The unified Purdue Northwest campuses in Hammond and Westville will have a new nickname and athletics mascot. Teams will be known as the Pride, and the mascot will be a bold image of a lion. It will be unveiled early next year, according to university officials.
The unification of Purdue Calumet and Purdue North Central into Purdue Northwest is pending Higher Learning Commission approval. A previously announced timeline calls for it to occur prior to the start of the 2016-17 academic year. The athletic programs will consolidate into one PNW program of 13 teams in the fall of 2016.
Purdue Calumet Athletic Director Rick Costello says in a statement the name “name reflects everything people affiliated with our campuses told us Purdue Northwest means to them: strength, respect, toughness, determination.” Costello will serve as AD for Purdue Northwest once the unification is finalized.
PNC Athletics Director Tom Albano will serve as associate athletics director of Compliance for PNW. He says a special celebration will be scheduled after the unification is complete to share the lion mascot with everyone on both campuses and the community.
Faculty, staff, alumni and community members from the Calumet and North Central campuses took part in the nickname selection process.
