Lawrence University Names New President

Thursday the school announced its next president will be Mark Burstein, who is currently serving as executive vice president at Princeton University.

After a year long search, Lawrence University whittled a hundred candidate search down to one.

"I've actually not felt a fit like this before," says Burstein.

He won't take office until July 2013, but he says he plans to hit the ground running.

"For me, my leadership style is very engaged, so I expect to really get to know this community and both have an open door where people can come and talk to me individually about issues, but also have many many opportunities to engage the community more broadly," says Burstein.

The new president says one of the strongest draws to Lawrence is its music program. It carrys a lot of weight too, over 1/3 of the student body is involved in music.

Andy Mast, Director of Bands at Lawrence, has one suggestion for Burstein.

"Let more people in other parts of the country know what we are doing and continue to build on what has already been done very successfully by President Beck in terms of broadening that awareness and making more widely known on a national level," says Mast.

Burstein will be the college's 16th president following Jill Beck, who is retiring after nine years in office, and Richard Warch, who served for about 25 years.

"There is momentum from what Rick and Jill have accomplished here is extraordinary and really sets up this institution well," says Burstein.

Burstein says he plans to spend a lot of his first academic year on the road visiting alumni. He will be officially introduced to the student body at a ceremony in Appleton on January 3rd.