Thomas G. Burish

Elected provost of the University of Notre Dame on July 21, 2005. He is the fourth person to hold the office since it was established in 1970. The provost, the University's second ranking officer, is elected by the Board of Trustees and, at the direction of the president, exercises overall responsibility for the academic enterprise. After his graduation from Notre Dame in 1972, Dr. Burish, a native of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, received master's and doctoral degrees in psychology and clinical psychology from the University of Kansas in 1975 and 1976, respectively. While in graduate school, he also worked in the Kansas University Medical Center's psychiatry department and children's rehabilitation unit. In 1976, Dr. Burish joined Vanderbilt's faculty as an assistant professor of psychology. He taught undergraduate courses in abnormal psychology, personality, introduction to delivery of psychological services, stress and biofeedback, and graduate courses in psychopathology, health psychology, and clinical practicum. He remained at Vanderbilt for the next 26 years, establishing a prominent reputation in cancer research, receiving honors for excellence as an undergraduate teacher, and serving in numerous administrative positions including chair of the Department of Psychology from 1984 to 1986. A member of the American Cancer Society's national board of directors since 1991, Dr. Burish became its chair in 2004. He sits on numerous scientific advisory committees and is the co-author or co-editor of four books, including "Coping with Chronic Disease: Research and Applications" and "Cancer, Nutrition, and Eating Behavior: A Biobehavioral Perspective." He also has contributed to more than 16 other books and has written some 70 journal articles in his field. Among the editorial boards on which he serves are those of the Journal of Psychosocial Oncology and the Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings. Dr. Burish and his wife, Pamela, have two sons, Mark, a 2002 graduate of Princeton University, and now an M.D./Ph.D. candidate at Vanderbilt, and Brent, who earned a bachelor's degree in biological science from Notre Dame in 2004 and a master of business administration from Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business in 2005. A Notre Dame alumnus and distinguished scholar in the field of clinical psychology, Dr. Burish served as president of Washington and Lee University for three years before assuming his present position and was Vanderbilt University's longest-serving provost from 1993 to 2002.