WEDNESDAY, March 27

W&L Names Vanderbilt’s Provost as 24th President

LEXINGTON, VA. — Washington and Lee University today named Dr. Thomas G. Burish — the chief academic and administrative officer at Vanderbilt University — as the 24th president of the nation’s ninth oldest university.

“Tom Burish has a proven record of success as a teacher, scholar, public figure and university leader,” said Rector J. Frank Surface, chairman of the Board of Trustees, a W&L alumnus and a Jacksonville, Fla., businessman.

“He has the vision, energy, experience and institutional understanding to lead Washington and Lee, recognized as one of the nation’s best liberal arts universities and schools of law, to the forefront of its peers,” added Surface.

Burish — an officer on the board of directors of the American Cancer Society and a leader on many of its scientific and research committees — is a renowned psychology professor who has applied his expertise to give people with cancer better lives. He is a longtime accreditation reviewer and advisor to national universities, medical centers and the U.S. Army.

He also has worked closely with the National Cancer Institute and is a member of the National Dialogue on Cancer co-chaired by former President and Mrs. George Bush.

Burish will assume the presidency on July 1 and immediately lead W&L’s $225 million Capital Campaign, which has raised $175 million to date. The Campaign for the Rising Generation was launched publicly in October and continues through December 2003.

“Through his groundbreaking research, gifted teaching and prolific writing, Tom Burish has helped tens of thousands of cancer patients better cope with the emotional and physical pain of this disease. That, alone, is a great legacy,” said John R. Seffrin, the American Cancer Society’s chief executive officer. “But knowing Tom, he will seek and reach other great heights as president of Washington and Lee.”

Burish’s success in increasing diversity among Vanderbilt’s faculty and student body, his launching of interdisciplinary collaborations, his dedication to both teaching and research, and his efforts to reduce student alcohol abuse — efforts also well underway at Washington and Lee — are among his key priorities.

“I am exhilarated, humbled and grateful to be chosen as the next president of Washington and Lee University,” said Burish, who also will hold a W&L psychology professorship.

“Washington and Lee is a great university with a superb faculty, supportive board, strong students, excellent curriculum and a distinctive blend of programs and schools,” he added. “But, perhaps, its most enduring quality is that it has accomplished all of this while also being deeply committed to core values such as honesty, integrity and civility. It is clearly a special place.”

Burish, 51, succeeds acting President Laurent Boetsch, W&L’s dean of the college and vice president of academic affairs who will remain acting president through June 30. Boetsch, a 1969 W&L alumnus, has led the University since the death of President John W. Elrod, who died of cancer July 27, 2001.

The Board of Trustees’ unanimous election of Burish was announced to a crowd of students, faculty and townspeople who gathered at noon today at W&L’s historic Lee Chapel. Activities continued through the afternoon, when Burish was welcomed informally by the W&L community at a reception hosted by Elizabeth and Larry Boetsch on the University’s National Historic Landmark grounds.

The recipient of national teaching and research awards, Burish is the author of four textbooks, co-author of 16 additional books and has written nearly 70 articles for academic and lay journals, both in the U.S. and abroad. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings and previously served as an editor or editorial board member of nine other national journals.

As Vanderbilt’s longest-serving provost, Burish has overseen the student-run honor system and eight deans including those for Vanderbilt’s schools of law, business, divinity, engineering and arts and science. He also has spearheaded Vanderbilt’s admissions operation, budgetary process, strategic plan, faculty tenure procedures and minority recruitment efforts.

In his 10-year tenure as chief academic officer, Vanderbilt’s student body has increased in quality and diversity, with 14 percent of its 5,868 undergraduates being African-American, Hispanic or Asian-American. W&L’s non-white enrollment totals 8 percent of its 2,137 students, who represent 46 states, the District of Columbia and 36 countries.

U.S. News & World Report ranks Vanderbilt 21st in the top 50 national research universities. Washington and Lee is ranked 13th in the nation’s top 50 liberal arts colleges and W&L’s School of Law is ranked among the top 20 public and private law schools nationally, according to U.S. News.

Burish’s Selection
Burish’s selection follows a six-month national search involving more than 150 candidates in academic, corporate, government, foundation, law and other professional fields. The faculty-led Search and Screening Committee, whose 25 members included professors, trustees, alumni, staff and student representatives, recommended five finalists to the Board of Trustees’ presidential Nominating Committee.

After meeting with the finalists, the board committee recommended Burish to the 32-member Board of Trustees, which elected him unanimously in a recent meeting.

“In our review of dozens of candidates from across the country, Tom Burish quickly stood out for his character and dynamic mix of talents in finance, teaching, scholarship and leadership — both at Vanderbilt and in his active service to the American Cancer Society and other national organizations,” said Pamela J. White, a W&L trustee, alumna, Baltimore attorney and president of the Maryland State Bar Association.

Added Professor Harlan R. Beckley, chairman of the Search and Screening Committee, “Tom Burish combines humor, humaneness and clarity of purpose in a way that will win the affection and respect of every Washington and Lee constituency.

“Give Tom 30 seconds and you will like him. Give him two minutes, and he will inspire you to do your best to make Washington and Lee the best it can be,” added Beckley, director of W&L’s Shepherd Program for the Interdisciplinary Study of Poverty.

Burish follows other recent presidents who joined W&L after distinguished academic careers elsewhere. Elrod joined W&L as dean of the college in 1984 from Iowa State University and was elected W&L’s 22nd president in 1995. His predecessor, John D. Wilson, was executive vice president and provost at Virginia Tech when named president in 1982.

It was under Wilson’s leadership that W&L became co-educational, its endowment doubled, its 15 fraternities were renovated and the Lenfest Center for the Performing Arts opened. Elrod further increased W&L’s endowment and continued campus improvements marked by a major science addition; new athletic facilities; and the construction of W&L’s five sororities’ houses.

That building boom is now in its final stage with this fall’s reopening of the journalism building after its high-tech renovation, the planned construction of a new art-music academic facility and next year’s opening of the four-story John W. Elrod University Commons.

Burish: “Brilliant, Focused”
Joining Vanderbilt in 1976 as an assistant psychology professor, Burish quickly rose through the ranks to become a full professor, both in psychology and in medicine, and director of Vanderbilt’s clinical training program and chairman of the psychology department. Burish was named associate provost in 1986 and took over Vanderbilt’s chief academic post in 1992.

David F. Partlett, dean of W&L’s School of Law and formerly Vanderbilt’s law school dean, describes Burish as “a brilliant intellectual with a clear strategic focus.”

“As provost, Tom had the hardest job at Vanderbilt. The university has been very ambitious in its drive to excellence and Tom has been the pilot of that endeavor,” Partlett added. “At the same time, Tom has promoted fine teaching and has sought quality in all aspects of student life. He has promoted with equal intensity Vanderbilt’s quality of student life and its academic endeavors.”

Added Rev. Edward A. Malloy, C.S.C., president of the University of Notre Dame and a friend of Burish, “He is a man of wide intellectual interests and a person who can operate at the highest intellectual level with academics from a wide range of disciplines.”

“He is smart, capable and dedicated,” said Kent D. Syverud, dean of Vanderbilt’s law school. “I’ve watched him handle almost all types of crises a university leader can face — from a budget deficit to an enraged major donor to a stressful tenure decision. Tom fairly decided each issue with aplomb and integrity, and took responsibility in a way that strengthened Vanderbilt.”

Burish, a licensed psychologist, holds psychology degrees from Notre Dame and the University of Kansas. He is a member of the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and is a fellow at the American Psychological Society and at the American Psychological Association.

His wife, Pamela Burish, is professional director of Bredex Corp., which designs Web-based assessment tools for schools and students grades K-6. A longtime teacher, Mrs. Burish is the 1997-2000 recipient of Apple Computer’s Distinguished Educator Award, the Milken Family Foundation National Teaching Award and was selected Tennessee’s 1995 Teacher of the Year.

Pam and Tom Burish have two sons: Mark, 22, a senior at Princeton University majoring in molecular biology; and Brent, 20, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame studying biology and business.