School of Education faculty member Brian Burt has been honored by one of his alma maters with an alumni achievement award.
Burt was presented with the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club Alumni Achievement Award from Indiana University over the weekend. Burt is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis and director and chief research scientist with Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB).
According to Indiana University, the Neal-Marshall Alumni Club Alumni Achievement Award is designed to recognize lifetime accomplishments of Indiana University alumni for their body of work as professionals. Recipients of the award must have a history of community service or philanthropic practices, exemplify moral character that reflects proudly on the university and the community, and have a track record of outreach to IU students, aspiring professionals, or community youth.
The Neal-Marshall Alumni Club was founded to meet the needs of IU African-American alumni and is named for the first African-American male and female graduates of Indiana University, Marcellus Neal and Frances Marshall.
Burt earned his bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Indiana University in 2004. In his acceptance speech, Burt said he was humbled by the acknowledgement.
“In reflecting on this award, it is very clear to me that it is much less about me and more of a testament to how a loving village wrapped their arms around a short, skinny, nerdy, shy — yet very inquisitive — and at times lonely, out-of-state student,” he said. “It was at IU that I began finding my voice. It was at IU that I learned what building true lasting friendships could look like. It was at IU that I learned what it meant to mentor others, because of the countless mentors who modeled it for me!”
Burt was nominated for the honor by fellow alumnus Shontrai Irving. Irving was a graduate student mentor while Burt was an undergraduate student and now works as a lawyer and clinical associate professor of business law at Purdue University Northwest.
Burt has received numerous awards recognizing his excellence in research, including the National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship and National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award. He recently received an H.I. Romnes Fellowship from UW–Madison, which recognizes faculty with exceptional research contributions within their first six years from promotion to a tenured position.
Burt’s research uses qualitative methodological approaches to study the experience of graduate students and the institutional policies and practices that influence students’ pathways. His current research falls into two strands: understanding team-based research experiences and exploring the experiences of underrepresented graduate students of color in engineering. His most recent publication, a collaboration with his own doctoral student mentees, published in the Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, illuminates some factors that influence Black men to pursue higher education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).