This article was originally reported in October 2025.
In October 2025 Purdue University outlined how it is rebuilding its Mitch Daniels School of Business around STEM. Under Dean James “Jim” Bullard, who took over in August 2023, the school has reorganized its departments, hired dozens of new faculty, started a new building and reported rising demand from applicants (Purdue News, October 22, 2025).
“We’re not just expanding our business school — we’re redefining it by putting STEM at its core,” Bullard said.
What Purdue announced
- Five strategic pillars: STEM integration, academic prowess, a transformational student experience, freedom and capitalism, and business partnerships.
- New structure: in December 2024 Purdue’s Board of Trustees approved reorganizing the Daniels School from two departments into nine, which Purdue says will let each area respond more quickly to changes in its field.
- Rising demand: applications to the school grew by more than 13% over the previous year, and a record share of admitted students chose to enroll.
- Faculty hiring: the school hired 35 faculty members in summer 2025. Purdue named several senior hires under its “Moveable Dream Hires” program: Judson Caskey (accounting), Martin Dufwenberg (economics), Gwendolyn Lee (strategic management), Michael Weber (finance) and David Simchi-Levi (supply chain and operations management), who will lead a new center on data science for decision making. Rich Sikora joined as executive advisor for innovation and entrepreneurship in a joint role with Purdue Innovates.
- Practitioners in the classroom: Distinguished Fellows and Business Fellows programs bring senior executives, economists and policy professionals to teach and work with students.
- New building: a $168 million, 164,000-square-foot building broke ground in April 2025 and is scheduled to be completed in 2027. It replaces the Krannert Center and will house teaching and research labs, innovation hubs and collaborative spaces.
- Indianapolis: the school is launching its Integrated Business and Engineering program at Purdue’s Indianapolis location and teaches executive education programs there.
- Fundraising: the Daniels School is a priority of “Victories & Heroes: Your Campaign for Purdue,” a $4 billion university campaign.
Rankings
In Forward Pathway’s ranking database, the Daniels School is No. 24 among U.S. undergraduate business programs (2027 U.S. News), with especially strong specialties: production/operations management No. 5, business analytics No. 8, supply chain management No. 9, quantitative analysis No. 10 and management information systems No. 19 (all 2027). At the graduate level, its MBA specialties rank No. 18 in business analytics, No. 18 in production/operations and No. 22 in supply chain management (2026). Purdue University is No. 55 among National Universities in the 2027 U.S. News ranking.
What international students should know
- STEM OPT eligibility: because many Daniels programs are classified under STEM CIP codes, F-1 graduates can apply for the 24-month STEM OPT extension after their initial 12 months of OPT. As of July 2025, Purdue listed these STEM OPT eligible degrees (Purdue Daniels: Hiring International Students):
- Undergraduate: Business Analytics and Information Management, Economics, Industrial Management, Integrated Business and Engineering, Quantitative Business Economics, Supply Chain Information and Analytics, and Supply Chain Operations Management (all B.S.).
- Graduate (residential programs only): One-Year MBA, Master of Business and Technology (MBT), and M.S. degrees in Business Analytics and Information Management, Finance, Global Supply Chain Management, and Marketing.
Eligibility depends on each program’s CIP code and the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List, so confirm the status, and whether a program is currently admitting students, with the Daniels School before you apply.
- International enrollment: IPEDS data for fall 2025 show 9,967 international students among 58,658 enrolled at Purdue’s main campus, including 4,429 undergraduates and 5,538 graduate students.
- Cost: IPEDS lists Purdue’s 2025–26 undergraduate tuition as $9,718 for Indiana residents and $28,520 for nonresidents, plus $274 in required fees. Check Purdue’s bursar site for the current rates that apply to international students, and note that tuition for graduate business programs is set separately.
See our Purdue University school page for admissions, cost and international student data.