Southwestern Magazine | Fall 2019

SINCE HIS FIRST DAY as its 15th president in 2013, Edward B. Burger has transformed Southwestern University. Now, as he prepares to step aside in January 2020 to take the helm as pres- ident and chief executive officer at St. David’s Foundation in Austin, one of the nation’s largest healthcare founda- tions, the Southwestern community is reflecting on the president’s impact on the University. From his engagement with the students, alumni, faculty, and staff to his hands- on and bold leadership of the University during a time of record-breaking growth, there is no part of the University that is not stronger because of him. “ W e a r e d e e p l y grateful to Dr. Burger—our colleague, teacher, and friend who has given us so much of himself to make Southwestern stand out as a place that values and delivers distinctive, high-impact learning through intellectual and personal growth that lasts a lifetime,” says Stephen G. Tipps, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees. “He personifies Think. Create. Connect.—to make meaning and make a difference .” Visionary change Part of the difference Burger has made to Southwestern can be seen in the dramatic physical changes to the campus, including the Fondren–Jones Science Center (see “The Gift of a Lifetime” in this issue). But it’s also manifested in, as Garey Chair and Professor of Mathematics Alison Marr points out, “the hammocks, the Adirondack chairs, the revitalized Bishops Lounge, the new plaza and porch in front of Fondren– Jones,… not to mention all the beautiful gath- e r i n g s p a c e s inside the new science building, in c luding t h e awesome new outdoor class- room. There are more places for students, faculty, and staff to gather and build community.” Burger also helped articulate and champion Paideia, Southwestern’s interdisciplinary approach to education, which encourages students to intentionally make connections as they think about and think through their chosen fields of study. Aiden Steinle ’20, a math major and chief editor of The Megaphone , has found SU’s rigorous but flexible curriculum liberating because it has allowed him to explore a wide range of interests. “Personally, I’ve been able to pursue mathematics, finance, journalism, and ceramics and have been encouraged at every step along the way,” he says gratefully. “Dr. Burger’s mantra of Think. Create. Connect. reflects in our Paideia program, which I believe will carry Southwestern into the future, helping to craft well-rounded liberal arts students.” To complement Paideia, SU launched Mosaic last year and the Residential Experience in fall 2019, programs dedicated to enhancing students’ personal and intellectual growth through their cocurricular activities. For Burger, these initiatives have represented the exciting outcomes of Southwestern’s continuous “process of regrowth and rebirth”: “The reimagination of Paideia and the phenomenal start of Mosaic just thrill me because they make the Southwestern Experience a lifelong experience that transforms individuals and advances the life of the mind in meaningful and challenging ways that promote intellectual and personal growth,” says Burger. “I was extraordinarily proud of the institution for that. Those are the high points of the half dozen years.” These initiatives have also contributed to the University’s growing reputation, which has elicited record-setting enrollments during the president’s term, with the five largest classes in the University’s history. Burger has made no secret that one of the greatest challenges he confronted when assuming the role of president was grappling with the institution’s finances while implementing long-deferred but much-needed maintenance proj- ects and updates to the University’s t e c h n o l og i c a l infrastructure. More broadly, t h a t p u z z l e h a s i n c l u d e d “acknowledg[ing] the economics of higher education” and “balanc[ing] two very strong opposing forces: making this type of educational experience attainable and practical for bright, engaged students whose families or who, themselves, do not have the means to afford it...[and] trying to keep the cost of a Southwestern education as low as possible while facing the high costs and inflationary pressures of running a large, complex institution.” " In many ways, Ed has transformed Southwestern in his own image, " says Tipps. " He has made us all focus on learning to think as the essence of education. And he has taught us all about the benefits of creative failure. " 19 SOUTHWESTERN Commemorating one of Burger’s many gifts to Southwestern, the plaque adorning the new public clock in the Jones Plaza captures the president’s educational and personal philosophies.