Earlier in 2016, AU’s President Neil Kerwin announced that he would be stepping down from his position as president at the end of the 2016-2017 academic year, a position that he has held for over ten years. AU students and faculty were notified of Kerwin’s decision last spring, and a search committee consisting of both students and faculty was immediately formed. On Janurary 26th, 2017, after months of interviewing candidates, it was announced to the entire AU community that Sylvia Matthews Burwell, the former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, would not only be AU’s next president, but would also be the first female to ever hold this position.
Before becoming AU’s newest president, Burwell held many leadership positions, including the Director of the Office of Management and Budget through the U.S. Government, and in 2014 she became the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, a position she held under President Obama’s leadership. Not only has Burwell spent her career working in government positions, but she also held positions that helped benefit people around the world. She helped provide food for people in other countries as President of the Walmart Foundation, and she also worked as the Chief Operating Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. One of her most notable roles was for the Global Development Program of the Gates’s Foundation, which she both founded and served as the president of. A Harvard University graduate with degrees in Government, Philosophy and Economics, Burwell has recieved accolades for her hard work in government from both President Obama and Bill Gates, and she is currently married with two young children, who were in the audience to watch the announcement last week.
While Sylvia Burwell’s work as president of AU does not officially begin until August, the AU students, faculty and staff cannot wait to welcome her to our campus and see what she has in store for all of us as AU’s newest president. While the 2016 presidential election may have come as a disappointment to many students on our campus, I think we can all agree that the results of AU’s presidental search is one that we are cheering for. From all of us at Her Campus and the AU community, congratulations, Mrs. Burwell. We cannot wait to welcome you to American University very soon.