Feds renew $5.9 million in TRIO funding 

PNW has received $5.9 million in renewed federal funding to support programs for first-generation, low-income and underrepresented college students over the next five years. The funds will support three of the school’s six TRIO programs, Upward Bound, Upward Bound Math and Science and the Ronald E. McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program. PNW’s TRIO and Educational Opportunity Programs serve 2,000 students annually.

PNW Baja racing takes 3rd-place nationally

The Baja Racing student organization placed third nationally in the sales presentation competition of the Society of Automotive Engineers International’s Baja Arizona competition. The award is the highest earned to date in the sales presentation event. The presentation team, including Morgan Ceh, third-year Mechanical Engineering major; Mia Flory, a graduate student studying Technology, and Brian Scott, second-year Mechanical Engineering Technology major, helped bring home the honor for the student group.

Hayes resigns as men’s soccer coach, university launches search

The university has launched a national search to replace PNW men’s soccer coach Ryan Hayes. Hayes stepped down as coach to take a new role, assistant director of International Admissions and Immigration Services. Hayes took charge of the men’s team in 2015 and was named GLIAC Coach of the Year in 2018. During his tenure, the men’s team has won 58 games and made it to the semifinals in the played in the GLIAC men’s soccer tournaments in 2021 and 2022.

DI hockey breaks into ACHA top-25 rankings for the first time

The school’s DI Hockey team officially ranked in the ACHA Division I Top 25 for the first time in program history. The rankings issued the week of Thanksgiving, place PNW at 22. This is the first season for PNW to compete in DI. 

University honors former athletic director with an endowed scholarship

PNW announced the creation of the John and Betty Friend Endowed Athletics Scholarship. Friend was served as athletic director of Purdue Calumet for more than 20 years. He was named director of athletics emeritus in 2017 and has been a consultant and chief fund raiser for the university. That year, the held a special tribute to Friend, naming the Fitness and Recreation Center’s court the John Friend Court. 

Staffers’ startup recognized by state economic development agency

Plantennas, an agri-business founded by Mont Handley and Alexandra Moran, was included in the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s “Entrepreneurship Indiana,” a yearbook honoring the state’s entrepreneurs. Handley, entrepreneur-in-residence at the university’s Commercialization and Manufacturing Excellence Center, and Moran, a clinical instructor of entrepreneurship, created the company to market Plantennas, a system to help commercial horticulture operations and nurseries better track and manage their plant inventory. The company is based in Chesterton.