The renaming of the Griffin Residence Halls in honor of Frieda Parker (Jefferson) and Winifred Parker (White), sisters who led the campaign that compelled Purdue to integrate its student housing, was officially dedicated Sunday, October 3. The buildings, originally named after the mythical creature featured on the Purdue seal, are the first buildings on Purdue’s campus to be named after Black alumnae.  

In June 2021, the Purdue Board of Trustees formally celebrated the legacy of the Parker sisters by voting unanimously to rename the residence halls in their honor. Provost Jay Akridge, along with Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion John Gates, brought forth the recommendation from Renee Thomas, former director of the Black Cultural Center. The buildings will serve as a monument to the courage, persistence and tenacity displayed by the Parker sisters during their time at Purdue and beyond. 

Upon enrollment at Purdue in 1946, the Parker sisters were initially denied the opportunity to live in University housing. At the time, all housing at Purdue and in the city of West Lafayette was segregated, forcing the sisters to live in a boarding house in Lafayette. The sisters lived in a single room used as a passageway by others who lived in the house, with no shower or bath and just a single desk to share. Their commute to and from campus each day required two buses – hardly ideal conditions under which to pursue a degree. Due to these challenges, Winifred and Frieda missed out on many of the social and educational opportunities that resident students were able to enjoy. 

Frederick Parker, a prominent math teacher at segregated Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis and father of the Parker sisters, mobilized support from connections in the Black community and started a letter-writing campaign to push the Purdue administration to reconsider its housing policies.  

Among the recipients of Fred Parker’s letters was Indiana Gov. Ralph Gates.  

“He made it well known that Purdue was a land-grant school supported by state taxes, and his taxes supported the school just like everyone else’s, so why couldn’t his children live on campus?” Frieda said of her father to University historian John Norberg. “The fact that Blacks were not allowed in the dorms was a policy that had been set up in the housing office at Purdue. It was not law.”  

The governor took up the family’s cause, leading to Purdue admitting the Parker sisters into Bunker Hill in January 1947. They were among the first Black residents of Purdue. The location of the Parker halls is noteworthy in that they are just down the block from the former site of Bunker Hill. 

The transition to living in University housing wasn’t always easy, and the sisters leaned heavily on the local Black community for support – particularly the friends they met through the Greek system as sisters in Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Over time, the sisters made friends in the residence hall and broke down some of the existing barriers. Their fellow residents eventually elected Winifred as secretary of the governing board for the Women’s Residence Halls. 

After graduating from Purdue in 1950, each Parker sister went on to enjoy successful careers. A microbiologist by Purdue training, Winifred returned to college in the 1970s and completed a degree in guidance and counseling at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She spent the remainder of her professional life as a career counselor and advocate for the physically challenged and other underrepresented groups. Frieda worked for more than 50 years in education, including in Milwaukee Public Schools, where she was one of the founding organizers of the teacher’s union and president of the PTA. Winifred died in 2003, seven years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and Frieda passed away in 2020.  

Purdue University has produced the following video documentary to highlight the story of the Parker sisters. 

Adrienne White-Faines, the daughter of Winifred and niece to Frieda, was one of many family members present for the dedication of the Parker halls. She said that each of the sisters' families continued to instill the importance of education in their children. Frieda and her husband, Ralph, sent both of their sons to Purdue, while Winifred and her husband Walter’s four children – Winifred, Walter, Charles and Adrienne – also graduated college. All six of the sisters’ children went on to complete graduate programs.   

“It’s understood that likely the strongest, most efficient and effective pathway to a more just and peaceful world is through education,” White-Faines said. “Therefore, because education comes in many forms, both in and out of the classroom, my mother and aunt were under no delusion that this would be easy – but they were prepared as Black women for the challenge. They believed and had a fundamental constitution to remain full of possibility, with a sense of hope for the future and an incredible sense of humor, which they kept lifelong, and a belief in their hearts that everyone can make a difference.” 

Adrienne White-Faines, daughter of Winifred Parker White, speaks at the dedication of the Parker halls.

In addition to remarks by White-Faines, the dedication also included comments from Ralph Jefferson, Frieda’s son; Provost Akridge, Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion Gates and Purdue President Mitch Daniels, as well as performances by the Purdue Black Cultural Center’s Black Voices of Inspiration Choir.  

“Purdue University and its land grant sisters around the country were put here more than a century ago to start lowering and removing barriers, and promote the upward mobility of free peoples and that has been our history ever since,” Daniels said. “We’ve been too slow about it in many ways and many times, but the progress has always been forward. Sometimes, it takes courageous and resolved people, like the Parker sisters, to push things further – and thank God they did.” 

In addition to bearing the names of the sisters, Frieda Parker Hall will display the achievements of pioneering women who made significant contributions to Purdue and society. The 2021 class of Purdue Pioneering Women award honorees were recognized during the dedication of the halls.  

Members of the Parker family hope the visibility of the sisters’ story will continue to inspire future generations of Boilermakers.   

“We believe the energies, hope and values of my aunt Frieda and mother Winifred will continue to live on and not just in our family, but in every student who passes through those doors,” White-Faines said. “I hope that they will hear the words of my mother as they walk through the doors to go to class. Hold your head up. Be courageous. You are worthy and have a right to be here. Open your heart to others. Do your part to make the world a better place.”  

With graduate classes, an on-campus job and extracurricular activities, Katelyn Ohlwine has a lot on her plate.

Ohlwine, who is pursuing a Master of Science in Accounting with Krannert School of Management, serves as a student hiring manager with central hiring for Purdue Dining & Culinary and is a member of the Purdue Dance Team. In addition to careful planning and scheduling, Ohlwine says the key to balancing her involvement is keeping open lines of communication between supervisors, coaches and leaders of the activities she pursues.

“They all know everything I’m involved in,” Ohlwine says. “That’s helped because they really respect my time and understand everything I’m involved with. They’ve been super flexible and helped me be able to enjoy doing absolutely everything I love to do and made those things feasible for me.”

Ohlwine performs essential behind-the-scenes work in her role with Dining & Culinary. Her primary duties include interviewing students, setting up appointments for hired employees to complete paperwork, creating schedules and responding to emails from students who may have questions or are experiencing difficulties in the hiring process.

Throughout the process, Ohlwine is able to draw heavily on previous experience as she advises students. Ohlwine has been a part of Dining & Culinary since her first year on campus, when she worked at Ford Dining Court while living in Owen Hall. After moving to Meredith Hall, she transferred to working at 1bowl @ Meredith, a grab-and-go location that serves trendy hot and cold entrée bowls.

“I love answering students’ questions and giving them advice on how to balance school and work,” Ohlwine says. “I enjoy talking about meal plans and all of the different options they have, everything that I have found works for me and hopefully making recommendations that can work for them.”

Working for Dining & Culinary and taking advantage of a meal plan are two big reasons why Ohlwine has chosen to live on campus and will continue to do so until she completes her graduate studies. A self-professed “foodie,” Ohlwine says she enjoys making note of her favorite meals in Dining & Culinary’s Mobile Menus app so she can receive alerts when those dishes are being served and make appropriate dining plans. She also notes that the meal benefit provided to student employees during their shifts has helped ease the cost of living on campus by allowing her to purchase a smaller meal plan. She enjoys passing all of this and more on to students during the hiring process.

“I think my experiences at Ford and 1bowl have helped me as a central hiring manager because when I’m in these interviews, I can talk about what I’ve done,” Ohlwine says. “I haven’t worked in every single dining court or dining hall but it does give me some experience to relate to them and give advice.”

Ohlwine has been part of central hiring since Dining & Culinary centralized hiring processes during summer 2020. During that time, she’s provided valuable student perspective as central hiring worked to design, implement and adjust processes from scratch. For example, Ohlwine researched and recommended that Dining & Culinary purchase a robust version of SignUpGenius, an online software tool for scheduling and event planning. The software is used to schedule interviews, onboarding events and more.

“It was really cool being part of a team where everything was brand new and fresh,” Ohlwine says. “We had no precedents so we were creating everything as we went. We would find something that didn’t work and change it, then find things that were working and see how they could evolve.”

The new environment provided opportunities for Ohlwine to develop significant teamwork and communication skills.

“We would have staff meetings where we’d go over everything and then it would change,” Ohlwine says. “Even week-to-week we would have new things we were doing. It was all about being a team player and communicating. There was a huge learning curve for me and everyone who joined central hiring.”

During this time, Ohlwine says she has received important mentorship from her supervisor, Mary Jo Zeiser, senior manager of student success programs for Dining & Culinary.

“We call her our ‘intern mom’ because she really is like a mom to us,” Ohlwine says. “She goes above and beyond in making every one of us feel welcome and making sure everything’s communicated. Inside and outside of work she really supports us and makes sure that she cares about us as people, not just as workers – and I truly value that.”

At Zeiser’s recommendation, Ohlwine joined University Residences’ Women’s Leadership Series planning committee over the summer. The series brings guest speakers to campus for several events and provides opportunities for women students to connect with each other as well as faculty, staff and alumni. As part of the planning committee, Ohlwine helped provide feedback and shape plans for the series, which she says she found particularly valuable.

“I loved going to the events and hearing these women in leadership talk about their experiences, encourage us to be greater leaders and tell us how we can do that,” Ohlwine says. “It was also really awesome to connect to all of these people who are involved in so many different aspects of Purdue. I met people I had never met before from different majors and backgrounds. We’ve all added each other on social media so we still see and keep up with everything we’ve all been doing. It’s a really supportive environment and I think that’s so important for us to support each other.”

In addition to her job, classes and participation in Women’s Leadership Series, Ohlwine serves as vice president and treasurer for the Purdue Dance Team, which performs at home athletic games, philanthropies and community events, and competes in the National Dance Alliance College Nationals Competition. The team practices three nights a week for two hours in addition to performances. As VP and treasurer, Ohlwine is responsible for overseeing team finances and also serves as the dance captain, leading the team through stretches and warmups, making sure dancers are focused for performances, and even some choreography work. She says she has translated skills in communication and teamwork to her role as a leader on the dance team.

“I really try to be that person everyone is comfortable going to,” Ohlwine says. “It is really hard when you’re a leader over your peers. There’s a hard balance between being friends and also being their captain and I think finding that balance has been really rewarding. I love that people feel comfortable coming to me and that I get to have all of these conversations with people that I wouldn’t if I wasn’t a captain.”

The 2020-21 dance season was a particularly challenging one for the Dance Team, which had to prepare a virtual performance for the National Dance Alliance College Nationals Competition. Translating the energy of a live performance into a virtual format proved to be difficult, but the team’s work was rewarded with a national championship in Pom and runner-up finish in Jazz.

Ohlwine says she is especially thankful for people like Zeiser and Mallori Walker, head coach of the Purdue Dance Team, for allowing her the flexibility to participate in the rewarding experiences that have helped define her time as a Boilermaker. She is also thankful for the continuing support of her family, who have provided encouragement and support through every step of her journey.

Ohlwine will complete an internship in auditing with Crowe LLP in Indianapolis this summer, after which she will return to Purdue to complete her studies. She hopes to complete another internship in spring 2023 before turning her focus to passing the Uniform Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Examination. She hopes to pursue a career in auditing but is also considering tax as a backup.

Tyler Wilson (left) and Eric Coates, residential dining supervisor at Earhart Dining Court.

Tyler Wilson has been named the recipient of an Above and Beyond the Call of Duty (ABCD) Award, which recognizes students whose actions make a difference at the university and contribute to excellence within Student Life. He will receive a $300 award in conjunction with the recognition, which is bestowed four times throughout the year.  

Wilson is currently a supervisor-in-training at Earhart Dining Court, having previously succeeded in positions as a student associate and cook. He began working at Earhart in October 2020. 

“It’s been a really rewarding experience to be able to start as an associate and work my way up to become a supervisor-in-training,” Wilson says. “They offer great opportunities like that to grow and not just stay stagnant. Aside from that, the environment is really cool.”  

In addition to working at Earhart, Wilson is currently completing a student teaching internship as part of his studies in early childhood education and exceptional needs. Eric Coates, residential dining supervisor at Earhart, says Wilson’s passion for teaching is evident in the way he serves as a leader on the dining court staff. 

“Tyler has made it our mission to help our student cooks get their checklists completed,” Coates says. “On a closing shift, it is commonplace to see Tyler working with three or four student cooks on their checklists. He has worked tirelessly on his shifts to ensure that we will have an excellent crop of student supervisors for the future. This was quickly noticed by his fellow students and he has become a go-to when they have questions or need help.” 

As part of his student teaching, Wilson works closely with children between the ages of two and four years old. While working with his peers and professional staff is quite different from leading a classroom, he says he’s honed transferable skills in professional communication.  

“You still do have those moments where you need to take charge,” Wilson says. “Being a supervisor-in-training and having to assign my students into different stations has been helpful. That goes with the classroom experience in a sense – having to collaborate with other teachers and aides. In the younger classrooms, we don’t have one teacher – we have multiple teachers we have to collaborate with. It’s not the same as collaborating in a kitchen, but it’s still people skills.”  

Wilson says he’s found particular value in the connections he’s made while working at Earhart, including peers who are going through a similar grind in coursework and professional staff who have helped him make a connection with a teaching professional.  

“Making connections and meeting all of these great people that I’ve been able to build relationships with has been pretty rewarding,” he says. “I’d say that working in the dining court has been a good experience for me overall and I’d recommend it to others that are looking at getting a job on campus. We’re always hiring.” 

Wilson is a first-generation college student and will graduate in May 2022, after which he hopes to work in a head-start program for at-risk youth near his hometown, Gary, Indiana.  

Groups of students gather for Thanksgiving dinner at Ford Dining Court.

On-campus students welcomed back the highly popular Thanksgiving dinner hosted by Purdue Dining & Culinary on Thursday, November 19.

The dinner is an opportunity for residents to enjoy a celebration of the holiday featuring traditional Thanksgiving foods. Dining courts welcomed throngs of students with decorations and a robust menu of dishes including roast turkeys, glazed and smoked ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, traditional stuffing, vegetables, cranberry sauce and dinner rolls. The dessert spread included various pies, pumpkin desserts and cinnamon roll casserole.

Thanksgiving spread at Wiley Dining Court.

The creativity of Dining & Culinary was also showcased with several specialty, Thanksgiving-themed dishes elsewhere. 1bowl @ Meredith, a residential dining location featuring trendy food bowl options, served a Thanksgiving bowl filled with turkey, potatoes, stuffing and vegetables smothered in gravy. Pete’s Za, also located in Meredith, served a holiday-themed pizza made from similar ingredients. Vegetarians and vegans could also enjoy the taste of the season with tofurkey and vegan gravy.

Pieces of pie served at Wiley Dining Court.

The meal was highly anticipated by students after being unable to gather for community meals last fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This meant that two classes of students were experiencing the tradition for the first time. A group of residents from Cary Quad shared that they had heard from older students that the dinner was not to be missed and that it lived up to the hype.

Students pose while filling their plates at Ford Dining Court.

For other students, the meal was an opportunity to enjoy a relaxing evening with friends before the holiday break.  

Students share laughs over Thanksgiving dinner at Wiley Dining Court.

“This is like our floor’s version of a ‘Friendsgiving,’” said one RA. “We obviously can’t all be together on Thanksgiving so it’s just cool to get together with our friends and celebrate. We got most of our floor to come over together.”

Enjoy more photos from the meals served in Wiley and Ford Dining Courts below.

Dining & Culinary summer food service management interns. From Left: Brittany Griffen, Elizabeth Helmick, Kayla Jewell, Isabella Przybylo, Samantha Toy and Hope Nixon.

Student Feature

Dining & Culinary Hosts Summer Food Service Management Internship 

Six students from universities across the country participated in a 10-week summer food service management internship with Purdue Dining & Culinary, where they received hands-on experience and a comprehensive look at residential dining operations.  

Interns got an inside look at all aspects of Dining & Culinary operations, including procurement of product, inventory, production from recipe to cooking and serving, and a session with administrative leaders on budgeting. Educational opportunities ranged from meetings with Dining & Culinary employees to hands-on learning in the residential dining courts. One of the aspects of the Dining & Culinary internship that sets it apart is the experience it gives participants with a self-operated dining department – many universities now contract with external vendors for residential dining.  

The group of interns included students majoring in dietetics and hospitality management. For some of the interns, this was their first experience with dining operations on this scale. 

“From my previous experiences, I thought serving 100 people was crazy,” says Hope Nixon, a senior studying dietetics at Bluffton University. “We were serving hundreds of people and that was a big adjustment.”  

A significant part of the internship experience entailed hands-on experience in the residential dining courts. Interns worked every position available for approximately one week, beginning with entry-level student positions and progressing to completing staff relief at the dining court supervisor position in Earhart Dining Court.  

Interns saw first-hand how dining operations have to change on the fly, particularly as residential dining began to resume a more normal mode of operation under the Protect Purdue plan. At the beginning of the internship, Dining & Culinary service mostly consisted of serving food in takeout containers. The dining courts resumed self-service July 1. The operations also had to make different allowances for masking guidelines under the Protect Purdue plan. 

Nixon says she and the rest of the interns learned a lot about adaptability. 

“Plan A is probably never going to work,” says Nixon. “Even though we may want to do plan A, in the back of our mind we need start thinking about plan B through Z, whether that’s for tomorrow, one week from now or two weeks from now. You have to ask, what can I do next?” 

Adaptability is important in day-to-day operations even without having to contend for new operational guidelines during a pandemic. Having a backup plan for an unexpected rush or accounting for the possibility of running out of a popular dish are some examples. 

“Being able to be flexible, not only with COVID guidelines but with supply and demand is so important,” says Brittany Griffen, a senior attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. “We might run out of a certain meat and have to switch to something else. The switches you have to make are regular and constant and the people, like the production coordinator or supervisor, have to make the decision on what to do and then have a backup for that backup because you never know. That’s been interesting to see.”  

Challenges with supply chains can also impact daily operations – something the interns experienced firsthand. Prices of some products increased significantly to the point that they were no longer practical to purchase and serve, while the shipping of other products were impacted by the sourcing of storage and shipping materials.  

“I really liked getting the whole scope of the supply chain,” says Kayla Jewell, a senior majoring in dietetics at Purdue. “We really hit every step. It’s been super eye-opening to be a part of that and take every little skill that we can from each step.” 

The internship also included lunch and learns, field trips and opportunities to connect with dietitians and other food service professionals from the university and in the community. Field trips included stops at a local winery and brewery, as well as a food bank. Molly Winkeler, registered dietitian, and Gretchen Jewell, associate director of auxiliary dining services, coordinated learning opportunities while serving as the internship supervisors. The variety of experiences gave each intern a different perspective to consider when thinking about their respective careers and interests. 

“Even though I probably won’t go into food service, everyone had a different perspective that was very valuable,” says Samantha Toy, a sophomore studying dietetics at Bradley University. “Everyone had great feedback and input that we can take into our future careers.” 

Elizabeth Helmick, a senior studying hospitality management at York College of Pennsylvania, has a similar outlook. 

“I think the biggest thing I’m going to take away from this internship is to learn everything I can and take every opportunity that I can,” Helmick says. “As a hospitality management major, there were a lot of things I did not know about at all. I have gained so much respect for the dietetics field and learned a lot about it. The dietetics world is growing and, as there are increases in allergies and different diets, I’m going to have to know about them and it’s so great to have these relationships with people I can go talk to in the future – whether it’s working a restaurant, hotel or somewhere else. It’s been an eye-opener.” 

Isabella Przybylo, a hospitality management major at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, says exploring different aspects of dietetics in hospitality gave her a broader perspective beyond her field. 

“A lot of times we were doing things that weren’t specifically related to my field, but that, in my opinion, was more beneficial than doing things that hospitality management students would normally be doing,” Przybylo says. “I’m just really grateful for all of the field trips we got to go on. All of those opportunities were awesome but they were also insightful and informative.”  

In addition to gaining supervisor experience, interns completed an allergy training certification and became certified to lead food allergy trainings. They ultimately led sessions where they trained Dining & Culinary employees. Most interns noted that the opportunity was the first chance they’d had to teach others about an area of their expertise. For some, such as Nixon, teaching has an immediate application – she will be a teaching assistant this fall. The benefits of learning to teach also have long-term application.  

“That skill is important to take with you because, even if it’s not a sit-down presentation, you’re still teaching when you have to train someone,” Helmick says. “For a lot of us, this was our first time teaching adult learners so that was a challenge. One of the toughest things about being a young leader in hospitality is we see a lot of people who have been doing this for 30 years, but sometimes you still have to break an old habit or teach some new things. Being able to teach that session was important because we learned to slow down a little bit, give breaks for learning and not run through things quite so fast.”  

The internship concluded the first week of August. Summer interns included: 

• Kayla Jewell, a senior studying dietetics and nutrition, fitness and health at Purdue University. 
• Hope Nixon, a senior studying dietetics at Bluffton University. 
• Samantha Toy, a sophomore studying dietetics at Bradley University.
• Isabella Przybylo, a senior studying hospitality management at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 
• Brittany Griffen, a senior studying dietetics at Brigham Young University. 
• Elizabeth Helmick, a senior studying hospitality management at York College of Pennsylvania. 

Dining & Culinary’s mission is to nourish and inspire the Purdue community. The organization embraces a focus on co-curricular education and leadership development as an integral part of the Purdue experience. Dining & Culinary offers more than 250 internships and intentional learning opportunities as part of its commitment to students.