The fifth and final candidate for Binghamton University’s presidency visited campus Monday and repudiated the nationwide trend of continued cuts in state funding to public universities.

The candidate, Bruce Bursten, is currently the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

He said that public universities are losing ground because legislators tend to have the perception that investments in community colleges are more efficient than investments in research universities.

He also stated that it is up to the leadership of schools like BU to convince legislators to fund research universities.

“We are losing world in a highly competitive world because we are unwilling to invest where we should,” Bursten said.

Bursten also argued for placing importance on a liberal arts education, saying the liberal arts are “needed to learn more and how to think critically.” He mentioned that despite the financial crisis, theater, music and art are all thriving at his current school.

A self-described “math nerd,” Bursten attributed his passion for liberal arts to his educational experience.

“I would say the overarching part of my experience is my desire to make a difference through academic excellence whether as a chemistry professor, as a dean or whether there is a future presidency,” he said to an audience of about 80 at 3 p.m. in Old University Union room 120.

The eldest of four kids, Bursten grew up in Milwaukee with a single mom. At 14, he lied about his age to get his first job scooping ice cream to save money for college. Since his mother could not contribute very much financially, he paid for his college education at the University of Chicago on his own and later received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin.

He went on to teach chemistry at The Ohio State University from 1980 to 2005, when he signed on to his current post at Knoxville. He also served as the president of the American Chemical Society.

His work at Knoxville has included a focus on development efforts, in which $64 million in private gifts have been raised. He has also fostered partnerships with the nearby Oak Ridge National Laboratory and has overseen increases to outside funding for research.

His accomplishments also listed hiring initiatives to improve the diversity of the faculty, but he admitted this has not always been an easy task for his Tennessee school, which he said can be parochial.

When Sharon Bryant, an associate professor in the Decker School of Nursing, asked how he would support a climate that encourages diversity, he referred to his past experience.

“I am in an area right now in East Tennessee that’s … very homogeneous, and it’s a challenge,” he said.

But he said his school is beginning to breach that challenge. He listed five recently-hired faculty members who were minorities and said his goal has been to get faculty who would do things to enhance diversity.

Andrew Sholtz, chair of classical and near eastern studies at BU, asked about Bursten’s perspective on the liberal arts. Sholtz had asked similar questions during the other candidates’ presentations.

Sholtz said he was gratified by the “elegant” case Bursten made for the importance of liberal arts and humanities, but he asked how Bursten would support “the terribly worrisome endeavor that is liberal arts.”

Bursten said there needed to be a focus on the allocation of resources. He said one possibility would be to reassess areas of study that graduate just two or three majors annually and to recast those classes into a minor or an interdisciplinary program.

Craig Broccoli, an MBA student in the School of Management, who also attended presentations from previous candidates, was the only student to ask a question. He asked about how Bursten viewed the importance of establishing pride among the undergraduate students.

“How important is this in the brand of the university?” Broccoli asked. Like some of the other candidates, Bursten praised BU’s model of residential communities.

“What you’re doing here with … living communities is fabulous,” Bursten said, mentioning that living communities are instrumental to building strong connections between students. “At the end of the day you go back to your dorm and be with the people that will be your friends for life,” he said.

Monday’s presentation marked the end of more than a week of visits from candidates from universities across the country.

The audience dwindled throughout the presentation, which was the only one to occur during finals week. Total attendance at each presentation was generally less for each successive candidate, and the later presentations were held in a smaller room than the earlier ones.

The role of the Binghamton University’s Presidential Search Committee is over now that the campus visits have been completed.

In the next stage of the process, the BU Council will choose the top three candidates to send to SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. The timeline of the council’s decision has not yet been determined.

— Alexandra Abel contributed to this report