Skip to Content
Cara Putman

Cara Putman

Clinical Assistant Professor
Director Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management
Law, Communication, and Ethics

Education

MBA Purdue University - honor scholar
JD George Mason School of Law - honors
BA University of Nebraska Lincoln - honors

CV

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.

  • Kelly Blanchard teaching

    Ethics in the Classroom

    At some business schools, research and teaching can be mutually exclusive, with certain faculty focusing on the former while others focus on the latter. At Purdue's business school, however, research and teaching are often intertwined.

    Full story: Ethics in the Classroom

  • Cara Putman speaking with a student

    Creating Confident Leaders

    Purdue University’s Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management prepares tomorrow’s pioneers

    Full story: Creating Confident Leaders

  • Camp goers
    Empowering Women in Business
    Summer program earns high marks from participants
  • Cara Putman
    Cara Putman named new director of Brock-Wilson Center
    Cara Putman, a clinical assistant professor in business law, communications and ethics, is the new director of the Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Management. Putman brings her reputation as a highly effective instructor and student mentor in Krannert's undergraduate program to oversee the growth and enrichment of the Brock-Wilson Center’s portfolio of programming, which emphasizes gender and diversity issues in the workplace.
  • Krannert honors two faculty members with KATE Awards
    The school recently recognized two winners of the Krannert Alumni Teaching Excellence, or KATE, Awards, which are selected by a committee of four faculty members and five graduating seniors.
  • Cara Putman
    Making Dreams a Reality: Cara Putman
    Cara Putman is not your average woman. She does it all. From spending time with her family, a busy career in law, writing novels, and teaching graduate classes in business law at Purdue, it seems like there would be no time for taking MBA classes. But that hasn’t stopped Cara from excelling in Krannert's Weekend MBA program.

Poets & Quants Top 50 Undergraduate Professors of 2021

You can learn more here: https://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/news/2021-best-undergraduate-professors-cara-putman-krannert-school-of-management-purdue-university/

Nominated: Excellence in Instruction Award for Lecturers

The nominee from the School of Managment for this university award. Up to two are awarded per year.

Krannert Alumni Teaching Excellence in Course Delivery

Selected based on my work to unify and develop MGMT 254, the undergraduate business law course, while also mentoring up to six adjuncts per semester.

Clinical & Lecturer Committee (2022)

Elected to serve on this committee which is evaluating the processes for promotion and retention.

Faculty Governance Committee (2021-current)

Elected by peers to serve on this committee.

Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2021-current)

Managment Restructuring Committee (2021-2022)

Appointed to this committee that was tasked with making recommendations to the Department Head and Dean on the future of the Managment Department. Participated in interviews with Assistant and Associate Deans Business Schools across the Big Ten and other peer schools.

MBA redesign sprint (2021)

Part of a two-day sprint designed to strategize outside the box on what the MBA could become.

  • MGMT 254 (multiple)
  • MGMT 331 (Spring)
  • MGMT 536 (Spring)
  • MGMT 590 (Spring)
  • MGMT 634 (Fall)
  • MGMT 690 (Fall)
  • MGMT 63410 (Fall)
  • HONR 299 (multiple)
  • HONR 399 (Fall)

Contact

cputman@purdue.edu
Phone: (765) 494-2593
Office: KRAN 357

Quick links

Personal website

Area(s) of Expertise

Employment Law, Cost of Government Regulations, Property Rights Contracting in an International Environment