I am often asked what I love most about serving as Head of the Lyles School of Civil Engineering, and my answer is always the same: the people.

Our students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends truly make my position a pleasure. These past 12 months only further cemented this feeling for me.

Last April, the Lyles School raised more than $3 million during Purdue Day of Giving, the fourth-highest total overall at the University. This impressive achievement would not be possible without our generous alumni network. I want to specifically recognize our good friends Jerry (BSCE '65, MISA '66) and Lynda Engelhardt. They have been very strong supporters of Civil Engineering over the years, and — during Purdue Day of Giving — committed over $1.5 million to our school.

Another significant milestone was made possible this past year thanks to Christopher B. (BSCE '77, MSCE '79, PhD '83, HDR '10) and Susan S. (BS SLHS '78) Burke — our cover couple for this year's issue of Transitions Magazine. Thanks once again to the Burke family's generosity and philanthropy, Purdue CE set yet another benchmark among the best programs in the world. The Purdue Civil Engineering graduate program is now one of the first named civil engineering graduate programs in the United States. We are ever grateful to the Burkes — and all of our wonderful alumni, friends and family who continue to support us.

Alumni like the Burkes and Engelhardts continue to support our school because they are proud of where they came from — and because they are confident our alumni, students, faculty and staff represent our school with  excellence. I certainly agree with them — and I am honored to serve each of you as the school’s head.

The generosity of our alumni is a key component to our school's 130 years of success — and it is also why we are continually recognized as one of the top programs in the world. Once again, both our graduate and undergraduate programs were placed among the top 10 in the United States by U.S. News & World Report!

As always, I look forward to sharing even more of our school’s accomplishments and successes with you as they come.

All the best,

Rao S. Govindaraju
Bowen Engineering Head of Civil Engineering
and Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Professor of Civil Engineering