Top stories of 2024
The Top Story of 2024
Who designed the Gateway Arch? & other footprints left by landscape architects on Purdue’s campus
W
hen you imagine Purdue University or pull up images in a Google search, it’s likely that you see pictures of herringbone brick pathways, limestone pillars with metal arches and greenspaces full of students. Not too long ago, this wouldn’t have been the case. The Purdue University of the 1970s would be unrecognizable to most people on campus now.
John Collier, however, still remembers the asphalt drives, parking lots and the busy highway that once cut campus in half. Collier arrived at Purdue in 1979 as a student in environmental design, a major in a college that no longer exists. One semester in, he was so awed by the miniature model of campus in Purdue Memorial Union that he knew he had to change his major to become one of the people who maintained it: a landscape architect.
While the smell of burning styrofoam and hot-wire cutting deterred Collier from modeling, he did become passionate about designing outdoor spaces that bring people together. He interned at the Facilities Planning Office as an undergraduate and stayed there for 30 years, eventually becoming the director of campus master planning in 2004.
“I was here when the Campus Master Plan was updated in 1986 by Sasaki Associates. I had just graduated. I was at the right place at the right time,” Collier said.
Even John Collier’s original concept sketch of the Gateway to the Future arch includes a few students standing underneath it, taking in the views of Purdue Mall (photo credit: John Collier). 
Standing under the Gateway to the Future might make any Purdue alumni feel nostalgic, but John Collier can see over 40 years worth of changes from under the arch. Most Read Stories
Ejeta to receive Purdue University’s highest award from President Chiang 
The College of Agriculture welcomes 11 new faculty members
(Spring 2024) 
College of Agriculture welcomes 10 new faculty members this semester
(Fall 2024) 
Tesso joins Purdue Agriculture faculty 
Engineering a solution to hunger: Purdue ABE alumna fighting food insecurity with innovative solutions at country’s largest food bank 
Homemade nut-based dairy analogs raise questions about bacterial risks 
Fatty acids found in meat and poultry may be beneficial to human metabolism 
Purdue AI urban tree monitoring and analysis initiative to improve city life 
Purdue researchers acquire and analyze data through AI network that predicts maize yield Most Viewed Exposure Galleries
The making of Boilermaker Hot Sauces 
A world in every grain of sand 
2024 Purdue Ag Alumni Fish Fry Top 3 Instagram Photos
First snow of the season 
National Ag Day 
Get ready for Ag Week Top 3 Instagram Reels
We’re Purdue Ag students 
Student writes Children’s Book 
Fields of Discovery: Rieko Wilford Top 3 YouTube Videos
Featured Stories
Growing up traveling the world, Abigail Bothwell always wanted to see how agriculture connects...
The Alliance of Crop, Soil and Environmental Science Societies (ACSESS) have acknowledged three...
Farmer sentiment weakened sharply in January, as the Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy...
Purdue University has grown a thriving forest of more than 2,000 geographic information systems...
Growing up in Bloomington, Kendall Cottingham was certain that she liked science and was a people...
On January 23, 2026, Navitas Organics announced a recall of selecting lots of 8 oz Organic Chia...