Purdue University Northwest Upgrades with Pathify
Amidst the towering Chicago skyline and picturesque Lake Michigan shores, Purdue University Northwest (PNW) unites students from diverse backgrounds and global origins to pursue their educational goals. As a regional campus in the Purdue University system, PNW selected Pathify as its new student portal, breaking the mold of other campuses while creating a modern student engagement hub.
PNW’s Adam Polomchak, Application Development Manager, and Amy Rasmussen, Lead Application Developer, provide an inside look on their Pathify discovery, evaluation and implementation and how they ultimately transformed their digital campus experience.
Leaving Luminis Behind
Like many institutions, Purdue Northwest previously relied on Ellucian’s legacy student portal, Luminis. Explained Rasmussen, “Our old portal was a link farm with accessibility issues — students couldn’t find events or calendars and it lacked search functionality.” As Luminis approached end-of-life, the university began evaluating new options.
The rest of the Purdue University system selected Ellucian Experience as their replacement and PNW was ready to follow their lead. A timely conference connected Timothy Winders, PNW’s then-Vice Chancellor for Information Services and Deputy CIO of the Purdue University system, with Pathify. Winders returned from the conference with new zeal, recalled Polomchak. “We quickly got a demo scheduled and loved what we saw,” he said. With Pathify’s user-friendly interface, ability to customize dashboards and widgets, responsive web/mobile parity and robust functionality, it most aligned with student needs and feedback. “Pathify represented a huge step up from our previous platform,” Polomchak added.
Proudly Pathify
The evaluation and implementation process remained thorough and detailed, explained Rasmussen, adding the university relied on student surveys, focus groups and feedback in confirming their decision to purchase Pathify. “Our end users’ needs drove the creation of the portal,” she said.
Compared to the previous experience installing and upgrading the previous portal, Purdue Northwest seamlessly deployed myPNW, its Pathify environment at the end of the spring 2024 semester, with the summer term serving as a successful pilot period. “It’s been really smooth. Since go live, we’ve encountered very few issues, all of which we resolved quickly,” Polomchak said.
Looking Ahead
Both Rasmussen and Polomchak are eager about Pathify’s campus impact, especially with new students arriving in the fall. Polomchak highlighted enthusiasm for expanding custom integrations using Flow, Pathify’s middleware while Rasmussen emphasized Pathify’s responsive customer support and receptiveness to feedback. With Pathify as the intuitive, modern digital hub, PNW moves forward in delivering experiences that continually advance student engagement and transform campus life.
About Purdue University Northwest
Purdue University Northwest is a premier metropolitan university dedicated to empowering transformational change in our students and in our community. Located in northwest Indiana, near Chicago, PNW values academic excellence, supports growth and celebrates diversity. For more information on PNW, visit pnw.edu.
