Our History

The NECA Student chapter was initially created by the cooperative efforts of Professor Kirk Alter of Purdue University and Rob Palmer of the Central Indiana NECA chapter. Professor Alter is a faculty member in the Building Construction Management department at Purdue University. He was brought to Purdue to create an Electrical Specialization option within the Building Construction Management major. Prior to his arrival, there was only one course dedicated to electrical systems, but now there are four courses designed to prepare students to be the future leaders of the electrical construction industry.

Together, Professor Alter and Mr. Palmer organized the first "callout" meeting which was attended by more than 50 students. After the first meeting, they interviewed several students who were interested in becoming the founding officers of the first NECA student chapter in the universe. The founding officers selected were President Dave Curry, Vice President Matt Valentine, Treasurer Jason Spuller and Secretary Jen Kujawski.

From that point, the wheels were spinning full speed ahead. Not having any other NECA student chapter to compare ourselves to, we forged ahead creating what we thought would be the most ideal student organization on campus. Our goal was to create an organization that students would want to join. Our purpose was to offer students the opportunity to explore the high-tech electrical construction industry and interact with electrical contractors from around the country. To achieve this goal meant the need for support from industry. In addition to the support given by NECA, we needed a professional contractor who was willing to donate a portion of his or her time advising and interacting with the student chapter. Within a few days, we were approached by a successful electrical contractor willing to fulfill this position. We consider ourselves fortunate to have Ron Roberts of Schmidt Electric as our industry advisor. He has given us a medium to learn about the electrical construction industry from someone who knows it.

Our chapter has several goals:

Bringing together students with industry professionals

Educating students about the electrical construction industry

Exploring the opportunities that exist in electrical construction

Reaching out to the community through service projects

Through the past couple of years, the NECA Chapter at Purdue University, has participated in many events. They include both educational and entertaining activities that has helped us reach those goals. Please visit our picture gallery to see what we have been doing lately.