Center for Faith and Vocation University Committee 

Associate Professor of Chemistry

Areas of expertise: Analytical and Environmental Chemistry

Arrived at Butler: 2000

Hometown: Aiyetoro, Nigeria

Why you serve the CFV: To contribute to the journey of others in any form that facilitates for them an opportunity that helps to recognize, remember or identify the place of faith in their vocation/calling.

Professor of Business Law, College of Business

Areas of expertise: Primarily teach Business Law, Business Ethics & Global & Historical Studies.  My published research has been in the areas of Real Estate Law, Contract Law, Jury Decision-making, and Pedagogy.

Arrived at Butler: 1991

Hometown: Albany, Georgia, but I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina

Why you serve the CFV:  My faith life has always been an important part of who I am-and who I want to be.  I grew up in the Presbyterian Church. I and my family are currently members at St. Mark's Methodist Church in Carmel.  I would like to see Butler encourage a holistic view of students' education and development as people of character.  Therefore, we ought to welcome all faith traditions at Butler and to encourage students to develop into men and women-and leaders-within their faith traditions.

Professor of History and Geography

Areas of expertise: Historical geography, Midwest U.S. and Indiana history and Global and Historical Studies.

Arrived at Butler in: 1980

Hometown: White River Junction, Vermont

Why you serve the CFV: I serve on the CFV board because I believe it is a healthy alternative for students interested in religion and a moral code other than Cru and similar conservative Christian organizations which are popular on campus. The CFV particularly values religious diversity which I believe is critical for BU to be a respectable academic institution.

Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice, COPHS

Area of expertise: Geriatric pharmacy

Arrived at Butler: 1998

Hometown:  Gary, Indiana

Why you serve the CFV: I firmly believe in the Butler model of students having a broad based liberal education, along with a strong professional education, to develop life-long habits of learning. Students ultimately get a high quality education that benefits both the patients and communities they serve.  I enjoy assisting student with this process of discernment.

Associate Professor of Communication

Area of expertise: Health communication, strategic communication, media advocacy

Arrived at Butler: 1997

Hometown: Manhattan, Kansas

Why you serve the CFV: While I believed I was well-prepared as a teacher-scholar upon arrival at Butler, I felt less qualified to address other important student-related issues. For example, how do you effectively and respectfully address content and ideas that emerge in texts and in the classroom that may challenge some students' viewpoints? Or, how do I address larger student questions regarding the intersection of personal values and careers? The CFV is vitally important to faculty, staff and students, in supporting Butler's mission of preparing "a graduate not simply to make a living but also to make a life of purpose, in which individual flourishing is intertwined with the welfare of others."

Faculty in Residence, College of Business, emeritus

Areas of expertise: Business-Government Relations, Corporate Ethics, and Personal Purpose in Life.

Arrived at Butler: 1996

Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana

Why you serve the CFV: To challenge students to have the courage to explore their sense of purpose in life, beyond short-term pressures to define a major or a future career path - and to enjoy four years of exploration and growth before entering the outside world.

Associate Professor of Music, mezzo-soprano

Area of expertise: Voice, Diction, Song Literature, Yoga/Contemplative Practice

Arrived at Butler: 1996

Hometown: Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Executive Director CHASE, Professor of Mathematics

Area of expertise: Mathematics

Arrived at Butler: 1983

Hometown: Laurel, Mississippi

Why you serve the CFV: Serving the CFV affords an opportunity for me to help develop avenues for students to find paths toward their true vocations, their true callings in life. For me, it's all about the students.

Demia Butler Professor of English

Area of expertise: Creative writing

Arrived at Butler: 1983

Hometown: Indianapolis, Indiana

Why you serve the CFV: For some reason, I find that the lives of my most thoughtful and often most brilliant students eventually intersect with the CFV. At times I won't even be aware of it until the student is a senior. At other times, because of work on an honors thesis or other project, I'll discover the connection earlier. For some reason, though my own most profound conversations about teaching and vocation took place during a CFV faculty workshop, I'm constantly surprised by it. Perhaps the CFV offers a thoughtful student, one who reads and thinks and questions every given as though her life depended on the answers (as it does) a place where the student's tradition, the student's individual gifts, and the student's search for meaning and a life of purpose will be respected and valued. I know that it offers a community where there's joy and wisdom in both the traditions and in the search. For whatever reason, I serve the CFV because of the individual students whose lives who have been so profoundly touched by it.

Professor of Chemistry

Area of expertise: Chemistry and Chemical Education

Arrived at Butler: 1974

Hometown: Elizabeth, N.J., spent high school years in Rahway, N.J. Attended the same high school as Carl Sagan and Milt Friedman

Why you serve the CFV: Teaching chemistry presents a vehicle by which I can help mold student lives.  A major part of my interactions with students is to convince them to lead a life of discernment, making sure that their career choices and the way they opt to lead their lives is based on sound moral values and a love of others, without exclusion. The CFV has done much to further these ideals on this campus, so serving CFV is consistent with my calling.

Associate Professor of Marketing

Area of expertise: Marketing

Arrived at Butler: 1997

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio

Why you serve the CFV: I serve the CFV because I believe whole heartedly in its mission and the work of Judy, Marguerite and Paul.

McGregor Professor in the Humanities

Area of expertise: Christian studies, with a focus on Eastern Christianity, especially modern Russian Orthodoxy, including modern Russian theology and religious philosophy.

Arrived at Butler in 1982 as Dean of University College; returned to the classroom in 1987.

Hometown: Longmeadow, Massachusetts.

Why you serve the CFV: I serve the CFV because I am committed to exploration and advising in both the key areas of the CFV: faith on the one hand, vocation on the other. I hope that my work in the CFV is helpful to students as they wrestle with their faith concerns and their vocational direction. I know that the work is helpful to me personally as I wrestle with my own faith concerns and with the meaning of being a college professor.