College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty & Staff
Interim Dean of the College
BS Chemistry, Furman University
PhD Chemistry, University of Virginia
Post-doctoral work, Furman University
Faculty at Butler University since 2003.
Associate Dean for Faculty and Program Development in College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Associate Deans
My research interests include the history and culture of Japan, the anthropology of sport, the anthropology of science, gender studies, feminist theory, historical anthropology, mass/popular culture, theories of embodiment, urban anthropology, and visual culture. Most of my fieldwork has focused on cultures of sport in Japan and while I study and teach about all kinds of sport, football (soccer) is my ultimate passion. I continue to work on my primary project about soccer, corporate sport, the recession of the 1990s, and national identity in Japan, but have also written recently about the new professional women’s soccer league in Japan and the history of women’s professional soccer/football globally; I’m also interested in issues related to trans* athletes in Japan and the U.S.
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpsorenson/
- Semester schedule: https://blue.butler.edu/~jsorenso/ (forgive the 1990s style :))
- Publication Lists: Butler Profile, Google Scholar, Sematic Scholar, MathSciNet, ACM-DL, ORCHID
- CSSE department home: https://www.butler.edu/computer-science
Teaching
I have been teaching at Butler since 1991. Courses I commonly teach include CS142 Intro to Programming and Computer Science (in C++), CS248 Object-Oriented Programming and Data Structures in Java, CS321 Computer Organization, CS151 Foundations of Computer Science (discrete math), and CS458 Cryptography. In the past, I have also taught operating systems, compiler design, EPICS, algorithms, databases, computer ethics, parallel algorithms, and even modern algebra. I also teach a course on Alan Turing in the university honors program from time to time.
Research
My research interest is in algorithms for problems from number theory. In particular, I’m interested in algorithms for computing greatest common divisors, for listing and detecting prime numbers, and for factoring large integers. I often use Big Dawg, Butler’s cluster supercomputer, in my work. I’ve published many papers with former Butler students.
I studied computer science and mathematics as an undergraduate at Valparaiso University, and as a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Eric Bach was my thesis advisor.
Service
I served as Department Chair for Computer Science & Software Engineering from 2005-2020, as Chair of Faculty Senate from 2020-2024, and currently as Interim Associate Dean of LAS for the 2025-26 academic year. I often volunteer for NexTech.
Administrative Support
Marabeth joined Butler in August 2022 and is currently working as Assistant to the Dean for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Michael’s College and a Master of Arts from Sacred Heart University. She previously worked for Newtown Public Schools and Hamilton Southeastern Schools Corporation.
