Tau Kappa Epsilon - Missouri University of Science & Technology

BETA ETA DATA 4 Alumnus Donates to Ensure a Future for Tekes at MS&T FINDING THE PATH TO SUCCESS A s perennial champions of Greek Week and St. Pat's, James Burnette II '90, BH843 saw Beta Eta as a Chapter based on strong traditions and quality members. "It was definitely a source of pride to wear the letters TKE on campus," he said. "It was a real sense of accomplishment to become a member and to be part of the success we all enjoyed during our time there and beyond." During his undergraduate years, Jim served as histor, hypophetes, and grammateus, and was involved with numerous projects and fundraisers, community service efforts, and was a member of various campus organizations. These opportunities served as his first real experience working with others and tackling large, complex problems in a team environment. Jim has no doubt that he would not be where he is now were it not for the lessons learned and experience gained working with fellow Tekes during his time at Rolla. To afford current members the same opportunities he had, Jim donated to the capital campaign. "I wanted to make sure that TKE continued on at Rolla well into the future to give other people the chance to share the same experience I had, and to set them up on the path to succeed in whatever it is they want to accomplish in life," he said. "We will have a state-of-the- art living facility to help in recruiting the best candidates for membership and help us in our effort to be the best organization on campus in every possible way." Remembering past efforts and false starts on rebuilding efforts, Jim was initially skeptical toward making a contribution to the capital campaign. However, to any alumni who remain hesitant, he assures them that the Pride in Our Past, Securing Our Future campaign is a serious effort with a significant amount of money raised. "Anything alumni can do to ease the financial burden for the active Chapter now and in the future will pay off in the long run," he said. "We want a strong house, with clear leadership across all facets of the university and community at large, something we can take pride in every time we come down to visit or meet someone else from UMR/ MS&T for years to come." Throughout the years, Jim has worked for DEC, Compaq, Intel, AMD, P.A. Semi, Apple, Broadcom, and Samsung. He started his career more than 20 years ago as a microprocessor design engineer with Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1996, and works today as a senior staff engineer for Circuit Technology Group in Austin, Texas. "Don't be afraid of failure," he advises current undergraduates. "Every Silicon Valley success story I've seen and been a part of was marked by a very bumpy trajectory littered with failures and bad ideas. But you learn from them and never lose sign of your goal. 'If you're not failing, you're not trying hard enough.'" Jim visits campus each year for St. Pat's and enjoys catching up with Fraters during the holidays when he visits family in St. Louis. He sees the active Chapter as a group of smart, hard-working, and resourceful men who are eager and willing to continue to lead Beta Eta, excel on campus, and represent the Greek system. Jim lives in Los Gatos, Calif., and in his free time, he enjoys biking, running, playing tennis, drinking and attempting to make craft beer, and listening to and playing music. Jim can be reached at jim.burnette@gmail.com. Congratulations to our fall 2016 initiates! Recruitment Chairman Justin Williams '16, BH1125 and Prytanis Mike Taylor '13, BH1094 recruiting for Beta Eta. Fraters attended the Regional Leadership Conference in Indianapolis in February.

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