Earhart worked for Purdue University after Purdue President Edward Elliott became concerned that the women enrolled at the university were not completing their educations. He hired Earhart to live in the new women’s residence hall for a few weeks of the semester, serve as a counselor on careers for women, advise Purdue’s aeronautical engineering department, and enjoy access to the resources of Purdue’s new airport — the only one, at that time, at a U.S. college or university.

“About nine decades ago, Amelia Earhart was recruited to Purdue, and the university president later worked with her to prepare an aircraft for her historic flight around the world,” said Purdue President Mung Chiang. “Today, as a team of experts try again to locate the plane, the Boilermaker spirit of exploration lives on.”