On June 11th, Purdue University trustees approved the naming of multiple building across campus, one of those being named in honor of Graduate Brother Morgan Burke (and his wife) who passed away last year.
The Morgan and Kate Burke Southwest Entrance of Mackey Arena is named in honor of the former Purdue vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics and his wife – both Purdue alums (Morgan 1973 and Kate 1974) – thanks to a gift by the Schleicher family.
Burke’s tenure as athletic director from 1993 to 2016 ranks as the longest in school history, and during that time he made his name as one of the nation’s visionary leaders in intercollegiate athletics. Among the many athletics facility projects Burke oversaw the Mackey Arena Complex. The Southwest Entrance is adjacent to the intersection of Wooden and Tower drives across from Lambert Fieldhouse. The Morgan J. Burke Boilermaker Aquatic Center was named in 2017 in honor of Burke, who was also a Boilermaker swimmer and swim team captain.