(West Lafayette, IN) — Purdue University has named retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Jay B. Silveria its 14th president. The university’s Board of Trustees unanimously elected Silveria during a special meeting Thursday. He takes office February 1, 2027.
Silveria, 63, currently serves as president of the University of Arkansas System, a position he has held since January 2025. He will replace former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who has served as Purdue’s interim president since July 1.
“I am honored to become the next president of Purdue University, one of the top public research universities in the country. While I am familiar with Purdue’s worldwide reputation for affordability and accessibility, ingenuity and integrity, I look forward to meeting the people who make this place so special and to listen and learn about its culture,” Silveria said.
The Houston native retired from the Air Force in 2020 after 35 years of military service. A former fighter pilot, he served as superintendent of the U.S. Air Force Academy from 2017 to 2020.
Silveria is a 1985 graduate of the academy and has logged more than 3,900 flight hours. His military career included combat missions over the Balkans and Iraq, command positions overseeing air operations, and leadership of the Air Force Warfare Center at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
After retiring, he served in leadership positions at Texas A&M University and its Bush School of Government and Public Service in Washington, D.C., before moving to Arkansas.
At Arkansas, Silveria oversees a university system enrolling more than 80,000 students and employing more than 30,000 people.
Purdue Board Chair Gary Lehman said Silveria’s combination of military, academic, and administrative experience made him the board’s choice.
“Jay’s career reflects a consistent commitment to preparing people and organizations to accomplish consequential missions,” Lehman said in the university’s announcement.
Silveria’s contract runs through June 2032. The Lafayette Journal & Courier reports he will receive a base salary of $1 million annually, with additional bonuses tied to goals involving affordability, student success, reputation, and research excellence.
Silveria drew national attention in 2017 when he condemned racial slurs written on the doors of Black students at the Air Force Academy’s preparatory school.
In March 2025, he fired a tenured University of Arkansas professor over social media posts criticizing Israel’s attacks on Palestine, despite a successful faculty committee appeal. Silveria cited concerns about potential university funding consequences under an Arkansas law addressing antisemitism complaints. The university system’s trustees upheld the firing.
Silveria succeeds Mung Chiang as Purdue’s permanent president. Chiang left Purdue to become president of Northwestern University on July 1, prompting Daniels to return as interim president.
Purdue enrolls more than 111,000 students across multiple campuses, including more than 57,000 at its main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. The university has maintained a tuition freeze for 14 consecutive years.
