A Passion for Excellence: The History of Aviation Education at Purdue University

From the beginning of powered flight, Purdue University and its students, alumni, and faculty have been deeply involved as visionaries, designers, educators, and practitioners. A significant part of this long and rich heritage of aviation involvement and leadership is the pursuit of excellence in aviation education at Purdue, which began in the early 1900s, became more focused during World War II with the arrival of Grove Webster, and "took flight" in earnest with the hiring of James Maris in 1955. This book tells the story of the students, teachers, administrators, and alumni of the Department of Aviation Technology, now the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology, each of whom has added their own pursuit of excellence in aviation, which has made the collective passion for excellence in aviation education at Purdue internationally-recognized and respected. The story is told in narratives from the historical record, interviews with graduates and current students, and pictures, with the goal of weaving for the reader a sense of the rich tapestry of aviation excellence at Purdue.

Kevin Cullen spent more than 40 years as a newspaper reporter and editor before his retirement in 2016. A journalism graduate of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, he wrote news and features for the Daily Illini, student newspaper of the University of Illinois; the Commercial-News (Danville, Ill.); the Journal and Courier (Lafayette, Ind.) and the Cincinnati Enquirer. For a decade he wrote for and edited the Catholic Moment, a weekly diocesan newspaper in Lafayette, and served as communications director for two bishops. He covered the first Farm Aid concert; the 1979 Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm, Sweden; the release of Iranian hostage Rick Kupke; appearances by Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton; the 1993 Mississippi River flood; the Kentucky state legislature; the U.S. visit of Pope Francis; city government; education; health; courts; police and features. As Purdue University reporter, he covered campus news and features in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, during the Hansen, Beering and Jischke administrations. Cullen wrote weekly local history columns for the Journal and Courier for 15 years and he continues to write columns for the Commercial-News. He has won numerous national, regional, and state journalism awards, and was honored by the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency for his coverage of historic preservation issues. Cullen was named to the Schlarman High School Hall of Fame in Danville, Illinois, and received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Danville Area Community College. He has served on the governing boards of the Tippecanoe County Historical Association in Lafayette and the Preservation and Conservation Association (PACA) in Champaign, Ill.

Robert Krizek is an Emeritus Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Saint Louis University. His area of expertise is broadly defined as Organizational Communication with a methodological expertise in ethnographic research and narrative analysis. In addition to research into socialization and storytelling in organizational contexts, he studies the personal and social impact of public and organizational events using interview and ethnographic techniques. He often presents his research at international, national, and regional conferences, and his work has appeared in numerous journals including the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Applied Communication Research, and Journal of Sport and Social Issues. He also has published in various edited volumes including a chapter entitled "A Meaning Centered Approach to Consulting" that details his strategy for working with organizations to become self-sufficient managers of knowledge. He has served as an Associate Editor for six academic journals including Management Communication Quarterly, Sport Communication, and Communication Monographs.

The National Communication Association awarded Krizek the 2007 Charles H. Woolbert Research Award, which recognized his co-authored manuscript "Whiteness: A Strategic Rhetoric" as a journal article that has stood the test of time and become a stimulus for new conceptualizations of communication phenomena. In 2013 the Ethnography Division of the National Communication Association presented him with the Legacy Award recognizing his service and contribution to the practice and refinement of ethnographic methods in the Communication discipline. The Student Government Association at Saint Louis University honored Krizek with their Excellence in Teaching Award in both 2006 and 2014. As a partner in Communication Resource Associates, LLC, Krizek consults with local, national, and global organizations. In his consulting work his principal foci are leadership development, communicating with clarity and purpose, cross-generational communication, and storytelling. He also facilitates strategic planning endeavors often with the (unintended) byproduct of turning difficult conversations into learning conversations. Above all he helps leaders and leaders-in-training understand the power of stories to inspire, engage, and motivate their associates, clients, investors, and various publics.

Don Petrin is a Professor Emeritus of Aviation Technology who began his teaching career at Purdue after arriving from Britt Airlines during June 1979. He taught in the Professional Flight program, retiring along with his wife, Linden―a Counselor with the Purdue Center for Career Opportunities―in June 2012. Prof. Petrin began his flying career in 1973 at Halsmer Airport under the tutelage of a 1972 graduate of the Purdue Professional Pilot program, and early in his career taught at Aretz Flying Service, Britt Airlines, and Danville Community College. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate, type ratings in the Learjet, Mitsubishi Diamond and Beechjet, and is a Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor with single-, multiengine and instrument airplane ratings, and 12,000 hours of flight time.

During his Purdue career, Prof. Petrin taught 13 diverse lower and upper division undergraduate courses, an inaugural School of Technology core course, a graduate course, and an Honors course. He also taught 14 different flight courses, from piston single/multi- engine through turboprop /turbojet and trained students in a variety of Purdue simulators, including the B727. Prof. Petrin served as Flight Curriculum Chairman from 1998-2006 during a transition period in industry that fostered transformation of the Aviation Technology plans of study, laboratory equipment, and faculty qualifications.

As a tenured faculty member, Prof. Petrin served in a variety of national and international aviation organizations, was a reviewer for many professional aviation publications, and authored/coauthored several aviation-related articles, conference presentations, and FAA study guides. He promoted international relationships through acquiring research and travel grants, which supported teams of Purdue students in collaborating on international research projects with students from Germany, China, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, and Kenya. Prof. Petrin was honored to receive several Departmental teaching awards, the 1991 Dwyer Award as outstanding teacher in the School of Technology, the 2005 Purdue University Murphy Award for meritorious and effective performance in the instruction of undergraduate students, induction into the Book of Great Teachers at Purdue, the 2009 Laursen Award for achievement of teaching excellence in collegiate aviation education, and the 2011 School of Technology Outstanding Faculty in Learning Award.

Tom Carney is a Professor Emeritus of Aviation Technology at Purdue University, where he taught from 1972 through 2018. He has more than 51 years of experience as a pilot, with more than 11,000 flight hours, and holds the Airline Transport Pilot certificate with multiengine, Mitsubishi Diamond, and Beechjet type ratings, and is a Certified Flight Instructor with airplane single- and multiengine, and instrument airplane ratings. He was the 1996 recipient of the Dwyer award for outstanding undergraduate teaching and is a member of the inaugural group of educators included in the Purdue Book of Great Teachers. In 2002 he received the Wheatley Award from the University Aviation Association and in 2012 the Distinguished Science Alumnus award from the Purdue College of Science. In 2004 Dr. Carney was named "Member of the Year" by the Council on Aviation Accreditation, and in 2006 he received the President's Award from the University Aviation Association for long-term leadership and service. Dr. Carney received the Aviation Accreditation Board International Chairperson's Award in July 2017, and the FAA Wright Brothers' Master Pilot Award in April 2018.

Dr. Carney served as senior editor of the Collegiate Aviation Review and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education and Research. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI), as chairman of the Accreditation Committee, and is a past chairman of the NBAA Certified Aviation Manager Governing Board. He served as the founding chairman of the NGAP Task Force of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Dr. Carney is currently serving as Vice President of Accreditation for AABI, and chairman of the Friends of Mammoth Cave National Park Board of Directors. He is an active consultant in aviation education and operations, and expert witness in litigation involving flight operations and aviation meteorology.

Manoj Patankar is the Raisbeck Engineering Professor of Aviation Technology and Head of the School of Aviation and Transportation Technology at Purdue University. Manoj is leading a team of enthusiastic faculty, staff, students, alumni, and industry partners to develop a world-class school of aviation and transportation technology. Manoj's research focuses on safety across high-consequence industries. His projects have included partnerships with safety professionals from aviation, healthcare, and offshore oil communities. He has managed over $6M in research grants from government agencies, published over 50 papers, and four books. His professional contributions have been recognized with the award of Fellow level membership in the Royal Aeronautical Society, U.K. Among his professional credentials, Manoj holds a private pilot's certificate and an aircraft mechanic certificate. He holds a bachelor's degree in Aeronautics from Saint Louis University, an MBA from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in Management from the University of Sheffield (U.K.). He has also completed the Institute for Educational Management from Harvard.