Dear John,
With a spirit of gratitude, I write to share some important news about the future of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
Following nearly six years of distinguished service, our president, John A. Burtka IV—better known to all of us as Johnny—has shared his intention to step down from his role as President and Chief Executive Officer of ISI.
In his announcement to the Board, Johnny expressed his deep commitment to ensuring a smooth transition period. He will continue in his role as president until a new candidate is found to take his place. The Board will launch a nationwide search at once, with the aim of selecting our next president within ninety days.
While saddened by the news of Johnny’s departure, the Board unanimously supports his decision. After careful personal and professional discernment, Johnny feels called to a new chapter in his career, one that he hopes will more explicitly engage the role of faith in renewing Western Civilization—more on that to come.
The Board owes Johnny a great deal, and ISI is stronger because of his leadership. Founded in 1953 by Frank Chodorov, and first stewarded under the presidency of William F. Buckley Jr., ISI was already a venerable institution when Johnny became president in 2020. With the support of his team and the ISI community, Johnny has built upon ISI’s near 75-year legacy in important ways.
Among many, the milestones during his tenure include:
- Leading ISI to the successful completion of its $75 million Roots of American Renewal Campaign and growing ISI’s endowment by more than double from about $8 million to $17 million;
- Constructing the Linda L. Bean Conference Center, which has made our Wilmington, DE, headquarters a national destination;
- Debuting ISI’s media center, Studio 53, with the generous support of a lead gift by Rich and Carol Griswold-Bacigalupi. ISI now produces original content, including flagship podcast series such as Daring Greatly and Project Cosmos, garnering over 20 million views;
- Launching ISI Forums, a "seminar-in-a-box" model that, by empowering our faculty network, brings serious education to dozens of campuses and hundreds of students at a fraction of our prior cost;
- Revitalizing the Collegiate Network, which now supports student journalists at over ninety publications, and introducing a new, national news aggregator at collegiatenetwork.com;
- Unveiling a new website for Modern Age Journal with daily content at modernagejournal.com;
- And deepening ISI’s ties with alumni and faculty through signature events such as Homecoming Weekend and the American Politics and Government Faculty Summit.
These are tangible achievements. But the deeper measure of Johnny's tenure is that, under his leadership, ISI has remained what it has always been: a civilizational organization, deeply imbued with the spirit of liberal learning. We exist to identify the next generation of conservative talent at universities, to educate our students for liberty, to introduce them to like-minded scholars and leaders, and to equip them for lives of public virtue. That work is measured in generations, and Johnny has stewarded it faithfully.
We send him forward with our blessing, our friendship, and our prayers.
A word about the road ahead. Coming out of our spring Board meeting last week, the trustees’ confidence in ISI’s mission, programs, and financial position is strong. The search for our next president will be a serious one, and we will look for someone who shares ISI’s commitment to educating for liberty.
To Johnny: for nearly six years of faithful service and for a friendship the Board and I will treasure long beyond your tenure—thank you.
To you, our community of donors, alumni, faculty, students, and friends: for your generosity and trust—thank you.
The road to the future runs through the past. ISI was founded for that long, patient work, and so we continue.
With gratitude and good cheer,
Mark C. Henrie
Chairman of the Board of Trustees
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
|
