IPFW announces Dr. Vicky L. Carwein as new chancellor

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) Thomas Spurgeon, vice chairman of the Purdue University Board of Trustees, announced Dr. Vicky L. Carwein as IPFW's new chancellor on Tuesday. 

Carwein said accepting the position at IPFW felt like coming home. Carwein was born and raised Gwynnville in Shelby County.

"This is the capstone of my career," Carwein said of becoming chancellor at IPFW.

Carwein is currently the Chancellor of Washington State University Tri-Cities. Before that she was president at Westfield State College in Westfield, Massachusetts and chancellor at the University of Washington Tacoma.

Current IPFW Chancellor Michael Wartell will retire at the end of June because of a mandatory age 65 retirement policy maintained by Purdue.

That policy has two parts, the second of which will not impact the school's new hire, Spurgeon explained.

"As a new employee in an administrative role, [one] must be employed long enough to achieve a certain retirement annuity level... Based on Purdue's contributions," Spurgeon said.

Carwein will have the opportunity to work until she has reached an annual retirement stipend of $44,000.  Achieving that could take seven to eight years according to Spurgeon.

Wartell became chancellor of IPFW in 1994.  During his tenure the university has seen tremendous growth, including the addition of student housing and a move to NCAA Division One athletics.

Faculty members tried to extend Wartell's tenure by two years, but the Purdue trustees refused to make an exception to the mandatory retirement age.