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AthleticsCampus
It's a cold December morning in downtown Indianapolis, and the Fountain Square Animal Clinic is about to open.
A red jeep pulls into the parking lot, and out hops a 14-week-old french bulldog. He trots with his owner into the Clinic. A few more cars pull in. Two cats head inside, followed by a lab mix.
Then, a white Toyota RAV4 pulls right up to the Clinic's front door, bypassing the whole parking thing. A man and a woman emerge from the car, grab a plastic Bella Storage Solution 67-liter bin, and hurry inside. It's impossible to see through the bin, as layers of blankets cover the sides.
No one knows it at the time, but about an hour later, it becomes official: The bin is holding the next Butler University live mascot, Butler Blue IV.
That day in December, Butler Blue IV was a six-week-old, five pound, American Kennel Club-Registered English Bulldog puppy in a bin with his two sisters. After full-body x-rays, shots, and a close examination by clinic owner Kurt Phillips '92, it was determined that the next live mascot would be this dog. Phillips, who delivered the three siblings on October 30, 2019, was in the room with breeders Jodi and Cameron Madaj, as well as current mascot handler Michael Kaltenmark (who owns Butler Blue III "aka Trip"), and the next live mascot handler, Evan Krauss.
The decision marked the end of a process much longer than a one-hour vet appointment. It was a journey that technically started in December 2018, when Kaltenmark, Krauss, and Phillips determined it would be best for Trip to retire at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year due to his older age and long tenure on the job.
But it also marked the beginning of the next phase of preparations for introducing a new live mascot. Now, about a month later, the puppy who snuck into the clinic in a plastic bin has grown into a 12-week-old, 20 pound dog. He has experienced more of the mascot lifestyle—posing for photo shoots, growing out of two Butler jerseys, and listening to a cranked-up Butler fight song on repeat to simulate a raucous Hinkle Fieldhouse. He's also been exposed to many different people, taken trips to Home Depot, and grown used to the sound of banging pots and pans.
But Blue has also been adjusting to, well, life. He moved away from his two sisters and mother into his new home at 10 weeks old. He's learning to go to the bathroom outside, and how to walk on a leash.
Butler Blue IV has lived in near anonymity since he was born in October. But as the new mascot-in-training until he takes over full-time when Trip retires in May, the days of being toted around in secret bins are about to be long gone.
It was December 2018, and Butler Blue III "aka Trip" had recently turned seven. Kaltenmark and Krauss took him to the vet's office to see Phillips. Trip was in good health, but Phillips said it would be best if they didn't push him past his eighth season.
"Trip has been great, and he had no chronic or recurring health issues, but we wanted to make sure we didn't push him too far," Phillips says.
In May, Kaltenmark and Krauss sat down and solidified a succession plan. But it didn't exactly start with talking about Trip and the next dog. Instead, the plan focused on Kaltenmark—the man who has overseen Butler's live mascot program for 16 years.
At first, Kaltenmark was excited to start again with Butler Blue IV. But the more he thought about it, the more he realized it might be best for him to take a step back.
"I have been married for 16 years, and I've been the mascot handler for 16 years," he says. "My boys are getting older, and they have schedules that compete with the mascot's schedule."
Then there was the kidney diagnosis. Kaltenmark was first told in December 2018 that his kidneys were failing. He needed a transplant. He received one from his brother in early January 2020.
"It just made sense to get out of my own way and hand this on to someone who is extremely prepared and ready for this, and that is Evan," says Kaltenmark, who still plans to stay very involved in the live mascot program after the 2019-2020 academic year.
Once the team settled on a handler, it was time to start looking for the next dog.
Kaltenmark and Krauss relied on Phillips to identify potential litters of bulldog puppies. Phillips interviewed several breeders. He also conducted pre-breeding exams that took health, temperament, and timing into consideration.
They went through about four or five litters, but none of the puppies quite fit what they needed in terms of health and timing. Then, the Madajs entered the picture.
How to find a dog
Jodi Madaj has always been a dog person.
Growing up in Danville, Illinois, she would find stray dogs and bring them to her grandparents' house. At times there would be eight, nine, even 10 dogs there, all courtesy of Madaj.
That love of dogs has not waned. Madaj, her husband, and their two kids have had basset hounds, boxers, and german boxers, but her son always wanted a bulldog. So, in 2003, Madaj and her husband bought a bulldog puppy, put it in a box with a bow on top, and gave it to their son as a Christmas present. In 2011, they got another: Phoebe, also known as Trip's sister. Phoebe had puppies in 2013, and the Madajs, of course, kept two of the puppies.
"I am more of a collector than a breeder," Madaj says.
One of those puppies, Trixie, had a litter of seven in 2016. One of those puppies, Violet, would end up becoming the mother of Butler Blue IV.
Madaj also has a love for Butler. Her kids grew up going to camps at the University, and her son played soccer there. Sixteen years ago, her love of Butler and bulldogs led her to strike up a conversation with Kaltenmark, and she has been bringing pre-game treats for Butler's live mascots ever since.
When Madaj heard that Trip was retiring, she thought about donating a puppy from Violet's litter.
"I wanted to donate a dog if I had a healthy dog," Madaj says. "I wanted to do it because I thought it was the right thing to do."
Violet gave birth to three healthy puppies on October 30, 2019. But, it was not immediately clear if one would be the next Butler mascot.
The puppies were fed every two hours around the clock for the first three weeks. Madaj slept right next to Violet on the couch every single night. For the first six weeks, Madaj never left the puppies alone.
Then, there was the secret part of it all. Madaj told her kids, but not her mother, hiding Violet in the bedroom when her mother came over.
"She has a big mouth," Madaj says.
All three of Violet's puppies ended up being healthy. But during the six-week-old visit with Phillips is December, he decided that one of them stuck out. One of the puppies had a respiratory problem, and the other was a bit aggressive. The third was just right.
"There's a lot to consider with bulldogs, and we looked at everything," says Phillips, who has been involved with caring for the Butler mascot since he volunteered to give back to his alma mater in the form of vet care for the first bulldog. "He will be awesome. He is a super cool puppy. He is super easy going and not aggressive at all. Everything fell in line with this dog."
Madaj agrees.
"He is special," Madaj says. "When you spend basically 24 hours a day with a dog for three months, you get to know him really well. It will be really hard to leave him, but I know he is going to a great cause—to represent a wonderful institution."
Madaj, who ended up keeping one of the three puppies, texts Krauss all the time, reminding him not to pick up Blue by the back legs. When Krauss came to pick up Blue in mid-January, she gave him a laminated binder full of instructions, and she cried. About 20 minutes after Krauss left, Madaj texted to see how everything was going.
Butler Blue IV isn't the only one adjusting to a new life. Krauss, the new mascot handler, is adjusting, too.
Krauss has never owned a dog in his life. When he was growing up, the Krausses were—you guessed it—cat people. Krauss is allergic to dogs, which sometimes even causes him to throw up.
But that didn't stop him. He would ask his parents for a dog for his birthday, Christmas, New Year's—every single holiday. Then, when his older sister became a Butler cheerleader and Krauss started going to every basketball game, the team he fell in love with had a dog as their mascot.
"It was the coolest thing ever," Krauss says. "My Verizon flip phone background was Blue II."
In his sophomore year at Butler, Krauss applied to join the Butler Blue Crew. The student group helped Kaltenmark with the mascot program, filming video of Trip or assisting at events. Krauss had to lie during his interview when asked if he was allergic to dogs.
After graduation, Krauss joined Kaltenmark's team permanently to manage the day-to-day operations of the Butler Blue live mascot program.
Now, he is taking over handler duties. The spare bedroom of his apartment is stocked with dog toys, a crate, and food. He checked all his house plants to make sure they weren't poisonous for animals.
And then there's the whole new parent thing. Krauss called Kaltenmark when he thought Blue's stool was a little soft. Kaltenmark assured him it was normal for a puppy, but he brought it to the vet to be sure. Then there was the time Blue's face turned a bit red after some shots. So, Krauss called the vet, who assured him it was normal, and Kaltenmark brought benadryl over.
"This is my dream come true," he says. "It is certainly an adjustment, but I couldn't be more grateful and honored to have this opportunity."
Butler Blue IV will officially be introduced to the community at his first basketball game on Friday, January 24. Until taking over as full-time mascot at the end of the academic year, he'll be meeting students, adjusting to his home, and learning how to be the Butler Bulldog.
But behind the scenes, he will focus on going to the bathroom outside, socializing with other dogs, and the adjustment to life without his siblings. It's an adjustment for everyone.
12-week-old English Bulldog set to take the reins as Butler's fourth live mascot
Hi, I'm Blue!
Well, I guess I am Butler Blue IV, but you can call me Blue. I am Butler's new mascot-in-training!
I was born the lone male in a litter of three on October 30, 2019, at Fall Creek Place Animal Clinic. My vet, Dr. Kurt Phillips '92, delivered my two sisters and me. Then I went home with my breeders, Jodi and Cameron Madaj, and I have been living with them for the last 12 weeks while growing into this bundle of brown and white rolls you see today.
Oh, and don't worry, I already bleed Butler Blue. I stuck my head out of the incubator at two weeks old to watch the Men's Basketball team play on television. I even started barking when the announcer said the rival team's name.
I was born for this.
I'd love to meet you! My on-campus debut for students, faculty, and staff will be on Friday, January 24. And later that evening, I'll make my public debut at Hinkle Fieldhouse just before the Butler Men's Basketball game against Marquette. Be sure you get to your seats early.
For the next few months, I'll be training, interning, and following around Uncle Trip (Butler Blue III) to learn what it takes to represent Butler. Then, I'll take over full-time mascot duties after Trip retires at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year.
Other than all of that, I'm looking forward to getting settled at my new home, too. I moved in with my parents, Evan '16 and Kennedy Krauss, about a week ago, but it feels like I've known them forever. They even got to be there when I was born, and they have visited me every week over the last couple of months.
I hope to see you all on Friday. I've been waiting my whole life to meet you! I'm so honored to be your next Butler Bulldog.
Butler University's Mascot-in-Training
P.S.: Please follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @TheButlerBlue. Two words: Puppy Pics.
P.P.S.: I love you.
I am your new mascot-in-training. I can't wait to meet you.
CommunityUnleashed
On a mid-December morning at Butler University Laboratory School 55, a fifth-grade classroom falls silent. The shouting and chatter fades, little by little, replaced by the chime of calming music.
Around the room, students lie flat on the floor, blinking up through the cucumber slices pressed to their eyes. Some sprawl out, arms spread wide, as others fold their hands together or reach up to feel the fruit's coolness.
Cucumbers do more than signal a spa day in the movies, the students are learning. Rather, the slices can act as an anti-inflammatory for a stressed-out brain in the same way that ice treats injuries. They can calm the mind and prepare it for learning—a perfect addition to the collection of relaxation strategies Lori Desautels has brought to classrooms in Indianapolis and across the nation.
Throughout fall 2019, the College of Education Assistant Professor visited those fifth-graders every week to teach them about the brain, how it works, why we experience stress, and how to regulate emotions. Students learned that the prefrontal cortex is the brain's center of learning, decision making, and problem solving. They learned that the amygdala, formed by a small set of deep-brain neurons, causes powerful emotions such as anger and fear that can make it difficult to concentrate. And they learned that, through a range of activities that incorporate breathing, movement, or sound, they can control those emotions and relax their minds.
It's all part of Desautels' work in a field known as educational neuroscience, which focuses on finding the most effective strategies for working with students who have experienced adversity or trauma. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 60 percent of American children will experience at least one adverse childhood experience—or a potentially traumatic event—by the time they turn 18. About one in every six children will have four or more of these experiences, which can include circumstances such as violence, abuse, neglect, poverty, mental illness, food insecurity, or drug use, to name a few.
Beyond causing long-term consequences for overall health, trauma can affect a child's ability to succeed in school as stress inhibits the brain from making decisions and building relationships. Some students respond to pain with aggression, while others exhibit high rates of absenteeism or keep their heads down during class.
"As the research points," Desautels says, "anxiety has kind of become our nation's new learning disability."
Desautels tackles this problem from multiple fronts. Based on her research, she develops new strategies to help kids heal from trauma. She visits schools across Indiana, talking about the importance of caring for mental and emotional health in the classroom. Desautels works directly with children to help them succeed, and through leading workshops and teaching classes, she shows current and future educators how they can better support their students.
How to stay sensitive to trauma in the classroom
Desautels teaches a variety of strategies for responding to trauma in schools, but she says rethinking the discipline is the first step. When educators react with punishments based on frustration and arbitrary consequences, this usually reactivates a student's stress response, leading to new trauma instead of new healing.
Change starts with teachers modeling the behavior they want to see from their students.
When a child's actions require discipline, Desautels says the adult should always take some time to cool off. After reflecting on how the incident made them feel, they should explain to the student how they plan to calm down before addressing the situation.
I'm really frustrated, so we aren't going to talk about this right now. I'll count to four, and then I'll take my two deep breaths, and then I'll wait. And if my amygdala is still feeling angry, I'll count to four again, until my cortex feels calm.
Teachers should also consider the power of non-verbal communication. Desautels says tone of voice is critical in calming a child's nervous system, along with facial expressions, posture, and gestures.
"Emotions are contagious," she says. "When a teacher is able to model a calm presence, students are less likely to react defensively."
Once everyone feels relaxed, the teacher and student can discuss what happened, why it happened, and how they can repair the damage together. Consequences should follow naturally from the action in a meaningful way, Desautels says. For example, if the student was mean to a classmate, they could create something that shows kindness.
Desautels also stresses the need for listening to and validating the student throughout the process. If a child says, 'This isn't fair' or 'You are always picking on me,' a validating comment might be, 'That must feel so frustrating.'
"In the moment of rising tension," she says, "when you feel someone hears you, that's calming."
But these strategies aren't only for when there's a problem. Building strong connections with students can help with easing their anxiety and preventing negative behavior from arising in the first place.
At Butler, Desautels has created a graduate certificate in Applied Educational Neuroscience to teach these strategies to educators, medical professionals, and others who work closely with children who have experienced trauma. The nine-credit-hour program launched in 2016 and has grown from just six students in the first cohort to more than 70 today. The classes explore the most recent research in neuroscience and attachment, then shift to how that research can be used to help students.
"And these strategies aren't just useful for working with children," Desautels says. "We are all dealing with more and more adversity and stress. Everyone taking this certificate is trying to improve on their professional practices, but I often hear feedback about how helpful it has been personally."
A new way of teaching
Until a couple years ago, Emily Wilkerson didn't know anything about neuroscience. She didn't think she needed to.
Then, as an Elementary Education major at Butler, she met Lori Desautels.
"It wasn't until my junior year of college that I realized teaching isn't just about math, reading, writing, science, and social studies," Wilkerson says. "Kids need so much more than academic content."
So shortly after graduating in 2018 and taking a position with the then-new Butler Lab School 55, Wilkerson enrolled in Butler's Applied Educational Neuroscience certificate. Right away, she started practicing the techniques in her fifth-grade classroom—the same classroom Desautels worked with last semester.
Together, Desautels and Wilkerson taught the students about three key regions of the brain and what it looks like to "be" in each one. In the prefrontal cortex, located near the forehead, the mind feels calm and creative. In the limbic system, closer to the center of the brain, you might start to be distracted by emotions such as fear, irritation, or embarrassment.
On the back of the neck, near the hairline, is the brain stem. Once here, you're basically frozen. You might feel hopeless or disconnected. You might lash out, or you might run away.
"When a student has experienced trauma, we know that their brain is most likely not in the prefrontal cortex throughout the day," Wilkerson says. "There could be triggers in the classroom, or they could just think about something traumatic that happened to them, and that could completely spiral their day. If they are locked into that anxiety or fear, they are inclined to stay in that brain state—unless they know that they can regulate their brain."
So, the students learned how to do just that.
Every time Desautels visited Wilkerson's class, she brought a new focused attention practice. These activities quiet the mind by having kids focus on a specific stimulus, whether that is a sound, a sight, a taste, or a breath—similar to meditation. This helps soothe the nervous system in a way that makes it easier to cope with challenges.
For example, the class could spend a few minutes with a breathing exercise that matches movement to the rhythm of the breath, lifting their arms high on the inhale and dropping them on the exhale. They could place their non-dominant hands flat on pieces of paper, tracing the outlines repeatedly until their minds feel calm. Or, the students could put ice cubes in their mouths, imagining their stress fading as they feel the ice slowly melt away.
Desautels also uses "brain breaks." These exercises introduce new challenges or novel sensations to help break up the routine of a school day, training the mind to see things through new perspectives.
Desautels always carries a bag of assorted household objects—markers, paper, shoelaces, and so on. After picking an item, students imagine two ways it could be used for something other than its intended purpose. Another brain break involves asking the kids to peel a tangerine with their eyes closed, then to eat the fruit while focusing on its smell and taste. The more senses these activities draw on, the more effective they will be for regulating the brain.
The students learned to be more aware of how they feel throughout the day. Desautels introduced brain reflection sheets, which help both students and teachers evaluate their current brain states and figure out what they might need to feel better in that moment.
"If I'm feeling frustrated," Wilkerson says, "I'm going to go sit in the reset corner and take 10 deep breaths, or roll playdough in my hands, because that might be something that feels good to me. But you can regulate a brain in a thousand different ways."
Most of the fifth-grade students now use the language of neuroscience throughout the school day. And since Desautels first visited, Wilkerson has noticed an overall shift in classroom culture.
"We as elementary school teachers have the opportunity, if we are using the language of neuroscience in our classrooms, to really set students up for a greater level of success throughout their whole lives," Wilkerson says. "I can't imagine, if I could go back in time and learn about all this neuroscience during fifth grade, how that would have impacted me in middle school, high school, college, and adulthood."
Beyond her work at Butler and in Indianapolis classrooms, Desautels visits schools across the state to speak about the trauma-responsive strategies she has developed. She's also published three books about the human side of education, with a fourth expected to release in 2021.
Nationally, Desautels' work has inspired hundreds of schools to build what she calls amygdala first aid stations. Typically set up at a designated table or corner of the classroom, these spaces give students a place to go to calm down or recharge. They might offer stationary bikes, yoga mats, art materials, or headphones. Others have bean bag chairs where students can relax with weighted blankets while smelling lavender-scented cotton balls.
Since she first started co-teaching six years ago, Desautels has worked with 13 classes ranging from preschool to 12th grade. It has become more common for schools to address mental and emotional wellbeing, but Desautels says her work is unique for its focus on actually teaching kids the science behind how their brains work.
"Teaching students about their amygdala and their fear response is so empowering," she says. "When we understand that this biology is thousands of years in the making, hardwired to protect us, our minds begin to relax through knowing that our reactions to negative experiences are natural and common. Many of our children report a sense of relief to know there's nothing wrong with them."
One of the distinguishing features of a Butler education has always been the meaningful and enduring relationships between our faculty and students. Gifts to this pillar during Butler Beyond will accelerate our commitment to investing in faculty excellence by adding endowed positions, supporting faculty scholarship and research, renovating and expanding state-of-the-art teaching facilities, and more. Learn more, make a gift, and read other stories like this one at beyond.butler.edu
Lori Desautels, an Assistant Professor in Butler's COE, visits classrooms to teach students about their brains.
Arts & CultureUnleashed
For the past several months, Butler University English Professor Susan Neville has become a fixture in the Irwin Library for her latest literary project.
Neville is not poring over books, however. She is not researching her next novel. The Creative Writing professor is adjusting microphone volume levels in a cozy soundproof booth in the library's lower level. To her right is best-selling author Dan Wakefield, who penned Going All the Way and Starting Over, covered historic events like the first foreign press interview with former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, wrote about the Emmett Till trial for magazines like The Atlantic and The Nation, and is considered Kurt Vonnegut's oldest living friend.
Professor Susan Neville, left, prepares to interview best-selling author Dan Wakefield.
Neville and Wakefield are about halfway through recording Naptown Season One: A Memoir of the 20th Century. The podcast will consist of 20 episodes featuring different chapters of Wakefield's life, which started in Broad Ripple, Indiana, continued to New York City as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter, then to academia in Florida, and now back to Indianapolis. All 20 episodes will be released at once on iTunes, Wakefield's website, Irwin Library's website, and Butler's Digital Commons in May for maximum binge listening, and to celebrate Wakefield's 88th birthday.
"He's a great storyteller and I wanted to capture those stories," says Neville, who received a $2,000 grant from the Indiana Humanities Council to assist with the production. "These episodes will be kind of his memoir, only done through interviews."
The soundbooth only fits two people, but the results are as high-level as anything on Podcast One. Neville and Wakefield mapped out every episode, about an hour in length each. So far, they've completed episodes focusing on Vonnegut, novelist James Baldwin, and a trio of Wakefield's mentors from his undergraduate days at Columbia College: Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mark Van Doren, literary critic Lionel Trilling, and famed sociologist C. Wright Mills, who Wakefield served as a research assistant.
Neville enlisted the help of Academic Technology Specialist Megan Grady-Rutledge to help edit each episode, which starts with music and short introductions and outros from Neville. The rest is all Wakefield answering Neville's questions, recalling major career milestones, and reading from his published works.
"Once he gets on a roll, he gets on a roll," says Neville with a laugh. "I was a journalism major as an undergrad and have written a lot of freelance feature articles, so I'm used to doing interviews. Recording a podcast is a combination of radio and the print journalism I'm used to."
Neville reveals that Season Two will consist of Vonnegut interviews she conducted in 1989 and 1990. Those conversations currently live on microcassettes, but will be transferred to a digital format after Season One launches.
"Talking with Susan, I'm remembering a lot of things," Wakefield says. "I feel like there's a big hole in our history and in Indianapolis, like the great jazz scene we had here. A lot of if isn't mentioned in a lot of places so I'm glad to be able to talk about that."
Part of the author's comfort in the recording booth stems from Wakefield's connection with Neville. They first met when Wakefield was still a graduate writing professor at Florida International University and Neville was a guest speaker at the Seaside Writers Conference. Wakefield has paid close attention to Neville's career, which includes creative nonfiction works Sailing the Inland Sea, Iconography, and Indiana Winter.
"Susan Neville is the best author today in this city and state," says Wakefield, noting her 2019 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction award for her collection of short stories The Town of Whispering Dolls. "I feel very lucky to be doing this with her. I feel very comfortable. We have sort of the same literary outlook and framework. We share the same prejudices about writers we like and admire. I know whatever I talk about, she will understand what I'm talking about."
Naptown is recorded with Audacity and just a few clicks. The writers test their speaking levels for a few minutes, listen to the playback, and then start to record the episode.
For a December 10 session, Wakefield was prepared to speak on his former influential professors. Among his notes, Wakefield brought the March 1968 copy of The Atlantic, which consisted solely of Wakefield's long-form article on the Vietnam War. The piece, Supernation at Peace and War, mentions some of his former Columbia University professors.
Before the session, Wakefield was a guest at Neville's first-year seminar on Vonnegut. The students had been reading Slaughterhouse-Five, Mother Night, and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and they poured over Wakefield's essay on his old friend titled Kurt Vonnegut, Christ-Loving Atheist.
"They were in awe of him," Neville says. "He told stories about Kurt and his family, and he brought fresh insights to the books they'd been reading all semester. They were amazed."
And the students will get to know much more about Wakefield, Vonnegut, and 20th century American literature in a fresh format thanks to Neville and Naptown.
Creative Writing Professor Susan Neville hosts Naptown series featuring author and Indianapolis native Dan Wakefield
"Catastrophic" was the first word Butler University Biological Sciences Professor Carmen Salsbury could attach to the ongoing Australian bushfire devastation.
More than 1 billion animals have perished, along with 29 humans in the estimated 100 blazes that have ignited since September, burning 46 million acres as of mid-January. The ecology of Australia will never be the same, at least not for a very long time, says Salsbury, who has researched forest mammals and urban wildlife for decades.
Professor Carmen Salsbury says the Australian landscape will be forever changed.
"The unfortunate thing is that the catastrophe has just started. Once the fires are out, it's not over," Salsbury says. "There is some evidence that we may lose some species altogether to extinction because of this tragedy."
The researcher says climate change is the biggest culprit behind the historic loss of environment. The combination of extreme heat, wind, and drought has been ramping up for years in Australia, and the conditions have allowed for continent-wide blazes.
While the plants will grow back and animals will return in time, the ecology in some areas will take many years to fully recover. Animals like the endangered glossy black cockatoo and the dunnart, a mouse-sized marsupial, are now thought to be extinct, according to Salsbury. New predators, such as feral cats, may move in to rattle the food chain as shelter and food becomes scarce for surviving prey animals. The "connectivity" of the ecology has been severed.
"Species rely on one-another in lots of different ways—for food, shelter, etc.," Salsbury says. "You pull one of those things out, and it ripples through the ecosystem and has major impacts on other species."
The lack of vegetation will enhance erosion and the chance of mudslides. The sediment could invade watersheds, affecting drinking water as well as aquatic life.
"Even after things start to green up," Salsbury says, "we're still going to see some serious impact on many of the plants and animals, all of those things at the base of a functioning ecosystem."
The different roles of wildfires
Western parts of the United States have experienced similar wildfires. In October, 10 wildfires engulfed 113,931 acres of California forest in flames, killing three, and destroying 517 homes and other buildings.
The 2019 events and Australia are tragic byproducts of climate change, but smaller wildfires have their place in ecology, Salsbury says.
"There are a lot of plant communities that have actually evolved to be fire tolerant. In fact, there are some plants that require fire for their seeds to germinate," she adds. "A lot of plants are meant to burn and some of them have terpene compounds in their wood to promote fire."
The fires happen naturally from lightning strikes and manmade controlled fires, and serve to replenish small ecosystems. Controlled burns eliminate fuel that would cause larger, widespread burns.
"The point is that intermediate levels of disturbance are actually good things for biodiversity in ecosystems," Salsbury says. "The problem is when you get really wide-scale, broad, and frequent types of disturbances. And that's what we're seeing now in our part of the world (California) but especially in Australia."
Biology Associate Professor Andrew Stoehr and Biological Science Professor Travis Ryan will lead a March controlled burn of the Butler Prairie near campus. It will be the first burn of the three-acre natural prairie space in seven years. Weather conditions will play a factor when the burn takes place but Stoehr concurs that control burns are advantageous in rejuvenating some ecosystems.
"Ideally, it would be every spring," Stoehr says. "One of the main effects is that it cuts down on the gradual invasion of trees. Gradually, prairies convert from grassy species and wildflowers over to wooded area. Burns also kill other kinds of invasive or undesirable species. By gleaning off all of that vegetation, it exposes the soil to more sunlight in springtime. The soil will warm up earlier, which tends to benefit the desired prairie plants more than the undesirable species. The seeds are already in the soil and will start to germinate after the clearing."
But not every ecosystem benefits from controlled burns and many of those have been affected in Australia, like tropical forest. The fires are too widespread to cause anything but negative impact on the continent.
As of mid-January, more than $200 million has been raised to help fight the fires and to aid injured wildlife. Salsbury says donating to the causes are a positive step, but so is reducing your carbon footprint.
"These fires," Salsbury says, "are a textbook example of what happens when you have a lot of factors that come together and make the perfect storm and the No. 1 factor, of course, that's really compounding the problem is climate change."
Minimizing carbon emissions and other greenhouse gasses and other practices in fighting climate change can reduce the risk of such widespread fires occurring again, Salsbury says.
"If there is anything good that can come from this, it is that it could motivate people into action," Salsbury adds. "Unfortunately these type of events may help us direct our focus a little bit. Maybe it will highlight the desperate need. It's past due."
Through collaboration and strong partnerships, Butler Beyond will unleash the potential of our brilliant faculty and students on the complex issues facing our community. Support for this pillar will expand Butler's reach and roots in the Indianapolis community and beyond by cultivating deeper integration with local organizations and businesses, increasing experiential learning opportunities for students, nurturing new ventures, and more. Learn more, make a gift, and read other stories like this one at beyond.butler.edu.
Professor Carmen Salsbury says the loss of 'connectivity' will devastate ecosystems after bushfires are extinguished
Experiential LearningUnleashed
All Andre B. Lacy School of Business students must take the 200-level Business Ethics course. A new speaker series will enhance that experience.
This semester, the Lacy School of Business Ethics Series will feature two events and the series will return for the 2020-2021 academic year. Each semester will feature a keynote speaker as well as smaller, fireside chat-style events. The Ethics Series will bring in alumni, Indianapolis business leaders, and entrepreneurs from across the nation to share their experiences and training for all Butler students, staff, faculty, and the community to consider.
Tyler Shultz will be the first keynote speaker at 8:00 PM February 11 at the Schrott Center for the Arts. The event kicks off the series, which will continue in April with a student-focused talk in the Business Building. All Ethics Series events are free. No tickets are required.
Shultz was a 23-year-old employee for Theranos, the infamous $9 billion start-up that claimed to have technology that could detect diseases from one drop of blood. However, the technology never worked despite years of smoke and mirrors from founder Elizabeth Holmes. Shultz came forward to the Wall Street Journal. The article by John Carreyrou revealed research too good to be true and revenue that never was. The fiasco led to the HBO documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley and Carreyrou's subsequent book, Bad Blood.
Associate Professor of Business Law Hilary Buttrick will moderate Shultz's talk as well as a question-and-answer segment at the end of the event. She says students will get to experience how important being ethical in business practices can be from an entrepreneur only a handful of years older than them.
"Theranos was his first job out of college," Buttrick says. "He was really going up against Goliath.
"I think that type of ethical fortitude, that type of ability to trust yourself to say 'This isn't right,' that's a really important lesson for students to learn. Even though you're young and new, you have the power, the right, and the obligation to stand up when things are wrong, even if you're at the bottom of the corporate ladder. We think (Shultz) has a really important story to tell our students."
Shultz landed well after the Theranos dust settled. He is the CEO and co-founder of Flux Biosciences, Inc., a Bay-Area start-up specializing in bringing medical-grade diagnostics into the homes of consumers by using technology to measure biomarkers related to stress, exercise, and fertility. His efforts were recognized by Forbes when he was named to their "30 under 30" Health Care 2017 list.
Buttrick says the speaker series will be integrated into class curriculum, in turn enhancing the learning experience.
"I can't think of a better case study," says Buttrick, adding that the February 11 event will count as a Butler Cultural Requirement. "Think about the things you're learning in Business Ethics class; this guy had to do it."
Lacy School of Business Dean Stephen Standiford says the Ethics Series will be a major part of the program's push to be a Midwestern leader in business ethics education.
"Our goal," he adds, "is to continue to infuse ethical practice and leadership development with our students, future leaders, and community as a whole."
The Lacy School of Business Ethics speaker series is sponsored by Old National Bank.
Series will focus on ethical business practices with the help of alumni, Indy business leaders, and keynote speakers
Butler University's programs for risk management and insurance professionals have been recognized by Business Insurance magazine as one of the top-10 in the nation for the most graduates in 2019.
The magazine tabbed Butler No. 9 for most Actuarial Science and Risk Management and Insurance graduates. The ranking combines the two related programs–Butler's Davey Risk Management and Insurance (RMI) and Actuarial Science majors–that assess risk for insurance purposes from qualitative and quantitative sides of the risk management coin.
"These rankings recognize the collaborative efforts of the Davey Risk and Insurance Program and the Actuarial Science program at Butler University to recruit the future leaders of the RMI industry," says Dr. Victor Puleo, Associate Professor and Davey Chair of Risk Management and Insurance. "I am very pleased to see Butler University listed alongside the other universities and colleges that share in this mission."
The national ranking released in December 2019 is the first top-10 national honor for the Andre B. Lacy School of Business.
The Davey Risk Management and Insurance program was established in the Lacy School of Business in 2012. It graduated 34 students in the 2018-19 school year, which was combined with Actuarial Science's 20 graduates for that top-10 ranking. Business Insurance also listed Butler at No. 13 for the largest "risk management program" overall based on student enrollment.
"We're probably the smallest university on the list," says Zach Finn, Clinical Professor of Risk Management and Insurance, "but the Lacy School of Business has an efficacy for recruiting. We're retaining students all the way to graduation while maintaining a high rate of growth."
According to Risk Management magazine, job growth in the risk management and insurance industry is up 60 percent since 2013. These positions include risk management analysts, underwriters, and brokers for companies like Aon, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Northwestern Mutual, and State Farm Insurance. A 16 percent job rate increase is still expected by 2028, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
As the industry grows, a wave of insurance underwriters and brokers are nearing retirement age, which will open thousands more positions for young, expertly trained professionals like Butler graduates, Finn says.
The Lacy School of Business recently launched a Master of Science in Risk and Insurance (MSRI) online degree program, which is further evidence of the University's commitment to be a national leader in risk management and insurance. Part of the buzz around the industry includes the insurance of new business concepts. From electric scooter rental services to pizza-delivering drones, there is an insurance side to every game-changing business venture. Professionals trained in risk management are needed now more than ever to establish what kind and how much insurance policies should be, Finn says.
Senior Kyle Niemiec just wrapped up his third internship. A Finance major, his experience at Encova Insurance in Naperville, Illinois, made him change his focus to risk management.
"No business can run without insurance," Niemiec says. "It's also helping people. I've fully invested myself into insurance as a whole. I was in financial planning, but getting to see behind the scenes aspects, I knew I wanted to do insurance."
Businesses have noticed Butler's strength in risk management. MJ Insurance helped fund the first student-run captive insurance company at Butler. Students benefit from experiential learning by taking on real risks and real underwriting, while also gaining insight into starting and running a business.
"MJ Insurance had the confidence that our students were up to the task in deploying those funds," says Finn, "and that gift helped put us on the map."
As chair of the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Actuarial Science, Associate Professor Chris Wilson has led a student experience for Actuarial Science students. Undergrads are given opportunities to take four Society of Actuaries credentialing exams before graduation. The more exams completed, the more actuarial job opportunities become available to the students in the risk management field.
"We've had examples where a student has gotten a job, passed an exam, and gotten a raise before they even started work," says Wilson, who has seen the number of Actuarial Science graduates quadruple since he joined Butler in 2007. "It's people who are aware they are high-achieving students and they're ready for a challenging major. They want to do something to develop their quantitative skills and enjoy problem solving."
Publication recognizes Risk Management and Insurance and Actuarial Science programs for number of graduates
Butler BeyondCampusResearch
We opened a brand new building and announced plans for our largest investment ever in another one. We faced some of society's greatest challenges head on by announcing a new strategic direction and largest ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. Our favorite bulldog announced his retirement, and plans for an esports and gaming space were unveiled.
In 2019, the Butler University community brought excitement and innovation to campus and the world around them. They conducted groundbreaking research on the effects of vaping, social media, how hearing loss affects overall development, and more—all in an effort to make a difference in society. Here's a look back at some of the top stories of the year.
Social media, it turns out, makes us feel better about ourselves
Butler Associate Professor of Entertainment Media and Journalism Lee Farquhar found that most of us prefer to use social media to look at and compare ourselves to certain types of individuals: those who make us feel better about ourselves. That, Farquhar found, can lead to an increase in happiness and life satisfaction.
Hearing loss is linked to cognitive ability in babies
According to new research from Butler Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Tonya Bergeson-Dana, hearing loss is connected to the larger cognitive system and can have a cascading effect on cognitive development.
Providing clinical expertise to the insurance industry
A team of about 25 Butler community members created a tool for the Department of Insurance in an effort to specify, from a medical perspective, what medications insurance companies should cover for 17 diseases that are health priorities in Indiana.
History made during Commencement
During Butler's 163rd Spring Commencement, nearly 1,050 graduates received their diplomas—the largest graduating class in Butler's history.
Board approves sciences upgrade
The Butler Board of Trustees approved a $100 million renovation and expansion—the largest investment ever by the Trustees in Butler's future—for a new sciences complex. The project includes new high-tech classrooms designed to promote learning by doing, labs that mimic those at top research companies, and work spaces meant to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration.
New building for the Lacy School of Business opens
After nearly two years of construction, the new 110,000-square-foot building for Butler's Andre B. Lacy School of Business (LSB) officially opened in August.
Butler ranked No. 1 again
For the second consecutive year, Butler was named the No. 1 Regional University in the Midwest, according to the 2020 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings. Butler also ranked as the No. 1 Most Innovative School for the fifth straight year.
New strategic direction
Butler unveiled a new strategic direction and its largest ever comprehensive fundraising campaign. Butler Beyond: The Campaign for Butler University seeks to raise $250 million by May 2022 to deliver transformative change to the University, the region, and the world.
Esports and Gaming Lounge set to open on campus
A new space dedicated to esports and gaming will open on Butler's campus in Atherton Union. But that space is just the beginning. A 7,500-square-foot, multi-use space in the Butler Parking Garage is slated to open fall 2020, and it will feature 50 gaming PCs, an area of gaming consoles, and room for technology-infused corporate trainings and events or youth STEM and esports camps.
Butler Blue III set to retire
After eight years, Butler Blue III will retire at the end of the 2019-2020 academic year. The American Kennel Club-registered English bulldog is hanging up his mascot duties because of his older age (for bulldogs), long tenure on the job, and desire to start the next chapter of his life.
Study shows JUUL not being used as intended
A survey of nearly 1,000 college students from a Butler professor and undergrad reveals that, while vaping was originally promoted as a safer alternative for existing smokers, most young vape users are actually brand new to nicotine.
In 2019, the Butler community brought excitement and innovation to campus and the world around them.
Foston Takes Reins of Butler Data for the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment
When it comes to elevating Butler University's national reputation, it's best to follow the data. That's according to Amia Foston, the University's new Director of the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (OIRA).
Foston, who served as Butler's Assistant Director for OIRA from 2014 to 2017, returns at a pivotal time. He and his team are tasked with making sense of thousands of data points to help inform strategic decisions in monitoring enrollment trends, funding programs, or creating new sections for popular classes.
"We want to make sure any sort of analysis this office provides has insights that are very digestible that people can run with," Foston says. "Because our work in institutional research and assessment consistently requires us to work with colleagues across the entire campus, we can sometimes notice things and connect dots others might not."
Foston adds that universities nationwide are relying more on internal data to guide operational, tactical, and strategic decision-making. Foston and his team will be working closely with Butler leadership for every upcoming initiative.
Through computer programs like Tableau, he wants users to see the numbers dance with more interactivity and customization. Instead of static PDFs, OIRA is working to make Butler's traditional Fact Book information available through data visualizations and dashboards. Staff, faculty, students, and alumni who wish to access Butler's data are busy, and Foston says users don't have time to scan massive tables. Organizing the data in clear, concise graphics will help users be able to quickly manipulate enrollment data, for example, by gender, ethnicity, home state, and many other options.
Foston says OIRA will soon launch an online process for submitting data requests, similar to services provided by Human Resources and Information Technology. Another step in making Butler's data more accessible will be establishing a frequently asked questions feature of the most common data requests.
Provost Kathryn Morris says the University will only benefit from Foston's return as he works to conduct research and distill findings into actionable insights. His analytical, project management, and leadership skills come at a pivotal time.
"OIRA plays a key role in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data that are directly relevant to the decisions people need to make at Butler," Morris says, "and to demonstrating our value to current and prospective students, their families, and our alumni, donors, and friends."
New OIRA Director Amia Foston's goals: making University data digestible, available to inform program decisions
Close to half-a-million people a year suffer from Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff, and more than 29,000 of them died from the bacteria, according to the Center for Disease Control. C. diff results from disruption of healthy, normal bacteria in the colon, often from antibiotics, and causes diarrhea, stomach pain, and fever. In the most severe cases, C. diff can damage the colon and be fatal.
Most cases can be treated with antibiotics. But for patients who suffer recurring cases of C. diff, the path to recovery is a bit more complex. New guidelines for this group, introduced in 2011, recommend fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), or a procedure in which fecal matter is collected from a healthy donor and placed into the gastrointestinal tract of a patient. These transplants can help replenish the bacterial balance in the gut through colonoscopy or capsules.
Most C. diff patients are elderly and had spent time in healthcare settings under the treatment of antibiotics. While the antibiotics wipe out bad bacteria in the patient, good bacteria resilient to C. diff are also destroyed during the process. Results have been favorable in treating recurrent C. diff with FMT, but Butler University Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Hala Fadda is part of a team that has improved cure rates with oral FMT products, while significantly reducing the amount of capsules a C. diff patient must take.
Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Hala Fadda.
Published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Fadda and collaborators designed a capsule coating that dissolves in the colon instead of the stomach. This allows for site-specific delivery to the colon and was found to better restore the gut microbial diversity. These new capsules had faster and more successful cure rates compared to standard capsules that dissolve in the stomach in five minutes.
Published in Digestive Diseases and Sciences, Fadda and collaborators designed a capsule coating that dissolves in the colon instead of the stomach. This allows for site-specific delivery to the colon, which has been found to better restore the gut microbial diversity. These new capsules had faster and more successful cure rates compared to standard capsules that dissolve in the stomach in five minutes.
"The coating is essentially a high fiber starch polymer," says Fadda, who's gained expertise through researching how patients consume medicine. "The enzymes produced by colonic bacteria start to chomp away and digest that starch, even with C. diff patients' lowered bacteria diversity. These enzymes, which break up the starch, are abundant in the colon."
FMT has been adopted by many hospitals, but Fadda says access to the treatment can be improved. Her new capsules are less invasive and more affordable than a colonoscopy, and they can be shipped from specialist centers around the world.
Healthy donors only
Fadda says there is only a 2.5 percent acceptance rate for fecal donors because the criteria is so strict for FMT. Stool banks like OpenBiome in Boston, Massachusetts, don't accept potential donors who have traveled to places with communicable diseases in the past six months. They also don't accept donors who have suffered from digestive diseases, metabolic syndromes, and other conditions.
"You can't have taken antibiotics in the past three months, and body mass index must be less than 30," Fadda says. "Evidence suggests a correlation between weight and gut microbial communities."
As of 2018, 43,000 FMT treatments were issued by OpenBiome, Fada says. However, this number is not representative of total FMT treatments, as some hospitals prepare their own FMT products.
How C. diff spreads
The spores that cause C. diff are abundant in hospitals. They can be spread by visitors, or by healthcare professionals. After the resistant spores are transmitted to patients, they can germinate into vegetative bacterial cells in the colons of vulnerable individuals, and the bacteria produces toxins.
Fadda and her team's breakthrough will help shorten return hospital stays for many patients suffering from recurrent C. diff. The capsule approach provides an alternative to a colonoscopy—an expensive and invasive procedure some patients might want to avoid—and it looks to be a quick and effective treatment to C. diff while restoring microbiome diversity in the gut.
"Fecal microbiota transplant has been adopted by lots of hospitals," Fada says. "It's common in the U.S. and Europe, but accessibility is still an issue. That's why this capsule offers a significant advantage because it makes FMT more accessible."
Professor Hala Fadda has developed capsules that dissolve in the colon to better fight Clostridioides difficile
Butler Theatre Professor Wendy Meaden was one of the almost 10 million viewers for the premier of reality competition show The Masked Singer. The program, which is now in its second season and was renewed for a third in 2020, pits disguised celebrities in elaborate costumes singing in front of a panel of judges and a live audience.
Being a costume designer and professor whose work has included mask design, creation, and research for more than 20 years, Meaden felt like she had to watch The Masked Singer. But she didn't make it past the second episode. She enjoyed the show's mask designs, which are created by artist Marina Toybina, but Meaden was hoping for more emphasis on the masks themselves.
"I can understand the spectacle, and her designs are really good," says Meaden, who has designed masks for Butler Theatre plays and leads the Masks class in the Department of Theatre, "but it seems to be design for design's sake. When masks are designed, there is usually some reason or connection for the aesthetic choice."
Meaden says creating theatrical masks banks on the audience meeting the performers halfway. It takes a lot of practice to be able to design masks that draw audiences to use their imagination and let themselves be transported into the story.
To help future mask makers understand that dynamic, Meaden is in the process of writing a textbook, Masks Inside Out. She knows there are lots of books about masks already, but she says they concentrate on individual aspects: history, cultural significance, design, and how to perform while wearing one. Meaden aims to create one book that combines it all.
Theatre Professor Wendy Meaden wears one of her masks.
"There is so much to learn about masks, but there is no textbook on the market to address masks the way I want to," Meaden says.
In collaboration with Michael Brown, a former Indianapolis artist now teaching at Columbia College Chicago, Meaden will submit the final manuscript next summer, and she expects to publish it by late 2020.
Masks in the Core Curriculum
Growing up, Meaden never wore masks for Halloween. She remembers noticing masks for the first time when she saw Adam West and Burt Ward's wearing them in the old Batman TV show.
"I remember thinking 'They're not disguised at all. It's clear who they are,'" Meaden says, laughing.
Meaden created her first masks while she worked as a costume designer for The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, which needed billy goat masks for a performance called Three's Please. She'd never made a mask before, but it seemed like a natural next step to the costume design she'd been doing since 1986.
"As a costume designer," Meaden says, "I've always been interested in presenting characters and transforming actors, and I love the process of creating costumes. Sculpting masks is an extension of that passion."
Meaden's masks made their Butler debut during the 2001 production of Hamlet. Made of plaster and cardboard, they portrayed the characters of the Duke of Vienna Gonzago, his wife Baptista, and their murderous nephew, Lucianus. They were then given a worn, weathered appearance of being buried in the dirt, just like poor old Yorick's skull.
Theatre students that worked on plays with Meaden were enthusiastic to learn more about mask-making and the Masks class at Butler was established in 2003. It's now part of the Perspectives in the Creative Arts Core Curriculum. Some Theatre majors still take the class as an elective, but many students outside of the Jordan College of Arts enroll, too.
On just the second day of class, students start by creating masks of their own. After protecting their hair with bandanas or plastic bags, they start gluing cardboard and paper over their faces.
"They sit and look in the mirror," Meaden says. "The class is usually chatty to start, and then there's a quiet. Everyone stops talking as they are totally focused on the mirror and putting things over their face. What's fascinating is their sense of transformation—to understand that you can put something on that is your face, but it's not your face. I am me but I am not me."
How the brain reacts to masks
In the first chapter of Masks Inside Out, Meaden explains why people are often either intrigued or repelled by someone wearing a mask.
"How does your amygdala react?" Meaden asks. "Your brain's initial reaction is usually fight or flight, but then your neocortex kicks in and tells you it's a thing on a person. You're going to be safe, you laugh, and you enjoy."
Meaden's research has found that masks are an extension of humans' fascination for seeing faces—from selfies to picturing faces in inanimate objects. Faces are why we connect to other people, she says, and a mask on a human face usually brings about feelings of mystery, intrigue, or creepiness.
"Faces are how we judge our safety, how we pick potential partners, and identify family. Our aesthetics are wrapped up in how we perceive faces. And masks are a way we tell stories. They are potent ways to communicate. They are a way of connecting with nature, the spirits, ancestors, the gods, disguise, and protection. We use them in so many ways. They are universal."
While The Masked Singer relies on glitz, glamour, and reality TV brassiness, millions of brains are reacting to the masks, no matter which celebrities are behind them.
Meaden stands with masks she has made and collected.
From early man to 'Masked Singers,' Wendy Meaden analyzes masks' history, cultural significance, and theater roles.
CommunityGiving
INDIANAPOLIS – Gregory & Appel Insurance has given $500,000 to create the Gregory & Appel Endowed Scholarship for Risk Management and Insurance Education at Butler University, making it the largest corporate-sponsored endowed scholarship gift in University history.
The scholarship will benefit students studying risk management and insurance. Initiated by Gregory & Appel CEO Dan Appel and his wife, Kate, the scholarship is intended to help attract and develop new talent for the insurance industry in Indiana. Gregory & Appel announced yesterday that Dan Appel will be retiring as the company's CEO at the end of 2019, but will serve as Non-Executive Board Chair. Andrew Appel will assume the role of CEO beginning January 1.
"We are extremely grateful to Gregory & Appel Insurance and Dan and Kate Appel for their investment in the lives of Butler students through this endowed scholarship gift," President James Danko says. "Dan and Kate Appel are great friends to Butler University, and this scholarship is just the latest example of the many ways their influential leadership is making a difference in the Indianapolis community."
The scholarship gift builds on Gregory & Appel's long history of partnership with Butler. John J. Appel and his son, Fred G. Appel, were two of the 41 prominent local businessmen who financed the construction of Hinkle Fieldhouse on Butler's campus in 1928. Now a National Historic Landmark, Hinkle has been a beloved community gathering place for more than 90 years.
In addition, Gregory & Appel has provided financial support to the Davey Risk Management and Insurance Program in the Andre B. Lacy School of Business. As one of only 58 risk management and insurance programs in the country, the Davey program is playing a crucial role in preparing a new generation of talent for an industry challenged by an aging workforce. Gregory & Appel regularly employs Butler students as interns, and a number of Butler graduates have found their professional home at the firm. In January 2019, Butler launched an online Master of Science in Risk and Insurance program to help address the industry's talent gap.
"Gregory & Appel Insurance has been an incredible partner in the work of preparing our students for successful careers in the insurance industry," says Lacy School of Business Dean Steve Standifird. "Their investment in the Davey Risk Management and Insurance Program as well as this new scholarship gift demonstrates their significant commitment to developing a talent pipeline of qualified future professionals. We are proud to collaborate in this effort with a company that shares our Butler values."
Along with supporting the development of new talent for the insurance industry, the gift also enhances Butler's scholarship endowment, a key priority of the University's Butler Beyond strategic direction and comprehensive fundraising campaign. In an effort to broaden student access and success, the University is aiming to address the issue of affordability. Central to this goal is ensuring the long-term sustainability of the University's robust financial aid program. Gregory & Appel's scholarship gift is a significant step toward the University's goal of putting a Butler education within reach of all students, regardless of financial circumstances.
For more than a decade, Gregory & Appel Insurance has been named a "Company that Cares" by the United Way of Central Indiana for their extensive involvement and investment in the local community. In recognition of exceptional volunteer and financial support, the United Way of Central Indiana awarded Gregory & Appel in 2017 with the Spirit United Award, its most prestigious recognition.
"It is my hope that this scholarship will support the development of our next generation of young leaders in insurance," says Gregory & Appel CEO & Chairman Dan Appel. "The Davey Risk Management and Insurance Program is among the top in the nation and will deliver the best and brightest talent to our industry. We are honored and humbled to be part of a legacy that will innovate the future of insurance."
The scholarship will benefit students studying risk management and insurance.
A trio of Butler Software Engineering and Computer Science students are developing a fantasy adventure computer game with the goal of helping Indianapolis children with autism.
As part of Butler University's Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program, Matthew O'Hern, Maya Sanchez, and Parker Winters will deliver the game, which mixes in communication cues along with classic battle play similar to the classic Nintendo Entertainment System games The Legend of Zelda, to Sycamore Services, Inc., a nonprofit organization that offers services to adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
EPICS student developers Matthew O'Hern, left, and Parker Winters went old-school for their project.
With Winters creating the maps and environment design, Sanchez and O'Hern developed the main character as well as the artificial intelligence code that drives the baddies—skeletons, zombies, goblins, and evil knights. Along the way, the hero interacts with shopkeepers, travelers, and allies that change facial expressions during these digital conversations. The students and Sycamore Services believe that video gaming can reach a child with autism in augmenting behaviors for face to face interactions away from screens.
Children will play the yet-to-be-named game on Sycamore Services' computers. The game contains battle modes, more than 40 world maps, and 600 portraits of characters within a dialogue system where characters in the video game converse—the driving force behind the game's creation.
"When the opportunity was presented, I couldn't say 'no' to it," says O'Hern, a Software Engineering sophomore. "We're developing it as an instructional source to help children grow their social skills."
Established almost 20 years ago, EPICS classes provide free information technology services to nonprofit organizations and Butler programs. The class started with just four students as an elective, but it has since quintupled in enrollment, growing into a required class for Computer Science and Software Engineering students. Students get early experience working with clients on developing a website, app, or videogame. The fall 2019 class features five student teams working on projects on and off campus. The students selected their preferred project after organizations presented their needs in the beginning of the semester.
O'Hern has already taken the EPICS class twice. His first experience was leading the development of an interface that helps doctors share and gather data for the InVascular project at IUPUI. And this fall's project has been even more fulfilling, leading to potential internship opportunities.
Most EPICS projects will allow future students to update them. O'Hern said his video game will be left open for future developers to add levels, characters, and more facial expressions for the children to learn from.
Using the cross-platform game engine Unity, O'Hern and his team created a fantasy world with swords that light up to vanquish skeletons and zombies. While helping children is the ultimate goal, adding the retro spin has been fulfilling for the students. The simple, old-school Nintendo vibe of the game also ensures that gameplay will work on almost any computer.
The battles, the interactions and dialogues with the characters, and the movement of the main character, which the player will be able to name, were all created to be easy yet engaging. O'Hern says the gameplay "disguises" its educational aspects.
Digital costuming
The Department of Theatre's costume shop is brimming with thousands of hats, dresses, suits, and shoes to clothe actors and actresses. A paper-based system has successfully organized the garments for decades, but an EPICS team led by senior Maya Grandstaff is making strides in digitizing the process.
The Marketing and Management Information Systems major and her classmates are developing a website where users can search for specific garments by size, color, and style while finding the garments' locations in the tall hanging racks. Directors, show designers, and outside clients looking to rent costumes can access the massive inventory from the comfort of their couch.
Team members Eromo Algibe and Kameron Leisure spent weeks creating the framework of a database to be filled by Theatre staff and faculty members. By the end of the semester, the frontend user application will feature forms to filter searches. The team is testing basic queries from the front end, which will reach back to the huge database.
"They can just click submit and see what they have," Grandstaff says. "It's really cool now to go to a show and see all the costumes, components, and changes that go into it. It really helps you understand how diverse the program is."
EPICS student developer Eromo Algibe works in the Butler Theatre costume shop.
Sam Royal didn't think sifting through old Renaissance-replica gowns and 1930s-style men's suits would help his career at first, but a recent job interview proved otherwise. The senior says the job recruiter was particularly interested in his EPICS work.
"It's all about getting that experience but helping someone out at the same time," says Royal, a senior studying Management Information Systems.
Panos Linos, Professor of Software Engineering and Computer Science, is pleased to see the program that he is coordinating continue to grow.
"Students need to have a platform to use the skills they learn in their classes, and to apply them in a real setting," Linos says. "The value of a Software Engineering education comes from applying it to real life. And EPICS is a great platform for that."
Other EPICS projects in the works this fall:
Working with Indy Hunger Network, a team is developing an online calculator for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Users will be able to track their available credits for the most efficient and nutritious ways to feed their families.
Participants in Butler's Healthy Horizons program will receive a new digital process to keep track of activities, points, and incentives. The online component will be more interactive than its print and PDF predecessors.
A team of EPICS developers are creating an online memorial for Holocaust survivor Eva Kor, who died July 4 at 85. An active public speaker until just months before her death, Kor gave the Butler Spring 2015 Commencement address, promoting messages of forgiveness, strength, and survival. The website will allow users to "plant" digital flowers in a garden. Each purple flower will contain the name of the person being remembered, the date, and a message.
As part of the Engineering Projects in Community Service program, students provide free IT work to the community
Lloyd Wright, WFYI CEO and President, to Receive Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Butler University
INDIANAPOLIS—Lloyd Wright, CEO and President of WFYI, will be the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters and will deliver Commencement remarks at Butler University's 2019 Winter Commencement.
Winter Commencement will take place Friday, December 20, at 6:30 PM in Clowes Memorial Hall. About 150 students are expected to receive their diplomas.
"In choosing honorary degree recipients and speakers, Butler selects individuals whose lives reflect our University's core values and whose message can positively impact our students," President James M. Danko says. "Lloyd Wright embodies not only the calculated risk-taking we encourage in our students, but our values of innovation and visionary leadership."
Wright, who retired from WFYI in July after 30 years as President and CEO, led the station through incredible transformation and growth. He anticipated the impact that technological advances would have on the broadcast industry and embraced change, guiding the station into the era of high-definition.
He was responsible for Indiana's flagship PBS and NPR stations, which include six 24/7 broadcast services, WFYI Productions—a full-service media production facility, WFYI Learning Services and Community Engagement, Indiana Public Broadcasting News Service, and Indiana Reading and Information Services—a free service for Indiana's print impaired.
Under Wright's leadership, membership at WFYI increased to 25,000, and annual revenue reached a record high of $12 million. In addition to its primary content, WFYI runs PBS kids' content on digital channel 20.2, how-to programs on 20.3, mobile content, and two digital radio stations.
Wright's career includes more than 120 regional Emmy Awards, WFYI's physical move in 2008 to its modern facility at 1630 N. Meridian St., and three capital campaigns that raised a total of more than $34 million. Wright also served as founder and President of the WFYI Foundation.
"I've been a Butler University fan nearly my entire life, and WFYI has enjoyed numerous collaborations over the years," Wright says. "I am humbled and honored to be recognized by Butler and to be associated with The Butler Way."
A Beech Grove, Indiana native, Wright graduated from Indiana University in 1976. He started his career as Director of Instructional Broadcasting with the Indiana Department of Education. Wright then served for six years as Broadcast Operations Manager at WTTW in Chicago before returning to Indiana.
Butler's selection of commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients is a result of a nomination process, and subsequent review and vetting process.
Lloyd Wright will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters during Butler's Commencement on December 20.
Butler BeyondCampusCommunity
This story is part of a mini-series exploring The Farm at Butler, its methods, and its mission. Part one of six.
On the west side of Butler University's campus, nestled between a leafy stretch of the Central Canal Towpath to the southeast and Butler's athletic fields to the northwest, a one-acre farm sits in stillness. If you walk along the narrow plant beds, the sun on your neck and the songs of house finches fluttering in your ears, you'll probably forget you're still in the heart of Indiana's capital city.
Today, The Farm at Butler (previously called the CUE Farm) is an ongoing sustainable agriculture project that serves a wide range of roles on campus and in the Indianapolis area. The Farm teaches people about growing produce in a way that's healthy for both humans and the Earth. It promotes research and place-based learning for faculty, staff, students, and members of the community, and it connects food to a variety of careers through recruiting student interns to help keep things running.
But back in 2010, it started as just a place to grow food. A student-run group called Earth Charter Butler broke ground on the space with help from the young Center for Urban Ecology & Sustainability (CUES), an academic center at Butler that celebrated its 10-year anniversary last year. But the effort was mostly student-driven.
Julie Elmore, a 2010 graduate from Butler's Biology program who helped launch The Farm, first learned about an ethical framework called the Earth Charter in an honors class. The global sustainability movement, which formed in the late 1990s with a mission of uniting Earth's cultures to work toward protecting the planet and bringing peace to the world, inspired Elmore and a few of her classmates to grow more connected with nature.
"One of the things that kept popping up regarding how you can relate the planet to people was food and where our food comes from," she says. "We wanted to see more local food, and how much more local can our food get as students than being produced on campus?"
When the students graduated, the CUES took over. The Farm became one part of the Center's mission to educate and empower Butler and Indianapolis in following best practices of urban ecology.
After funding from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust helped the CUES hire Tim Dorsey as full-time Farm Manager in 2011, Dorsey worked to expand the project from one-third of an acre to its current one-acre plot. The Farm now grows more than 70 different kinds of plants—closer to 200 if you include the different species of each crop. In just one acre, the space fits onions, garlic, bell peppers, cabbage, hot peppers, tomatoes, peach trees, apple trees, berries, and way more.
"The mission of The Farm, at first," says CUES Director Julia Angstmann, "was to be a model for other agriculture projects in the city—to show what can be done on an acre, and to show how to do it in an ecologically sound way."
And while The Farm still stays involved across Indianapolis, recent years have seen a return to its roots of focusing on Butler.
"We still have that original motive of being an educator in the city," Angstmann says. "But we have renewed our commitment to the Butler community."
Part 1: Getting To The Root of It: How Butler's One-Acre Farm Has Evolved In a Decade
Part 2: Farming Full-Time: How Tim Dorsey Discovered the World Through Agriculture
Part 3: A Crash Course on Nature-Focused, Hands-In-The-Dirt Growing
Part 4: Sustainability on the Syllabus
Part 5: A Model for Urban Farming in Indianapolis
Part 6: So, Where Does All The Food Go?
Explore the full Farm at Butler mini-series here
Since 2010, The Farm at Butler has been a place for people to connect with the world and one another.
CampusPeople
This story is part of a mini-series exploring The Farm at Butler, its methods, and its mission. Part two of six.
Tim Dorsey first started gardening because he wanted to become more self-sufficient—to give something back to the world around him. He wanted to become more connected with the Earth and its people, and he wanted to learn something. So he got his hands in the soil and taught himself to create something from it.
Dorsey never had much exposure to farming growing up in suburban New Jersey, and he says he didn't really start paying attention to anything seriously until after college. But that's when he realized most of his newfound interests—from environmental issues, to rural communities, to local economics, to health and nutrition—all converged in the concept of agriculture.
"My mind started slowly reeling, and I had some ideas for the future," he says.
He'd recently graduated from Taylor University, where he studied philosophy.
"So, like all good philosophy students—unless you're in the 0.1 percent of those who go on to become a professor or something—I ended up doing other random things afterwards," Dorsey says. "But I don't think that's wasted. I think it kind of shapes you."
Between shifts at a local health food store, Dorsey spent his post-college years practicing sustainable farming in his backyard and a few other spots in his Indianapolis neighborhood. As gardening grew into a little more than a hobby, he started meeting more urban farmers and reading every book he could find on sustainable food. He started a small community-supported agriculture (CSA) program—a sort of produce subscription service—and sold a few vegetables to local chefs. He dreamt of eventually finding a few acres where he could scale up.
Then, he found out Butler University was looking for someone to take over the farm that a group of students had planted.
Dorsey started as Butler's Farm Manager in 2011. For the first three years, he worked as long as the sun was up, teaching himself the job. Now he's making due with fairly regulated hours, but he always wishes he had a little more time. It's rare for him to leave The Farm with a completed checklist.
Still, he says The Farm is "an ongoing attempt and demonstration at what can be done on this small parcel of land. And I think in that regard, we surprise a lot of people with what can come out of an acre that's not even fully utilized."
For Dorsey, the need to experiment with sustainable, organic farming methods is a no-brainer.
"We have to do something different," he says. "We can't think we just know all the answers. And we're getting an even clearer sense of how locally-based, small-scale agriculture can actually meet the challenge of production."
The Life of a Farm Manager
Every day on the farm brings something new, but here's a glimpse into some of the tasks you might find Dorsey working on.
Watering and harvesting crops
Filling produce orders for local restaurants and Butler Dining
Prepping for the weekly Farm Stand (Thursdays, 4:00-6:00 PM)
Planning and establishing new growing areas
Hand-weeding crop beds
Cleaning harvest crates
Mowing grass
Installing electric fences, flash tape, and other pest-control methods
Teaching Butler classes
Leading community tours
Supervising farm interns
Facilitating student research projects
Butler's self-taught Farm Manager brings a fresh perspective to growing food.
CampusExperiential Learning
This story is part of a mini-series exploring The Farm at Butler, its methods, and its mission. Part three of six.
The Farm at Butler probably looks different from any you've seen before. It's not a wall of corn or wheat, the same crop filling miles of fields along the highway. Instead, the one-acre space—nestled on a floodplain between the White River and the Central Canal—looks more like a backyard garden. Plenty of space separates each of the long, narrow plant beds growing more than 70 kinds of plants, and woody shrubs crawl up the sides of a wood-plank fence. You won't see a tractor here, or even a plough—all the work is done by hand. And with just one full-time farmer and a handful of student interns, there aren't that many hands to do the work.
Still, The Farm produces about 10,000 pounds of food each year.
That's because Farm Manager Tim Dorsey and other leaders in Butler's Center for Urban Ecology and Sustainability (CUES) have decided to let nature do the heavy lifting. Below, learn more about how nearly every aspect of The Farm at Butler draws from other ecosystems for guidance on how to make the most of organic growing.
Agroecology:
The Farm is built on the idea of agroecology, a way of farming that looks to natural ecosystems for inspiration. Dorsey uses the forests and prairies surrounding The Farm as a guide, mimicking what he sees to create a diverse environment. For example, he tries to plant in a variety of layers, and he grows a mix of perennial and annual plants.
Dorsey has recently focused on adding more perennial permaculture elements, such as sturdy trees and shrubs, which live for years instead of requiring replanting each season. In addition to layering the canopy and providing shade as they grow, these more stable, low-maintenance plants minimize soil disturbance. Dorsey says this sort of farming is even healthier for the ecosystem than basic organic growing.
Caring for the soil:
A key element of sustainable, organic farming is protecting soil health. The more stable the soil, the less erosion and run-off will occur, the less pollution will take place, and the healthier the plants will be. At The Farm, Dorsey protects the soil in a variety of ways. For example, The Farm is on a nine-year crop rotation plan, which means a plot of soil grows a different plant each year for nine years. This gives the soil time to replenish itself with specific nutrients that were drained by previous plants. Some deep-rooted plants also serve the purpose of capturing the nutrients that have sunk to the lowest layers of the soil, then redistributing them to the upper layers, which helps make sure every nutrient gets used. And between plantings of different crops, they don't use chemicals to kill remaining plants—they just lay down straw to smother out sunlight and conserve moisture.
During the winter, or when there is any gap in the regular rotation, Dorsey plants cover crops to keep the soil in shape. For example, as soon as they finished harvesting the onions this summer, they put in oats. Oats will grow a lot before winter, and they also have an extensive root system. Onions get the most fertilizer (from compost), and oat roots scavenge what's left so that nothing is wasted. Then when the oats die in the winter, they easily become automatic mulch, making it easy to handle in the spring.
Making the most of bugs:
Most people understand the importance of pollinators such as bees and butterflies when it comes to growing a garden, and The Farm is always looking for ways to put nature's workers to the task. Two bee hives on The Farm are home to many of its buzzing friends, and a plot of flowers—which are later sold at the market—attract several graceful butterflies at a time. When deciding which new crops to try, Dorsey often focuses on choosing ones that serve a secondary purpose of bringing in more good bugs. "If we can get things to perform more than one function," he says, "that's ideal."
But some critters making their way onto the acre aren't so friendly—some pests gnaw at the leaves and plant their eggs on the stems. So Dorsey also makes sure to use "companion planting," incorporating flowering plants that attract the right predatory insects to kill the pests. You might think of a wasp as a nuisance—or just plain evil—but on the farm, it serves a useful purpose.
What grows on the farm?
Apples Cilantro Lemongrass Raspberries
Arugula Collard Lettuce Rhubarb
Asparagus Corn Melons Rosemary
Basil Cucumbers Mint Rutabaga
Beans Dill Mustard Sage
Beets Dwarf Korean pines Onions Scallions
Bok Choy Eggplant Oregano Spinach
Broccoli Fennel Parsley Squash
Brussels Sprouts Flowers Peas Strawberries
Cabbage Garlic Peaches Sunchokes
Carrots Gooseberries Peppers Sweet corn
Cauliflower Hazelnuts Peppermint Thyme
Celery Honeyberries Potatoes Tomatoes
Chard Kale Pumpkins Turnips
Chives Leeks Radishes Watermelon
The Farm goes beyond just sticking to organic methods, taking cues from nature to create a diverse space.
This story is part of a mini-series exploring The Farm at Butler, its methods, and its mission. Part four of six.
Some of the classes held at The Farm might seem obvious—a biology course about soil health, an environmental studies course looking at urban food systems, or a chemistry class studying contaminants. And yes, all of those happen at The Farm. But especially since the CUES received a major grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) last June—totaling almost $600,000—its curriculum has placed a new emphasis on weaving The Farm into a wider range of classes across campus.
Led by CUES Director Julia Angstmann, the NSF-funded project aims to promote scientific literacy by integrating STEM-related topics into non-STEM courses at Butler. Based on the idea that all people would benefit from a basic understanding of science before working together to solve societal challenges, these courses use the power of place-based experiential learning to connect students with science. Down on The Farm, where you can watch things grow and help make it happen, the class content comes alive.
As the project unfolds over the next three years, Angstmann will evaluate how campus farms and other green spaces can become centers of learning for all students. The NSF often tries to develop ways for non-STEM majors to continue engaging with science in their careers and personal lives, and by bringing religious studies, communications, health, and other disciplines down to The Farm, Butler is doing just that.
Having Faith in Nature - RL 384
Brent Hege says Christians usually interact with nature in one of two ways: as a resource for humans, or as an equal being.
"There's a lot of ambiguity in the Christian tradition about the relationship between Christianity and the environment," explains the Lecturer of Religion. "Some Christians think the environment is ours to use as we see fit—that we can exploit it because it's not really as important as human beings. Other Christians think that's totally misguided—that stewardship means respect, care, and love for the environment."
In the ecotheology class he teaches at Butler, Hege focuses on that second part—how can humans use religion to see nature through a "loving eye," caring for the earth and treating all things equally?
For the next time the class meets, Hege has added more place-based learning to the syllabus. In a new unit at The Farm, students will study how farmers think about their relationships with nature. Through interviews with workers at The Farm and with people who buy food from it, they'll see how urban agriculture highlights a range of perspectives about the environment.
Hege's research on the relationship between environmentalism and Christianity hasn't touched directly on sustainable farming. But growing up in Pennsylvania, he spent a lot of time working on family farms and eating local produce. It wasn't always as easy to find small-scale, sustainably-grown food when he first moved to Indianapolis, so he's excited for the chance to work with the CUES.
"I think one of the things about farming—or even about gardening—that I find so compelling is that it keeps us connected to rhythms, cycles, and patterns," he says. "It reminds us that, as hard as we try, we're not really in control of everything."
Hege wants to show students how Christianity can be a resource for addressing environmental problems. He hopes they learn to be present in their surroundings, noticing more of what they walk past every day and considering the role they play among it all.
"All of us are part of this natural world," he says. "So no matter where we're coming from, we have an obligation to think about how we live impacts all these other things."
From Farm to Twitter - ORG 358
Lindsay Ems knows social media can be destructive. She knows it can be used to tear people down and target minority groups. But in her service learning class that has partnered with Indianapolis organizations every semester for more than four years, Ems focuses on how social media can empower communities.
In the course, the Assistant Professor of Communication pairs student groups with local organizations to help solve digital-media-based problems. Whether through live-Tweeting an event or developing a new campaign strategy, students help tell stories about the organizations.
The class has worked with a variety of Indy-based groups, including Cancer Support Community Central Indiana, Heartland Film, and Damien Center. They've partnered with The Farm at Butler about four times, and other food-related partners such as Indy Urban Acres, Keystone-Monon Community Garden, and Garcia's Gardens.
As part of the NSF grant, the course will soon start working exclusively with farming-based groups. Ems says empowerment often comes down to food access, so it's important for agricultural organizations to tell people what they do. She says there are so many places in Indianapolis trying to provide fresh, organic produce, but it won't make a huge difference unless they can get the word out.
Social media can make the whole food experience more efficient. But posting on Instagram isn't always a priority for farmers who just love being outside, so Ems says college students make a perfect match.
"When you get these organizations who are resource-strapped to begin with," she says, "they see [social media] as something they don't have time for. And we have students who are so good at it—so fluent and literate in the technologies."
Erin Underwood, a senior majoring in Human Communication & Organizational Leadership, worked on The Farm team when she took ORG 358 last fall. Before the class, she knew The Farm existed, but she says she didn't know much about it. That was exactly the issue her team worked to solve.
The group spent the semester building a social media plan for The Farm's channels, dedicating each month to promoting a different value. They created content highlighting topics from how The Farm benefits individual and community health to how the methods used there help care for the earth. For each theme, they explained the importance of the value and told the story of how The Farm is living it out.
Erin says the chance to work with a real organization taught her to collaborate, instead of just building a plan without understanding what it needs to accomplish.
"You need to be there to learn about them, listen to them, and hear what they need," she says. "You need to spend time understanding them so you can effectively make a social media plan in their voice. We could post the best content in the world, but if it doesn't feel like it's coming from The Farm, then I think it loses some of that spirit of what they really want to do with social media."
Erin says there's some value in classes that stick to hypothetical projects, building mock content and strategies for the sake of practice.
"But the fact that we were trusted as students to get experience with something like this made all the difference," she says of ORG 358. "It felt like the work we did was valued and really appreciated by our community partner, which was a cool thing to see."
Ems hopes the course helps students think more critically about their own social media use. She wants them to see that the same tools they use for posting memes, sharing animal videos, or chatting with friends can provide valuable ways to reach people in need.
Cultivating Well Being - PWB115-BI
Growing a garden does more for your health than convincing you to actually eat all the fruits and vegetables you spent weeks watering and weeding. Working in the sun and digging in the soil can improve overall well being in a variety of ways, and Butler students can earn class credit learning how.
In Cultivating Well Being, Farm Manager Tim Dorsey challenges students to think about where food comes from, how to grow healthy foods, and the role gardening can play in a lifetime of well being. After a few days of readings and discussions, students get their hands in the dirt right down on The Farm.
"We're always looking for ways to be more a part of Butler's academic life, so this was a good step into that for us," Dorsey says about the class, now in its fifth year. "We're able to engage students in a course that fills a requirement while exposing them to our space. They can see right where the food is coming from."
Zach Madere, a senior Pharmacy major taking the class this fall, makes the most of that experience by visiting the Farm Stand each week to buy some of the produce he helped grow. Back in his kitchen, he cooks his own meals using cilantro, arugula, onions, and spinach that couldn't be much more local.
"I've never experienced anything like it," he says. "I think it's so cool that The Farm is literally in our backyard. I think it's awesome to be a part of that—to grow something—then to actually use what we grow."
But the class content goes beyond just a how-to on home-grown vegetables. Students also learn about broader societal issues in agriculture and food production, considering ways they can help face global challenges.
"I'd like to see them consider how the ways we answer questions in society—specifically relating to food systems, consumer choices, and government policies—not only affect society," Dorsey says, "but have an impact on communities, families, and individuals."
As The Farm shifts to a primary focus on education, classes across the Butler curriculum find ways to use the space.
A Model for Urban Farming in Indianapolis
This story is part of a mini-series exploring The Farm at Butler, its methods, and its mission. Part five of six.
On a frosty morning in early November, about 50 high school students from across the nation visited Butler University to learn about a different kind of farming—a kind that can meet the needs of humans and nature alike.
The students traveled from as far away as Maryland and California to spend the day in Indianapolis for the 2019 National FFA Convention & Expo, an annual celebration of student accomplishments within the organization for young people who are interested in agriculture and leadership. Throughout two hours of exploring The Farm at Butler and hearing from staff at the Center for Urban Ecology & Sustainability (CUES), they learned how the chemical-free, planet-friendly growing methods used on Butler's one-acre space could be applied at a larger scale.
These annual tours first started several years ago, when FFA was on the hunt for powerful examples of urban agriculture. As part of the yearly FFA convention in Indianapolis, the organization's leaders wanted to help teach members about the variety of ways they could approach food production. With a focus on agroecology and sustainability, and a mission based on education, The Farm at Butler became a lasting match.
But the FFA tour is just one of about 30 educational sessions the CUES staff lead each year. Even as The Farm's main focus shifts to serving Butler students through internships and classes, the urban agriculture project still holds down its role as a community model of all that can be grown on just one diversified acre.
Roughly half of The Farm's tours each year are for elementary school students, teaching young people how farmers grow the ingredients for pizza and other favorite foods. Another 10 or so tours are for groups on Butler's campus, who usually learn about the role of local agriculture in the food system or how everyday food choices can influence the environment. The CUES also leads a handful of farm tours with other Indianapolis organizations.
For a more in-depth experience, The Farm hosts workshops through a science education network called Purdue Extension, helping train the next generation of gardeners and farmers to grow food in ecologically sound ways. Butler is also working alongside three other local farms—Mother Love's Garden, Fitness Farm, and Growing Places Indy—to explore urban mushroom production. The project, which was funded by a USDA-SARE partnership grant in 2017, has helped these groups understand and share their findings on the most effective ways to grow mushrooms in Indianapolis.
"Overall, we want to educate the public about healthy eating, how food is grown, and the implications of different food production methods," says CUES Director Julia Angstmann. "We want to help people understand how they, as individuals, can make food choices that benefit themselves, the environment, and society."
The Farm at Butler leads educational tours for local organizations, up-and-coming farmers, and students of all ages.
CampusCommunity
This story is part of a mini-series exploring The Farm at Butler, its methods, and its mission. Part six of six.
The Farm at Butler grows nearly 10,000 pounds of food each year, all by hand. There's watermelon, always-popular strawberries, bok choy, electric fence-protected squash, peppermint, hazelnuts, and, after The Farm's staff finally won an ongoing battle with the nearby finches, swiss chard. Just to name a few.
Some of the food goes to weekly grab-and-go boxes for subscribers to The Farm's Community-Supported Agriculture program (if you stick out the two-year waiting list). Some goes directly to the Thursday-afternoon Farm Stand. Another portion, sold to Butler Dining, ends up on plates around campus.
But explore Indianapolis enough, and you will find The Farm on a table near you. That's because local restaurants, such as Public Greens, Cafe Patachou, Napolese, and Good Earth Natural Foods, rely on The Farm to keep their meals as fresh as possible.
Sourcing Indy's Food Scene
Tyler Herald doesn't cook tomatoes in the winter.
In July, the Patachou, Inc. Executive Chef won't put butternut squash on the menu. Instead, Herald reads the seasons—or, the texts he gets from local farmers—to build meals from the freshest ingredients he can find.
When it comes to the original Napolese, Patachou's artisanal pizza joint at 49th and Pennsylvania, it's tough to get more local than a few blocks away from Butler. Herald still remembers the day about 10 years ago, shortly after the restaurant's launch, when two Butler students walked in and asked if he wanted to buy some vegetables. Ever since, he's bought as much produce as The Farm at Butler is ready to sell.
Just last week, Herald bought nine pounds of parsnips to roast up for a seasonal side dish. He's simmered soups with The Farm's sunchokes, topped off cakes with sliced strawberries, and sprinkled basil on his pizzas. He buys local foods in pursuit of the quality that comes with using produce at its peak, so he's able to let the fruits and veggies speak for themselves.
"There's not a ton of manipulation," he says. "I think you want to let the ingredients be the star."
Except for during the few deep-winter months when Indiana can only grow pine trees and nearby farmers have emptied their storage, Herald shops local for nearly all the food he cooks. The closer the farm, the less time it takes vegetables to get from vine to kitchen, and the longer they can spend ripening out in the sun. Avoiding cross-country trips also means steering clear of preservatives or other chemicals that often reduce the food's overall quality.
But Herald understands why buying local might not appeal to everyone. It takes time, planning, and usually a little extra cash.
"It's really easy to pick up the phone at 11:00 PM, call a produce company, and magically have all your stuff the next morning," he says. "Instead, a farmer texts me on Sunday and I have to tell them what I will need on Wednesday. That's harder: You have to plan because the farmer still needs to harvest the food, wash it, package it, and drive it to you. But for me, it's worth it to have the best stuff."
Herald was attending culinary school in Portland, Oregon, when he first noticed restaurants highlighting local farms on their menus. He thought it was the coolest thing to know exactly where his carrots came from. And after interning with a farm-to-table place in Chicago, he knew he wanted to join the rising movement of supporting local growers.
Sometimes, that calls for a bit of extra creativity—like when customers want a hot bowl of chili on a cold winter day. Ingredients for the standard tomato-based dish only grow here in the summer, so Herald's cold-weather version counts on rutabaga and squash.
Luckily for Indianapolis chili lovers, he can find both at a farm that's right down the road.
Subscribe to Local Produce
For Courtney Rousseau, opening a box of fruits and vegetables from The Farm's Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) program is like opening up a season of hard work.
"You're opening a box of love," says the Butler Career Advisor.
Rousseau first joined the CSA wait list in 2013 after she noticed during her after-work Farm Stand visits that some guests were picking up pre-assembled boxes instead of buying individual items. About two years later—after moving to Oregon for a few months and ultimately coming back home to Butler—she received an email saying it was her turn to join the program.
That's the typical wait time for The Farm's CSA, which is capped at about 20 members each year. The program, a bit like a food subscription service, allows members to pay up-front for a weekly share of produce from July through October.
Farm Manager Tim Dorsey creates the boxes each week based on what's available. He always includes some familiar items like cucumbers and tomatoes, but a big appeal for most members is trying out things they don't typically eat.
"I hadn't eaten beets in 30 years until this summer," Rousseau says. "Now that's my new favorite thing."
Inside each box, Dorsey includes a note with updates on what's been going on around The Farm that week. Maybe he finished planting the garlic, or maybe the rain made it hard to keep up with the mowing. The note also lists everything inside the box, with descriptions for the more obscure items (like those turnips that are best eaten sliced into salads), and tidbits about how they were grown (like how that rain kept your cabbage healthy without the need for irrigation). And in case you aren't sure what to do with your new box of veggies, a weekly recipe provides one tasty option—perhaps in a swiss chard galette or a batch of kale jalapeño hummus.
Rousseau sometimes follows the recipes, but she often prefers to create something of her own. She likes making nontraditional summer salads, for example, like one filled with green beans, rainbow beets, and cherry tomatoes. She might sauté some eggplant to eat over oven-dried tomatoes, chop radishes and carrots into a coleslaw, or pickle up some cucumbers with help from her son.
"Cooking, for me, is a way to spend time with my husband and my son instead of on a screen," she says. "It lets you know where all of your energy is going to come from. What can I create this week that is going to sustain me?"
Cooking is just one part of the farm experience for Rousseau. It's not even all about the food. She visits The Farm every chance she gets, taking time to cherish the walk and take in what's happening around her. Over the summer, she even schedules walk-and-talk meetings at The Farm so she can help introduce people to the space.
"It just goes back to following the seasons and following nature, and being in tune with where you are," she says. "It's very grounding to go down to that space, to watch the seasons change, to see the leaves turn colors throughout The Farm Stand season, and to see everything bloom and flourish in the middle of the summer."
If you are interested in joining The Farm at Butler's CSA program, sign up for the wait list here. The program lasts 21 weeks, and boxes typically feed two people. Cost: $420, with half due by April 15 and the other half due at pickup on the first Thursday of June.
Discover Something New
"Will you be open again next week?" the woman asks, handing her vegetable haul to the intern who's running today's Farm Stand.
Yes, she's glad to learn: The Farm is open every Thursday afternoon from June through October. As she pays and walks back toward the Central Canal—where a sign along the path had pointed her down to The Farm Stand—a regular customer bikes up the road to take her place. He glances over the tables covered with bell peppers, beets, jalapeños, and kale before filling his slim backpack with deep green cucumbers and the last of the tomatoes.
The Farm Stand features a different selection of produce each week, depending on what's most in-season. Whether you want to add a Thursday farm visit to your weekly routine or just pick up a few veggies for a new recipe, you can follow The Farm on Instagram or Twitter for the latest updates on what's available.
Butler's Backyard Garden
For Butler Dining's chefs, produce from The Farm makes food taste more alive.
While Bon Appétit can rarely buy enough Farm at Butler produce to build a meal that feeds a campus, Executive Chef Brandon Canfield takes all he can get to sprinkle into menus across the café. He might not be able to buy the 100 pounds of carrots he needs to prepare one side dish for a station in the Marketplace at Atherton Union, but purchasing five pounds of a dozen different vegetables lets him add finishing touches to spice up his dishes.
"When you get things from a quarter-mile away, there's this inherent quality—there's this life that you get when you eat vegetables straight from the garden," Canfield says.
The Farm was a natural partner for Bon Appétit, the national food management company that took over Butler Dining last spring. Bon Appétit cooks all its food from scratch, and at least 20 percent of ingredients come from within 150 miles of campus.
At Butler, chefs source food from about 10 different local farmers and artisans. In addition to The Farm, these partners include Fischer Farms, Local Farms Harvest, Dandy Breeze Creamery, and Julian Coffee Roasters. Whenever meals feature local ingredients, daily menus highlight where the products came from.
Beans and tomatoes from The Farm often serve as accents, and Canfield sometimes crafts meals around what's available right on campus. Mid-sized, light green peppers from Butler's backyard? Ideal for stuffing with whole grains and campus-grown greens. Just add a scoop of beans from The Farm, and you've got a whole lunch that traveled less than 10 minutes to your plate.
Selling produce across campus and the nearby community, The Farm promotes healthy eating and top-notch flavor.
CampusStudent Life
INDIANAPOLIS—In a hurry, but hungry? Just in the mood for a quick snack? Looking for coffee from a local roaster? Want to order a freshly made sandwich and stay awhile?
The new Plum Market at C-Club meets all of those needs in one bright, newly renovated space. The latest dining option at Butler University officially opened on Monday, located at Atherton Union in the former C-Club location, and it aims to be all things to everyone.
"We conducted a campus dining study a year ago that was heavily influenced by student feedback," says Vice President for Student Affairs Frank E. Ross III. "We learned a lot, but one thing became clear: We needed a place on campus that was versatile. Our campus community is busy, and everyone has different schedules and needs. We wanted a space that allowed for more flexibility."
Plum Market at C-Club is definitely flexible. Open weekdays from 7:00 AM–midnight, and weekends from 11:00 AM–midnight, the location accepts flex dollars, Dawg Bucks, cash, and credit cards.
In addition to the longest hours on campus, Ross says the variety of food options sets Plum Market apart.
"We have worked closely with Bon Appétit to make sure we are being really responsive to the needs and wishes of the Butler community," Ross says. "Between the chef-driven menus, the new comfortable and inviting physical space, and the array of options, we have taken dining up a notch."
There's coffee and tea served by local roaster Hubbard & Cravens. Freshly made donuts are sold from local craft donut company General American Donut. There are fresh fruit smoothies with various protein mix-ins available. An extensive salad bar features various vegetables, as well as a section for prepared signature salads. Then there's the sandwich and wrap menu. Options include grilled cheese, Impossible burger, grilled chicken sandwich, Nashville hot chicken tender sandwich, and a beef burger. There are cage-free egg sandwiches, all-natural chipotle chicken burritos, chicken tenders, and crinkle-cut fries.
And that's just one area.
To serve the needs of all community members, there's a variety of options from Bon Appétit's go-program. Think prepackaged snacks or sandwiches. Go-program items are prepared each morning and delivered across Butler's campus to each dining location, says Butler Dining General Manager Joe Graves. The difference is, Plum Market has nearly triple the to-go items than other locations around campus.
"The vision is always about fresh and on-trend foods," Graves says, "and this allows us to do that but in a way that also accounts for people's schedules."
There's watermelon, hummus and chips, a turkey and bacon greek wrap, and a yogurt parfait, to name a few.
Plum Market also features various chips, energy bars, Chobani yogurt, local eggs, Dandy Breeze milk, local apple cider, and frozen foods, such as Amy's bowls and Caulipower pizza.
Deciding which items to feature took a combination of researching the most popular items, looking at other universities, and realizing adjustments will be needed as time goes on.
"We always rely heavily on student feedback," Graves says. "As time goes on, we will see what sells. We also look forward to hearing what our students and community members like and maybe want to see that they aren't seeing. We will adjust as we go."
After construction started in June 2019, the former C-Club space was completed gutted. At one point, the space was just dirt. But now, Plum Market has really come to life, Graves says, fulfilling the vision of providing a variety of food options for a population on the go, as well as space to sit down and study or hang out.
"We wanted this space to do many things, and I think we achieved that," he says. "It was well worth the wait."
Plum Market is hardly the only new or updated option when it comes to dining on campus this year. Here's a look at some of the other options available:
Chatham Tap offers craft and import beers, along with a menu focused on a wide range of sandwiches and starters. Offerings include soup, salad, wings, pizza, burgers, and fish and chips.
The Butler Brew is located in the new building for the Lacy School of Business and features local Julian Roasters coffee, Illinois Street Emporium pastries, and breakfast sandwiches.
ResCo Dining Hall has four stations featuring locally sourced burgers and chicken.
Trip's Corner Market at Apartment Village has products you can cook back at your apartment, dorm, or house.
Nutrition Cafe at the Health and Recreation Center features a grab-and-go setup with an emphasis on protein-heavy items.
Marketplace at Atherton Union is an all-you-care-to-eat cafe that offers menus inspired from cuisine found around the world.
The grab-and-go dining space in Atherton Union offers flexibility in hours and variety.