Cara Putman

At Krannert, Cara serves as the Director, Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management and is a Clinical Assistant Professor. An award-winning member of the faculty, she teaches undergraduate and graduate core courses in business law, employment law, international law, business ethics, and corporate governance. In 2022 she was selected as one of Poet & Quant's Top 50 Undergraduate Professors and in 2021 she received the Krannert Alumni Teaching Excellence Award in Course Delivery. She has been nominated by Krannert for university wide awards in recognition of her teaching excellence. She has taught the core graduate business law class since 2006, and journeyed to Germany to teach it in the summer of 2012. In addition she has led undergraduate study abroad experiences in Siena, Florence, and Rome.

Cara developed MGMT 331 the Development of EEOC Law as a cultural competency core class through the IMPACT grant process. With a focus on the landmark Supreme Court cases that have affected women in the workplace since the passage of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the class allows students to explore the law in a practical light. She also developed HONR 299, a leadership course, for the interdisciplinary students at the Honors College. 

Cara is a frequent recipient of Distinguished and Outstanding Teaching Awards from her students. In May 2021 she received the Krannert Alumni Teaching Excellence Award in course delivery.  She loves it when students follow her from class to class or ask to do an independent study with her. Becoming the inaugural School of Management Honors Director was a natural extension of the joy Cara finds in mentoring students. In this role, Cara built programs and networked across campus to smooth the Honors pathway for Krannert's top students. She is excited to take what she learned in that role to her expanded position as the Director of the Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management. Students will often find her door open, an invitation to come in and talk about classes, grad school, or career plans. 

In August 2022, Cara was name an inaugural Scholarly Fellow at the John Martinhouse Honors College and in January 2023, she was names a Service Learning Fellow. Prior to this in June 2017, Cara was named the Senior Faculty Fellow for Hawkins Residence Hall. The Faculty Fellow program is Purdue's mentoring program that promotes a personalized experience for students through association with faculty on an informal basis outside the classroom and office.

Prior to teaching at Purdue, she also taught in the Legal Research and Writing program at George Mason University School of Law. She is also a frequent instructor at writing conferences around the country.

Cara is a honors graduate of Krannert School of Management's Weekend MBA, George Mason University School of Law, and the University of Nebraska Lincoln. After law school, she clerked for Judge Loren Smith at the Court of Federal Claims. She has provided legal services as an attorney with Bennett Boehning & Clary since moving to Indiana and is licensed to practice in Indiana and Virginia.