- Good afternoon everybody.
I'm Jack Cassell, chairman of the board of trustees
at American University.
And what a wonderful day.
It's a terrific day, a beautiful day outside.
And it's a beautiful day inside to announce
this 15th presidency of American university
We do this at a time when AU has never been stronger.
The yardsticks to our successes are
based on metrics for academic quality, student achievement,
financial strength, facilities enhancements,
our public profile, and numerous others.
Much of our success over the past 10 years
we owe to our outgoing president, Dr. Neil Kerwin.
We owe him a great deal of thanks.
[APPLAUSE]
Neil will be stepping down May 31.
And of course we thank him for all that he's done.
When we completed our last accreditation process
about two years ago, the Middle States review team said,
"Your greatest challenge will be to duplicate
your recent success trajectory into the future."
Well, I am confident that we will
do that, definitely do that.
And I am here to announce today American University's
15th president, and our first woman president--
[APPLAUSE]
So I guess I should say the name Sylvia--
Sylvia Mathews Burwell.
[APPLAUSE]
I have to admit, I just got a little teared up,
having my family history so long here at American University,
to be able to say how proud I am that we
do have a woman president.
It's awesome.
Until last week, Sylvia was the Secretary
of the US Department of Health and Human Services,
a position she held for the past couple of years.
Prior to that, she was the Director
of the Office of Management and Budget.
She also served as Chief Operating Officer
and as Founding President for the Global Development Program
of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Prior to that, she was the President
of the Walmart Foundation.
Sylvia is an accomplished government official
and global foundation executive, a person of immense character,
rigor of thought, and intense mission focus.
She is a graduate of Harvard University,
and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University.
She understands the intersection of business, government,
academia philanthropy, and has an intellectual curiosity
that she has applied in her roles
to push the boundaries of knowledge
and address complex national and global problems using
scholarship, research, and creativity.
This has included expertise applied to national health
care, global public health and disease control,
and biomedical research.
She is experienced in coalition building, obviously
the political process, large scale budgeting and finance,
and philanthropy.
Last week I had the pleasure of going
to her portraiture unveiling.
And I heard some of the words that
were being spoken about her.
Some of those words are honest, trustworthy,
a strategic thinker who excels at motivating
others and demands high performance,
a great listener who knows how to benefit from the wisdom
and insight of others, a team player with the ability
to rally the team, hardworking, extremely smart, grounded
and a family person, and a person of great impact.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are the characteristics
of the next president of American University.
[APPLAUSE]
And if it doesn't sound like she does a lot, she and her husband
Stephen are also raising two young children, Helene, aged
nine, and Matthew, aged seven.
I'd like to ask the three of them
to please stand and be welcomed to the AU family.
[APPLAUSE]
I will let you know that I already
have instructed the children that they should go over
to TDR because they have a ice cream bar that goes 24/7.
So they're really happy about that.
They're also really happy because they
want to meet Clawed a little bit later.
So, Secretary Burwell, on behalf of the board of trustees
and the entire AU community, we are
delighted to have you as our next president
to continue our momentum and upward trajectory here at AU.
You'll be hearing from Secretary Burwell in just a few minutes.
But I've asked three of our members of our search committee
to say a few words.
And I would like to introduce the first of those three.
The first is our former chair of the board, a esteemed alum,
and a person who, about 10 months ago, accepted
the responsibility I asked him to take,
which was to be the chair of our presidential search committee.
Well, it was one of the best, and probably the best decision
I've ever made as board chair to ask Jeff to do that.
He accepted the position.
He moved forward with it 100%, did a terrific job.
And you can see the outcome.
I'd like to introduce Jeff Sine to please come to the podium.
[APPLAUSE]
- We're so excited that we're here today
and finally able to share this incredible news
with our community.
And thank you for all being part of it.
I think there's a lot of people here in the room today
who absolutely were a big part of this,
and I want to recognize some of them.
I also want to tell you a little bit about the process that
took us from Neil's decision to step down
at the end of this academic year to where we are today.
And it was an extensive process.
It was an inclusive process.
It was one that involved a lot of outreach,
a lot of listening, and ultimately some very high class
choices that we had we were able to make.
The process began with putting together a search committee.
I'm going to introduce them in a minute.
We also then worked on a position statement
that described what we're looking for in a new president.
And this may have been the world's
first crowdsourced position statement.
This is Mary Kennard's idea where
we put it out there for our entire community to comment on.
We went through several iterations.
I just want to read you one particularly important
paragraph from that position statement.
And I think you will see how well we
tracked to those aspirations.
"At this critical moment in its history,
American University is seeking a bold intellectual leader who
is confident and discerning about new opportunities,
rather than opting for the status quo.
The next president should embody the university's values
and have a capacity for inspiration and vision
that will continue the university's
dynamic trajectory.
The passion for diversity in all its forms,
the commitment to building an inclusive community,
and a deeply held belief in engagement
and shared governance will be paramount
to the selection of American University's 15th president."
So we took those words extremely seriously.
We engaged in a very wide-reaching process
of both traditional and nontraditional candidates,
those from the academy, those from outside the academy.
I have to say that the reputation of AU
placed us in very good stead in terms
of attracting an incredibly high caliber of folks
that we were able to speak with.
In the end, we invited 11 candidates back to interview
with our committee.
And our committee sent six of those back
to our wider community.
What we did is that we asked groups of faculty, students,
and staff, as well as, of course, the deans
and administrators to meet with these candidates.
And they gave us their feedback.
Remarkably, we kept the whole process confidential.
And I think that's also a testament to the goodwill
that we had throughout this process.
So, I think this was a very, very inclusive process.
And I think that everyone who's involved in it--
and now I think our entire community
feels great about where we've ended up.
I want to now recognize the members of the search committee
and ask as I call your name to stand up, if you're here.
I know a couple of them will be joining us later.
So my vice chair on the committee I don't think
is here yet, Gina Adams, Jack Cassell of course,
Mary Clark, dean of academic affairs--
[APPLAUSE]
--Gary Cohn, who was a trustee up until last Friday,
now is elsewhere in Washington.
Marc Duber, our vice chair of the board--
[APPLAUSE]
--one of our three faculty members, Kiho Kim--
[APPLAUSE]
--Judge Lee, a trustee, Betsy Mangone, trustee,
our second faculty member, Sarah Menke-Fish from the School
of Communications--
[APPLAUSE]
--a past president of our alumni board, Andrea Murino--
[APPLAUSE]
--Trustee Arthur Rothkopf--
[APPLAUSE]
--Trustee Peter Scher--
[APPLAUSE]
--our student trustee and undergraduate student
representative to the committee, Shyheim Snead--
[APPLAUSE]
--our graduate student representative
to the committee, Arthur Soto-Vazquez--
[APPLAUSE]
--I should attribute, Shyheim is from SBA,
and Arthur is from the School of Communications--
[WOO SHOUTED]
--Tiffany Speaks from the Center for Diversity Inclusion
representing the staff--
[APPLAUSE]
--and Sharon Wiener, right here from SIS.
[APPLAUSE]
We could not have done our work, and it was quite a bit of work,
without terrific support from David--
where's David?
David Taylor.
Thank you David--
[APPLAUSE]
Lisa Arakaki--
[APPLAUSE]
--Leslie Wong--
[APPLAUSE]
--and Terry Flannery.
And finally I wanted to publicly express our gratitude
to our search consultant, Spencer Stuart, who
really spread the word.
And I think one of the maybe unanticipated but very powerful
benefits of a process like this is
we get to tell our story very widely around the globe.
And it's a story that resonated.
And Spencer Stuart was a big help in telling that story.
And I think this is all going to portend magnificent things
for AU in the future.
Final thing I just wanted to say as a word of advice
to the secretary, who was pretty much flat out
up until last Thursday.
So you probably haven't had time to check out the health
plan here at AU, but it's actually excellent.
You have a choice of an HMO option--
[LAUGHTER]
--or a PPO option.
The only thing you've got to keep your eye on
is you have a 30 day window to sign up after your start date.
[LAUGHTER]
So with that I'll turn it over to Kiho.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
- Thank you Jeff.
Thank you.
It's been a great honor to represent my faculty colleagues
on the Presidential Search Committee, which
began its work last spring.
Like all of you, I wanted a president
who was going to be an extraordinary leader
and a visionary, someone who will continue our work
to garner greater recognition and distinction for AU.
As a faculty member, I also want a president
who appreciates and fosters the unique culture of AU,
especially the scholar teacher ideal,
and also the call to turn ideas into action--
features that are deeply embedded
in the DNA of our institution and that
need to be transcribed into the blueprint of AU's next steps.
Secretary Burwell is that person.
She brings to bear an illustrious career, leading
some of the most complex and prestigious institutions,
from major philanthropies to the highest
level of federal government.
Most recently, as Secretary of Health and Human Services,
Secretary Burwell oversaw 11 agencies,
including the National Institutes of Health,
the Center for Disease Control and Prevention,
and the Food and Drug Administration,
with nearly 80,000 employees and the largest
budget of any cabinet-level department.
These agencies--
[APPLAUSE]
These agencies depend upon research and scholarship
to solve fundamental problems in our society,
from affordable health care to disease control,
and also substance abuse.
Secretary Burwell's successes at Health and Human Services
reflect three key factors that will
make her an outstanding president of our university--
first, her ability to foster research and scholarship
and turn them into action; second, her ability
to embrace and leverage the strength of a large and diverse
institution to advance its goals;
and third, her ability to convey complex ideas to a wide
ranging audience, from members of Congress
to the general public, and pushing
for evidence-based action and outcomes.
Knowing that Secretary Burwell can move Congress to action,
I'm sure she can do wonders for a classroom full of students
in a science general education class.
And I know she would welcome the opportunity.
So it is with great honor and excitement
that I welcome Secretary Burwell to American University.
[APPLAUSE]
- Good afternoon everyone.
Oh no, we have to pretend like we're excited-- not pretend,
but we know we're excited for the next president of American
University.
Good afternoon American University.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
My name is Shyheim Snead, and I've
served on the search committee as the undergraduate student
representative.
I also serve as your student trustee.
Thank you all so much for this opportunity.
Throughout this amazing, rewarding process,
there have been many alternative facts surfacing about who
our next president will be.
But I am pleased to join my colleagues on stage
in announcing that it is the most
recent Secretary of the Health and Human Services agency.
As a student, this is a truly humbling moment.
At the core, American University is a place
of higher learning, with a mission
of educating leaders who would transform ideas into action.
Students are very much at the center of this mission.
American University students come from coast
to coast and from all the corners of the world.
And with them they carry the hopes, the dreams, the fears,
the passions of their families and of their communities.
There is a lot that happens between the packed Bender gym
on the morning of convocation and receiving
a diploma in that same Bender Arena several years later.
Like many students in the room, and like many of our alumni,
American university has exposed me
to an experiential education, world class faculty
members, unparalleled life and world experiences.
Though we all know that the student experience does not
come without its challenges, a divisive political climate
at times, challenges with mental health,
challenges with racial equity and inclusion,
and the rising cost of higher education all
are problems facing students around the country
and here on our campus.
Given these challenges and given this pivotal moment
in our nation's history and on our campus' history,
there is not a more important time for strategic visionary
and inclusive leadership.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell is that leader.
Sylvia Mathews Burwell's lifelong dedication
to public service and improving the lives
of families across the country as proof
of her poise for this opportunity.
In her long and storied career of public service,
she's tackled our nation's most difficult problems.
I'm not going to list her resume here,
but these include fighting Zika, promoting health and access
to health domestically and abroad,
and supporting education for all children
at the earliest stages of life.
This trailblazer leads with a high regard
for results, collaboration, and relationship building.
Trusted and respected by many, her dedication an tireless work
ethic will be more than an invaluable resource
to the development of our campus community,
now and in the future.
As a student here at American University,
I am fully confident that she'll bring
this history of leadership, care, and effectiveness
to nurturing the student experience here
at American University.
Please join me in extending a warm welcome
as I presents you the 15th president
of American University, Secretary Sylvia Mathews
Burrell.
[APPLAUSE]
- Thank you for that kind introduction
and for that very warm welcome.
I will admit to you that in November, I
did not think I would be the one referred to as the first woman
president.
[LAUGHTER]
I want to start by thanking everyone who made today
possible.
And that begins with President Neil Kerwin.
And it is a tall order to follow in your footsteps
Neil after all you have done to advance the mission of AU,
and launch AU on a path of great accomplishments and boundless
potential.
So thank you very much Neil.
[APPLAUSE]
And thank you Jack and Jeff and all the members of the search
committee.
Also especially want to thank Kiho and Shyheim
for coming and speaking today, represented the faculty
and the students in so many great ways, the committee,
and you all too.
So thank you all.
And I also want to thank my family who's
here with me today, and always being there, to my parents who,
for 51 years-- they're not here today-- but they support
and still teach me every day.
And thanks to my husband Stephen, and our children
Helene and Matthew, for filling my life with fun and joy,
and because being your mom is the proudest shop
I'll ever have.
[APPLAUSE]
And thank my sister Stephanie who
I will speak to in a moment.
I want to use this brief time to tell you about-- sorry Steph--
to tell you about myself and the path
that led me here to join you all today.
I was born in a small town in Southern West Virginia,
and I'm the granddaughter of four Greek immigrants.
And from the earliest days there were two themes
that were consistent in my childhood
and stay with me to this day.
And one is education, and the other is public service.
And while it was not a traditional choice
for Greek immigrants to send their daughters to college,
both sides of my grandparents did that.
And for my mother, with their blessings,
my mother, who was her high school valedictorian,
went to the University of Cincinnati.
And four years later she graduated with honors.
She became a teacher and she taught
for 30 years in classrooms that ranged-- actually my mom taught
in a one room school, to a college
that is now a university in Southern West Virginia.
And my father also shared that love of learning.
And actually his first degree was in English,
and he became an English teacher.
He then went on to become an optometrist.
And that would be his profession.
But his love for literature and learning continued.
And anyone who walked in his office on Ballengee Street
would generally get an unsolicited and complementary
lesson on anything from Shakespeare to Aristotle.
And my parents lived--
we lived in a small community in Southern West Virginia,
a little town named Hinton.
And my father served on the local school board.
My mother chaired the state school board,
served as an officer in the National Association School
Board.
You're seeing kind of a theme here, I think, as we go.
And we didn't actually know much,
when we were thinking about higher education, about Harvard
or the Ivy League at the time, but my sister Stephanie
had strong PSATs, and a very curious mind,
and a fearless approach to the unknown.
So she got a letter from Harvard and it encouraged her to apply.
And she asked my parents if she could.
They said yes.
And she applied, and applied with that same boundless
passion that she brings to every new assignment.
And she was accepted.
And four years later, I followed in Stephanie's footsteps
and arrived in Cambridge.
And after Harvard, I then studied at Oxford.
And combined, those seven years of thinking and learning
were some of the most rewarding years of my life.
And when I left Oxford, it was my plan to work for two years
and then to return to school to either get a PhD
or to go to law school.
However, a presidential campaign for a little known governor
in Arkansas changed those plans and swept into the White House
in 1993.
Our team embarked on a path to strengthen
the American economy.
And under President Clinton's leadership,
we balanced the budget and we worked
with a Republican Congress to get it across the line.
And that is something that is central to what
I've seen in my time in public service, the importance
and the power of common ground.
And at HHS, the issues that we have worked on
face stiff partisan politics.
But we worked with members of Congress
and governors across the aisle to make sure
that we made progress on issues so important
to the American people.
We partnered with states to combat the prescription drug
epidemic, one that my home state of West Virginia
knows all too well.
We worked with Congress and with governments around the world
to face down the threats of infectious diseases
like Ebola and Zika.
And under the leadership of President Obama
and this Congress, we continued this steady work
to advance the frontiers of science and innovation,
and set our nation on a path for 21st century cures.
And I believe in the notion that people
who share common interests and common dreams
can find common ground.
And the Academy plays a pivotal role in that.
In the fractured world that we live in today,
the Academy can bring divergent voices together.
It can inform the debate with scholarship and research.
And that is no small task.
And I believe that there are few institutions so well positioned
to do that than American University.
American University's future is bright,
and thanks to Neil and the whole team
here at AU, who have set this community on a very
strong footing to lead the way.
Today, here, the demand for undergraduate admission
has never been greater.
AU's endowment has grown, even amidst the recession,
and its financial strength is evident.
At a time when some universities have cut back, AU has grown.
To meet its rising expectations for scholarly impact
and quality instruction, AU has increased full time faculty
by nearly half over the past decade.
Research and scholarship are more rigorous and intensive
than ever before.
And in fact, the university's research classification
by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education
moved up to a more competitive level,
grouped with institutions like Dartmouth and William and Mary.
And that's the result of strategic decisions
to focus on doctoral programs and a reflection of increased
productivity and externally funded research.
You can see this progress yourself
with the opening of the East Campus.
It's a meaningful sign of AU's ambition
and its path moving forward.
With more than 1.5 million new and/or
renovated square feet of teaching learning and residence
hall space over the past 10 years,
with it comes a growing reputation
on a national and international scale.
You feel this momentum when you come to this campus.
And I know that, and I did.
And in many ways these achievements
are thanks to Neil and the entire American University
team who have set this community on a footing
to lead in important ways.
These are just some of the reasons
why I am grateful to join this community as we chart
the path for decades to come and build on this very
important progress.
So as I prepare to join this team in June,
I know that I will want to do some very intent listening.
I want to hear from you as we work
to chart the course of the next chapter together.
And let me conclude with where I started,
and that is the people.
It was clear from the moment I began this process
that the people who define this university
are unparalleled in their commitment to the AU community
and to the work that it does.
From the faculty to the students to the staff to the alumni
and the board of trustees, I found a consistency
of purpose, a clarity on the importance of scholarship
and the students.
I found people who would challenge me and each other,
but do it with respect and with the interest of continuing
to make AU stronger.
I found a deep commitment to the university and a desire
to build and make it better, stronger,
and prepared to meet new demands of this next decade,
and to lead in new ways.
Most importantly, I found people I like,
and a team that I will be honored to be a part of
and to lead.
So thank you.
Thank you to the search committee
and the board for your confidence and your trust.
And thanks to all of you who participated
in this strong process.
I look forward to serving.
Thank you.
[APPLAUSE]
- Secretary Burwell, thank you very much for that very nice
address.
We are all very excited about you being here with us.
And we're so excited that we're going
to have a little reception afterwards,
after following this at Katzen at 3:30,
or as soon as we leave here.
And it will last from 3:30 to 5:00.
But I do have an obligation as board chair
to let you all know that we do have
a science building to build.
And so--
[APPLAUSE]
--so we have work to do.
And I wish--
I wanted to thank everybody that's
here, thank you for your love of American University.
And let's go have a celebration and everybody meet Sylvia
over at Katzen.
All right, thank you very much.
[APPLAUSE]
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