President Burns Named 2024 Trailblazer in Higher Education

President Thomas Burns was named a 2024 Trailblazer in Higher Education.

President Thomas Burns was named a 2024 Trailblazer in Higher Education by City & State PA, a multimedia news organization that dedicates its coverage to Pennsylvania’s state and local government. 

In introducing the list of nearly 100 higher ed leaders – including presidents, provosts, chiefs of staff, deans, legislators, and organization leaders – City & State PA offered the following:

This is a challenging moment for academia, with enrollment broadly in decline, costs escalating and political tensions inflaming campuses. Yet the value of a degree remains strong – and the commonwealth’s much-lauded universities are collectively engines of social justice, economic mobility and transformative research.

The leaders in City & State’s 2024 Higher Education Trailblazers are responsible for this enduring legacy. They are scientists and linguists, attorneys and lobbyists, and dedicated administrators whose creativity and collaborative spirit is evident in the sector’s resilience.

Confronted with a changing economic, social and technological landscape, these leaders have responded with innovative programming, outreach both tangible and virtual and, in some cases, restructuring to accommodate the ambitions of a new generation.