By SHANNON O. WELLS

Those who buy the stereotype that human resources professionals tend to be by-the-book, empathy-challenged rule enforcers of rigid corporate guidelines might change their tune after interacting with Mark Burdsall.

The warm, amiable and loquacious demeanor that Burdsall, Pitt Human Resources’ assistant vice chancellor of consulting services, projects seems to flow quite naturally. He acknowledges, however, that finding the right professional fit for his values and personality took some searching, trial and error.

“I worked in manufacturing, where they could lay you off at any time,” he recalled. “You had ups and downs, you had people that were all in it for themselves, right? Everybody wanted to make more money, or they wanted to move up.

“The main thing with Pitt is that most of the people want what’s best for Pitt. I don’t think people look at it as ‘It’s not my job’ when they’re asked to do something, (but) more of, ‘Oh, how can I contribute?’ and just love it. There’s people I’ve met that probably are more into the pay and for themselves, but generally they don’t stay.

“They find out pretty quick that they don’t fit well into the culture of Pitt.”

After nearly 30 years of enjoying and embodying that culture, Burdsall, who oversees HR’s organization development, compensation, and compliance departments, is retiring.

“I started in November of ‘97 … At Pitt, that’s still not a lot,” Burdsall said. “Some people have (worked) 40 and 50 years. But yeah, I’m retiring and taking advantage of that. I’ve just had a great time at Pitt. It’s just a really good situation. I appreciate everybody at Pitt.”

Talking about his career just before his last day at work on July 10, Burdsall still had no intention of phoning it in.

“I am going to show up the last day doing meetings. People may give up on me, but I’m not giving up,” he quipped.

Although not a Pitt alumnus, the New Jersey native and Ursinus College graduate is a lifetime Alumni Association member. He made his mark at the University in a variety of ways, including teaching in the School of Business and taking an active role in campus activities and culture.

“There’s different reasons why people will stay at an institution, and in my case it’s affiliation, for Pitt itself, not just for higher ed,” he explained. “I think there are quite a few people like that, and I’ve enjoyed Pitt through everything.”

He even documented what that’s entailed and for how long:

• 25 years serving as a marshal at Pitt graduation ceremonies

• 24 years playing Pitt softball

• 26 years teaching as an adjunct in the School of Business

• 15 years teaching in the College of General Studies

• 13 years participating in Christmas Day at Pitt

“To me it’s not different than a lot of people,” he said of his involvement. “It’s a no-brainer. Because when you walk across campus, you see the students. Our business is teaching the future through academics and research. You’re not doing work every day for a shareholder, for a profit, for an owner.”

Making decisions

After graduating early from Pennsylvania’s Ursinus College in the 1980s, Burdsall said he didn’t know what he wanted to do, “other than HR. I know I wanted human resources, but then you fumble through finding what you don’t like. And then you find eventually what you like.”

Moving to Ohio, where he met his wife, Jeannine, Burdsall landed a human resources job at Emerson Electric Co. for three years. He then switched to running a production line. There he found himself, somewhat uncomfortably, on the other side of the glass.

“They felt that I was a good people person, and this line was not being as productive as it could be,” he explained, noting that the role typically fell to those with mechanical and industrial engineering backgrounds. “I wanted to hire people, and I wanted to hire them quickly. I saw opportunities.

“I was yelling at HR, probably within a month of moving over into the production. I totally forgot about HR as, like, my bread and butter before, but that’s the way it is.”

Burdsall realized he was adversarial with his former department because “HR was keeping me from doing what I needed to do. They were an obstacle,” he admitted. “They weren’t, actually. There’s the employee side, and then there’s the management side. And somebody’s got to make a decision. There’s got to be an outcome.

“It could be a compromise, it could be a win-lose, it could be whatever, but there needs to be an outcome. And that individual is going to judge their fairness based on what they believe was fair,” he added. “If you did not treat them fair in a traumatic situation that they’re having, something that’s important to them, they will always remember HR was not good. HR was bad.”

That type of experience can leave a lasting impression, he noted.

“I think it takes a whole lot to get them over that. So, I always had that attitude myself: you have to treat each situation as though you’re going to impact somebody’s life.”

The ‘human’ element

Burdsall, who studied organizational behavior in graduate school at Drexel University, said his career in HR has been informed by the history of the U.S. workforce, particularly improvements in how employees were viewed and treated during the 20th century.

“In the 1800s and early 1900s, people were just considered an extension of a machine, basically. Because people were used to farming, having individual trades like blacksmithing and making shoes and clothing. Then they came to the big cities, and now they’re in huge amounts of numbers and factories making things.

“People were just a commodity. They were just a way a machine worked. Push buttons or do whatever. Then, later in the century, the 1920s and up to the ‘30s, there was a lot more emphasis on, ‘OK, these people made (valuable) things.’”

The rise of the New Deal under President Franklin Roosevelt after his 1933 election marked a sea change in how workers were viewed and treated, Burdsall noted.

“I know there’s critics of it, but I loved it. The passing of (New Deal legislation) defined a (five-day) work week. … In World War II, (the U.S.) did a lot of training with the military. We could bring that to the business world, so ‘personnel administration’ became more about, ‘How do you strategically use people in the military to get valuable work done?’”

The 1960s, of course, ushered in civil rights and women’s rights that had a profound influence on workplaces. The transition also marked a shift from the military-influenced “personnel” term to the now ubiquitous “human resources” concept.

Throughout the mid 20th-century, it became “more about filling gaps of what workers needed and wanted,” he said. “People realized that ‘If I find somebody good that’s working at my company, I need to retain them, because I need that skill set.’

“More people were becoming educated and becoming what we call ‘knowledge workers.’ Computers are introduced, which allow people to — I believe AI is going to do as well — be better.”

Burdsall said he’s seen numerous improvements in HR since he joined the Pitt community in 1997.

“There are a couple areas that we did not have at all. We didn’t have a dedicated human resource information area, which would be customer service. We didn’t have that,” he noted. “We had, like, a receptionist … or if you have a benefit question, you’ve got to kind of locate the benefits department and ask that, but we never had strong customer service around (as in), ‘You, as an employee, we value you, we care about you. We want you to have the information you need to make decisions around your life.’”

He credits Pitt’s Chancellor Emeritus Mark Nordenberg with sharing such philosophies with him. “So, I use that all the time.”

‘Caring, empathetic, loyal’

Dave DeJong, Department of Economics professor and former senior vice chancellor of business and operations, said he met Burdsall around 2012 when the provost’s office commissioned him to evaluate staffing and organizational structure “with an eye towards improving our processes and enhancing efficiency.”

In 2021, DeJong asked Burdsall to take on the role of interim vice chancellor for HR, “which he did admirably.”

“After James Gallaher was named VC for HR, I still maintained a strong relationship with Mark,” DeJong said, adding that Burdsall “has been a strong source of support for the Pitt community. … His role in HR has been to support the operations of the clients fortunate enough to benefit from his expertise in organizational efficiency and professional development.

“In this way he has benefitted … hundreds of colleagues across a wide swath of responsibility centers.”

Burdsall’s love of the Pitt community, DeJong added, led him to volunteer extensively in support of University events including United Way fundraisers, graduation ceremonies and team-building activities.

“Mark has a genuine interest in people, and has been driven to support their needs,” he said. “He has a caring and empathetic style that has helped him win people’s trust in sharing challenges and workplace concerns, helping him diagnose issues and develop solutions for improving operational efficiency and organizational design.

“He also has a great sense of humor and self-deprecating demeanor that makes him fun to engage with.”

Ronald Frisch, who retired in 2016 as Pitt vice chancellor of human resources, hired Burdsall and “welcomed him the first day on the job.”

“I trusted Mark. He was loyal,” he said, adding that Burdsall wasn’t afraid to challenge certain ideas or directives. “If he disagreed, it would be in a gentlemanly fashion, (but) he’d lay out his cards on the table.”

Burdsall, Frisch added, is not a “random, shoot-from-the-hip person. When he’d go into training (HR personnel), he never went in unprepared. He always knew who he was talking to. He had a demeanor about him. He’s calm. He always listens …

“When he was dealing with other academic departments, I always trusted he’d get good feedback.”

Frisch, who now resides in Naples, Fla., said Burdsall was always open to discussing ideas and approaches with him.

“He’s one of those people that you’d ask, ‘Can I throw an idea off of you?’ He’d always, without hesitation say ‘Yes,’” and put considerable thought into it. “I had many trusted employees, but Mark stood out.”

Although Burdsall expresses some ambivalence about not being at Pitt day to day in retirement, his dance card is filling up fast.

“I have a group of friends that I know I’ll be doing things with,” he said. “I love projects at the house, whether I do art, painting and drawing — and then volunteerism. My wife and I are both very into helping nonprofits. … She’s done work with Salvation Army. I’ve been on a board at Carnegie Mellon.”

Retirement, therefore, will be “a combination of projects, volunteerism and art. I’ve not been able to concentrate on art for decades,” he said. “So, I’m going to get back to the drawing and the painting.”

Pitt will remain part of that canvas, however.

“It’s just a great organization, and in some way, I know I’ll still be connected,” he said. “I may not be able to donate a lot of money, but I will definitely continue to help out any way I can.”

Shannon O. Wells is a writer for the University Times. Reach him at shannonw@pitt.edu.

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