
Butler Names New Vice President for Advancement
PUBLISHED ON Mar 07 2018
Jonathan Purvis, a respected leader in higher education advancement with 19 years of experience, has been named Butler University’s Vice President for Advancement. He begins his duties at Butler on April 16, 2018.
Purvis comes to Butler from Indiana University where he has served as Vice President for Development and Regional Campuses. Prior to that, he served as Executive Director of Development and Alumni Relations for the Indiana University School of Education and Senior Director for Capital Projects at Washington University in St. Louis. He has also held varied positions at the IU Foundation ranging from Executive Director of Special Gifts and Annual Giving to Assistant to the President.
“Jonathan possesses an exceptional depth of experience within higher education advancement,” said Butler University President James Danko. “His proven success in development, and demonstrated leadership in higher education, make him the right person to help us to achieve our ambitious fundraising goals.”
Purvis holds the Certified Fund Raising Executive credential (CFRE) and has taught a variety of fundraising courses at Indiana University. He is a frequent presenter with the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and is a contributing author to the third edition of the acclaimed Achieving Excellence in Fundraising. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in Public Affairs, both from Indiana University Bloomington.
Having grown up in Noblesville, Indiana, in a family of Butler alumni, Purvis is excited to return to Central Indiana to be part of the Butler community. He is joined by his wife Brittany, daughter Sophie, and son Joshua.
Media contact:
Rachel Stern
rstern@butler.edu
317-940-9257
Butler Names New Vice President for Advancement
Jonathan Purvis comes to BU from IU.
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The Total Solar Eclipse is Coming (South of Us)
BY
PUBLISHED ON Jul 24 2017
The first total solar eclipse over the continental United States in 38 years will be visible south of Indianapolis in Illinois and Kentucky on August 21, but Indianapolis residents will still get to see a 91 percent partial eclipse, Associate Director of Butler University’s Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium Rick Brown says.
And the best place to see the eclipse locally? Probably your own back yard.
“You don’t need to go anywhere to see it except an open area where the sun would normally be visible,” Brown said. “But you’ll need to wear solar eclipse glasses during this time if you want to look at the sun. They have special filters that prevent your eyes from having permanent damage.”
The partial eclipse—which occurs when the moon passes directly between the sun and earth—will be visible in Indianapolis beginning at 12:57 PM and will end at 3:48 PM, reaching its maximum blockage at 2:24 PM when the moon will block approximately 91 percent of the sun.
The total solar eclipse begins in Oregon and moves eastward along an arching path that includes Kansas City, St. Louis, Nashville, and Charleston, South Carolina.
During a total solar eclipse, the corona of the sun—the gas that surrounds the sun—is visible, Brown said. Normally, it can’t be seen because the sunlight is too bright.
“Sometimes during a total solar eclipse, if you’re lucky, you get to see some stars in the background during the daytime,” Brown said. “And sometimes you can see solar flares and prominence, which are explosions on the surface of the sun.”
Brown said that the Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium will be closed on August 21. Staff members will be heading south to get the best possible view of the total eclipse.
“There’s really no benefit to being at an observatory during our partial solar eclipse,” he said. “The sun takes up about half a degree in the sky, which is less than the width of your finger at an arm’s length. So if you looked at that through a telescope, first of all you’d be magnifying the sun’s light, which would make it even more dangerous, and secondly we would be enlarging it out of our telescope, so you’d only be able to see a small portion of it.”
Special glasses to view the eclipse are for sale for $2 each at the Holcomb Observatory during weekend hours, which begin at 8:15 PM. For more information, visit https://www.butler.edu/holcomb-observatory.
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

The Total Solar Eclipse is Coming (South of Us)
And the best place to see the eclipse locally? Probably your own back yard.
And the best place to see the eclipse locally? Probably your own back yard.

Butler Students Sweep Awards for Top Papers at URC
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PUBLISHED ON Apr 03 2017
Four Butler students have been named Top Four Paper Winners at the University’s 2017 Undergraduate Research Conference.
Kelsey McDougall, John Anderton, Taylor Pearson, and Viki Tomanov’s projects were judged to be the best among the 21 students from five different universities who submitted their completed papers for competitive review.
McDougall, a junior Biology and Chemistry major from Canton, Michigan, wrote Recontextualizing Rhetorical Constructions of Hegemonic Masculinity in Jessica Jones.
Anderton, a junior Middle/Secondary Education major from Rocky River, Ohio, wrote Strength in Numbers: How the NBA Dunk Contest Reifies Hegemonic Masculinity for its Audience.
Pearson, a senior Criminology/Psychology/Spanish major from Indianapolis, wrote Selective Sexualization and Censorship: Freeing the Nipple and Challenging the Male Gaze.
Tomanov, a sophomore Middle/Secondary Education major from Lombard, Illinois, wrote Reifying Hegemonic Masculinity in Tau Kappa Epsilon Recruitment Videos.
The abstracts for the four papers are below.
To evaluate the papers, all identifying features of the authors were removed. The papers were then sent to faculty across the nation who volunteered to serve as reviewers and were selected because of their ability to conduct interdisciplinary research.
Of the 21 students who submitted, 11 were Butler students.
All 21 papers were reviewed by three faculty members. Twelve of the top-ranked papers were then sent to an additional two reviewers since three sets of four papers were very close. The top eight papers were then sent to another set of two reviewers.
The abstracts for the four papers:
Recontextualizing Rhetorical Constructions of Hegemonic Masculinity in Jessica Jones.
Television is a significant rhetorical indicator of the construction of hegemonic masculinity—the culturally idealized form of masculinity—in media. Netflix is changing the way television series are viewed and accessed. Netflix’s Jessica Jones is a highly-rated Netflix original series, making it a good candidate for analysis. The show features a villain, Kilgrave, who both embodies and challenges traditional characteristics of hegemonic masculinity. I apply Trujillo’s five core characteristics of hegemonic masculinity (physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship, and heterosexuality) as well as a “gray area" of hegemonic masculinity. I contend that Kilgrave embodies the characteristics of familial patriarchy, heterosexuality, and the gray area of hegemonic masculinity that involves the failure to accept responsibility for his hegemonic actions; however, he challenges the hegemonic characteristics of physical force and control, occupational achievement, and frontiersmanship. Ultimately, Kilgrave achieves hegemonic masculinity by using his mental abilities, rather than physical strength, and achieves power in a way that challenges the traditional characteristics of hegemonic masculinity. Thus, Kilgrave’s challenges to traditional characteristics of hegemonic masculinity reaffirm the idea that the construction of hegemonic masculinity, and masculinity in general, is fluid and subject to changes in cultural values and beliefs.
Strength in Numbers: How the NBA Dunk Contest Reifies Hegemonic Masculinity for its Audience
Televised basketball is a worthy area of study that communicates specific values and messages to the audience watching both at home and at the events. The NBA dunk contests have been held for more than four decades and are worthy of analysis with relation to the field of gender studies. Each competition is based around the idea of performing different types of dunks, which are then judged officially by judges at the event and unofficially by the announcers on the television. Based on those scores, a champion is chosen from all the dunkers involved. I apply Trujillo’s five characteristics of hegemonic masculinity (physical force and control, occupational achievement, familial patriarchy, frontiersmanship, and heterosexuality), Fiske’s characteristics of the masculine hero narrative, and Messner, Dunbar, & Hunt’s Televised Sports Manhood Formula. I contend that the NBA dunk contests reify masculinity through the presenters’ comments as well as video images of both the players and the fans reacting to the event. Analysis of the events shows that features from each idea regarding masculinity are used extensively by the television crews to elevate players who uphold the ideals of masculinity so that viewers can observe and aspire to be like each champion. When the format of the event changes to feature a non-masculine characteristic, the announcers struggle to elevate a champion and inspire the viewers to see what each athlete can do. The results of the analysis show that the construction of the NBA dunk contests by the television corporations as a winner-take-all event lead to the reification of masculinity.
Selective Sexualization and Censorship: Freeing the Nipple and Challenging the Male Gaze.
I analyze the #FreeTheNipple movement, which gained popularity as a collective response to social media platform guidelines specifically banning photos of female nipples, but not male nipples. Using hegemonic masculinity, sociological structuralism, and communications and linguistic theories as analytical lenses, I determine that this trend is only a feminist movement in that it is intended to benefit women, but is ultimately too exclusionary and hegemonic to be considered liberating. Specific photos shared under #FreeTheNipple are discussed, implications are explained, and suggestions for improvement of the campaign are offered.
Reifying Hegemonic Masculinity in Tau Kappa Epsilon Recruitment Videos.
Fraternity members constitute a large percentage of leading working professionals in highly influential jobs. Fraternity men usually spend the majority of their undergraduate college experience in a single-gender community (i.e., their fraternity house), thus, it becomes essential that masculinity be at the forefront of examination when acknowledging the great societal impact of fraternities during and after college. Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), the fraternity with the largest amount of chapters nationwide as of 2016, is the focus of my analysis. Its popularity among college campuses signifies that its recruitment is successful and that, regardless of initiation into the fraternity, many men (and women) view TKE as an example of masculinity. In my analysis, I focus on TKE recruitment videos from various universities that span the Northeastern, Southern, Midwestern, and Western regions of the United States. My analysis is divided amongst five markers that indicate an abidance to hegemonic masculinity, or the varying construction of the “ideal” man that is impossible to fully achieve. These markers of hegemonic masculinity are: Dominance (ascendency), sexual objectification of women, heteronormativity, alcohol use, and recreational movement of the body. I use these markers to demonstrate how TKE’s sustainment of hegemonic masculine ideals is problematic to society as a whole given the influence of fraternities beyond campus borders.
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

Butler Students Sweep Awards for Top Papers at URC
Four Butler students have been named Top Four Paper Winners at the University’s 2017 Undergraduate Research Conference.
Four Butler students have been named Top Four Paper Winners at the University’s 2017 Undergraduate Research Conference.

John Conley Named Chief of Public Safety
BY
PUBLISHED ON Dec 20 2016
Veteran police officer John Conley has been named to succeed Ben Hunter as Butler University’s Chief of Public Safety.
Conley joined the Butler University Police Department two years ago, after working with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (IMPD) for 40 years in various positions in Operations, Investigations, and Administration. He served as Homeland Security Supervisor for IMPD, coordinating stadium security for Super Bowl XLVI, and also was District Commander and Deputy Chief of Operations.
Conley is a graduate of the FBI National Academy. He is a former Indianapolis Police Department Police Officer of the Year, a recipient of the American Legion Spartan Award for Valor, and a recipient of the Webber Seavey Award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, presented by Attorney General Janet Reno, for Community Policing Excellence.
Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822

John Conley Named Chief of Public Safety
Veteran police officer John Conley has been named to succeed Ben Hunter as Butler University’s Chief of Public Safety.
Veteran police officer John Conley has been named to succeed Ben Hunter as Butler University’s Chief of Public Safety.