WESTVILLE – Purdue University North Central has announced that will become a permanent home to a section of steel beam recovered from the World Trade Center in New York after its collapse on Sept. 11, 2001.

The 176-pound portion of I-beam, which is 36 inches long, 18 inches wide and 11 inches deep, will be displayed in the Library-Student-Faculty Building Cybercafé, Room 114. It will be unveiled in a ceremony at 7:30 a.m. on Sept. 11. A moment of silence will be observed at 7:45 a.m., the time the first plane hit the World Trade Center, and 18 minutes later at 8:03 a.m. when the second tower was hit. The event will end at 8:30 a.m. and the public can view the piece until 2 p.m.

“We are honored to have received this priceless artifact that was part of one of the most meaningful events in our nation’s history,” said Chancellor James Dworkin.

The beam will be on display near a series of oil paintings named “New York, New York” that were created in tribute to the victims of Sept. 11 by Jason Poteet, a graduate of Marquette High School. He had been scheduled to attend a Morgan Stanley Investments training program in the North Tower, but on Sept. 6, his session was postponed and as a result he wasn’t in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.