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Burns, Richard Leo

 Person

Dates

  • Existence: 1932 - October 21, 2017

Biographical Information

Richard (Dick) Leo Burns was born in 1932 in Carroll, Iowa. He died on October 21, 2017 due to unexpected heart failure.

Burns was born and raised in Carroll, Iowa, where he was an award winning high school athlete in wrestling and football. He attended Iowa State University, earning a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Industrial Psychology.

In 1961 he married Rose Marie Dolan. Rose and Dick have one daughter and son-in-law, Meghan and Thomas Williams of Indianapolis, Indiana, and a granddaughter, Kelly Williams.

In 1963 he earned his Ph.D. from Purdue University in Counseling. Burns worked for several years in the Admissions office at Purdue and for the College Board on a study conducted in Indiana. In 1980 he received a Master of Business Policy degree, a two-year executive degree program from the Columbia University School of Business.

Burns worked for the Educational Testing Service for nearly 35 years and retired in 1999. He was appointed a vice president in 1975, taking over all of the higher education programs at ETS. In 1980 he moved to direct the Center for Occupational and Professional Assessment (COPA). In 1987 he became a senior development leader and coordinated the development of several new products for ETS. Just prior to his retirement he spent four years leading a major reengineering project to totally modernize the test development approach and the software to support it.

Burns was an active member in his parish, Sacred Heart Church in Trenton, New Jersey. He had worked on several consulting projects with non-profit groups for the Executive Service Corps. Burns was also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C.

Citation

Obituary. Bucks County Courier Times, Levittown, PA. October 31, 2017. https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/obituaries/20171031/richard-l-burns

Found in 1 Collection or Record:

Richard L. Burns publications

 Collection — Box: Communal Collections 16, Placement: 07
Identifier: MSF 51
Scope and Contents This collection contains one publication on academic success and its relation to admissions and counceling at Purdue contributed to by Richard Burns, a supplement to the previously mentioned publication, and an admissions guide to Purdue University for high school counselors.
Dates: 1964 - 1965