Two important elements of the Lyles School of Civil Engineering’s vision are “amplifying our impact on society” and underpinning all our endeavors with an “unwavering commitment to ethics and diversity.”

Nancy Uridil (BSCE ’74) and Francis (Frank) Bossu (PhD Chemistry ’76) are supporting this vision by endowing a named professorship in the school, with a preference for using it to recruit or retain a female faculty member.

It is a significant gift. Named professorships are prestigious and bring recognition to the program, says Rao “G.S.” Govindaraju, the Bowen Engineering Head of Civil Engineering and Christopher B. and Susan S. Burke Professor of Civil Engineering.

“Nancy is a pleasure to work with. She understands our program and saw how we could work together for a win-win situation,” Govindaraju says. “If we are able to add to the number of women in Civil Engineering, while also getting a talented and well-respected researcher in the field, that’s a double advantage.”

Importance of role models

“It is important for female engineers to have female professors as role models,” Uridil says. “Women as role models were so important to me throughout my career.” Uridil recalls that it was a female physics teacher in high school who encouraged her to consider engineering in the first place.

At Purdue, it was the Society of Women Engineers that helped Uridil land her summer intern job with Procter & Gamble Corp., the company where she went on to establish a stellar leadership career. She had excellent role models in Civil Engineering, including Professor Bob Lee in structural engineering and Professor Bill Dolch in materials engineering. “Working for Professor Dolch was one of the first times I could see the relevance of my work in the real world. The lab analyses we were doing had to be accurate since it was being used as expert testimony in a trial.”

Unfortunately, when Uridil was earning her civil engineering degree in the ’70s, she didn’t have a single female professor in her engineering courses. Her wish for this endowment is to provide female role models for future generations of aspiring engineers.

Today at Purdue, women represent more than 18 percent of the engineering faculty. In Civil Engineering, 17 percent of the faculty are women.

Deep roots at Purdue

Uridil has deep roots at Purdue. Her father earned his PhD at Purdue. Her husband, Frank Bossu, earned his doctorate in chemistry at Purdue. Early in her career with P&G, she regularly returned to Purdue to recruit other young engineers. She and a friend, Margo Hammell Tschirky (BSIE '75), spoke to young women engineers for the Women in Engineering Program. And visiting Purdue was equally fulfilling while her daughter was earning her bachelor’s degree at Purdue in evolutionary biology.

Building the future

Today, Nancy and Frank are giving back. “We’ve been blessed,” she says. “My husband and I are a couple of middle-class kids who worked hard. Our parents valued education and took great effort to ensure we got good educations.” As a result, the majority of Nancy and Frank’s philanthropy goes to educational institutions.

“A love of building is ultimately what led me into civil engineering,” Uridil says. “I went from building bridges and roads to building products, organizations, brands and global businesses. As long as I’m building, I’m happy. Our gift to Purdue is building the future.”