Soon to be deputy secretary of state, William Burns set his course at La Salle

La Salle University graduate William Burns is about to take on a big new job: fixing the world.

Or at least, fixing what he can of it.

On Thursday, in ceremonies in Washington, Burns will be sworn in as deputy secretary of state, placing him directly below Hillary Rodham Clinton in authority and raising his responsibility for diplomatic relations around the globe.

"Standards are slipping in Washington," Burns deadpanned in an interview.

His mentors at La Salle - who vividly remember Burns' A-plus classroom performance - beg to differ.

"Mild-mannered, mild-speaking, but tremendously smart. A very, very bright man," said George Stow, director of the graduate program in history.

Burns, 55, enters office focused on the events of the Arab Spring and the revolutions occurring in the Middle East, a part of the world that has been his specialty since his student days.

"This is the first act of a long-running play," he said. "Doing what we can to help people in those societies get those transitions right is a big and important challenge."

Burns, who as one of two deputies is responsible for policy while his counterpart handles management and resources, speaks Arabic, Russian, and French. He has been ambassador to Russia and to Jordan, and special assistant to Secretaries of State Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright.

Before being named deputy secretary, Burns was undersecretary for political affairs, the State Department's third-ranking post.

In that role, he oversaw the bureaus for Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, Europe and Eurasia, the Near East, South and Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere, along with international organizations and international narcotics law enforcement.

He has a master's and doctorate in international relations from Oxford University, along with the bachelor's in history he earned from La Salle in 1978.

"I got a terrific education at La Salle," Burns said. "I was lucky to have some really fine teachers there, Jack Rossi, George Stow. . . . Studying history gives you a perspective. History doesn't exactly repeat itself, but you can learn from the challenges that leaders have faced. There are a lot of lessons to be learned."

Rossi and Stow are traveling to Washington to attend the swearing-in, having remained friendly with Burns since he was a student.

"He was in one of my classes, and he sat all the way in the back. I'm noticing this fellow doesn't seem to be taking many notes, usually a bad sign," said Rossi, who has taught history for more than 40 years. "I gave an early writing assignment. His was almost perfect."

Stow recalled a similar classroom episode:

"I'm hammering on Greek history, everybody scribbling - except one guy," he said. "However, when the first exam came around, I had never seen anything like it."

At the time, Burns seemed less Greek than geek - tall and skinny, with round John Lennon glasses. But on the basketball court, he routinely dropped in three-pointers during pickup games.

Stow sponsored Burns for the Marshall Scholarship, a rigorous program that allows 40 young Americans a year to study in Britain, and which turned Burns toward Oxford. He was the first La Salle student to earn that scholarship.

Burns joined the Foreign Service in 1982. Stow said he was not surprised that his former student would rise to the top ranks of the State Department, given his intelligence and his interest in international affairs, policy, and peoples.

"Bill has always had a way about him. He's a self-effacing man, tremendous interpersonal skills. . . . He enjoyed learning."

Today, the Catholic university enrolls 6,620 full- and part-time students. The undergraduate programs with the most students enrolled include nursing, communication, and education.

Burns said he chose La Salle for a couple of reasons.

An uncle had attended the school. So had his father, a 1954 graduate who became an Army general and served as an arms negotiator under former President Ronald Reagan.

That family tie, and scholarship money, made the school attractive. With a father from Havertown and a mother from Upper Darby, he felt as if La Salle were home, even though the military family had moved often.

These days, to spare people the rundown of where he has lived, Burns simply says he's from Philadelphia. He and his wife live in the Washington suburbs, where he continues to follow Philadelphia sports.

"La Salle for me was a very grounded place, with lots of people with common sense," he said. "If you can't explain the policies that an administration is embarking on in a way that makes sense to people . . . then there's probably something wrong with your policy."