The Burtch House honors longtime supporters, serves as a home for OHIO Honors students

In September, OHIO officially changed the name of 35 Park Place to the Burtch House with a celebration that recognized the incredible contributions of Bruce and Janie Burtch while also showcasing the outstanding students in the Honors Tutorial College.

Bruce Burtch, who earned his Bachelor of General Studies from University College in 1972, played a pivotal role in creating the Honors Tutorial College. After receiving a scholarship in 1970 to attend Trinity College, Oxford University, Bruce returned to England in the fall of 1971 to study the Oxford/Cambridge Tutorial System in detail.

“How fitting, how perfectly right it seems to me that we are naming 35 Park Place the Burtch House in recognition not just of his ongoing support of the college, but also in honor of his work more than 50 years ago as an undergraduate researcher. When people ask me the story of the Burtch House name, I tell them about this quintessential, OU Honors story,” Honors Tutorial College Dean Kristina Bross, Ph.D., said at the September celebration event.

“As an undergrad in general studies, supported by what we’d today call an “experiential learning grant,” young Bruce Burtch travelled to the UK, explored the Oxbridge tutorial system of education, and then imagined how to extend it to students here in Southeast Ohio,” Bross said. “And his faculty and mentors listened to him!”

His research was the basis of establishing OHIO’s Honors Tutorial College, which welcomed its first class of 32 students in 1973. Today, the Honors Tutorial College has more than 340 students and remains the first and only degree-granting, tutorial-based Honors College in the U.S.

Known nationally and internationally as the “Father of Cause Marketing” by the Cause Marketing Forum, Bruce Burtch has built a distinguished career in cross-sector partnerships and innovative marketing.

His professional experience includes roles as public affairs manager for Marriott Corporation, public relations director for the United States Olympic Committee, vice president and general manager of Schulberg Mediaworks, founder and CEO of The William Bentley Agency, director of marketing and communications for the American Red Cross Bay Area chapter and a special two-year assignment to the President of Xerox Global Services. He has served on the Board of Directors or Advisory Council of 20 nonprofit organizations. 

Bruce and Janie Burtch have been loyal supporters of Ohio University since 1973 and Ohio University is proud to now name 35 Park Place in their honor.

“No matter how much we grow, our past, present and future are linked by a bright line of student curiosity and by the pledge of our faculty and staff to collaborate with them to create the kind of education they desire and deserve. Bruce’s undergrad thesis, we can see today, is the foundation of that legacy,” Bross said.

The Honors Tutorial College provides high-achieving students with flexibility to pursue their academic interests in intensive one-on-one and small-group tutorials with faculty. With more than 30 challenging programs offered to students, the programs emphasize independent research and creative activity, allowing students more autonomy and specialization in their chosen area of study.