visionary leaders in intercollegiate athletics. Among the many athletics facility projects Burke oversaw was the Mackey Arena Complex. The Southwest Entrance is adjacent to the intersection of Wooden and Tower drives across from Lambert Fieldhouse. The Morgan J. Burke Boilermaker Aquatic Center was named in 2017 in honor of Burke, who also was a Boilermaker swimmer and swim team captain.
The gift will be used to support the renovation of the men's and women's basketball locker rooms, a project that was put on hold due to the pandemic and is now being revisited. The locker rooms are vital to the success of the programs, with student-athletes spending nearly 1,200 days over a four-year career in these spaces, making facility enhancements necessary to attract the next generation of Boilermakers.