Mastodon History, Spirit, and Traditions

• History of the University

  After many years of offering courses at separate locations in Fort Wayne, Indiana University and Purdue University opened the combined campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne in 1964.

  The 1970s were a time of rapid growth, accompanied by the formal merger of the campus administration in 1975. A regional campus of both Indiana University and Purdue University, the campus is managed by Purdue University under the terms of a management agreement that is renewed every five years. In the 1980s, an academic structure was created to emphasize relationships among departments rather than relationships of departments to Indiana or Purdue mission assignments.

  Major facilities opened during the early 1990s and included the Visual Arts Building, Williams Theatre, and the Engineering, Technology, and Computer Science Building. A new campus facilities master plan was completed in 1995, and the university’s first strategic plan was completed that same year. The Science Building opened in 1998.

  Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne proactively grew its facilities to handle the swelling ranks of students, which totaled more than 10,500 by 2000. The Crescent Avenue Bridge, dedicated in fall 2003, connected the main campus to the new Waterfield Campus across Crescent Avenue. Student Housing on the Waterfield Campus opened in fall 2004, giving students their first opportunity to both live and learn at the University. Student Housing expanded when two more buildings opened in fall 2007.

  The John and Ruth Rhinehart Music Center opened in fall 2007. The Holiday Inn at IPFW and the Coliseum joined the campus family in 2008.

  The University’s newest additions include the Ron Venderly Family Bridge (2009) and the Medical Education Building (2009). Phase 3 of Student Housing, which added four more buildings with new floor plans tailored to student requests plus a new clubhouse building, opened in fall 2010.

  The Keith Busse Steel Dynamics Alumni Center the Student Services Complex both opened in 2011.

  On July 1, 2018, the campus officially split into two campuses, Purdue University Fort Wayne and Indiana University Fort Wayne. IU Fort Wayne took charge of the health sciences, while everything else became part of Purdue University Fort Wayne.

  On August 13, 2018, history was made with the dedication of the Purdue University Sweetwater Music Center, located on the Sweetwater Sound campus in Fort Wayne.

• Meet the Mascot, Don the Mastodon

  IT STARTED MORE THAN 10,000 YEARS AGO

  Purdue Fort Wayne is the only university in the country with a mastodon as a mascot. It’s a distinction that we are quite proud of. But how did we become the Mastodons?

  CLOSE TO HOME

   Mastodons—stocky versions of modern elephants—roamed the southern Great Lakes region of North America more than 10,000 years ago. One such mastodon found its final resting place about two miles south of Angola, Indiana, on land that would eventually become part of Orsie Routsong’s farm.

  In 1968—four years after the university was founded—Routsong decided to expand a small pond on his property. After the excavation, a large bone was discovered, Jack Sunderman, the IPFW Geology Department Chair, identified as a leg bone of a mastodon. Sunderman and his team of faculty and students subsequently unearthed the entire mastodon skeleton— along with the skull of a baby mastodon.

  DON IS BORN

  How did we get from finding the mastodon to making it our mascot? Part of the reason is merely good timing, as the Angola mastodon was discovered at about the same time the university was trying to settle on a mascot. Some of the student-suggested choices included the Boiler-Hoosiers, Warhawks, Marauders, Frontiersmen, Pioneers, Elves, and Hobbits. Steve Pettyjohn, who served as the student body president in 1968–69, wrote a letter to the Communicator, the university newspaper, extolling the virtues of choosing the mastodon as the mascot: “It sounds different, strange. That’s exactly why we should choose it. I’m tired of slavishly copying what Bloomington, West Lafayette, and other big schools do. Let’s have the courage to be a little different.” The following year, amid all the choices, a Student Government committee selected the Mastodon as the university mascot.

  THE MASTODON LIVES ON

  While mastodons have been extinct for thousands of years, our Mastodons have been roaming northeast Indiana for a half-century. Don lives on as a fierce representative of Purdue Fort Wayne!

• Mastodon Fight Song

  Let’s go, Purdue Fort Wayne. Let’s cheer for the Black and Gold.
  Go, Fort Wayne Mastodons, full of spirit, proud and bold.
  GO, DONS!
  Winning hearts so brave and true, standing strong in all we do.
  Cheer for the Mastodons, bringing victory home to you.
  GO, DONS!
  D-O-N-S
  LET’S GO, DONS!
  Let’s go Purdue Fort Wayne. Let’s cheer for the Black and Gold.
  Go, Fort Wayne Mastodons, full of spirit proud and bold.
  GO, DONS!
  Winning hearts so brave and true, standing strong in all we do.
  Cheer for the Mastodons, bringing victory home to you.