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You can take the colonel out of the band, but you can't take the band out of the colonel.

So when “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band comes through the Indianapolis area on October 27, retired Col. Michael Colburn—now in his fifth year as Director of Bands at Butler University—will return to the podium. He'll conduct the band he led for 10 years in a performance of John Williams' "The Adventures of Han" from the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story.

"I was really thrilled to get the invitation," Colburn said. "And this will be a chance for a local audience to realize that they have a connection to the Marine Band that perhaps they weren't aware of right here at Butler."

Colburn, who directed the Marine Band from 2004-2014, said he received the invitation from his successor, Col. Jason Fettig, after Fettig found out that the band's tour would stop in Carmel, right outside Indianapolis.

They decided that it would be most appropriate for Colburn to conduct a piece by Williams because during Colburn's tenure with the band, he established a close relationship with the famed composer.

Their friendship started with a letter about 20 years ago—Colburn wrote to Williams asking him to guest-conduct the Marine Band, and Williams did. They collaborated several other times, including in 2004 when Williams requested that Marine Band perform his music during the Kennedy Center Honors tribute to him.

"Col. Colburn's distinguished service as the 27th Director of the U.S. Marine Band had an immeasurable impact on the ongoing success and reputation of this historic ensemble," Fettig said. "He spearheaded many notable artistic achievements for the organization during his time at the helm, not the least of which is developing our close relationship with famed composer and conductor John Williams. I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome Col. Colburn back to the podium of "The President's Own."

The rest of the concert at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel will feature a selection of patriotic music—Sousa marches such as "Semper Fidelis" and "Stars and Stripes Forever" (that's Colburn conducting in these video clips)—as well as some recent original music for wind band.

"This concert is a rare opportunity to hear the Marine band," Colburn said. "They only come through this area once every 4-5 years at most. I encourage people to get out there and get a little taste of what people in Washington, DC, and especially people in the White House get to hear all the time. This is really one of our national musical treasures."

"The President's Own" U.S. Marine Band will perform at the Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel on October 27. Ticket and tour information is available here.

Media Contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

 

 

Charismatic Queer Eye star Karamo Brown and University of Texas Political Science Professor and immigration expert Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto will be the fall 2018 speakers in Butler University's Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series.

Brown will kick off the 31^st annual series at Clowes Memorial Hall on Wednesday, September 19, at 7:00 PM. DeFrancesco Soto's talk takes place on Monday, October 22, at 7:00 PM in Shelton Auditorium on South Campus.

Admission to all talks in the series is free and open to the public without tickets. The lecture series will continue during the spring semester with two more speakers.

 

Karamo Brown
Know Thyself: Using Your Uniqueness to Create Success
Wednesday, September 19, 7:00 PM
Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler Arts Center
More information at ButlerArtsCenter.org

Whether as an openly gay man, a black man, a Christian, a single father, a business leader, or reality television personality, Brown has discovered that the many facets of his identity are the key to his success. In this speech, he shares his methods and ensures that corporate and collegiate audiences alike are able to recognize and utilize their own different identities.

Today, Brown serves as the television Host and Culture Expert on the Emmy-nominated Netflix reboot of Queer Eye. Brown has worked as an on-air host and producer for OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network), Huffington Post Live, and a contributor on NBC’s Access Hollywood Live. He was first introduced to the world in 2005 at 22 as a housemate on the hit MTV reality series The Real World. He was a breakout star and became the first openly gay African-American in the history of reality TV. In February 2016, he returned to reality television as a cast member on TV One’s #TheNext15.

 

Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto
E Pluribus Unum? American Diversity & the Political Landscape
Monday, October 22, 7:00 PM
Shelton Auditorium, South Campus
More information at Events.Butler.edu

The United States has always been made up of diverse entities and, as a nation, we have negotiated the "pluribus" to get to the "unum." DeFrancesco Soto will consider the topic of negotiating diversity within the current political landscape with a particular focus on the last decade and the upcoming mid-term election.

DeFrancesco Soto is a professor at the University of Texas’ LBJ School of Public Affairs and a contributor to MSNBC, NBCNews.com, and Telemundo among others. She was a featured expert in the PBS documentary of the Civil Rights trailblazer Willie Velasquez in Your Vote is Your Voice and has published in both academic and popular outlets such as Politico, Talking Points Memo, and Perspectives on Politics.

Her areas of expertise include immigration, Latinos, women and politics, political psychology, and campaigns and elections. In looking at immigration, she takes a broad historical perspective to understand current policy debates. When looking at diverse groups within the electorate, she focuses on how women, Latinos, and other minorities influence policies.

 

Media Contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

  

Nine Butler University alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary professional achievement and service to the University and their communities will be honored at the annual Alumni Awards Recognition Program on Friday, September 28, at 6:00 PM in the Howard L. Schrott Center for the Arts, part of Homecoming Weekend festivities.

This year’s recipients are:

• Butler Medal: John B. Dunn ’77
• Butler Service Medal: Jeanne Hawkins VanTyle ’74 MS ’80
• Joseph Irwin Sweeney Award: Kyle S. Delaney ’03
• Hilton Ultimus Brown Award: Dr. Adam B. Hill ’03
• Robert Todd Duncan Award: Hoagland C.  Elliott ’57
• Katharine Merrill Graydon Award: Julie Russell Dilts ’92
• Mortar Award: Jean McAnulty Smith '65
• Foundation Award: John MBA '04 and Jordanna Perry MBA '03

Registration for the awards ceremony and all Homecoming activities can be made online.

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THE BUTLER MEDAL: John B. Dunn ’77

John Dunn grew up in Speedway, Indiana, and attended Butler on a full-ride basketball scholarship. He majored in business, played varsity basketball and baseball, and was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. In 2004, he was inducted into the Butler University Athletics Hall of Fame.

After graduating in 1977, he went to work for Cummins Engine Company in Columbus, Indiana, where he worked his way up from foreman on the main engine assembly line to owner of the Cummins distributor Cummins Rocky Mountain in Denver, Colorado. He sold the business and retired in 2001.

Dunn has been a long-time supporter of Butler University. He served on the Butler University Board of Trustees for 14 years, chairing a number of committees and two successful capital campaigns, ButlerRising and the Hinkle Campaign. He also served as Board Chair for three years. He was elevated to Chairman Emeritus status by the Board in 2016.

Dunn and his wife of 41 years, Kathryn (Kathy) Wilkie Dunn '79, whom he met at Butler, are members of the Cornerstone Society (lifetime giving of $1 million or more) and the Bulldog Club.  They have also supported the Campus Crusade for Christ organization for years on the Butler campus.  The Dunns also have established a scholarship fund for Speedway High School graduates attending Butler University. John attributes much of his success to Butler University and the invaluable lessons, friendships and service opportunities Butler has afforded him.

The Dunns have three adult children, John, Alisyn, and Patrick. John and Alisyn are both Butler graduates.

The Butler Medal is the highest honor conferred by the Butler University Alumni Association. It recognizes individuals for a lifetime of distinguished service to either Butler University or their local community while at the same time achieving a distinguished career in their chosen profession and attaining a regional or preferably a national reputation.  Since 1959, it has recognized individuals who have helped immeasurably toward perpetuating the University as a great educational and cultural institution and have had, during their lifetime, a profound influence on the course of Butler University.

 

THE BUTLER SERVICE MEDAL: Jeanne Hawkins VanTyle ’74 MS ’80

Dr. Jeanne Hawkins VanTyle is Professor Emerita of Pharmacy Practice at Butler’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. She began her professional career in a joint appointment with Butler and St. Vincent Hospital before moving into a full-time academic position in 1981.

Her teaching areas have included pharmacokinetics, therapeutics, clinical assessment, and women’s health issues. She has taught in the Pharmacy, Physician Assistant, and Health Sciences programs. In addition to teaching, she served as the Director of the Learning Resource Center and as Interim Department Chair for Pharmacy Practice. 

Van Tyle served as Chair of the Assessment, Curriculum, Academic Affairs, and Honors committees in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. In addition, she was elected as the College’s Faculty Senator, and was the long-standing advisor to Lambda Kappa Sigma, the professional fraternity for Women in Pharmacy.

She was faculty advisor for Butler University Community Outreach Pharmacy and the Academy of Students of the American Pharmacists Association. She was Chair of the Faculty Senate, Vice Chair of the Faculty Assembly, Co-Chair of the Gender Equity Commission, and member of the Sesquicentennial Planning Committee. In recognition of her service, she was awarded Butler’s Woman of Distinction (Faculty) Award in 2011, and the Distinguished Faculty Award for Service and Leadership in 2015.

Van Tyle earned a BS in Pharmacy and MS in Hospital Pharmacy from Butler’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in 1974 and 1980, respectively. She earned a PharmD from Mercer University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacokinetics at the State University of New York in Buffalo. Her husband, Dr. Kent Van Tyle ’67 (COPHS), is Professor Emeritus, Pharmaceutical Sciences at Butler. They have two daughters, Rachel and Emily ’13 (LAS).

The Butler Service Medal, established by the Alumni Association in 2001, is the second highest honor conferred by the Butler University Alumni Association and is reserved for recognition of emeriti faculty or retired faculty and staff (graduate or non-graduate).  The recipient will have achieved a lifetime of distinguished service to Butler University and/or the community.  Recipients will have helped to shape the past and future successes of Butler University and therefore shown a profound influence.

 

THE JOSEPH IRWIN SWEENEY ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD: Kyle S. Delaney ’03

Kyle Delaney is Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives and Marketing for the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University, serving as the Dean’s Chief of Staff with oversight over marketing and communications, new strategic initiatives, events, and dean’s office operations.

In his current role he has led a comprehensive rebranding of Northwestern Engineering, articulating Northwestern’s “whole-brain engineering” approach and leading significant improvements in media coverage of engineering research at Northwestern. He has also driven the development of new collaborative initiatives, such as activities at the interface of art and engineering.

Kyle joined Northwestern in 2005 and previously held a number of marketing positions at the school. He is a 2003 graduate of Butler University, earning a degree in integrated communications. As an alumnus, he has served as Chicago Chapter co-president, president of the Butler Alumni Association Board of Directors and a member of the Board of Trustees.

The Joseph Irwin Sweeney Alumni Service Award recognizes a recent alumnus who has demonstrated a significant commitment of outstanding service to the University. The award’s recipients have provided demonstrable service to the University to assist in perpetuating Butler as a great educational and cultural institution. The award honors the spirit and example of Joseph Sweeney, a young student with a great deal of potential, whose life was tragically cut short.

 

THE HILTON ULTIMUS BROWN ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Dr. Adam B. Hill ’03

Dr. Adam B. Hill is a palliative care physician at Riley Hospital for Children. Dr. Hill is a proud Hoosier, a Butler Bulldog, and an Indiana University School of Medicine (IUSM) graduate. He completed his pediatric residency training at St. Louis University, a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Duke University, and a palliative medicine fellowship at IUSM.

His work in palliative care is focused on allowing patients to live the best quality of life possible, in the midst of chronic, life-limiting and/or life threatening medical conditions.

In addition, Hill is passionate about physician wellness/self-care, physician education, and international medical work. His international work has allowed him to work in Belize, Mexico, Kenya, Tanzania, and Australia over the past several years. As part of his work in palliative care, he serves as the medical director for a weeklong summer camp for children affected by childhood cancer.

A true embodiment of the Butler Way, Dr. Hill put others above self and courageously broke the silence regarding substance abuse issues within the medical field. Using his own struggles as the subject, Dr. Hill lectures and writes about the importance of addressing addiction and mental health challenges. His article titled, “Breaking the Stigma – A Physician’s Perspective on Self-Care and Recovery” was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The Hilton Ultimus Brown Alumni Achievement Award honors a recent graduate whose personal and/or professional accomplishment brings honor and distinction to the University, and individual attainment and/or contributions for the betterment of society. Hilton U. Brown, who from his early years to last, gave a lifetime of service to his career and Butler University including serving on the Board of Trustees for 71 years and was an award-winning newspaper journalist and Managing Editor at the Indianapolis News for more than seven decades.

 

THE ROBERT TODD DUNCAN ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Hoagland C. Elliott ’57

Hoagland Elliott spent the first half of his career in retail and the second half in healthcare. After graduating from Butler, he worked as a buyer for L. S. Ayres & Co., and a Manufacturer's Representative for C.R. Gibson Co. He was Owner and President of the Card & Gift Gallery retail chain, The Fireside Shop, The Candle Gallery, The Wooden Unicorn, and I-ICE Inc.

In 1997, after a short retirement, Elliott was asked to serve as Chief Financial Officer for the Raphael Health Center, a ministry outreach of Tabernacle Presbyterian Church that serves as a primary health center for the uninsured and underserved in the inner city of Indianapolis. The center, which started as a half-day health clinic on Saturday mornings, grew from 400 patient visits and a staff of volunteer doctors in the first year to 20,000 visits and a staff of 37 doctors when he retired as Chief Executive Officer in 2014.

Elliott had left Butler nine credits shy of graduation in 1957. In 2013, at the age of 78, he returned to Butler to finish his academic requirements by completing nine hours of German.

The Robert Todd Duncan Award recognizes a graduate who is established in their career, and whose personal and/or professional accomplishment brings honor and distinction to the University, and individual attainment and/or contributions for the betterment of society. This award honors the spirit and accomplishments of Robert Duncan, a 1925 graduate, who was a noted opera singer and educator who in 1945, became the first African American to sing with a major white opera company, the New York City Opera Company.

 

THE KATHARINE MERRILL GRAYDON ALUMNI SERVICE AWARD:  Julie Russell Dilts ’92

Julie Russell Dilts is the Director, Regulatory Compliance, for Roche Diagnostics, where she has worked since 2007. Her teams help Roche achieve key business goals while ensuring that its product communications comply with FDA regulations.

Prior to her current role at Roche, Julie was Senior Counsel and also served as the Indianapolis campus leader and the mentoring program chair for Roche’s Women’s Leadership Initiative. Previously, she practiced law in the business department of Barnes and Thornburg, LLP, an Indianapolis-based law firm from 1997-2007.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Butler in 1992. After graduating from Duke University School of Law in 1997, she returned to Indianapolis and served on the Advisory Board for the Butler chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta from 1998-2007 (Chair, 2002-2004). 

Dilts joined the Butler University Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2007 and served as its President and representative on the university Board of Trustees from 2012 to 2014.

Her love for Butler started early, as her parents, Marla (Lantz) Dernay ’66 and the late Tim Russell ‘64, are Butler  graduates. The Butler legacy continued with her younger brother, Andrew Russell (PharmD ’08), and his wife, Danielle Haynes Russell (PharmD ’09). 

Dilts lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Clay, and their children, Asher and Lucinda.

The Katharine Merrill  Graydon Alumni Service Award recognizes a graduate who is established in their career, and has displayed and recognizes a long-term commitment of outstanding service to the University. The recipients of this award have provided demonstrable service to the University to assist in perpetuating Butler as a great educational and cultural institution. This award honors the memory of Katharine Graydon who graduated from Butler in 1878, and was a Professor of English Literature at the University from 1907 to 1930, receiving an honorary doctorate of literature in 1928. Graydon served as the Alumni Secretary and Editor of the Alumnal Quarterly from its first edition in 1922 until her retirement in 1929, when she was named Professor Emerita.

 

MORTAR AWARD: Jean McAnulty Smith '65

Jean McAnulty Smith graduated from Butler with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and served as a newspaper reporter, gubernatorial Press Secretary, and Communications Director before spending 20 years as First Vice President and Director of Public Relations and Corporate Giving, First Chicago NBD Bank.

In 1999, she earned her Master of Divinity (magna cum laude) from Christian Theological Seminary and had a 15-year career in religion, mostly as Program Director, Religion Division, with the Lilly Endowment Inc. In 1998 she was ordained a priest in the Episcopal Church. She served several years at Saint Alban's, Indianapolis, retiring in 2013.   

Her service to Butler has included membership on the Board of Trustees (she is a trustee emerita), co-chair of a Presidential Search Committee, and chair of committees on Clowes Memorial Hall and Student Affairs. She has received The Butler Medal, Alumni Achievement Award, and Distinguished Professional Award from School of Journalism.

The Mortar Award, created in 1995, honors one person or couple each year who personifies the Butler spirit by demonstrating great vision, leadership, and generosity to Butler University.

 

FOUNDATION AWARD: John MBA '04 and Jordanna Perry MBA '03

John D Perry is Managing Director - Family Wealth Director of Perry Wealth Management at Morgan Stanley. He is a member of Morgan Stanley's Chairman's Club, a distinction made for the top 2 percent of advisors within the firm. He is among the select few Financial Advisors to have earned Morgan Stanley's designation of Family Wealth Director, an industry leading designation that demonstrates that he met rigorous and high standards of delivering depth of experience and breadth of knowledge in wealth planning and investment advice to the most affluent clients.

John has been named in Barron's Top Advisor Rankings, honored as an IBJ 40 Under 40, Indy's Best and Brightest, and was featured in the magazine and website On Wall Street at number one on their Top 40 Under 40 list.

John is a graduate of the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University and earned his MBA from Butler University. He currently serves on the boards of the Goodwill Industries Foundation and Butler University’s Lacy School of Business. He also served as an advisory board member for the Butler Business Consulting Group and Student Managed Investment Fund.

John and his wife, Jordanna, have three children: Jack, Elly, and Gracy.

The Foundation Award, created in 2011, honors one person or couple (age 40 and younger) each year who personifies the Butler spirit by demonstrating leadership, and generosity to Butler University.

 

Media Contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

 

 

Sonia Nazario has been writing about immigration for more than 30 years, and the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner told Butler University's incoming students on Academic Day, Monday, August 20, that she has a better approach to fix a broken system. Nazario's book Enrique's Journey was given to more than 1,300 incoming students as this year's common read. 

As she addressed students, she stated border enforcement, guest-worker programs, and pathways to citizenship have all failed. What the United States needs to do, she said, is:

• Increase foreign aid to Central America to address the root causes of violence. In Honduras, she said, we are spending $100 million a year on violence-prevention programs. The money funds outreach centers that identify the most at-risk children and provides them with outreach centers, family counseling and other programs to keep them safe. The most violent neighborhood in that country saw a 77 percent drop in kids engaging in crime or abusing drugs and alcohol. Homicides are now being investigated there, and the number has decreased 62 percent. "I think this is a brilliant investment on our part," she said during her talk at Clowes Memorial Hall. "Spend millions there rather than having to spend billions on these kids once they arrive at our border."
   
• Provide a safe haven for people who are arriving at our border and are fleeing danger. Instead of cutting the number of refugees we let in to 45,000 a year, we need to increase the number. If Germany can admit 1 million people, we need to show similar compassion.
   
• Radically alter our war on drugs. "We spend $1 trillion on the war on drugs," she said. "Every household in this country has spent $10,000 in recent decades … by locking up non-violent offenders. And it hasn't worked." She advised more prevention, drug treatment, and legalizing small quantities of all drugs. "If you don't, you simply move the problem around," with violence shifting from Colombia to Mexico to Central America to, now, the Caribbean, she said.

Nazario, whose book recounts the harrowing story of a Honduran boy looking for his mother, 11 years after she is forced to leave her starving family to find work in the United States, said the United States needs to uphold its core values.

"During World War II, we turned away a ship with 900 Jews aboard," she said. "We wouldn't let them dock in our shores. Hundreds of those Jews were murdered in the Holocaust when they were sent back. You've all probably read The Diary of Anne Frank. Well, we rejected Anne Frank's family in 1941. And there was a moral reckoning in this country after World War II. We said never again. We were the leaders in providing the refugee movement around the world. Yet now, we are doing something that is all too similar."

She asked the students to get involved in some way and help end the immigration crisis.

"You can do anything that you set your minds to," she said. "And I think that you—unlike my generation, which has made a mess of this issue—you can actually provide real solutions that are humane and that actually work to slow the flow of people coming to this country illegally."

Nazario's visit to Butler was part of the Welcome Week tradition of inviting an author to campus to discuss a book that the new class has read. Jennifer Griggs, Academic Orientation Programs Manager, said the program "is really about bringing an intellectual experience into an overall orientation program and making that leap to academic life in the classroom."

After Nazario's talk, the students broke into groups with faculty members to discuss what she has said. The purpose of that, Griggs said, is to simulate course discussions and get students comfortable speaking and sharing and talking in the classroom when classes get started on Wednesday.

Luke Haas, a first-year student from Bath, Indiana, said he was glad to have a common read—and the chance to interact with Nazario.

"It definitely broadened my horizons," he said. "I'm more conservative, but I understand problems like this and how we need to fix them. This is a problem everyone is dealing with. She essentially put it out and there and said this is what we have wrong and there are things we need to fix. She does the research and understands that there are multiple places to blame—Republicans, Democrats, people in their own countries. She knows that certain things don't work because she has the statistics and the personal interaction to know."

 

Media Contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

For the first time in more than a decade, Venus, Jupiter, the Moon, Saturn, and Mars will be lined up across the sky.

The best time for viewing will be on the evenings of August 17 and 18, according to Butler University Professor of Physics and Astronomy Brian Murphy—weather permitting, of course. Mars will be near its closest approach to Earth since 2003, and through a telescope, one should be able to see cloud-covered Venus in a quarter phase, the rings of Saturn, the belts and satellites of Jupiter, and Mars’ polar caps (if the dust storm has cleared).

Murphy, who is also the Director of Butler’s Holcomb Observatory, says the planets all orbit the sun in different periods, which means they are typically scattered along the zodiac. Some may be seen only before sunrise, only after sunrise, or not at all if they appear in the direction of the Sun.

"Being able to observe the Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn in a two- to three-hour time span is quite nice," he said.

Murphy encourages people to get out and see this "planet parade"—either by looking through the telescope at the Holcomb Observatory, which is the ninth largest telescope East of the Mississippi River, or simply by going outside and viewing the night sky.

"It's an ideal time to get out and see the planets," he said. "Usually, we don't have four planets visible at once in good viewing location, along with a quarter moon, which is the ideal time to view the moon. And they're all evenly spaced. If you ignore the sun, these are the four brightest objects in the sky we're talking about."

It’s hard to calculate when this lineup will occur again, Murphy says, but something similar will likely occur in two years. But after that, it will not happen for a long time.

In addition to telescope viewing at the Observatory, Planetarium shows will take place each evening.

 

Media contact:

Marc Allan
News Manager
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

 Outstanding achievement inside and outside the classroom has propelled five Butler faculty members to be awarded Distinguished Faculty and Outstanding Professor designation.

These awards recognize inspiring presence in the classroom, achievement in research, community service, and exemplary achievements.

"As an educational institution, Butler strives to provide transformative educational opportunities to our students," said Provost Kate Morris, who handed out the awards on August 15 at the Fall Academic Workshop. "And faculty are on the front lines of that transformation. Simply put, without great faculty, our students would not have the success they have." 

"As an educational institution, Butler strives to provide transformative educational opportunities to our students," said Provost Kate Morris, who handed out the awards on August 15 at the Fall Academic Workshop. "And faculty are on the front lines of that transformation. Simply put, without great faculty, our students would not have the success they have." 

"It is critical to find ways to recognize faculty who have had outstanding years and outstanding careers to highlight the fact that their work truly makes a difference to students and to our academic community. I am delighted to be able to honor the five individuals honored this year, and believe they are excellent representatives of the impact faculty have on our students."

The Outstanding Professor awards recognize faculty members who excelled in all areas of their professional responsibilities and demonstrated outstanding achievement in teaching, scholarship, and/or service and were given to Associate Professor of English Ania Spyra and Professor of Music Kate Boyd.

The Distinguished Faculty awards recognize exemplary achievement, accomplishments, and contributions across the length and breadth of the winner’s career at Butler and were given to Associate Professor and Chair of Arts Administration Susan Zurbuchen, Professor of Philosophy Stuart Glennan, and Professor of Religion Paul Valliere.

Spyra, who joined the Butler faculty in 2008, studies the influence of migration on the language of literature. She was recognized for high student evaluation scores and her ability to reach all of her students in core, departmental, and interdisciplinary settings.

Boyd, a Butler professor since 2005, played nine solo recitals and nine chamber music performances during the 2016-2017 academic year. In addition, her CD recording of the work of composer John Cage garnered much national and international attention.

Zurbuchen was commended for creating one of the most successful degree programs of its kind in the country. She joined the Butler faculty in 1989.

Glennan, whose area of specialization is in the philosophy of science, with particular attention to biology and psychology, came to Butler in 1992. He is a scholar of international repute and a widely acknowledged founder of an important emerging field in philosophy.

Valliere, who retired at the end of the 2017-2018 after 35 years at Butler, was called a great professor, an outstanding scholar and researcher and a remarkable contributor to the university mission.

 

Media contact:

Marc Allan
News Manager
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

It was never supposed to happen this way.

The goal was one, if that, and that alone seemed daunting, even impossible at times. Starting a school, and not just any school, was the dream for Ena Shelley, Dean of Butler University’s College of Education. But in reality, she couldn’t imagine the pieces coming together.

It was after a sabbatical in Italy in 1998. Between all the pizza, Shelley managed to fall in love with something else. A new style of teaching, the Reggio model, and she vowed to figure out a way to bring it back with her.

The idea of a Lab School was born, but it was very much just an idea, she says.

“I knew I had to change my curriculum, but I didn’t have any schools where my students could actually see what I wanted to do,” Shelley says. “My dream was to have a Lab School in Indianapolis that we could share with the community, but also use to teach Butler students. The dream was never to have two.”

About 20 years after her initial trip to Italy, Shelley’s seeing double. A second Lab School, born out of demand, success, and lots of work, is up and running at 54th Street.

And even though it was never part of the plan, well, it sure seems like it was.

Lab School 55’s campus happens to occupy the school building that is named after Eliza A. Blaker. Named after the founder of Butler’s College of Education. This was a complete coincidence and just happened to be a building that the Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent said was available and was in close proximity to Butler.

“The community has responded in ways I never anticipated,” Shelley says. “Being asked to open a second one is really an honor. The dream has gone way further than I ever thought it could.”

What is the Lab School?

It’s a couple weeks before school starts and Nicole Kent is talking on the phone, cradling it between her ear and shoulder, while she furiously types an email on her cell phone.

She’s at School 60, the original Lab School. But really, she is itching to get to School 55, the new Lab School. Furniture is about to be delivered and from the sounds of the conversation, there are a few hiccups with the delivery.

Kent, who graduated from Butler’s College of Education, will be the principal at the new Lab School. She used to teach at the original Lab School and was the assistant principal for two years.

That’s not uncommon. Butler graduates tend to flock to the Lab Schools. In fact, at Lab School 60, or the original, 69 percent of teachers graduated from Butler with either a Bachelor’s or a Master’s Degree. At Lab School 55, or the second Lab School, 61 percent of the teachers are Butler grads.

Teachers receive continued professional development from Butler, and the Lab Schools also serve as a classroom to current Butler education students. Some also student teach at the Lab Schools.

But, says Ron Smith, the Lab Schools don’t hire just Butler grads. Smith is the principal at the original Lab School. He says they hire from wherever, but, because the Lab School program is different than a traditional learning environment, they need teachers who are able to teach that style, and, Butler grads are familiar with the Reggio model.

Learning at the Lab Schools is project based. There aren’t a lot of worksheets where students are mindlessly copying things down. The curriculum is teacher created. Art is infused into most classrooms. Inquiry, research, and exploration are the cornerstones of the Lab School curriculum, where there is a bigger picture behind each lesson. It is not about memorizing facts, but rather about communicating and collaborating and acquiring life skills.

“Of course, we want our students to do well on the standards you would find in the state curriculum, but beyond that we want our kids to become life-long learners,” Smith says. “We want them to find joy in learning, we want them to ask questions of their own and to find answers to those questions and projects help us get at that. That helps us get beyond the state curriculum.”

The Lab Schools are magnet schools. Students are chosen by random lottery from all who apply, with preference given to applicants who live nearby, have siblings in the school, and then children of either Butler or IPS employees. 

Lab School 60 has consistently been one of the two most requested elementary schools in Indianapolis since 2012. Students come from Broad Ripple, Butler-Tarkington, Meridian Kessler, to name a few, and the hope is that with a second school, even more of the city will be served.

“As a University, we value being a really good community member,” Shelley says. “We not only want to serve the community, but also learn from the community. We are not separate, but we are better together, and I think we are always striving to fulfill that mission.”

Is it working?

Amy Goldsmith vividly remembers the first time she met Ena Shelley.

Goldsmith was serving on the Indianapolis Public Schools’ Strategic Planning Committee and Shelley was presenting on the concept of the first Lab School. Goldsmith, whose daughter was about to enter kindergarten, was planning on sending her to School 57, but after hearing Shelley speak, everything changed.

“I remember thinking to myself, ‘wow, there really are people who think the same things as me about education,’” says Goldsmith, who lives in Irvington. “I was so excited that Indianapolis was going to have something like that for our community.”

Quickly, Goldsmith changed course and enrolled her daughter in the inaugural year of the first Lab School. And her family hasn’t looked back. She has a seven-year-old, 10-year-old, and 12-year-old who are all in the Lab School.

Prior to Shelley’s presentation, Goldsmith had never heard of Reggio Emilia. After doing some research, and listening to Shelley, she was sold. And now, three kids later, she is the one constantly pitching the Lab School to friends, and really, anyone who will listen.

“It’s hard when you find something you love, you can’t stop talking about it,” Goldsmith says. “I find myself making the sales pitch all the time, maybe too often. People are probably sick of hearing it from me. But I really do mean everything I say.”

And it is not just Goldsmith’s words. The statistics support her pitch.

By the end of second grade each year, about 75 percent of Lab School students are above grade level on the text reading and comprehension assessment. In language arts, the achievement gap between white and black students has been reduced by more than 25 percent.  

There are delegation days at the Lab School where groups from around Indiana, and outside of the state, come to visit and see what’s going on.

“It has been great to get a lot of interest and have the program be so popular,” Kent says. “But at our core we always want to be a place that is representative of our whole city. The second school gives us a chance to enroll more students and serve more students. The goal is to always serve our community as best we can.”

What’s next?

The original Lab School has grown to pre-K through 8th grade. It opened as pre-K through 1st grade and added a grade every year. This is the first year the original is at capacity, which is about 570 students.

The second Lab School opened with pre-K through 6th grade and each year they will add a grade until they have 8th grade. In its inaugural year, School 55 has around 300 students. Last year, about 180 attended the school.

Most families who had children attending School 55 prior to it becoming the Lab School this year decided to keep their kids at the school, Kent says. Of the 180 students that attended the school last year, about 150 are staying.

“I was asked early on, in year two or three, if I thought this was scalable and if we could replicate it and at the time I really didn’t think we could,” Shelley says. “But when I see the community response and the potential we have, I find myself wondering if a third is possible. But that is just me wondering. Right now there is much work to be done and we are just happy to be part of our community.”

 

Media contact:
Rachel Stern
rstern@butler.edu
914-815-5656

INDIANAPOLIS – Before the start of most seasons, chances are high that athletes have gone through a computerized exam called ImPACT, or Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing. It is a process that has become almost synonymous with preseason conditioning tests and two-a-days.

The ImPACT Test, one of the most widely used of several similar concussion management tools, is a computer-based test that measures shape recall, reaction time, attention, working memory, and other mental abilities. Individuals are given the test to establish a baseline score at the start of a season, then those who suffer a head injury are tested again before being allowed to return to play.

But, baseline results may not be as accurate as ImPACT claims.

According to new research from Butler University Director of Undergraduate Health Science Programs, Dr. Amy Peak, and former Butler health science student Courtney Raab, individuals are outsmarting the test. Previous studies, including one cited by ImPACT’s “Administration and Interpretation Manual,” say 89 percent of ‘sandbaggers,’ or individuals purposefully doing poorly on the test, are flagged. But, according to Peak and Raab’s research, only half are caught.

“If baseline scores aren’t accurate, that could likely lead to individuals returning to play before they are healed, or individuals returning to normal activity prior to their brain being ready,” Peak says. “This is a very dangerous situation because it is clear that individuals who have had one concussion are at greater risk of having subsequent concussions.”

So why cheat the system?

Many athletes don’t want to miss playing time. In fact, a study found in 2017 that nearly a third of athletes didn’t give their best effort on computerized neurocognitive tests, such as ImPACT.

The ImPACT Test is key when it comes to making return to play decisions. Though not the only determining factor, comparing test scores is routinely something trainers or doctors do to see if the individual can return to action or regular activities.

“Athletes get smart about how to take this test and they admit to wanting to return to action as soon as possible,” Peak says. “Some athletes ignore the risks, and just want to play, so if this test can be cheated, they will do it.”

Their research shows that those who attempted to sandbag were successful, as long as they didn’t try to do too poorly on the test.

There were 77 volunteers who participated in the study, 40 of whom were told to sandbag the test and 37 of whom were told to try their best. Of the 37 volunteers in the control group, none were flagged for invalid results. But of the 40 sandbaggers, 20 successfully tricked the test.

The key to not getting flagged by the test was to get questions wrong, but not too many questions.

“The group that scored much lower than our control got flagged, but the group that did bad, but not too bad were not caught,” Peak says. “Our research revealed that you can get away with doing poorly, sneak through with a low score, if your score isn’t outrageously low.”

Instead of the 89 percent rate of catching sandbaggers that previous research suggests, Peak and Raab’s research revealed just a 50 percent rate. However, Peak says, the takeaway is not to scrap the entire ImPACT Test. Peak says their research points to the fact that key aspects of the widely used test should be reevaluated.

The ImPACT Test’s five built-in invalidity indicators, which are designed to flag results which suggest underperformance, are not working well, she says. Peak and Raab’s research found that only two of those indicators detected more than 15 percent of test takers who tried to trick the test.

“There are some invalidity indicators that are really ineffective. Our research showed us that these indicators are not sensitive enough,” Peak says. “There are many things to consider. Are the indicators even right? Maybe the cutoffs should be higher? These are all important questions. But one thing we do know is that a much greater percentage of individuals can purposefully underperform without detection and we need to delve deeper into how to improve the test.”