John E. Burris, president of Beloit College since 2000, will step down from the international liberal arts college on June 30 of this year to become president of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund in Research Triangle Park, N.C.
The announcement was made by Burris in an email to the Beloit College community at noon today. The announcement was made simultaneously by Phil Gold, chair of the Board of Directors of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. Burris is only the second full time president of the 14-year-old, independent private foundation which has an endowment of approximately $800 million.
Burris thanked the community for its support and said that “For the past eight years, I have had the rewarding experience of leading Beloit College. They have been years of challenge and excitement with each day providing an interesting new set of issues and ideas…I leave the College confident that we are in a strong position to continue and enhance our tradition of excellence. I have enjoyed serving you as Beloit's 10th President and I look forward to watching, with pride, the future accomplishments of Beloit.”
Chairman of the board James Sanger extended his congratulations and indicated that “This new post is an appropriate capstone to a career that has been devoted to scientific research and education. Dr. Burris' contributions to Beloit College over the past eight years have enhanced its strength and reputation. The impressive growth in applications and in the quality of students, when combined with the increases in the size of the faculty, staff and student body and the addition of new resources, all work to set Beloit College on a strong course for the future. The opening of the new Center for the Sciences this fall is an indication of John Burris' vision and dedication to putting Beloit at the forefront in higher education."
He also indicated that the board has started the work of defining the process for seeking a successor, noting that the search will be “international in scope and will include representation from all sectors of the Beloit College community.”
Burris noted that “The United States is one of the only nations in the world where private philanthropy is used to catalyze and cause social and scientific change and progress. Philanthropy has the flexibility to implement new programs, provide avenues for individual researchers to test new ideas, and to take risks that often end up with unpredictable and illuminating results. I have enjoyed watching BWF leverage its funds and intellectual capital through joint initiatives with other organizations.”
In announcing the appointment, the Foundation board chair stated: "Dr. Burris brings a wide variety of talents and experience to the post. He has been an active investigator in biology, an administrator of an outstanding biological research facility, a member of numerous important national committees and, most recently, president of Beloit College. This combination of experiences assures BWF a leader with vision, leadership ability, a wealth of experience in personal interactions, and access to a national network of scientists, and scientific opinion leader.”
Burris has served as president of Beloit College for eight years . He has overseen a 15% increase in enrollment and size of the faculty and a 40% increase in applications for admission. Under his leadership, Beloit has continued to emphasize its strengths in the international, the experiential, and the interdisciplinary, while retaining its core values as a residential liberal arts college. The College has raised over 60% of the funds in its $100 million Comprehensive Campaign, the center of which is a new Science Center building that will be dedicated this fall.
Prior to joining Beloit, Burris was the director and chief executive officer of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
Burris received an A.B. in biology from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in marine biology from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego. He was a biology professor at the Pennsylvania State University from 1976 to 1985 with research interests in the areas of marine and terrestrial plant physiology and ecology.