Butler named new University of Iowa provost

IOWA CITY - Barry Butler says seeking new deans of business and engineering and continuing to implement the University of Iowa's updated strategic plan are tasks at the top of his list as the new UI provost.

UI President Sally Mason on Tuesday named Butler as executive vice president and provost immediately, pending formal approval by the state Board of Regents. Butler, 53, has been serving as interim provost since November. He will earn $375,000 in the job.

“It has been enjoyable. There's a great group of administrators that work with President Mason,” Butler said Tuesday. “Obviously to be amongst good people means a lot.”

One of three finalists for the provost job, Butler succeeds Wallace Loh, who left last fall to become president at the University of Maryland.

There were three highly qualified finalists who all had strengths, said Richard Fumerton, president of the UI Faculty Senate who served on the provost search committee. Butler brings intelligence, commitment to working with the faculty and a clear vision of where the university should be going, Fumerton said.

“He listens carefully to views of others and makes wise decisions,” Fumerton said. “He was completely committed to making the university the best it can be.”

Butler has spent his entire academic career at the UI, joining the university in 1984 as a faculty member in the College of Engineering. He joined the administrative ranks in 1998 and went on to serve as dean of engineering.

He's never applied for a job at another university and wants to stay at the UI, Butler said.

“I think that speaks for itself in a lot of ways,” he said. “When a person likes a place, that means a lot in retaining them.”

Mason said in a statement she has every confidence Butler will be an excellent leader of the UI's faculty and academic programs.

“I can't think of anyone better suited to this position or more committed to the University of Iowa than Barry Butler,” Mason said.

And though he's been at the UI for nearly three decades, Butler said he intends to visit with faculty and other groups on campus as he further learns the ropes of his new role.

“Even for someone who's been here as long as I have, there's still a lot to learn,” he said.

The university faced some lean times in recent years, as state budget cuts forced belt-tightening. Butler, who as provost is the university's chief academic officer, said he thinks the budget situation is improving.

“We did an excellent job, I think, dealing with very, very difficult cuts to our general fund and I think things are turning around now and it should be very positive moving forward,” he said.

Butler earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1979 and 1981. He received his doctorate in mechanical engineering in 1984, also from the University of Illinois.

He and his wife, Audrey Butler, a lecturer in chemical engineering, have three children.

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From the University of Iowa:

IOWA CITY – University of Iowa President Sally Mason has named Barry Butler executive vice president and provost effective immediately, pending formal approval by the Iowa Board of Regents.

Butler, who has served in the role on an interim basis since November, was one of three finalists for the position. He replaces Wallace Loh, who resigned in October to become president of the University of Maryland. Butler's salary as provost will be $375,000.

“I can't think of anyone better suited to this position or more committed to the University of Iowa than Barry Butler,” Mason said in making the announcement. “As dean of the College of Engineering, interim provost, and as a world-class engineer and educator, Barry has my every confidence that he will be an excellent leader of our institution's faculty and academic programs.”

Butler said he looks forward to filling the position on a permanent basis.

“I have spent my entire academic career at the University of Iowa and have developed a deep understanding of and great respect for the institution. Under the leadership of President Mason, the University of Iowa has an opportunity to build on existing strengths and to develop strategic areas that have the potential to further distinguish us on a national and international level. I am honored to be a part of her leadership team.”

Prior to his appointment as interim provost, Butler was dean of the College of Engineering, where he holds the rank of full professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1979 and 1981, respectively. He received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1984, also from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Before entering administration in 1998, Butler served as a member of the Engineering Faculty Council, as well as the UI Faculty Senate and Faculty Council. Past administrative positions held by Butler include department executive officer of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, associate dean for academic programs, interim dean, and dean of the College of Engineering.

While he was dean, the College of Engineering experienced record growth in undergraduate enrollment, external research funding, and private support for faculty development, programmatic initiatives, facility improvements, and student scholarships. As a result of a new curriculum that allows for a broader education, more than half of the college's graduates now supplement their engineering degree with a minor, second major or certificate from a field other than engineering.

To better prepare graduates for success in the global economy, Butler established the Hanson Center for Technical Communication, a resource center devoted to improving the oral and written communication skills of students, initiated the “Grabbing the Globe” lecture series to promote global awareness, and developed and implemented Virtual International Project Teams, an inter-institutional program that partners Iowa's students with students from other countries on global design projects.

Butler also has provided leadership in a number of graduate programs and research initiatives including the establishment of combined BS/MS programs and the creation of two highly successful, multi-college research centers, the Center for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, and the Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging. He was also instrumental in establishing several combined degree programs with Iowa's community colleges and international partners.

As provost, Butler is responsible for more than 100 academic programs in the university's 11 colleges, oversees the Division of Continuing Education, the UI Library and Museum of Art, and is responsible for a general education fund budget in excess of $440 million. He will be instrumental in advancing the university's strategic plan, is responsible for coordinating the academic components of the arts campus rebuilding effort, and provides leadership in the university's recent cluster hiring initiatives in water sustainability, aging mind and brain and digital public humanities.

Butler is active in a number of aerospace-related instructional and research activities at the UI, where he also serves as campus coordinator of the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, a statewide organization funded by NASA for the past 21 years whose mission is to coordinate and improve Iowa's future in aerospace science and technology and to stimulate aerospace research, education and outreach activities throughout the state.

Through a $3 million grant from the Iowa Office of Energy Independence, he established a statewide consortium (www.iawind.org) focused on research and curricular development that advances Iowa's competitiveness in the field of wind energy. His research is in the area of non-ideal reactive fluid flow modeling. For the past decade he has worked closely with the automotive industry to develop advanced computer models for use in the design, development and analysis of occupant restraint safety systems. These analyses include real-gas thermodynamics and elementary combustion of the unique high-pressure environment of gas generators used to activate occupant restraint systems.

He has experience working as a visiting research fellow for the U.S. Navy and Sandia National Laboratories and as a visiting faculty member at Universite de Provence in Marseille, France. He has served as a professional consultant with Combustion Sciences Incorporated, Princeton Combustion Research Laboratories, Iowa Public Defenders Office, TRW Vehicle Safety Systems, Automotive Systems Laboratory, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Praxair Surface Technologies. During his 26 years in academia, he has supervised 30 undergraduate students on research projects, advised or co-advised 18 master's students and eight doctoral students, and has developed and taught 14 different courses.

In 2002 he was honored as an outstanding alumnus of the Department of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He currently chairs one the school's alumni boards. In addition, the Society of Automotive Engineers named him a recipient of the Ralph Teetor National Educator Award, and the Iowa student chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers named him as the Outstanding Professor. He currently serves on the boards of several state and national technology-based organizations committed to economic growth and advancing science, technology, engineering and math education. Butler also serves as Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad's delegate to the Aerospace States Association.

As an active participant in Eastern Iowa's Corridor STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Initiative, he has been a strong advocate for working with industry, community colleges and Iowa's K-12 educators to promote STEM education. Over the past decade, he has presented to more than two dozen civic groups throughout Iowa on topics ranging from educational initiatives, faculty scholarship, and the role of higher education in advancing the well-being of society and fostering economic growth.

He is married to Dr. Audrey Butler, a native of Keokuk, and a lecturer in Chemical Engineering at the UI. They have three children: Ben, 19, Logan, 17 and Savannah, 15.