Burke to Retire as Chancellor of Penn State Behrend
John D. “Jack” Burke will retire as chancellor of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, at the end of the 2008-09 academic year, capping a 36-year career in higher education marked by leadership of the college through a period of exceptional growth.
Burke has been at Penn State Behrend since 1981, having served as senior associate provost and senior associate dean prior to being named to head the college in 2001. As the college’s chief academic and administrative officer, Burke has been responsible for Penn State Behrend’s academic programs in teaching, research and service in addition to campus operations, strategic planning and budgeting, and marketing and fundraising.
“I have felt privileged to be part of this college community for more than 25 years, and I’m enormously proud of what Penn State Behrend has become through the talents of so many individuals—faculty, staff, alumni and community friends,” Burke said. “I always say that Penn State Behrend’s greatest strength is its people and that is absolutely the case. My decision comes with considerable sadness but also with a strong sense of confidence in the continued growth and success of the college.”
Highlights of Penn State Behrend’s progress under Burke’s leadership include:
-- More than 25 percent growth in enrollment, from 3,700 in 2001 to nearly 4,700 anticipated for the 2008-09 academic year.
-- An increase in the number of academic program offerings to more than 40 bachelor’s, master’s and associate degrees, including new offerings in the sciences, creative writing, nursing, and interdisciplinary business with engineering.
-- Opening of the Research and Economic Development Center (REDC), the $30 million, 160,000-square-foot home of the Sam and Irene Black School of Business and the School of Engineering, the first such co-location of business and engineering schools in the country.
-- Along with the addition of REDC, further growth in the physical campus with the construction of Senat Hall, the college’s newest residential facility exclusively for first-year students, planned construction of the Robert and Sally Metzgar Admissions and Alumni Center, and substantial upgrades to numerous other facilities on campus.
-- Expansion of Knowledge Park to four buildings housing 14 tenants employing more than 500 people.
-- Athletic program success, exemplified by the Behrend Lions’ capture of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Presidents’ Cup seven out of the eight years it has been awarded.
Burke is just the fourth leader to have served Penn State Behrend in its 60-year history. He was appointed to lead the college to replace John M. Lilley, who had departed for the presidency of the University of Nevada, Reno, at the time. Details of the search for Burke’s successor are not yet available.
In the Erie community, Burke represents Penn State Behrend in numerous leadership roles, including serving as a member of the board of directors of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, for which he chairs the Economic Development Committee, and the board of directors of the United Way of Erie County. He is also a corporator and past member of the board of trustees of Hamot Health Foundation.
Before coming to Penn State Behrend, Burke served as a faculty member and as associate dean at the State University of New York’s Empire State College, where he was in charge of academic affairs for the College’s Buffalo Regional Center. As a faculty member at Empire State, he was awarded the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Burke holds a bachelor’s degree in geography from the State University College at Oswego, N.Y., and earned his master’s degree and Ph.D., both in geography, from SUNY at Buffalo. In 1986, he earned a certificate from Harvard University’s Institute for Educational Management.
Following his retirement, Burke and his wife, Candy, plan to relocate to Clayton, N.Y.
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is a comprehensive residential college offering 34 baccalaureate, six associate, four pre-professional and two graduate degree programs with 22 minors to more than 4,400 students. Focused on providing a student-centered environment, Penn State Behrend is the link that connects its students to a major research and land-grant institution on a campus enriched by more than 110 clubs and organizations, 21 NCAA varsity teams and 19 intramural sports.
Penn State Behrend is named in recognition of a donation by Mary Behrend, widow of Ernst Behrend, who founded the Hammermill Paper Co. in Erie in 1898. The Behrend family lived on the 400-acre Glenhill Farm, which is the core of the Penn State Behrend campus today.
For more information, visit behrend.psu.edu.