Huston-Tillotson University president to retire in 2022

Colette Pierce Burnette, Huston-Tillotson University president and CEO, has announced that she will retire June 30. In a letter to the university community Friday, Burnette said she notified the Board of Trustees that she is retiring and that the time is right for her to “pass the baton of leadership.” Burnette, 63, was named president in 2015. She was the first woman to hold the position since the merger of Tillotson College and Samuel Huston Collegein 1952. “I have learned far more from my students (our genius generation), my esteemed faculty, and my amazing staff than they have learned from me,” Burnette said. “I am eternally grateful and humbled by the grace, love, commitment, encouragement and willingness to embrace change and innovation you gave me during my tenure.”

Under Burnette’s leadership, Huston-Tillotson, a private, historically Black university in East Austin, grew its endowment by more than 55%, according to a media release. The university also partnered with Apple to create the African American Male Teacher Initiative, which was Burnette’s “passion project," and it collaborated with Tesla on a manufacturing engineering curriculum and a career progression internship for undergraduates, according to the media release. Huston-Tillotson opened the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in East Austin, began a Master of Business Administration program designed for working individuals, and enhanced its science, technology, engineering and math programs during her tenure. Burnette also oversaw the university’s transition to online learning at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the transition back to in-person instruction this fall.