Morgan J. Burke
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Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Entering his 15th year in the fall of 2007 as director of Intercollegiate Athletics, Morgan Burke embodies the Boilermaker spirit that drew him back to his alma mater.
A 1973 industrial management graduate and former Boilermaker varsity swimmer, Burke was a member of Phi Beta Kappa scholastic honorary. After graduation, he continued at Purdue and earned a master's degree in industrial relations in 1975. In 1980, he graduated with a law degree from John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He pursued a successful career with Inland Steel Co. after law school, moving through 13 positions in an 18-year span. He was vice president when he departed to become athletics director.
In Burke's time at the helm of Purdue Intercollegiate Athletics, performances on and off the field reflect the high expectations that heralded his hiring.
During his tenure, the women's basketball team has captured the national championship, the football team has embarked on a run of nine bowl games in ten years, and the men's basketball team has achieved an unprecedented string of back-to-back-to-back Big Ten Conference championships. The performance in the Directors’ Cup has improved from 81st in 1994-95 to 35th in 2005-06.
Similar excellence has been expected in the classroom, where the goal is to meet or surpass the overall grade-point average of the general student body. That goal has been achieved each of the last 19 semesters. Following the 2006 fall semester, the cumulative GPA for all current Purdue student athletes was 2.96, compared to the overall student body’s cumulative GPA of 2.88. In addition, the four-year average graduation rate of student athletes has risen to 72 percent, compared with the student body’s 65 percent.
As a self-supporting auxiliary, Intercollegiate Athletics writes a check to the University for scholarships, and financial resources had to be expanded greatly to support all sports. Burke challenged Purdue alumni and fans to get on board to propel Boilermaker athletics to greatness. He set a goal of doubling the size of the 4,350-member John Purdue Club (JPC) as well as doubling the $2.5 million raised annually to support student athletes. Both goals have been achieved: JPC memberships are now at 9,000 and annual dollars raised to support scholarships and academic support services are in excess of $7 million.
Since the start of the new millennium, Burke and his staff have identified and addressed a number of facility priorities because regular upgrades of competition and practice venues are vital in attracting and retaining top student athlete and coaching talent.
Burke has also sought to involve former student athletes in the life of the department, establishing an advisory council made up of 24 student-athlete alumni in 1993. In 2003, former student athletes found a new home in Intercollegiate Athletics with the founding of the Varsity P Club, a subset of the John Purdue Club.
Burke, 55, is married to the former Catherine J. (Kate) Mullane, a Purdue alumna and pharmacist. They have three children: Joyce, Morgan Jr. and Patrick. Joyce is a Purdue alumna working as a materials engineer; she and her husband, Ryan, reside in Austin, Texas. Morgan Jr., a Purdue graduate, is a landscape architect and works with a firm in San Francisco. Patrick is attending Purdue in the College of Engineering and just completed his sophomore year.Related Links: