College President Will Retire at End of School Year

Wayne Burton, the president on North Shore Community College for the past 13 years, will retire later this year, he announced on Tuesday.

His retirement date is July 31, 2013, according to an announcement from the college.

After retirement, he plans to expand his civic involvement by running for town council in Durham, N.H., where he lives, and running for the New Hampshire legislature in 2014. He's already on the Oyster River School District Advisory Budget Committee and Strafford County Regional Planning Committee.

During the past 13 years at North Shore Community College, the announcement said Burton has led the college through "unprecedented growth and expansion."

Under Burton, the college has four consecutive years of double-digit enrollment increases and the largest-ever graduating class.

 “In his 13 years as President of North Shore Community College, Burton has positively impacted the lives of tens of thousands of...students and made a tremendous contribution to the workforce development and economic vitality of the North Shore region,” said Richard Yagjian, chair of the college’s Board of Trustees in Tuesday's announcement.

Burton told staff in an e-mail that he was "deeply grateful to everyone at NSCC for a wonderful experience with an extraordinary group of dedicated people,” reported the Salem News on Wednesday.

North Shore Community College is one of 15 community colleges in Massachusetts and serves 26 cities and towns on the North Shore with a campus in Danvers as well as in Lynn and the Cummings Center in Beverly.

The college’s endowment increased to $5.4 million under Burton's watch, making it the second largest community college endowment in the state.

Two new buildings were built on the Danvers campus during Burton's tenure and an expansion and addition is planned at the Lynn campus. Additionally, Essex Agricultural School's vocational programs were integrated into the college.

Burton brought Service Learning to the college, for which it now wins national distinctions and established NSCC’s Public Policy Institute (PPI), the only one of its kind at a community college in New England with initiatives ranging from community outreach in the Gateway City of Lynn, to research and forums on public policy issues.

As the 100th president nationwide to sign onto The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, he spurred the adoption of a holistic commitment to sustainability that engages the entire college and serves as an educational model for the North Shore region. Dr. Burton led construction and funding efforts for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ first, and nation’s second, Zero Net Energy Building, the new state-of-the-art Danvers campus Health Professions & Student Services Building, which opened in January 2012. The college was recently honored with the prestigious Massachusetts Leading By Example Award for public leadership, stewardship and commitment.

On the national level, President Burton helped shape national policy as the only community college president to serve on the U.S. DOE Committee on Measures of Student Success. He also brought to the college a dedication to students with disabilities evidenced by his service on the state Special Commission Relative to Autism and as chair of the national Community College Consortium on Autism and Intellectual Disabilities.

Before coming to North Shore Community College, Burton was Dean of the School of Business at Salem State University. He graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine and is a Vietnam veteran. He has his MBA from the University of New Hampshire and his Ed.D. from Vanderbilt.

In Vietnam, Burton served as a Captain, U.S. Army, 9th Infantry Division, receiving three Bronze Stars and two Army Commendation medals.

He is married to Betsey and they have two sons, a daughter and two grandchildren.