President Danko shared insights to the university’s strategic vision and new initiatives in his annual address. Photo by Darcy Leber.
LEAH OLLIE | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF | lollie@butler.edu
President James Danko eschewed the power of the podium in favor of a collaborative conversation across various areas of the university at Tuesday’s annual State of the University Address. Though the typical structure of the event allows Danko to share insights, reports and plans for the university’s projects and affairs, this year’s address saw the president sharing the stage with current students, alumni and faculty alike to introduce new developments and forthcoming initiatives for Butler’s next chapter.
Founder’s College vision
After welcoming remarks and a performance from student percussionists from the Jordan College of the Arts, President Danko spoke about the importance of affordable and accessible education at Butler. As Butler prepares to welcome the first class of Founder’s College students in the fall of 2025, university-wide initiatives to integrate and expand student support services have revealed necessary areas for growth to meet student needs.
Citing the university’s original goal of providing a “$10,000 degree,” Danko shared the stage with Carolyn Gentle-Genitty — the inaugural Founder’s College Dean — to promote providing higher education opportunities to students entering a shifting workforce.
“We need to solve for new problems, new ways [and] new workers,” Gentle-Genitty said. “We need to help the next generation be the author of their own ending no matter where they began.”
“Tradition meets transformation”
In transitioning from a focus on opportunities to meet the changing demands of career readiness, Danko highlighted the time-honored traditions that preserve Butler’s spirit and small-school environment. He said that the address’s strategic vision for maintaining Butler’s close-knit campus culture focused on preserving the traditions that make up the “best of Butler” while still prioritizing progress.
Professor of education Catherine Pangan took the stage with alumnus Colton Junod to share the value of the relationship between Faculty-in-Residence (FIRs) and the students they supervise.
“Don’t underestimate the power of conversation,” Pangan said. “FIRs learn from students and students learn from FIRs … This is the most interesting job I’ve ever had.”
Pangan and Junod shared personal anecdotes of the bond they forged, emphasizing that FIRs exemplify The Butler Way by offering crucial student support and mentorship — doing so through a program distinct from many of Butler’s contemporaries.
Academic innovation
In addition to the creation of the Founder’s College, Danko addressed the development of various new academic programs within Butler’s existing colleges in recent years: kinesiology, neuroscience, supply chain management and most recently a flagship Bachelor of Science program for nursing.
Seth Carey, the forthcoming head of the nursing program within the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, and Dean Robert Soltis shared the nursing program’s vision for health education that invites community partnership. Expansions in COPS will usher in a community-centered future, with goals of bringing a clinic to campus, increasing public health curriculum from the beginning of the degree and discussions of a future program focusing on art and medicine in collaboration with the Jordan College of the Arts.
A new era of student-athlete support
To conclude the event’s remarks, Danko illuminated progress in renewed support for student-athletes, with initiatives headed by Grant Leiendecker, vice president and director of athletics. By bringing Butler’s over 500 student-athletes into a new era of collegiate athletics, Leiendecker has prioritized mental health support and student-athlete wellbeing in his tenure beginning spring of this year.
Destiny Cherry, a senior strategic communication major and volleyball player, shared her story of finding herself and expanding her horizons at Butler beyond her identity as a student-athlete.
“I realized volleyball wouldn’t last forever,” Cherry said. “When I say I branched out, I bloomed.”
In a new format that expanded beyond the formality of the annual executive speech, this year’s State of the University address introduced deeper insights into Butler’s strategic vision for the future. As the campus expansions and academic initiatives move forward, the university attempts the task of balancing past and progress.
