Kassandra “Katie” Agee Chandler (M’80) was born to a blue-collar family from Gary, Indiana. She originally aspired to attend an out of state college following high school graduation. This plan was disrupted when she was contacted by Cornell Bell (PhD EDU’72, HDR M’07). Bell discovered Agee Chandler during her senior year of high school and persisted in efforts to recruit her for the Business Opportunity Program (BOP) at Purdue, despite her initial desire to live out of state.

Through the BOP, Bell brought bright and promising students to enroll in the Krannert Business School. The initiative was started after Bell observed that Krannert and other business schools were historically lacking in diversity, which contributed to an overall lack of diversity in the profession of business. After entering the program, students received mentorship, tutoring, and a sense of family and belonging at Purdue. 

As a sophomore in the fall of 1978, Agee Chandler was elected Purdue’s homecoming queen, the first and, to date, only black homecoming queen in school history. As a representative of Meredith Residence Hall, she competed against 23 other competitors to win her title. 

When reflecting later upon the nomination and campaign experience, Agee Chandler remembered being told, “They’ll never let you win this.” But she drew upon the strength of her faith, family, friends, and dorm-mates, as well as her own tenacity. She worked tirelessly on her campaign, going door-to-door, speaking with groups across campus, and hanging campaign posters.

She remembered, “I didn’t let it get to me. I never let anyone talk me down. In the end, I was able to make my family and sisterhood proud. I felt like Cinderella. It was all a collective effort of sisterhood, of campus-hood, of brotherhood.”

Read the full story on the Purdue Archives blog. 

Read more about how Agee Chandler has carried on the legacy of mentoring throughout her career.