Many people in their later years will recognize one specific experience as having had a life-changing impact on their intellectual development and worldview. For David M. Burch, this pivotal time, which he later desired to share with others, occurred after his graduation from Harvard University in 1940 when he had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Europe.

David was so struck by the impact of his travels, coming during the difficult early years of World War II, that he established a substantial scholarship fund at The University of Tulsa to enable younger generations to travel as part of their overall academic experience. This fund was called the Hazel Moore Burch and Grover Burch Memorial Scholarship Endowment in honor of his parents. He later established a second significant fund, the Burch Family Scholarship, for general tuition aid.

David was born in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, in 1918, and he enjoyed a close relationship over the years with his siblings. In 1976, when he created the travel scholarship, he requested that it be awarded through a competitive process, under which students seeking the scholarship would write a proposal regarding their plan to study abroad. David viewed the scholarship as a means for enhancing the recipient’s classroom instruction.

David passed away in 1996. Over the years, the two noteworthy and creative scholarships he funded in the Burch family name touched the lives of dozens of students in virtually every field of study at TU.