Progress & Updates

The following is not necessarily an all-inclusive list but captures several notable highlights.

Priority 1—Ensure the accessibility, relevancy, and distinctive impact of a Butler degree

• Foundations of Excellence—Butler launched Foundations of Excellence with partner Gardner Institute to enable institutional transformation that improves first-year or transfer-student success and retention through comprehensive, evidence-based, guided self-study, planning, and implementation. The self-study has been completed and Butler is entering the second-year implementation phase (Fall 2021 – current).
• Undergraduate Advising Enhancements—The EAB Navigate Advising Platform, a network intended to connect students, administrators, advisors, faculty, and other staff to improve student support, is live; students, faculty, and staff will begin interacting in this environment in fall 2022.
• Student Success Center—The collaborative hub will include CASE, First Year Experience, Tutoring, Advising, and Exploratory Program. Butler has hired its first ever Director of First Year Experience and will be adding an Executive Director to build upon and innovate in the area of academic student success and retention and preparing for a wider set of students, including commuters and online students (Spring–Summer 2022).
• BlueWork—A newly designed platform connects students with employers to gain real work experiences through short-term project-based work aligned to their skills and interests. BlueWork was a pilot of the Transformation Lab and has been transferred to CaPS to oversee administration and expansion of the program (Fall 2022).
• Provost and VP, Academic Affairs—Following a national search that concluded in March 2022, Butler appointed Brooke Barnett as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. Brooke joined Butler in 2018, after serving for 18 years at Elon University and most recently as interim Provost following the departure of Dr. Kathryn Morris. Brooke is a passionate advocate for expanding the reach of a Butler education to a more diverse set of learners (March 2022).
• FIR Program Enhancements—The Faculty-in-Residence (FIR) program continues to see positive growth and changes, including establishment of joint oversight of the program between Academic and Student Affairs and creation of an action plans to enhance academic partnerships with the FIR program (Spring 2022).
• New Minors—Butler launches new minors in Esports Communication, Asian Studies and Museum Studies (Spring 2022, Fall 2022).
• Ivy Tech Articulation Agreements—Butler and Ivy Tech partnered to create the first transfer agreement in Elementary Education (December 2020) and two additional transfer agreements in Art + Design and Business Administration (August 2021). These agreements seek to provide a more accessible and affordable pathway to a Butler degree, and in the case of the agreement with COE, to address Indiana’s teacher shortage. There are seven new pathways in LAS, for degrees in English (with separate tracks for Composition and Literature), Environmental Studies, French, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Spanish (.
• Three-Year Degree Programs—Butler established 10 additional three-year degree tracks, bringing the total number to 40. These accelerated, lower cost pathways allow students complete their degree sooner through access to year-round courses (July 2021).
• UnitedHealthcare Academy at Butler—UnitedHealthcare and Butler University have agreed to a partnership that will deliver work-based learning and employment opportunities to LSB students interested in pursuing a career with United Healthcare. Through the United Healthcare Academy, students will be part of a four-year track that includes multiple paid internships and the opportunity for full-time employment upon graduation, among other forms of financial support. The partnership creates a distinctive student experience, lowers the cost of a Butler degree and aligns skill needs closely to those of a key workforce partner (July 2021).
• Wipro-Salesforce Course—Wipro, formerly Appirio, has partnered with Butler University to offer a Salesforce consulting preparatory college course. Running as a pilot for the 20-21 academic year, students will have the opportunity to learn the in-demand skills needed for customer relationship management (CRM). The free, non-credit courses, which are held online, also provide students an opportunity to achieve their initial Salesforce certifications (Fall 2020).

Priority 2—Enhance holistic student well-being and engagement

• FIR Program Enhancements—The Faculty-in-Residence (FIR) program continues to see positive growth and changes, including establishment of joint oversight of the program between Academic and Student Affairs and creation of an action plans to enhance academic partnerships with the FIR program. Two new FIRs were hired for fall 2022.
• Teletherapy Services Platform—In partnership with Preventia, Butler students now have access to online mental health specialists through a holistic health and wellness app (Spring 2022).
• Campus Climate Survey—Surveys were launched and results, which are expected late summer 2022, will inform the efficacy of existing programs, efforts and future focus areas (Spring 2022).
• SWISS—Student Affairs launched the Student Well-being Institutional Support Survey (SWISS) as part of the Institute for Well-being. To date, 20 colleges and universities and more than 16,000 students nation-wide have participated in SWISS during the pilot administration (Fall 2021—current/ ongoing).
• Student Well-being Champions—A campus-wide student peer wellness program launched with 80 student leaders who are trained to support their fellow students and advance BUBeWell throughout the Butler community (Fall 2021).
• SGA Restructure—Student Affairs restructured SGA and created three new programming councils (University Program Council, Diversity Program Council, Service & Community Engagement Program Council), to enhance co-curricular learning and opportunities for student involvement (Fall 2021).
• Esports—There continues to be considerable growth in Esports activity in anticipation of the fall 2022 Esports Park Butler Esports students participated in nearly 300 competitions across 13 different titles this year and emerged as the 2022 Electronic Gaming Federation (EGF) VALORANT Power Series champions. Butler also placed first in the iRacing Sebring 12-hour race. This semester saw Butler’s first Esports-specific course (Esports Production, College of Communication) offered, and three new courses are scheduled to be taught in the Esports Park this fall (Spring 2021—current).
• Franciscan Partnership—Butler Athletics has engaged in a multi-year contract with Franciscan to bolster athletic training resources. This arrangement enhances the level of healthcare to student-athletes, which will cascade to more resources for well-being and performance development (Fall 2021).
• Student Financial Literacy—Butler and Elements Financial partner to create a student financial literacy training program as part of BUBeWell (Spring 2021).
• Mental Health First Aid Training—Over the past year, a number of faculty and staff have elected to participate and become certified in Mental Health First Aid, which equips non-clinical individuals to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Over 250 have been trained through the end of 2021, greatly bolstering the number of mental health resources on Butler’s campus. The training has also been extended to parents and alumni.
• Headspace App—Student Affairs is offering all students a free, annual subscription to the mindfulness and well-being app, Headspace (Spring 2021).
• Podcast on Healthy Relationships—The Sexual Assault Response & Prevention (SARP) Office at Butler University launched a bi-weekly podcast – the ACTUALLY Love Podcast (Spring 2021).
• Butler Food Pantry—Butler has launched the Butler Food Pantry, a service addressing food insecurity through healthy food options available to all Butler students (Spring 2021).
• Student Mental Health Task Force—A student mental health task force (includes 12 students) has been created. Two of those students will join the current, ad-hoc faculty/staff mental health task force (Fall 2020).

Priority 3—Establish Butler as a leader in developing future models of education

• New Online Programs—Butler has launched a number of online degrees in high-growth, high-need program areas including a Master of Business Administration, a Master of Science in Data Analytics,  a Master of Science in Strategic Communication, and a Doctor of Pharmacy (Spring and Fall 2022 launches). Two additional programs, a Master of School Counseling and Master of Mental Health Counseling, are in development and will launch in Fall 2023.
• Custom Programs—Butler’s non-credit, custom program arm is expanding its reach within the Division of Professional Studies and has added several new partner programs. One, the Roche Marketing Excellence Academy (MEA) won Brandon Hall Excellence Awards in two categories: Silver Award – Best Strategy for a Corporate Learning University; and Bronze Award – Best Advancement in Competency and Skill Development (Fall 2022).
• The Collective—The Collective, a clearinghouse to integrate continuous professional development, creates a collaborative, integrated approach for faculty development and excellence. It will foster ongoing innovative teaching, engaged learning, quality curricula and assessment, and scholarly research that supports equity and inclusion and augments the strong culture Butler has as a teaching university (Fall 2022).
• Foundational and Discipline-Focused Teacher Education Model—Responding to challenges in preparing and retaining secondary educators, Butler developed the Teacher-Led, Teacher-Ed program, which provides necessary and needed training for classroom foundations and discipline-specific education support. The online and self-paced classes will be available to teachers, schools, and school districts in Fall 2022.
• Innovation Fellows Program—In partnership with Purdue, the universities will name innovation fellows to identify, test, and pilot opportunities that will better equip undergraduate students with the transdisciplinary skill sets needed to succeed in the future economy (Spring 2021). In Spring 2022, the inaugural Innovation Fellows hosted The Food Project Exhibition. The event focused on tackling the global challenge of food sustainability and included faculty and students from both institutions (Spring 2021—Spring 2022).
• Butler Beyond Transformation Lab—As a result of a $2.5M grant from Lilly Endowment, the university established the Transformation Lab. The Lab serves as a university-wide catalyst for advancing the Butler Beyond strategic direction and supporting University transformation. The Transformation Lab’s focus is vetting, designing, and launching new educational and business models for the University. Additionally, the Lab helps address changes needed in the University’s foundational systems to support different and more diverse students.  With support of an innovation management system, the team is actively facilitating movement of projects from idea to launch Since Fall 2021, six ideas have moved to pilot or launch.  (Spring 2021). The Lab will lead Butler’s exploration of a two-year college model through the Come to Believe design grant program (Fall 2022).
• Division of Professional Studies—In securing a $10M grant from Lilly Endowment, Butler established a Division of Professional Studies (DPS) to grow new programs, including fully online programs and alternative credit and non-credit credentials that serve non-traditional learners (Spring 2020). The inaugural Sr. Executive Director began in April 2022 and is leading the division’s evolution. In support of new program development and growth, the expanding team will collaborate across the division and colleges to ensure programs are successful and that online student needs are appropriately supported.

Priority 4—Build a culture of empowerment, engagement, and accountability

• Competency Model—Over 80 faculty & staff participated in focus groups to help identify key competencies which are essential to support a thriving workforce and university now and in the future. The forthcoming competency model will drive all activities related to talent management.
• Human Resources Leadership –Butler’s Human Resources department is on the path to transformation, guided by an expanded leadership team and contemporary HR strategy. In addition to hiring a VP and Chief Human Resources Officer, leadership and staff have been added in the areas of Operations, Organizational Development and Effectiveness, Talent Acquisition, and Total Rewards. The team will lead the University in implementation of foundational work necessary to support Butler’s culture strategy (Summer 2021-current)
• Climate Surveys—A pilot climate survey was completed in Fall 2021 with Executive Council that revealed and/or affirmed several key areas for which to focus and further develop the priority. The university will administer the Great Colleges To Work For survey to all faculty and staff in Spring 2023.

Priority 5—Create an intentionally diverse, inclusive, and equitable campus community

• VP/Chief Diversity Officer—Butler hired Khalilah Shabazz as the university’s first VP/CDO. Shabazz will serve as an important collaborative partner with internal and external stakeholders to proactively develop and implement plans, programs, and activities that educate and motivate members of the Butler community to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion as core values to be collectively upheld in support of student learning and success (Fall 2022).
• Campus Climate Study—Both student and faculty and staff climate surveys were launched in Spring 2022. Results, which are expected late summer 2022, will inform the areas in which Butler can improve (Spring-Summer 2022).
• Affinity Group Program—The program was created to deepen a sense of belonging and to support the onboarding of new faculty and staff, by bringing together individuals with similar backgrounds, identities and/or interests. It acknowledges that faculty and staff often operate in a silo world and provides funding to create opportunities to break down these silos (Spring 2022).
• Inclusion Advocate Program & Onboarding Enhancements—The IAP program, initiated in 2019, was expanded in Fall 2021 to include an online DEI training program, faculty development opportunities and community meetings. The IA Program is now being developed for staff, and this phase of the work will be led by Human Resources. Additionally, an online training was developed to support Butler University’s capacity to recruit, retain and cultivate faculty, staff and students from marginalized and underrepresented backgrounds and identities with the addition of resources to support a positive onboarding experience (Fall 2021).
• Butler Latinx Alumni Association—Student initiative led to the establishment of the Butler Latinx Alumni Association, a significant contribution to Butler’s efforts to build an environment of belonging for our Latinx community through a variety of social, cultural, and educational programming with the ultimate goal to assist Butler student success and to further strengthen the BU Latinx community (Fall 2021).
• Most Diverse Incoming Class—Butler welcomes the most diverse incoming class in its history, with 21 percent self-identifying as students of color and 18 percent stating they are the first in their family to attend college (Fall 2021).
• DEI Inventory—An inventory collected feedback on the many ways the university community advances DEI on campus and in the community. Creating awareness has allowed for sharing resources and knowledge of existing DEI-related programs and initiatives (Summer 2021).
• DEI Focused Positions and Roles—Each college and the Office of Academic Affairs have created a DEI Faculty Director role, and more capacity and attention for DEI work in the colleges and academic affairs units. A new Diversity Center Faculty Fellow position has been created to better integrate the academic perspective into student life for student DEI programming. This position is a collaboration with the Race, Gender and Sexuality Studies program. A realigned position created a DEI-focused Faculty-in-Residence to provide greater support for first-year residential students from marginalized/ underrepresented backgrounds and identities. A new Director for the Diversity Center was hired in October. The Advancement Division created a position to focus on DEI and identity-based alumni communities (Spring—Fall 2021).
• DEI Innovation Fund—A $200,000 fund has been established to engage our community in developing ideas that support a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable learning and working environment at Butler. Nine proposals were approved for a total of $115,000 in 2021. (Spring 2021).
• President’s Council on DEI—A council including nearly 20 faculty, students, staff and alumni are serving in an advisory capacity to the President on matters related to diversity, equity and inclusion at the University (Spring 2021).
• Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement—Under the leadership of Dr. Terri Jett, the Hub will be focused on the lives and experiences of the Black community at Butler, through creation of affinity groups, a collaborative fellows program, Black student support initiatives, and connection with visiting black intellectuals. Further, the Hub will create opportunities for engagement with the greater Indianapolis community (Fall 2020).
• ONB Center DEI Initiative—The ONB Center for Business Excellence launched a phased initiative that intends to strengthen and support privately held businesses owned by underrepresented groups throughout Indiana by connecting them with the resources and support they need to succeed (Fall 2020).
• BUnited—Butler Athletics established BUnited as a department-wide initiative focused on empathy, education and experience. Its mission is Building Unity Through Leadership, Education and Respect (Fall 2020).

Priority 6—Strengthen the University’s short- and long-term sustainability

• Gateway Project—The recently announced Gateway Project will expand upon the considerable improvements made to our campus in recent years (e.g., Dugan Hall, Levinson Family Hall, Fairview and Irvington Houses, and Sunset Avenue enhancements) by pursuing new development opportunities that advance our University mission and enrollment goals, generate new sources of revenue, and enhance our campus and the Midtown Region of Indianapolis (Summer 2022).
• Butler Beyond Campaign eclipses its campaign goal of $250M—Butler Beyond: The Campaign for Butler University officially concluded as the largest and most successful philanthropic effort in Butler history, raising over $263.6M and exceeding the original $250M goal. Included in those gifts were two significant contributions to capital projects, which resulted in the naming of Dugan Hall and the Levinson Family Hall (May 2022).
• Campus Space Management—Butler Arts & Events has assumed management of campus spaces and assets, as well as the Campus Bookstore. By centralizing space management and consolidating oversight of business enterprises, the university will be more efficient in its of use of space while diversifying the types of events and programming on campus and expanding opportunities for revenue generation (Spring 2022).
• Operational Growth & Excellence—Butler partnered with Huron Consulting Group across three interrelated areas: administrative, academic and growth. Huron, with Butler’s input and direction, has developed evidence-based recommendations and data tools that build on Butler’s position of strength and guide further refinement of key administrative, academic, and growth-related strategic initiatives. Several recommendations have been implemented while others are being further evaluated and prioritized (Summer 2021—current).
• Campus Renovation Projects – The new 44,000-square-foot Sciences Expansion building opens as Phase I of a $100 million investment in the University’s sciences facilities. Phase II, a complete top-to-bottom renovation of Gallahue Hall is scheduled to be complete in January of 2023. Learn more about Butler’s new sciences complex here. Renovations to Residential College (Resco) began Summer 2022 to upgrade the residential living areas. Phase II to complete the remaining areas, including dining, will begin in Summer 2023.

Priority 7—Advance and strengthen Butler’s external reputation and brand

• VP/Marketing and Brand Management—Butler hired Sherry Wallace to lead and manage the Marketing and Brand Management team, ensuring productive, creative, and customer-focused results across Brand Strategy, Enrollment Marketing, and Creative Services (Fall 2022).
• National Rankings—Marketing and Enrollment teams are working together to prepare for the move from the Midwest to the National category for the U.S. News and World Report. Teams are currently conducting discovery and research to inform our campaign development and execution (Fall 2022–ongoing).
• Communications—Butler developed a new University-wide content management process for developing and distributing external and internal communications across all channels, leading to better storytelling and stakeholder engagement (Summer 2022).
• New Broadcast Commercial—A new Butler broadcast commercial and campaign, launched in December ‘21. The campaign theme is “We’re changing what it means to be a university” to further amplify our Butler Beyond Strategy. The commercial will have widespread placement, including usage by the BIG EAST and our student-focused advertising on YouTube, Connected TV, Spotify, Facebook/Instagram, and more. Marketing and Brand Management is also producing supporting/complementary videos on the topics of experiential learning, student-centered education, and innovation for use in our undergraduate digital efforts (December 2021). 
• Office of Strategic Engagement—The newly formed Office of Strategic Engagement is established to elevate the University’s local, national, and global influence as a leader in higher education (October 2021).
• 1 Regional University—For the fifth consecutive year, Butler University is named the No. 1 Regional University in the Midwest, according to the 2023 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings (September 2022).
• Community Impact Study – A community impact study is completed which evaluated and measured the various ways Butler contributes to the local community. We will also produce a dashboard for continual assessment of where and how Butler makes an impact (Summer 2021—ongoing).
• NCAA Tournament Host – Hinkle Fieldhouse served as one of six host sites in central Indiana, playing host to 16 games of the 2021 men’s NCAA basketball tournament. The university received significant, positive media coverage and attention throughout the country and beyond (March 2021).
• Netflix’s DOGS Series—Blue III and Blue IV featured in episode of Netflix’s DOGS (July 2021).
• Brand Equity Study—We recently surveyed prospective undergraduate students and parents, and prospective graduate students, to measure brand equity (awareness, familiarity, and consideration) and test key messages. This is the fourth consecutive measurement cycle for prospective undergraduate students and the first for prospective graduate students to determine a baseline.
• Crisis Management—Marketing and Communications updated university-wide Crisis Management and Crisis Communications Plans. The CMT, CCT, and EOT teams participated in a Table Topic Exercise facilitated by the Marion County Homeland Security Office—resulting in action plans for continued improvement.