Mike Wolanin | The Republic Columbus North Alumni Hall of Fame inductee John Burnett, center, introduces his wife Debbie to Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation Superintendent Chad Phillips before the Columbus North Alumni Association Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024.
The Columbus North Bull Dog Alumni Hall of Fame inducted two honorees Friday night at the high school.
Maureen Grady, Class of 1957, and John Burnett, Class of 1974, were the honorees for the Bull Dog Alumni Association’s 10th Hall of Fame induction ceremony this year.
The induction ceremony featured music by the 25th Street Singers and remarks by two North educators.
To be eligible for induction, one must have attended Columbus North (or before 1973, Columbus High School) and have been graduates for a minimum of 20 years at the time of their nomination. Grady and Burnett were nominated by peers, community residents, Columbus North faculty and their fellow alumni.
Burnett, who serves as CEO Emeritus of the Community Education Coalition (CEC) and is co-founder of CEC’s CivicLab, credited his time at North for creating a foundation for his later successes.
“The ability to write, the ability to communicate, the ability to listen, to discern, to think, and just think in a way that worked for my brain really started in the local schools, and especially in the English department at North High School,” he said.
Numbers never came as easily as words, Burnett said, even though his dad was a math teacher.
“I’ve always been a believer in, there are different ways to get the answers,” Burnett said. “And in the math world, there’s a pretty definitive set of ways. So my dad, especially with me, (would go), ‘Why can’t you get this?’ I don’t know, I’d rather be over here reading a book and writing.”
Burnett earned his degree from Indiana State in 1978 and returned to North after graduation to teach English and coach the girl’s tennis team. Burnett only taught for a year, calling the profession “very courageous” and after some time as a tennis pro and two years coaching the Sycamore’s men’s tennis team went on to the corporate world, working at Cummins in human resource management roles from 1984 to 1997 and as co-owner of Adecco Personnel Services in Buffalo, New York in 1997 and 1998. Burnett became president and CEO of the CEC in 1999.
“Any recognition I’ve ever received is because of the teams of which I’ve been a part of. Yes, I was fortunate to be guiding a lot of those efforts, but in my line of work— this idea of the self-made person— it’s really about building a team around a cause that has purpose and has meaning,” he said.
The underlying purpose for Burnett has been education.
He played critical roles in establishing the Columbus Learning Center, the Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence, and Indiana University’s J. Irwin Miller Architecture program. With reference to the latter, he pitched the idea of a master’s program to the university in 2015 to take advantage of the city’s design heritage. The program also was to serve as an extension of the previous collaboration between IU and the city, the IU Center for Art + Design in Columbus, which opened in 2011, also thanks to efforts by Burnett.
Burnett is a member of the dean’s council at the IU School of Art, Architecture and Design and the Columbus Capital Foundation, and has received various individual honors including the IU President’s Medal of Excellence, IU’s Bicentennial Medal and the school’s Partner in Philanthropy Keystone Award, to name just a few.
“I’m very grateful, I wake up every morning thinking, how might I contribute to the improvement of the human condition?”
Maureen Grady is a person who has spent a lifetime looking for ways to improve the human condition, even amongst the most dire circumstances.
Grady, a nun, told The Republic she was “surprised and grateful” to receive the honor from the Bull Dog Alumni Association, saying she is “pleased to return to a place that was so enriching.”
She said she hasn’t been able to return to the high school often, in part because she spent 20 years in middle-eastern warzones as chief operating officer for Catholic Near East Welfare helping restore social services and infrastructure in Lebanon and Syria. During her career she’s also spent time providing emergency and relief services for war victims in Thailand and the Philippines.
“It was an education,” Grady said of her time overseas. “It was a thing that changed my life.”
Her first experience helping those in need overseas was during the time of The Killing Fields, where between 1.5 and 2 million Cambodians died under the rule of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot from 1975 to 1979.
“The whole world was there trying to help those very unfortunate refugees that spilled over the border from Cambodia to Thailand, and from a government that was so abusive — the people were starving as they came,” Grady said. “And so I was drafted into that, and I just can’t forget it.”
During that time Grady said she lived in a cement block building with no windows, beds or water. “I rode on the back of a pickup truck to the refugee camps in the morning around 6 a.m. If I could find a truck at 6 p.m., I could ride back to my ‘residence’ and if I was hungry I had to walk five miles to eat.”
The experience changed her life, “particularly when I saw the death count was 2,000 a day. So it shifted my priorities.”
“I didn’t really want to get very involved in this kind of mission, this work, but as I say, it made me look at life differently, and see how other people were so unfortunate and so I kept going with it.”
Although she was trained as a nurse, there isn’t a whole lot that can prepare you for a war zone.
“It was extremely dangerous, it could be overwhelming. I think the things that kept us level were other people who were also doing the same kind of work and were so dedicated. The devotion to saving lives and helping victims overrode most of our fears and anxiety about even being present.”
Grady said gets her drive to help people from her parents.
“I think I came by (serving others) through their generosity and their philosophy of life, that was a very helpful teacher.”
Grady earned a nursing diploma at Holy Cross School of Nursing and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Loyola University. She has an M.A. in pastoral care and counseling and doctor of ministry at Christian Theology Seminary in Indianapolis.
She also was a visiting professor in Saint Mary’s College at Notre Dame, specializing in teaching therapeutic communication from 2011 to 2023.
John Burnett
Honors: IU President’s Medal of Excellence, Bicentennial Media, and Partners in Philanthrophy Keystone Award; Ivy Tech Honorary Associate Degree for College and Community Service; Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce’s Community Service Award; Dick Johnson Leadership Award
Work Background:
President and chief executive officer, Community Education Coalition, 2008 to present
President, Irwin Financial Foundation, 2006-2008
President and chief executive officer, Community Education Coalition, 1999 to 2006
Co-owner of Adecco Personnel Services in Buffalo, New York 1997 and 1998
Cummins Engine Co., 1984 to 1997, in human resource management roles
High school English teacher and tennis coach, professional tennis teacher/coach, 1978-84 (including Indiana State University men’s tennis coach 1980 to 1982)
Maureen Grady
Honors: Faculty Fellowship for Research and Scholarship, Saint Mary’s College (2010-2011), Pro Eclesia Pontifica Media (awarded by Holy See, Vatican City), Lebanese National Citizenship (Highest honor awarded by Republic of Lebanon), Spirit of Ignatius Award (University of Loyola School of Nursing), Outstanding Alumnae Achievement (Holy Cross School of Nursing), Member of Theta Phi Theological Honor Society and Sigma Theta Tau International Nursing Honor Society.
Work Background:
Visiting professor at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, specializing in teaching therapeutic communication (2011-2023)
Dean of Pastoral Formation and Director of Field Ministry at St. Vincent Seminary, Boynton Beach, FL (2004-2008)
Chief Operating Officer and Special Assistant to the President for Pontifical Mission in NYC (1990-1993)
Director of Pontifical Mission in Lebanon, responsible for emergency aid and relief for war victims (1986-1990)
Worked for Catholic Relief Services in Thailand, Philippines and Lebanon, responding to emergency needs and victims of war (1980-1984)
