From the President
The Butler Bulldogs’ historic Men’s Basketball Final Four® tournament runs in 2010 and 2011 helped solidify Butler University as a household name. A particular spotlight was placed upon the University when the 2010 championship game was held in Indianapolis. The media told its stories right from our campus, portraying Butler as a true Cinderella story,…
CCOM Welcomes New Dean
Joseph M. Valenzano III has joined Butler as Dean of the College of Communication. He replaces Brooke Barnett, who was elevated to the role of Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs. Valenzano comes to Butler from the University of Dayton, where he most recently served as Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication.…
Crossing the Finish Line
Each graduation day, Sonya Hopkins feels a sense of accomplishment with each student-athlete who walks across the stage. Butler University’s Associate Athletic Director of Academics knows how challenging it can be to balance training with coursework, so every successful year keeps her coming back for more. “It’s the fuel to my fire,” she says. Hopkins…
Leading the Way
Involving students in athletic programs has never been more important. Not only do sports bring a sense of teamwork and strengthen work ethic in participants, but these activities also lead to improvements in physical, mental, and emotional health. Despite these clear benefits, school athletic programs have seen decreased participation and interest in recent years. According…
Title IX Pioneers
“One of the reasons I wanted to win that so desperately is because I wanted Title IX not to get weakened… I wanted to change the hearts and minds of the country to believe in Title IX, to believe that women deserve equality.” —Billie Jean King on her 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match against…
A Higher Elevation
Over his 16 years at Butler, Head Coach of Track and Field and Cross Country Matt Roe has been integral to Butler’s success—namely by leading his teams to 106 conference individual and relay titles, 68 school records in track and field, producing 39 All Americans, and capturing 14 conference team titles. He’s been named Conference…
Growing Gifts
It started with $100. Kent ’94 and Brittney (Howard) ’94 Greer loved their years at Butler, and it felt wrong not to give to the place that had molded them both and provided a backdrop for the beginning of their relationship. He first spotted her at Atherton Union (where he proclaimed to buddies, “I’m marrying…
It’s What Mattas
Thad Matta ’90 grew up watching his father, Jim, a high school athletic director and coach, explain Xs and Os and discuss training philosophies. “I was raised in a gymnasium,” Matta says. “I was the little kid sitting in the locker room after a win or after a loss listening to the coaches.” Matta began…
Positive Reflections
More than a year has passed since Xan Korman died, but his legacy at Butler University is still just getting started. Korman was a rising junior and a promising photographer who loved covering the Butler Men’s Basketball team when he was gravely injured in a drive-by shooting in his home state of Maryland. He passed…
All Good Dawgs
The landscape of college athletics has changed dramatically over the last few years as a series of state laws throughout the country and adjusted NCAA by-laws now allow for studentathletes to be compensated for their name, image, and likeness (NIL). A group of Butler alumni set out to find a way for both Bulldog student-athletes…
Inspired to Give
Kurt Mahrdt grew up a few blocks from Butler’s campus and attended elementary school at 49th and Boulevard, across the street from Hinkle Fieldhouse. Beginning around the fourth grade, Mahrdt recalls using Butler’s athletics facilities to play basketball, football, and baseball with his neighborhood friends after school. Tony Hinkle was often nearby, overseeing practice for…
Making the Cut
The road to medical school for senior Jon Vore began with a concussion. A multi-sport athlete in high school, Vore took a hard hit on the field. One of the unexpected side-effects: a new fascination with medicine. “I’d always been interested in science, but now I was curious about why I felt the way I…
Scoring 2,000 Miles from Home
In high school, Butler senior and Germany native Aliya Diagne knew she wanted to pursue both of her passions in college—soccer and academics. “As a college student in Germany, you can only play soccer as a hobby,” she says. Not willing to sacrifice one passion for another, Diagne was willing to travel thousands of miles…
Hink—The Inside Story
One of Butler’s great mysteries is, just who is bringing that eight-foot-tall “Hink” suit to life? A beloved fixture at Butler’s many sporting and special events around campus, the costumed “Butler Bulldog” first appeared over 60 years ago. It was criminal activity that brought to light the need for a name change. In summer 2008,…
Close to Home
Jack Krebs ’63 chose to attend Butler for many reasons—a desire to play for Tony Hinkle, the location (Indianapolis, close to home), and the fraternity system among them. And because of the experience he had at Butler—getting to play for Hinkle, being close to his family and their insurance business, becoming a Phi Delt, learning…
Speaking Up & Standing Out
Mary Majewski Shaw ’93 knew she had to pay for college herself. Her parents had made that clear. Growing up in South Bend, Indiana—in the shadows of the University of Notre Dame—the three-sport athlete dreamed of playing basketball for the Fighting Irish. She was offered the opportunity to walk on, but when Butler coaches saw…
Blue’s Views
A lot more goes into being a mascot than what is shown on your screen. The same is true for our student-athletes. As they don their Butler-branded jersey and step onto the big stage, it can be easy to forget that beneath those moisture-wicking uniforms are students; students who are striving to become the best…