Purdue University’s board of trustees unanimously elected retired Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria as the university’s 14th president.
Silveria has been serving as the president of the University of Arkansas System since January 2025, and from 2020-2024, as associate vice president and executive director of Texas A&M University and the Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, D.C.
Silveria spent 35 years in the Air Force, including as superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy from 2017 to 2020.
Silveria will succeed interim president Mitch Daniels on Feb. 1, 2027. He did not name specific priorities Thursday, during brief comments on the West Lafayette campus, but plans to start meeting with faculty, students, staff and others.
“Everybody that has to do with Purdue University, I want to meet them and I want to listen and I want to learn and maybe in that we'll find some opportunities where I can serve the university,” Silveria said during the trustees meeting.
Board chair Gary Lehman said during the meeting that board member Theresa Carter knew Silveria and reached out to ask him to apply.
Silveria said he believes his experience in higher education, in the military and in Washington D.C., is likely what made him an appealing candidate. Purdue’s 10-member board of trustees is responsible for electing the university’s president.
Silveria’s base salary will be $1 million with the chance of receiving additional bonuses based on performance.
Lehman said the board heard from almost 2,500 people about what to look for in their next president and some key aspects emerged.
One of those was someone who was able to navigate the volatile political environment higher education faces. In 2025, the Trump administration canceled a $34.9 million federal grant for the university’s high school program to boost college readiness and access because it included training for diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Used to maybe only have to worry about internal issues,” Lehman said. “Now we've got an awful lot of external issues that have come about due to the political environment that we have to deal with, and they wanted somebody that was comfortable with dealing with that.”
Purdue’s previous president, Mung Chiang, left abruptly in May after announcing he was leaving to become president of Northwestern University.
Chiang became president in January 2023 after joining the university in 2017 and served as dean of the College of Engineering and the executive vice president for strategic initiatives under former Purdue President Mitch Daniels.
After Chiang left, Daniels stepped in as interim president while the university searched for its next leader. Daniels previously served as Purdue's president for a decade and before that two terms as Indiana governor. He currently chairs the board of the Purdue Research Foundation.
When it comes to Purdue athletics, Silveria says he plans to meet with all the coaches to learn what their challenges are and where opportunities lie. In 2024, the men’s basketball team made it to the NCAA final tournament.
“And certainly, athletics are an important part of what Purdue does and the university, we will do that as a team and as a family,” Silveria said.
Silveria said continuing Purdue’s relationship with defense contracts and advancing defense-related research is something he plans to still support during his tenure.
“I'll continue to use my own contacts as well as my own experience as a three-star general, as a senior leader in the Air Force, and as an experienced fighter pilot,” Silveria said.
He also said he wants to continue Purdue’s principle of affordability, pointing to its reputation for freezing tuition for multiple years now.
Tuition at Purdue has remained at $9,992 for in-state students since 2013.
Contact Government Reporter Caroline Beck at cbeck@wfyi.org
