Women’s Media Center President and CEO, Julie Burton, Honored By Her Alma Mater With The University of Utah Distinguished Alumni Award

Celebration Includes Tributes From Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, Gloria Steinem

For Immediate Release

Salt Lake City — Julie Burton, president and CEO of the Women’s Media Center, on Thursday was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Dean Cynthia Berg and the University of Utah College of Social and Behavioral Sciences for her exemplary leadership, public service and innovation.

Burton, who received a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from the university, was one of five alumni recognized for each of the past five decades. Burton was honored for the decade 1980 to 1990.

In her remarks, Burton thanked the university, her husband, Roger Hickey,and her mother, Dee Burton, who were in attendance.

Burton said her mother “grew up in an era where women’s opinions were not taken as seriously as men’s, women were not seen as equal, and jobs and opportunities were limited.”

“I think our mothers instill their hopes in their daughters for the paths they couldn’t choose. While I was growing up, my mother admired women who were leaders in the women’s movement and the causes they were fighting for. And her opinions made a big impression on me.”

The Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah also was critical to her success, she said.

“The University of Utah, gave me the tools I needed to navigate. And, as a result, I have built a lifetime of work trying to make a difference for women and girls so all of us can be seen as valuable, as smart, as independent, as equal -- and, so we can all be visible and powerful in the media.

“Like my mother, I have a voice — and opinions — and that is my power. I have a platform from which to organize and call for change. And when I fight for change and stand with extraordinary, iconic leaders like Gloria Steinem, Robin Morgan, and Jane Fonda, I can do so in great part because the Hinckley Institute of Politics and the University of Utah believed in me, invested in me, and guided me.”

Burton was introduced and congratulated in a video by WMC co-founders, Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem, who also thanked the University for nominating “the great Julie Burton.”

Click here to see the video tributes from Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem

Jane Fonda said when she Steinem and Morgan started the Women’s Media Center, they realized that they were taking on the most powerful, biggest and richest institutions shaping the lives of women. “We knew that we had to hire Julie Burton,” Fonda said. “Julie Burton is the perfect architect for change, She’s smart. She’s strategic. She’s dogged. She always shows up for women and girls. We can always count on her to be there. We love her so much.”

Fonda also mentioned that it meant a lot to her that Burton was recently arrested with her and others across the country as they took part in her Fire Drill Fridays, her movement to raise the awareness of climate change.

Gloria Steinem — who has worked with Burton for decades — praised her for being an organizer, catalyst and leader. “We are so proud — all of us who ever worked with Julie — of her leadership in the fight for a more just and equal world starting with women and encompassing everybody.”

Steinem called Burton an “entrepreneur for social change” noting Burton’s work with Voters For Choice, helping to elect pro-choice candidates and organizing benefit concerts.

“In the tradition of her great grandmothers, she, too, is a pioneer. She’s forging new paths for women in media and in the culture and in society.”

Burton is “a real friend, a leader, a feminist,” Robin Morgan said. “You should be so glad and proud that you graduated this majestic miracle imp of womanhood. And, I’m so grateful that she’s in my life. She brings love and brightness. It gets sunnier inside a rainy room when she enters. And, you can count on her. She’s a rock.”

Morgan said since Burton became president, “everything’s gotten better. Everything she touches gets better. More positive. More loving. More generous. More inclusive. Funnier, Wittier. More spontaneous and more planned.”

Other distinguished alumni recipients were Rick Haskell, Sophia Dicaro, Peter Mouskondis and Harris H. Simmons.

“We are delighted to honor this talented group of alumni from the college from the past 50 years of the college’s history,” said CSBS Dean Cynthia Berg. “They exemplify the spirit of public service, innovation, and passion for inspiring solutions to life’s challenges that is so central to the college mission.”

As head of the Women’s Media Center, Burton leads its advocacy, online and on-air journalism, research, and leadership initiatives to empower women as equal players in media and society. She is widely quoted as an activist and leader in media and speaks on women’s representation issues at forums in the U.S. and globally.

For more than three decades, she has been on the frontlines of the women’s movement as the youngest CEO of a national pro-choice political action committee, Voters For Choice, and as the Founding Executive Director of Choice USA (now called URGE — Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equity). She also organized a series of high-profile Concerts for Choice and produced a CD with Sony Music — Mary Had A Little Amp — to raise visibility for preschool education.

Early in her career, she was a recipient of the Women’s Information Network’s “Young Woman of Achievement Award” and was named “A Rising Star” by Campaigns and Elections Magazine. She is the recipient of a Wikimedia Distinguished Service Award and has been named one of Women’s eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century.

Click here to read the University of Utah press release and more information on all of the Distinguished Alumni honorees.

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