University of Iowa provost taking presidency at Daytona Beach university

After nearly 33 years with the University of Iowa, Provost Barry Butler is leaving to become the sixth president of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

The private institution focused on aviation, aerospace, and research announced Butler as its new president Wednesday after a meeting Tuesday during which the board of trustees unanimously agreed to hire him.

During the search, according to a news release, Butler received 'across-the-board support” from the presidential search committee, which included trustees, faculty, staff, and student representatives from the institution - which has campuses in Daytona Beach and Prescott, Ariz., and maintains a strong online curriculum, reaching students around the globe.

Butler, set to start in Florida on March 13, seems suited for the job, having earned bachelor's and master's degrees in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1979 and 1981. He went on to achieve a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Illinois in 1984 and remains active in several aerospace-related instructional and research activities at University of Iowa - serving, for example, as campus coordinator of the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, a statewide NASA-funded entity.

His departure tasks UI with finding a new provost, a new vice president of student life, with Tom Rocklin retiring in July, and a new vice president of medical affairs and college of medicine dean, with Jean Robillard preparing to leave.

Collectively, those departures take with them 78 years of institutional knowledge and experience.

Butler first joined the UI faculty as an assistant professor in 1984 and moved up the ranks to achieve full professor status in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. He served as a member of the engineering faculty council, UI Faculty Senate, and UI Faculty council before joining the administration in 1998.

During his time at the university, Butler served as executive officer of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, associate dean for academic programs, and dean of engineering.

He established a statewide consortium - the Iowa Alliance for Wind Innovation and Novel Development - focused on research and curriculum development advancing the state's competitiveness in the field. He's worked as visiting research fellow for U.S. Navy and Sandia National Laboratories and as a visiting faculty member at Universite de Provence in Marseille, France.

In Iowa, Butler also serves on several boards and in varying capacities, including as the governor's delegate to the Aerospace States Association.

'From the members of the presidential search committee and the faculty advisory committee, all of the way through the short list to the final approval of the board of trustees, there was one name that consistently rose to the top - and that was Dr. Butler,” Mori Hosseini, chairman of the university's board of trustees and of the presidential search committee, said in a news release. 'We are confident that Dr. Butler will continue to take Embry-Riddle's entire community to the next level.”

As UI provost, Butler is in charge of more than 100 academic programs in 11 colleges - also overseeing the Division of Continuing Education, the UI Libraries, and the UI Museum of Art.

He's been key to implementing UI President Harreld's strategic plan and new budgeting model, and he's led the university's cluster hire initiatives - including those in water sustainability; aging, mind, and brain; digital public arts; and humanities and informatics.

In a statement, Butler said, 'I'm thrilled to be named Embry-Riddle's next president and look forward to building upon the outstanding global reputation of the university.”

'I look forward to working with Embry-Riddle's outstanding students who are the lifeblood of the institution,” Butler said in the statement. 'I also look forward to meeting with faculty and staff to hear their vision of the university's future.”

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