The Director of the Rev. William J. Young Social Justice Institute and the Catholic Social Justice Studies Program is Dr. John Francis Burke.  A native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Dr. Burke received his B.A. in Political Science from Moravian College in 1979 and his Ph.D. in Political Science in 1985 from the University of Notre Dame.  Dr. Burke first came to Texas in 1985 to teach American politics, political theory, and public administration at Texas State University in San Marcos.  Then in 1988, Dr. Burke came to Houston to teach political science at the University of Houston-Downtown.  After serving on a couple key social justice initiatives for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston in the early 1990’s, Dr. Burke came to the University of St. Thomas in 1997.  Since coming to UST, Dr. Burke has taught political theory, social justice, multicultural issues, and religion and politics on a regular basis.  Dr. Burke also directs the UST Catholic Social Justice Studies Program. 

Dr. Burke has published articles especially on political theory and multicultural relations in several journals and periodicals including The Review of Politics and Commonweal. He is the author of Mestizo Democracy (Texas A&M Press, 2002), a text on democracy and multicultural issues in the U.S. Southwest.  John has also appeared as a commentator on political events in Houston on Channels 2 (NBC), 8 (PBS), 11 (CBS), 13 (ABC), 26 (FOX), 45 (UNIVISION), & 47 (TELEMUNDO).  In addition to his academic responsibilities, for the past decade and a half Dr. Burke has served on several committees and has conducted workshops in the Houston area dealing with social justice and multicultural issues.