Mike Burke’s professional life is divided into three parts: First, there is Mike Burke, advocate for disadvantaged children and their families. Mike is the Public Affairs Director for the Bounce Learning Network, which develops early education programs for low-income families.

Ask him about the mornings he spent a few years back helping child-care counselors make their way through the Robert Taylor Homes. “Rival street gangs would shoot at each other from across the buildings, and we would sometimes find ourselves in the crossfire,” Mike said. “I never took it personal.” Burke quickly mentions stories about the devoted young mothers he met and counseled.

Next comes Mike Burke, chairman of the board of directors of the Community Media Workshop in Chicago, an organization devoted to teaching grassroots groups how to get their stories told by the mainstream media. “It’s surprising what we can learn from people who’ve never found a voice before,” Mike said.

And then there is Mike Burke, fiction writer. If there were just a few more hours in the day, Mike would be as well-known for his poetry, plays and short stories as he is for his public advocacy. He has been published in numerous magazines and has seen several of his plays produced on Chicago stages.

Mike credits the Northern Star for much of his experience and success. “I learned to write at the Star, and more importantly, I learned to love writing,” he said. “And as any journalist will tell you, falling in love with writing is a sucker bet.”

Mike joined the Star in 1980 as a reporter, covering the Student Association. He soon moved to the city beat, and later was editorial editor. “I just learned so much from (former Star adviser) Jerry Thompson,” Mike says. “Not just about being a reporter, but about politics and people, and how to tell a story.”

As an alumnus, Mike helped the Northern Star in 1986 after university president Clyde Wingfield fired Thompson in an attempt to stop the paper from telling the truth about Wingfield’s exuberant inaugural spending and his abrasive management style. Mike organized hundreds of Star alums into what became known as “Alumni for a Free Press,” headed by Mike, Jim Slonoff (’80) and Ed Underhill (’81). Wingfield eventually resigned and Thompson got his job back.

The group lobbied lawmakers in Springfield and even organized a protest at NIU to coincide with Gov. James Thompson speaking to the College of Law. “The highlight came when Mike buttonholed Gov. Thompson at the law school’s front doors to tell him to fire Wingfield,” Slonoff said. “I thought the governor was going to deck him.”