Registry of Endowed Funds and Named Spaces

Transcription

Butler University
Named
Spaces
Butler University
Classroom building, College Avenue Campus
of North Western Christian University
Butler University
University founder Ovid Butler was born in Augusta,
N.Y., on Feb. 7, 1801. He became an eminent educational
leader, noted lawyer, influential religious leader and political activist. A self-educated lawyer, Butler built a large and
lucrative practice in the 1840s specializing in chancery.
Butler helped organize the abolitionist Free Soil Party and
worked for the end of slavery.
In 1849, he was part of a committee that would, by 1855, secure
a special charter for North Western Christian University, which was
renamed Butler University in 1877 to honor him. The University’s first
campus was built on his land, and he was especially proud that his
daughter Demia Butler, who graduated 1862, was the first woman to
earn a B.A. by completing the four-year classical curriculum, making
North Western Christian University the second coeducational institution
in the United States.
Butler served as president of the University’s board of directors for
20 years. He then held the special office of chancellor, which the board
created in his honor, until his death in 1881.
Writing of her grandfather in 1934, Evelyn M. Butler, the university’s Demia Butler Professor of English at the time, said, “We are told
by those who knew him that one of the most beautiful traits of his character was his charity for the frailties and follies of others … Mr. Butler
was a man of strong and independent individuality. His opinions on
conduct, on politics and on religion were his own. Entirely without
pride of opinion, he studied and reflected until he came to his conclusion and to those conclusions he held with the utmost tenacity.”
Atherton Union
Atherton Union
Butler University’s Atherton Union is named for
John W. Atherton, a graduate of the class of 1900 who,
in his role as financial secretary and later secretarytreasurer of the University, quadrupled its endowment in
23 years through his careful management and financial
acumen. Atherton Union, dedicated in June 1950,
replaced the old campus club and cafeteria, which burned to the ground
in 1946.
Atherton was born in Cumberland, Ind., in 1877. Upon graduating from Butler at the turn of the century, he received a doctorate
from the University of Chicago. After teaching high school, coaching
football and working as a regional book salesman, Atherton was chosen
to oversee Butler’s financial interests. He also served on the University’s
board of directors, and his alma mater awarded him an honorary LL.D.
in 1939.
Atherton was widely known in Indianapolis and throughout the
state for his civic leadership. He was a member of the City Planning
Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals for 23 years, and he
served as president of both for many years. He served as a state senator
in the 1941, 1943 and 1944 General Assemblies. Atherton’s other civic
associations included the Arthur Jordan Foundation, the Council for
Central Indiana Boy Scouts, the Masonic Lodge, the Columbia Club,
Delta Tau Delta fraternity, the Rotary Club and Central Christian
Church.
He married Louise Brown, a Butler alumna and the daughter of
Butler University trustee Hilton U. Brown. Their son, Dr. Hilton Brown
Atherton, also was a Butler alumnus.
Efroymson Diversity Center
T
Atherton Union
he Efroymson Diversity Center in Atherton Union was made possible through the generosity of Lori Efroymson-Aguilera and the
Efroymson Fund of the Central Indiana Community Foundation.
The center was created to enhance the personal development and academic success of students by preparing them to be active and responsible
citizens with respect and appreciation for the inherent diversity within
our global society and on Butler’s campus. The center includes the Office
of Diversity Programs, which combines campuswide cultural diversity
and awareness programs and supports the admission and retention of
international and multicultural students; and the Office of International
Student Services, which provides essential services to international
students, assists with adapting to American culture, and advises prospective and current international students about immigration issues, visa
issuance, employment authorization, guidance on bank accounts, etc.
Also housed in the Efroymson Diversity Center are offices for several
student organizations including Asian Students Intercultural Alliance
(ASIA), Black Student Union, Butler Alliance, Demia, International
Club, Latino Awareness Student Organization (LASO) and Voices of
Deliverance Gospel Choir.
Lori Efroymson-Aguilera, a native of Florida and a graduate of
Florida State University, met her future husband Dan in the Navy. They
were wed in 1967. After leaving the service, Lori joined Real Silk
Investments as vice president and SEE Investors as a partner. The
Efroymson Diversity Center was named in honor of Lori EfroymsonAguilera, Dan Efroymson and Lori’s family. Lori and the late Dan
Efroymson are inaugural members of Butler’s Million Dollar Donor
Society.
The Gallahue Room
The Gallahue Room in Atherton Union was named for
Ed Gallahue, who in 1968 provided funds for its renovation. L.S. Ayres Department Store provided interior decorating services to complete the renovation. For years, the
room was used for private lunches and special entertaining
hosted by the president of Butler and other officers of the
University. The first university guests to be hosted in this room after its
renovation were Robert E. (1944) and Jean T. (1944) Wildman. The
second guest was Hilbert Rust, who endowed a scholarship in memory
of his wife Midge. Also later referred to as the President’s Room, the
Gallahue Room is now an overflow dining area for the adjacent cafeteria. Gallahue was a member of Butler’s Board of Trustees from 1954
until his death in 1971.
Atherton Union
The Reilly Room
A
gathering place for the Butler and Indianapolis communities,
the Reilly Room is the centerpiece of the 1992 expansion to
Butler University’s Atherton Union. The room is home to
numerous events on campus, including the Visiting Writers Series,
Jordan College of Fine Arts performances, political debates, campus and
community forums and many of Butler’s premiere social events. The
room has hosted visiting dignitaries such as Nobel Laureate Nadine
Gordimer, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch, U.S.
Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and General Motors Corp.
CEO John F. Smith.
The Atherton Union expansion was made possible in part by a
substantial corporate gift from Reilly Industries, and the Reilly Room
was named to honor the Reilly family and its ongoing relationship to the
University. Three members of the family — P.C. Reilly, Peter C. Reilly
and Tom Reilly Jr. — have served as trustees for the University.
Reilly Industries also supports the sciences at Butler University,
providing funds for chemical abstracts, online research and scholarships.
The company also established the Peter C. and Ineva T. Reilly
Chemistry Memorial Fund for the acquisition of equipment for the
chemistry department.
Atherton Union
Dr. John D. Stegman Conference Room
Atherton Union
John D. Stegman came to Butler University in the fall of
1953 and quickly became an active undergraduate. He not
only served as the president of the student body but also
as president of Sigma Chi fraternity and several academic
honoraries. He was one of the first premier debaters in
modern times at Butler. After graduating from Butler in
1957 with a bachelor’s degree in history and political science, Stegman
joined the Navy, where he served in sea, shore and Pentagon assignments. After leaving the Navy, he had a 25-year career in business before
going on to earn a master’s and a Ph.D. in communication from The
Ohio State University. He later taught in OSU’s Fisher College of
Business for many years.
He started the Columbus, Ohio, Butler alumni chapter and later
served as president of the alumni association board of directors. Stegman
currently serves as the chairman of the Ovid Butler Society executive
committee and in his writing and speaking usually refers to Butler as
“this wonderful University of ours.” He was awarded the Butler Medal
in 2004 and also that year was presented the Superior Public Service
Award from the Secretary of the Navy. He has also been honored with
several teaching awards from OSU and was elected to local, state,
regional, and national offices in the Navy League of the United States.
Stegman has two married daughters, Pamela and Angela.
In recognition of Stegman’s generous gift to the ButlerRising
Campaign, the Atherton Union’s Conference Room 302 has been
named in his honor.
The Davey Athletic Complex
Athletics Facilities
Situated directly north of Butler University’s historic
Hinkle Fieldhouse, the Davey Athletic Complex represents one of the finest baseball and track and field
facilities in intercollegiate athletics. The eight-lane,
all-weather track was originally named and dedicated
for Mr. and Mrs. William J. Davey in 1984. William
J. Davey, a 1947 Butler alumnus who had a long and
Mr. and Mrs.
Davey
successful career in insurance, served the University as
a trustee and chaired a review committee on intercollegiate athletics. “I
learned [from that review] that one of the university’s biggest needs was
an all-weather track and field facility,” commented Davey. His generous
donation to the University made it so. Sadly, Davey passed away in 1982
before the facility could be completed.
In 1985, Mrs. Davey further honored her late husband by refurbishing the track and providing improvements to the baseball diamond,
which include a state-of-the-art press box facility. She also established the
Davey Athletic Endowment Fund to provide upkeep and future
improvements for the facility.
The Daveys also established the William J. Davey Scholarship
Fund and the William J. and Bernice J. Davey Professor of Risk
Management in the College of Business Administration. They were honored posthumously in October 2006 as members of the Million Dollar
Donor Society.
Hinkle Fieldhouse
Hinkle Fieldhouse has reigned as one of the nation’s great
sports arenas for nearly eight decades. The classic facility,
built during 1927 and 1928 and dedicated in 1928, has
stood the test of time, maintaining the splendor, character
and atmosphere that have made it one of the nation’s most
famous basketball arenas.
When the fieldhouse was originally constructed, it was the largest
basketball arena in the United States, and it retained that distinction for
more than 20 years. It was the first building to be completed on the
Fairview campus, shortly before Jordan Hall. The fieldhouse was also the
first building to be used on campus. The first game there was on March
7, 1928, with Butler playing Notre Dame and winning 21–13. However, the building wasn’t totally finished, and the teams had to dress
downtown. Recent renovation has reduced the seating capacity from
15,000 to 11,043, but the aura that made the fieldhouse the nation’s
first great basketball arena remains today.
In 1966, the name of the facility was changed from Butler
Fieldhouse to Hinkle Fieldhouse in honor of Butler’s legendary coach
and athletic director Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle, who built the university’s
athletic tradition over nearly half a century. Hinkle Fieldhouse is listed
in the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic
Landmark. Its role in the movie Hoosiers added to the arena’s luster.
Doug Schmidt Indoor Track
D
r. K. Douglas Schmidt is a pediatric dentist in Indianapolis
and a friend of the university’s athletics program who sought
out a way to positively impact Butler athletes. A graduate of
Indiana University and an avid runner himself, Schmidt has been especially supportive of the cross country and track teams. In 2005, he made
a generous gift to renovate the indoor running track in Hinkle
Fieldhouse.
Later that same year, Schmidt and three other donors made it possible to transform the Butler Bowl, which was completely resurfaced
with an artificial turf that accommodates football, soccer and lacrosse.
Schmidt serves on the medical staff of the Indiana Invaders, a team of
elite athletes competing in USA Track & Field National Championship
competitions in cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field, and
the marathon.
His greatest enjoyment comes from being active in the Indiana
All-Star Running Club, which he started several years ago. The club now
hosts one of the largest middle school cross country meets in the county,
with over 1,400 runners participating. Schmidt and the Indiana All Star
Running Club were recognized as leaders in the Indianapolis community for their efforts to promote health and fitness through the sport of
running. The award was given during the 6:00 p.m. news in February
2005 on Channel 6 (WRTV).
Wildman Room
Trustee Emeritus Robert Wildman and his wife Jean,
both class of 1944, have always responded generously
to whatever Butler needed. The Wildman Room, one
of several significant gifts from the couple, is a private
hospitality suite in Hinkle Fieldhouse that reflects their
love of Bulldog athletics.
Hinkle Fieldhouse, built in 1928 and left virtually unchanged
for more than 60 years, received a major facelift during the summer of
1989. One component of upgrading the facility was the addition of a
VIP lounge. Today, the renovated Wildman Room is used before, during
and after a host of athletic events. It also serves as meeting place for
student organizations such as Campus Crusade for Christ’s Gamebreak:
Monthly Connection for Athletes in Action.
The Wildmans were Special Service Award inductees into the
Butler Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002. They have endowed two scholarships, in athletics and in business administration; and in 2006, the Bob
and Jean Wildman Gymnasium and Courts in Butler’s new Health and
Recreation Complex was named in their honor. They were honored in
October 2006 as inaugural members of the Million Dollar Donor
Society.
Clowes Memorial Hall
Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of
Butler University is named in memory of its
benefactors, Edith and Dr. George H.A.
Clowes, for whom the university’s chemistry
department also is named. The acoustically
perfect hall has been a cultural center in
Indianapolis since being built in 1963.
George H.A.
Edith W.
Dr. Clowes came to the United States
Clowes
Clowes
from England in 1900 and settled in
Buffalo, N.Y., where he worked as a chemist. He later moved to Indianapolis. Employed by Eli Lilly and Company as director of research,
Clowes organized the mass production of insulin and led development
efforts for liver extract, local anesthetics and antiseptics.
Edith Whitehill Hinkle Clowes was known as a collector and
patron of the arts. She helped found Orchard School, the Indianapolis
Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Officers Club. She received
an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Butler in 1962.
The Clowes’ sons, the late Dr. George H.A. Clowes Jr. and the late
Allen Whitehill Clowes, continued the family’s legacy of support at
Butler. Allen Clowes served as a Butler trustee from 1960 to 1984 and
was instrumental in establishing the hall’s initial success.
Krannert Room
A
significant gift from the Krannerts toward the construction of
Clowes Memorial Hall helped make possible this major performance venue for Central Indiana. The Krannert Room on
the lower level of Clowes Memorial Hall was named in honor of the
Krannerts’ generous support of Butler and provides an elegant space for
luncheons and meetings.
Herman C. Krannert, along with his wife, Ellnora Decker
Krannert, in 1925 founded Inland Container Corporation, at one time
the second largest manufacturer of corrugated cardboard boxes in the
nation. A self-made millionaire, he won nationwide respect for his business philosophy: he believed in the primary importance of customer
service and the superior vitality of the free enterprise system. Krannert
was elected to the Butler Board of Directors in 1960 and received a doctor of humane letters degree from Butler that same year. Born 1890 in
Noblesville, Ind., Ellnora assisted Herman in his business and served on
the board of the Krannert Charitable Trust. A lifelong supporter of the
arts, she received an honorary doctor of music degree from Butler in
1968.
The couple established the Krannert Charitable Trust in 1960 for
the purpose of giving back to the community with the goal of creating
“centers of excellence” in education, medicine, youth services and the
performing arts in the Midwest. The Krannerts supported the construction of Gallahue Hall in 1969-1970, the construction of Clowes
Memorial Hall in the early 1960s and the renovation of Jordan Hall in
the early 1970s. They were honored posthumously in October 2006 as
members of Butler’s Million Dollar Donor society at the dedication of
Donor Plaza.
The Richard M. Fairbanks Center
for Communication and Technology
Fairbanks Center for Communication and Technology
Butler Trustee Emeritus Richard M. Fairbanks was a
longtime advocate of Butler’s communication studies program. In 1981, he donated to Butler the building that
housed top Indianapolis radio stations WIBC and WNAP.
Located south of campus on Illinois Street, the Fairbanks
Building served as the site for the University’s radio and
telecommunication arts programs for nearly two decades. In 1999,
Fairbanks provided major support for the Richard M. Fairbanks Center
for Communication and Technology, which was completed in 2001.
Fairbanks, a 1934 graduate of Yale University, served in the United
States Navy from 1942 to 1946. He began his long journalism career as
a high school student working for The Indianapolis News. Following
World War II, he worked for the Miami (Fla.) Daily News. In 1947, he
became president of the Indianapolis Broadcasting Corporation
(WIBC). A year later, he established WIBC Inc., which later became
Fairbanks Communications. Fairbanks Communications, acquired in
1998 by Clear Channel Communications, at one time owned and operated radio and television stations in Indiana, Florida and Massachusetts.
Fairbanks’ father Richard Fairbanks was the publisher of The
Indianapolis News in the early 1940s. His grandfather was Charles W.
Fairbanks, who served as vice president of the United States from 1905
to 1909 under Theodore Roosevelt.
Richard Fairbanks, who served as a Butler trustee from 1971 to
1980, also endowed the Fairbanks Professor of Communication.
He passed away in 2000 before seeing completion of the building
that bears his name.
Calabro Student Lounge,
Telecommunications Arts Area
T
his first-floor student lounge has been named with a gift from
alumnus Kevin Calabro, a 1978 telecommunications graduate,
and his wife Susan Calabro. It honors Kevin’s parents, Paul and
Charlene Armstrong Calabro, both of whom earned master’s degrees
in education from Butler, in 1958 and 1970, respectively. The elder
Calabros are retired from the Metropolitan School District of Wayne
Township, where Charlene was a teacher and Paul was a principal and
also served on the township school board. Both have been lifelong supporters of the University and its mission. Kevin Calabro is the radio
voice of the Seattle Supersonics of the National Basketball Association
(NBA) and also calls NBA games for TNT-TBS and ESPN. Kevin’s
brother David is a fellow telecommunications alumnus, class of 1985,
and sports director with WTHR-Channel 13 in Indianapolis. Their
third brother, Ronald, followed in their parents’ footsteps and is a
teacher.
Dunn Family Staircase —
Main Lobby
In 2001, John Dunn, College of Business Administration class of 1977, and Kathy Wilkie Dunn, class of
1979, made a significant gift to the Fairbanks Center
for Communication and Technology to name the central staircase in the main lobby. John completed the
Program for Management Development at Harvard
Business School in 1988; he is in private investment banking and formerly owned Cummins Rocky Mountain, Inc. At Butler, he was a fouryear basketball letterwinner and the 1975 MVP; he was inducted into
Butler’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004. The Dunns have remained faithful members of the Butler family since graduation, supporting a wide
range of programs, organizations and activities. John joined the Butler
University Board of Trustees in 2000 and was elected chairman in May
2005. The couple lives in Greenwood Village, Colorado, but two of
their three children came to the Midwest and Butler for their degrees:
John Dunn ’00, a radio-television graduate, and daughter-in-law
Jennifer Tepke Dunn ’01; and daughter Alisyn Dunn ’01, who majored
in elementary education.
O’Dell Lounge
This third-floor lounge outside of rooms 202-204-206 in
the FairbanksBuilding has been named in memory or Dr.
DeForest O’Dell, class of 1921, by his Butler-blue family:
his daughter Molly O’Dell Adams ’49, M.S. ’60 and her
late husband Jack Adams ’50; his daughter Natalie O’Dell
Peeler ’57, M.S. ’64, Ed.S. ’80 and her husband William
Dr. Deforest J. ’57 Peeler; and their children Richard O’Dell Adams,
O’Dell
John David Adams, DeAnne Peeler Bond ‘80, M.S. ’84,
Joseph Danford Peeler, Margaret Peeler Skelton and Thomas O’Dell
Peeler. DeForest O’Dell was the head of the journalism department at
Butler University from 1925 to 1931 and from 1946 to 1958. In addition to his Butler degree, he held master’s and doctoral degrees from
Columbia University. He was a teacher, guide and mentor who treasured
his students and friends. He was married to civic leader Caroline Godley
O’Dell, a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Butler’s class
of 1926.
Howard Schrott
WTBU Master Control Room
The WTBU Master Control Room is a limited-access
area made possible by a generous donation from Howard
L. Schrott, who earned a degree in radio-television from
Butler in 1976. He also holds a J.D. degree from the
Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis. A resident
of Greenville, S.C. and New York City, Schrott is an independent management consultant. He was formerly the chief financial
officer of the Liberty Corporation, which owned and operated a chain
of broadcast television stations and ancillary businesses across the
United States. Prior to this he was the chief financial officer at Wink
Communications and at Emmis Communications. As a student, Schrott
was the program director at WAJC radio station and announcer for the
marching band. As an alumnus, he serves on the Jordan College of Fine
Arts Board of Visitors. Schrott is also on the boards of directors of
several public and private companies and charitable organizations
including the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in Greenville. He is a
past chairman of the Radio CFO Caucus, a group founded under the
umbrella of the Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association to
discuss common issues in the radio industry. This loyal alumnus has also
funded the Howard Schrott Media Arts Lecture Series.
Named Offices
and Classrooms
Col. John Barron Collegian Office,
Room 210
John C. Nichols, class of 1971, and Barbara Nichols made a generous
gift to name the Collegian office in memory of Col. John B. Barron, a
journalism teacher at Butler for two decades. Barron helped launch
many graduates’ careers in his tenure at Butler from 1961 to 1981, during which time he headed the journalism department and supervised
the student newspaper. Also, he was heard from 1972 to 1992 on
WIAN, WFYI and WAJC radio stations on a talk show called Singular
Point and with a commentary called Say it Again, Gertrude. Barron held
degrees from the University of Iowa, the University of Missouri School
of Journalism and Michigan State University. Colleagues and students
alike always addressed him as “Colonel Barron”; he was a World War II
veteran and retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. Barron died in 1994.
Dwight & Penny Bridge Office,
Room 114
Maryann & Scott Bridge Office,
Room 112
Maryann and Scott Bridge continued their longtime commitment to
Butler’s telecomunication arts program and its endeavors by naming two
media arts faculty offices—one in their own names, and one in honor of
Scott’s parents, Dwight and Penny Bridge. The senior Bridges met at
Butler, where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity and she
was a member of Delta Delta Delta sorority. Their son Scott is a 1982
Butler graduate in radio-television and earned a master’s degree in 1991.
He has been an adjunct instructor in telecommunication arts at Butler
and was named Mortar Board’s Outstanding Teacher, JCFA, in
1991–92. He is also the former news and sports director at WTVU-TV
and director of news and public affairs for WAJC Radio. As a student,
Scott Bridge was, like his father, a member of Delta Tau Delta as well as
program director of WAJC. As an alumnus he has served on the
Columbus, Ind., Alumni Chapter steering committee. Maryann Limp
Bridge is a graduate of Purdue and the Indiana University School of
Medicine and is a pathologist. The couple lives in Columbus, Ind.
Shannon Alexander Farrar
Media Arts Faculty Office
Shannon Alexander Farrar graduated from Butler in 1993 with majors
in radio-television and political science. On campus, she was a member
of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and the WAJC news staff and was a student ambassador for JCFA. As an alumna, she has volunteered on behalf
of the University in a host of ways, including serving on the Ovid Butler
Society executive committee and the alumni association board. In 1999
the University presented her with the Joseph Irwin Sweeney Alumni
Service Award in recognition of her readiness to help. She has established
her career in fund raising and is currently vice president, capital campaign at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Her father
Stephen Alexander was also a radio-TV graduate of Butler, class of 1973.
Faith Maddy Office,
Room 102
A gift from Faith D. Maddy, a radio-television graduate in the class of
1980, named this first-floor media arts faculty office. Maddy has been
vice president and director of development for the St. Louis Symphony
Orchestra since July 2002. The position capitalizes on her expertise in
fund raising and her lifelong interest in music and theater, which perhaps dates to her college days, when this member of Delta Gamma
sorority served as emcee and director of Geneva Stunts! In addition to
her Butler degree, Maddy holds a master’s degree from Indiana
University. She previously worked for Washington University in various
positions from 1982 to 1995 and as director of campaign programs at
Butler from 2000 to 2002. Her consistent support of Butler has
included service on the alumni board.
The Hohlfelder/WTBU
Engineering Work Room
The engineering work room for WTBU has been named by Barry G.
Hohlfelder, a radio-television major and member of the class of 1966.
Hohlfelder is an award-winning sports producer with NBC affiliate
WMAQ-TV in Chicago and has served on the JCFA Board of Visitors.
After graduation, he landed his first job with Channel 6 in Indianapolis
and worked in the news department there for three years before returning to his hometown of Libertyville, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. After a
one-year stint with the NBC affiliate in New York, he returned to
Chicago, where he has worked for NBC for more than 30 years. He has
been nominated for three Emmy Awards and has won two.
Karen Donovan Magan
Faculty Office
A communications studies faculty office has been named by Karen
Donovan Magan, class of 1965. A political science major at Butler, she
also holds degrees from the University of Evansville and Indiana
University. She has been involved in a variety of alumni activities,
including serving on the Parents Council, as an admission volunteer and
as a member of the Evansville Chapter steering committee. She was
instrumental in founding and developing the Hands on Discovery
Children’s Museum in Evansville (now the Koch Family Children’s
Museum). Magan’s sister Sandra is also a Butler alumna, class of 1967, as
is her son Michael, a 1993 public and corporate communication graduate, and daughter-in-law, Amy Michel Magan, class of 1992.
James R. Phillippe Center
for Communications Research,
Classroom 160
Butler alumna Jamie Phillippe, class of 1973, named the James
Phillippe Center for Communications Research in honor of her father,
Professor Emeritus James R. Philippe, a member of the Butler faculty
from 1946 to 1986 and former chair of the radio and television department. He mentored and inspired many students as a teacher and as
manager of WAJC-FM. The public knew him as part of the public
address team for the Indianapolis 500 for 54 years. Jamie Phillippe is
vice president for external affairs and strategic initiatives at the Museum
of Science and Industry in Chicago. She is a former president of the
alumni association and a member of the College of Business
Administration Board of Visitors. Following her father’s death in 1993,
she took the lead in establishing the James Phillippe Scholarship in
Media Arts.
James C. Quayle Office
for Director of Eugene S. Pulliam
School of Journalism, Room 218C
James C. Quayle, a notable newspaperman and the father of former
Vice President Dan Quayle, was a lifelong journalist who began his
career as a sports editor and advertising manager at the Lebanon Reporter
after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. He married Corinne Pulliam,
daughter of Eugene C. Pulliam, former owner of The Indianapolis Star
and The Indianapolis News. In 1963, James Quayle became publisher of
the Huntington Herald-Press, which he bought in 1964. From 1977 to
1987 he owned Arizona’s Wickenburg Sun. The James C. Quayle Office
for the Director of the Eugene S. Pulliam School of Journalism was
made possible by a generous contribution from Dr. Thomas ’75 and
Maribeth Zay ’74 Fischer in 2003.
The Dawgnet Office has been named to honor the late Beatrice Waiss
Roth, a former Collegian editor who earned a Butler journalism degree
with honors in 1938. She and her husband Harry lived in Indianapolis
all their married lives. Harry Roth purchased the St. Elmo Steak House
downtown in 1946 and sold it in 1986. The couple was active in their
synagogue, and Beatrice Waiss Roth was a civic volunteer who was honored as Woman of the Year by B’nai B’rith and Board Member of the
Year at the Bureau of Jewish Education. The Roths also created The
Beatrice Waiss and Harry Roth Endowed Scholarship to provide financial assistance to deserving Butler students majoring in journalism.
Roth Dawgnet Office,
Room 208
Dorothy and Edward Gallahue
Science Hall
Gallahue Named Spaces
Construction of Butler University’s main
science classroom building, the Dorothy and
Edward Gallahue Science Hall, began in
1971 with a sizeable gift from Butler Trustee
Edward Francis Gallahue. A native of
Indianapolis, Gallahue graduated from
Arsenal Technical High School in 1920 and
Dorothy
Edward
Gallahue
Gallahue
immediately went to work in the insurance
industry. By 1925, Gallahue and his older brother Dudley had formed
their own company that would become the American States Insurance
Co. Edward followed his brother into the presidency in 1947, where he
remained until 1966.
Gallahue was a deeply religious and philanthropic man. He gave
sizeable gifts to Butler and Earlham College, and during his 11-year
presidency of the Indianapolis Hospital Development Association, he
was responsible for the construction of Community Hospital.
“I have felt close to Butler since my childhood days in Irvington,”
said Gallahue of his many contributions to the University, including
service as a trustee. “I have watched it grow from a good small college
into a fine university, moving … to a school of excellence.”
Gallahue married Dorothy Fitzpatrick Gallahue in 1943. She
had a successful career as an artist and served as a patron for the arts in
the community. She received an honorary doctorate of arts from Butler
in 1978.
The Friesner Herbarium
Gallahue Named Spaces
The Friesner Herbarium was named to
honor Dr. Ray C. Friesner, who served
Butler University for 33 years, first as a
professor of botany and later as head of
the botany department and dean of the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a
joint position he held for five years.
A native of Ohio, Friesner received his undergraduate degree from
Ohio Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. from the University of
Michigan. As an avid field taxonomist, Friesner set out to collect and
identify plants that previously had not been recorded for either Indiana
or the counties in which he found them. His collections of more than
25,500 plants swelled the Butler University herbarium that would come
to carry his name.
Friesner was a leader in the Indiana Academy of Science, serving
as its secretary and president. He also was active in the Downey Avenue
Christian Church as well as numerous scientific and academic
organizations.
Mrs. James Irving Holcomb
Memorial Carillon Tower
Gardens and Grounds
Amid splendid trees overlooking a 20-acre botanical garden, the Mrs. James Irving Holcomb Memorial Carillon
tower rests on the highest elevation on the Butler campus.
Its design consists of three stately Indiana limestone pillars
rising some 130 feet; a picturesque stairway descends from
the tower to the edge of the reflection lake below. The
tower amplifies music originating from a playing console in the
Holcomb Garden House. By varying the settings on a control panel,
music can be directed to a wide area outside the perimeter of the campus
or confined strictly to the garden area or within the Garden House itself.
A unique musical instrument made by Schulmerich Carillons of
Sellersville, Penn., the carillon is played by Dr. William E. Engle, class
of 1965, university carillonneur since 1972. The carillon bells produce
366 different individual tones, including Flemish, harp and celesta. The
tonality, flexibility and other variations of the bell instrument make possible the creation of unlimited variety and expression in the bell tones.
For nearly 50 years, Butler University has presented carillon bell
concerts on national holidays, for university celebrations and throughout
the summer months on Sunday evenings. Clear, sweet tones provide a
welcome distraction from daily cares and an invitation to pause for inner
refreshment. Mr. Holcomb regarded the Tower as a “symbol of culture
and beauty and a constant reminder of the worthwhile things in life.” It
was dedicated in 1959 as a memorial to his wife Musetta, who died in
1957. In his dedication message for the Carillon Tower, J.I. Holcomb
said that in his estimation, Butler would never be the largest university
in Indiana, but he knew of no reason why Butler could not be the most
beautiful university in the Midwest.
James Irving Holcomb
Botanical Gardens
Gardens and Grounds
J.I. Holcomb, reporting for the Buildings & Grounds
Committee in 1949, said, “In regard to the Botanical
Garden, we have some great visions for that. We have
some very rare and splendid specimens there although at
present it is like a wilderness and is not appreciated. We
feel that we have the opportunity make a really outstanding botanical garden, and our grounds and woods would lend (themselves) to making a wonderful arboretum.”
In concert with Holcomb, Arthur Lindberg, then superintendent
of buildings and grounds, designed and laid out the gardens in 1949.
Completed in 1950, the gardens rest amid the natural serenity afforded
by surrounding trees and picturesque hills overlooking a small lake and
an historic canal. It is composed of 20 acres with thousands of trees,
flowers, shrubs and other horticultural specimens, the lake, the waterfalls, the garden house, the poets’ corner (a niche of stone benches on
which are inscribed quotations of famous poets: Shakespeare, Tennyson,
Wordsworth, Millay, Arnold and Bryant) and the philosophers’ bench (a
similar area with quotations of famous philosophers: Socrates, Jesus,
Plato, Aristotle, Locke, Gandhi, Hegel and Rousseau).
A 500-foot-long grass mall leads into the heart of the garden area
and to the statue of Persephone, centered in a reflecting pool. The
statue, created in Paris about 1840 by Armand Toussaint (1806–1862),
was donated by Holcomb to Butler in 1950. According to ancient Greek
mythology, Persephone, the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, was
worshipped as the goddess of vegetation, returning each spring from the
realm of Hades to herald the season of growth. In winter, she disappeared to pass her time, like the seed, under the earth.
Holcomb Garden House
S
ituated in the coolest area in the gardens amid stately trees and
adjoining the canal is the J.I. Holcomb Garden House, dedicated
in 1952. Made of Indiana limestone and cypress, the Garden
House was originally designed by Mr. Holcomb to house public restrooms; features include a kitchenette and a large meeting room. The
Garden House was for years the site of receptions following many
Sweeney Chapel weddings. In 1959, the Carillon Room was added to
accommodate the playing console (from which originate the sweet musical tones broadcast by the Mrs. James Irving Holcomb Memorial
Carillon Tower) and to provide for the hospitality of listeners. The
Carillon Room is open for visitation and requests during the summer
Sunday evening concerts at 5 p.m., June through September.
Through his love of beauty and his generosity, Holcomb helped
bring into being his vision for the gardens. Paid for out of funds given to
the University by Holcomb, the gardens and the Holcomb Garden
House were named in his honor in 1950. Holcomb served on Butler’s
Board of Trustees from 1936 through 1961.
Gardens and Grounds
Calland Memorial
Lilac Garden
T
he restoration of the Lilac Garden (part of Holcomb Gardens)
was dedicated in loving memory to Helen Bosler Calland by
her husband and children in May 1999. Helen’s husband John
did much of the restoration work himself, planting more than 35 lilac
bushes. A Butler alumnus, class of 1943, a member of Butler’s cross
country team, a Navy veteran of World War II and a dentist, John
Calland died in November 2005.
Gardens and Grounds
J.I. Holcomb Observatory
and Planetarium
T
Gardens and Grounds
he Holcomb Observatory (along with Holcomb Gardens and
Garden House) was named in honor of James Irving Holcomb,
who served on Butler’s Board of Trustees from 1936 through
1961, including a term as president from 1956 through 1961. In 1953,
in honor of the school’s centennial celebration in 1955, Holcomb and
his wife Musetta gave Butler $250,000 to construct the observatory,
which Holcomb intended for public use as well as student learning. The
Holcomb Observatory and Planetarium was designed by Art Lindberg,
then superintendent of buildings and grounds, with assistance from
Robert Frost Daggett Architects, Indianapolis, to be placed on the highest point of the gardens, a knoll adjacent to the woods of Holcomb
Gardens. Construction was completed in the fall of 1954. At the time,
it was the largest telescope in the state of Indiana and the ninth largest
in the country. The 38-inch reflecting telescope was invented by
Frenchman Nicolas Cassegrain and features two mirrors, one to gather
light and one to reflect it away. Every five years, a crane must move the
600-pound mirror to ground level for resurfacing.
Today, the telescope can run robotically and can remotely carry
out a single night’s observation program by itself. Completed in 1954,
the observatory also houses a lobby with a 14-foot replica of the zodiac
done in bright colored terrazzo on the floor, a classroom, a clock room
and a planetarium-theatre used to examine the celestial objects and learn
about their locations and motion throughout the universe. Holcomb
Observatory, open to the public on a regular basis, is the place to be
when there are major planetary events, and visitors often line the sidewalks waiting their turn to gaze at the heavens.
Norris Plaza
Gardens and Grounds
Norris Plaza — a landscaped island in the
middle of Butler University’s campus —
features a fountain, cascading waterfalls and
stone “seating” walls. The plaza was built
with a donation from Fern Norris in
memory of her son, Dr. Max S. Norris.
Max Norris
Fern Norris
Max Norris, a Butler graduate, served
as a member of the University’s board of trustees. After a term as vice
chairman, Norris chaired the board from 1978 to 1985. He received the
Distinguished Service Award from the board of trustees and continued
to serve on the board until his death in 1988.
In October 1985, the Alumni Association awarded Norris the
Butler Medal, recognizing his loyal and unselfish efforts to promote and
develop the University. In 1978, the Butler Student Assembly honored
Norris with the Dr. Henry Jameson Award, presented annually to the
alumnus making the most outstanding contribution to the University.
Butler was not the only beneficiary of Norris’ kindness and
leadership. He was also active with the state and county medical associations, Winona Hospital and Crossroads Rehabilitation Center. Former
Indiana Governor Otis Bowen presented him with the Sagamore of the
Wabash for his numerous civic activities and community service. He was
also honored by the Boy Scouts with the Silver Buffalo Award, scouting’s
highest national award for volunteer service to youth.
Norris’ mother Fern Norris was elected to the Indiana House of
Representatives in 1951 and was the first woman to serve on the state
Ways and Means Committee.
Theofanis Fountain
Chris C. Theofanis was a first generation Greek-American
who was born in 1930 in Astoria, New York. He and his
family moved to Indianapolis to open a restaurant. From
1948 to 1952, Theofanis worked at The Indianapolis Star
and The Indianapolis Times while attending Butler
University. After graduation, he served in the Korean War,
and when he returned to Indianapolis, he returned to Butler, where he
served for 42 years in many public relations capacities including public
relations director and director of government and community relations.
Very few were untouched by Theofanis’ smiling face, words of encouragement and “can-do” spirit. The memorial fountain, located near
Holcomb and Gallahue Halls, was made possible by Theofanis’ friends
and family members and was dedicated in October 1999.
Gardens and Grounds
The Bob and Jean Wildman
Gymnasium & Courts
Health and Recreation Complex
Jean T. and Robert E. Wildman are lifelong supporters of Butler University. Both graduated from Butler
in 1944 and were actively involved on campus.
Mr. Wildman later served as a member of the alumni
board and as an alumni board representative to the
board of trustees. He was later elected to the board
of trustees and served for 18 years. Mr. Wildman received the Butler
Medal in 1990 and was named trustee emeritus in 1994. The Wildmans
were co-recipients of the Butler Mortar Award in 1998. Robert is chairman and president of Roundhill Development, Inc., and Jean is the
company’s secretary and director. The Wildmans have contributed
generously to Butler over the years, including several annuities. Butler
named the new gymnasium and courts in the Health and Recreation
Complex in their honor. The Wildmans are inaugural members of
Butler’s Million Dollar Donor Society.
Holcomb Building
Holcomb Building
The Holcomb Building (originally known as
the Holcomb Research Institute) was named
in memory of James Irving Holcomb and
his wife Musetta. Mr. Holcomb served on
Butler’s Board of Trustees from 1936
through 1961, including a term as president
from 1956 through 1961. Many of
Musetta
James Irving
Holcomb
Holcomb
Holcomb’s financial contributions went into
the science research field, which led to the
establishment of the Holcomb Research Institute housed in the Holcomb
Building.
Born in LaSalle, Ill., in 1897, Holcomb served as president and
chairman of the board of the J.I. Holcomb Manufacturing Company,
which was the largest manufacturer of cleaning supplies in the country,
selling direct to institutional, industrial and commercial customers. He
also served as vice president, president and chairman of the board of the
Holcomb and Hoke Manufacturing Company, which he founded for
the manufacture of commercial refrigerators and fire-tender stokers.
Holcomb was chairman of the board of both companies and president
of Butler’s Board of Trustees at the time of this death in 1961.
Portraits of J.I. and Musetta hang in the Holcomb Building main
lobby.
The Ruth Lilly Science Library
and Library Automation System
Holcomb Building
Ruth Lilly is the great-granddaughter of pharmaceutical
entrepreneur Eli Lilly. She is known regionally and
nationally for philanthropy and for the many buildings
and projects she has funded in Indiana and other states.
Among the many causes she has so generously supported
are Methodist Hospital for its hospice and cancer treatment center, Wabash College and Duke University (both homes to a
Lilly Library), a biological sciences building at DePauw University,
University of Indianapolis’ physical education and recreation center,
IUPUI, Hanover College, Marian College, the American Red Cross,
Goodwill Industries, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the
Indianapolis Opera, the Republican Party, Indianapolis Ballet Theatre,
Conner Prairie and Indianapolis’ Park Tudor School.
Lilly has long been a supporter of the arts and literature. She established the highly prestigious Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize administered by the
Modern Poetry Association and the American Council for the Arts. A
collection of Lilly’s poetry, published under the name of R. Lyly,
appeared in the spring 1939 edition of the North American Review and
The New York Times.
Lilly’s gifts to Butler have enabled the University to establish the
Ruth Lilly Science Library and to automate the university’s library holdings and place them online.
Irwin Library
Irwin Library
Designed by world-famous architect Minoru
Yamasaki, who also designed the World Trade
Center, Irwin Library was dedicated in 1965.
It was named to honor members of the Irwin
family who had been prominent in the life of
Butler for more than a century. Benjamin Irwin
was listed as an organizer on the charter granted
to the University in 1850, and he served as a
Members of the IrwinMiller-Sweeney family
chancellor and director until 1855. Benjamin’s
nephew Joseph I. Irwin served as a chancellor
and director from 1868 to 1910. William G. Irwin, Joseph’s son, served
as a director from 1910 to 1943.
Linnie Irwin Sweeney, daughter of Joseph Irwin, served for many
years as a Butler director. Her husband Zachary Taylor Sweeney was also
a Butler director. Their son Joseph attended Butler, and their daughter
Nettie Sweeney Miller and her husband Hugh Thomas Miller were
Butler graduates and directors. Miller’s father John Chapman Miller
served as a professor and a director for the University.
J. Irwin Miller and his sister Mrs. Robert S. Tangeman, the children of Nettie and Hugh Thomas Miller, and Elsie I. Sweeney, the
daughter of Linnie and Zachary Sweeney, continued the family’s association with Butler, helping to make the Irwin Library possible. Mrs.
Tangeman served as a Butler trustee, and Elsie Sweeney was president
of the Irwin-Sweeney-Miller Foundation. Two gifts totaling over
$1,500,000 from the Foundation enabled Butler to complete Irwin
Library.
The Eliza Blaker Memorial Room
Irwin Library
Born in 1854, Eliza Ann Cooper Blaker, one of Indiana’s
most forward-looking educators, was trained in the
philosophies and methods of Friedrich Froebel, a prominent German educator who opposed rote memorization,
formality and discipline. Froebel emphasized cultivating the
preschool child’s natural potential in a liberating atmosphere of play, aesthetics and outdoor experiences.
With her husband, Louis, Eliza came to Indianapolis in the early
1880s to work at a private kindergarten, but shortly after, joined the
Indianapolis Free Kindergarten and Children’s Aid Society, which had
been established to aid underprivileged children. Recognizing the need
to train teachers, in 1882 she opened the Kindergarten Normal Training
School, which became the Teachers College of Indianapolis in 1905 and
later merged with Butler University to become the College of Education.
A true educational pioneer, Blaker believed in free and equal education for all children and involved parents in the education of their
children, something which had not been done before in the United
States. After World War I, she provided free kindergarten for immigrant
children, who could not afford to attend school.
The Eliza Blaker Memorial Room, established in 1943, contains
items from Blaker’s personal office as well as other furniture, oil paintings, drawings and other art. Her desk, secretary and a large bookcase
are filled with papers, memorabilia, a set of Froebel’s educational tools
and more than 300 books from Blaker’s personal collection, the College
of Education and the Indianapolis Free Kindergarten Society. Personal
letters, photographs, plaques and china add nostalgia, lend insight into
Blaker’s life and contribute to an understanding of early education in
Indiana. The Blaker Room is located in Irwin Library.
Hugh Thomas Miller Rare Books Room
Irwin Library
John Chapman Miller was chair of philosophical and biblical literature at Butler in 1871 and served on the board of
directors from 1873 to 1893. It was his practice to visit
recitation rooms and report on the performances of faculty
members and students. An endowed scholarship in speech
bears his name. His son, Hugh Thomas Miller, was a
Hugh Thomas Butler graduate, class of 1888, who returned to his alma
Miller
mater as a professor of history and romance languages in
1889. He recognized the importance of an academic library for educational purposes and contributed significantly to the university’s collections
while he was a faculty member. Hugh Thomas Miller was president of
the Irwin-Union Trust Company and the Cummins Engine Company in
Columbus, Indiana, and was also elected lieutenant governor of Indiana.
He married Nettie Sweeney, a Butler alumna and descendent of the Irwin
family, which had been prominent in Butler affairs since the university’s
founding. Nettie and Hugh were both members of Butler’s board of
directors. He died in 1948.
Dedicated on November 20, 1971 in his honor and memory, the
Hugh Thomas Miller Rare Books Room provides proper housing for
library special collections. It is open to the public and provides reference
and reading services. The variety of special collections includes personal
items, prints, engravings, manuscripts, and sundry documents of historic
value. Notable collections in the Hugh Thomas Miller Rare Books Room
include American author first editions, books on Native Americans, herbology and botany plus collections of African American poets’ works.
Some items in the rare books collection date to 1473. In 1979, the Hugh
Thomas Miller Rare Books Room received a substantial bequest from the
estate of Blanche Stillson.
Judge Carl Rich Room
The Judge Carl Rich Room, located in the north section
of the third floor of Irwin Library, is named in honor of
Carl Rich, a Cincinnati judge. Rich was born, educated,
spent his professional life and died in Ohio, mostly
Cincinnati. He was a veteran of World Wars I and II.
Although he had no actual connection to Butler
University, he was a member of Tau Kappa Alpha, a speech and debate
honorary, which was founded on Butler’s campus in 1908. TKA named
Carl W. Rich as its outstanding alumnus, and, wanting to honor him,
collected about $1,000 and donated the money to Butler in his name.
The Judge Carl Rich Room provides space for conferences and meetings
in Irwin Library.
ΤΚΑ
Irwin Library
John S. Wright Great Books Room
J
Irwin Library
ohn S. Wright was born in 1870. Immediately after graduation
from Purdue University in 1892, he went to work for Eli Lilly and
Company as a botanist. His career grew within the company and he
retired as an advertising consultant. For eight years Wright was a
lecturer in botany at Indiana University. He wrote “A Guide to Official
Organic Drugs,” published in 1895, “Pharmacology of Fluid Extracts
in Common Use,” published in 1905, and a number of other articles in
this area of specialization.
After retirement in 1943, Wright became active with the Marion
County and Indiana State Tuberculosis Associations, the Indianapolis
Family Service Association and the Indianapolis Community Chest.
He was also a member of many organizations, including the Indiana
Historical Society, the Society of Indiana Pioneers, the Indiana Academy
of Science and the Indianapolis Literary Club. The Indiana Academy of
Science said, “John Shepard Wright was a quiet, scholarly man devoted
to the highest ideals and possessed of the courage, determination and
persistence to work for the attainment of those ideals.”
Wright’s son, John Newcomb Wright, was a Butler graduate who
died at the age of 25. His parents funded a memorial scholarship in his
name, the John Newcomb Wright Memorial Scholarship. The Lectania
Newcomb Wright Memorial Scholarship Fund was established to honor
his wife, Butler class of 1892.
The John S. Wright Great Books Room commemorates the contributions made to Butler by John S. and Lectania, who provided funds to
furnish and decorate the room. It houses a collection of materials that
are not necessarily rare but are special editions, and especially nice, old
and important works in good condition.
The Arthur Jordan Memorial Hall
Arthur JordanMemorial Hall
Arthur Jordan, born in Madison, Ind., in 1855, became
a giant of enterprise and industry in the Midwest. Although
not college educated, Jordan had bought and sold his first
company by the time he was 20. He began his career as a
book salesman, became an entrepreneur and began shipping Indiana butter and eggs throughout the Midwest and
East Coast. By 1882 he had built and was operating five creameries. He
brought many innovations to the region, including refrigerated railway
cars and the first cream separator used in the United States.
Jordan’s next endeavors were the Keyless Lock Co., which supplied
locks to all U.S. post offices; the City Ice and Coal Co. of Indianapolis;
and the Capitol Gas Engine Co. In 1899, he started the Meridian Life
Insurance Co. It would become one of the strongest life insurance companies in the United States.
Jordan was a civic and philanthropic leader as well. He founded
what would become the Jordan YMCA, as well as the Arthur Jordan
Conservatory of Music. The conservatory became part of Butler as the
Jordan College of Music and later the Jordan College of Fine Arts. The
college continues to receive support from the Arthur Jordan Foundation,
which Jordan established in 1928.
Jordan served many years as a director of Butler University. In his
lifetime, he gave over $1,000,000 to the University — at the time an
unprecedented sum. Jordan Hall, one of the first buildings to be constructed for Butler’s Fairview campus and still the university’s main classroom building, was named in his honor. It opened for classes in 1928.
Executed in gray Carolina granite with pinkish tinges, it is a modified
gothic design by arcitects Robert Frost Dagett and Butler graduate
Thomas Hibben.
Ernst & Young Classroom Suites
T
he accounting firm of Ernst & Young has a long-standing relationship with Butler’s College of Business Administration. Before
the college moved to the Holcomb Building in 1997, a suite of
classrooms in Jordan Hall — rooms 242 and 238 — was named in
honor of Ernst & Young’s generosity and loyalty. At the time, the company was known as Ernst & Whinney, and the classrooms were used
almost exclusively by the College of Business. The classrooms are now
used by other areas of the University and are named the Ernst & Young
Classroom Suite. Howard Shearon, who received his B.S. in accounting
from Butler in 1961 and went on to work for Ernst & Young, was
instrumental in establishing and maintaining the mutually beneficial
relationship between his employer and his alma mater. He has retired
from Ernst & Young and now serves on Butler’s Board of Trustees.
Betty Jane Wysong Schorr
Psychology Classrooms and Office
Betty Jane Wysong graduated from Butler University in
1938 with a degree in psychology and was a member of
the Sociology Club, Women’s League and the YWCA.
Her husband Kenneth Schorr contributed generously to
the renovation of Jordan Hall. In gratitude, the offices and
classrooms of the Department of Psychology are named to
remember and honor Betty Jane Wysong Schorr.
Dedicated by Roger and Linda
A barely discernable, time-worn inscription on a medallion at the bottom of the stairs nearest Jordan Hall room 116 reads: “Dedicated by
Roger and Linda 1965.” Allegedly the couple got engaged at that spot in
Jordan Hall across from an exit door more than 40 years ago. If you are
Roger or Linda, please contact the advancement office at Butler.
Lilly Hall
Lilly Hall, dedicated in 1962, was built to house the
Jordan College of Music, which would become the Jordan
College of Fine Arts. Major funding for the building was
given by Lilly Endowment Inc., and the building was
named to honor the Lilly family.
The Endowment was founded in 1937 by Eli Lilly,
Eli Lilly
then president of Indianapolis pharmaceutical manufacturer Eli Lilly and Company, in cooperation with his father Josiah K.
Lilly Sr. and his brother Josiah K. Lilly Jr. The endowment grew from a
legacy of charitable giving that was started by Eli Lilly and Company
founder Colonel Eli Lilly and has been a hallmark of the Lilly family.
The Endowment’s central focus — education, religion and community
service — reflects values of importance to its founders.
Lilly Hall
Streightoff Family Theatre
Concept rendering, Performance Hall
Lilly Hall
Bobbye Jo Streightoff and Butler alumnus Frank Doan
Streightoff gave Butler University real estate in Danville,
Indiana; the proceeds from its sale created a trust for the
purpose of funding the Streightoff Family Theatre, which
will be located in the mid-sized performance venue of
Butler’s Performing Arts Complex. The theatre’s name
Frank Hatch honors members of the Streightoff family and their
Streightoff
century-long association with Butler: Bobbye Jo
Streightoff; Frank Streightoff; Frank’s late first wife, Ann Mitchell
Streightoff, who studied music at Butler; Mr. Streightoff’s parents,
Frances Elizabeth Doan, a 1907 Butler graduate, and Frank Hatch
Streightoff, who taught economics at Butler in the 1920s; and Mr.
Streightoff’s grandmother, Jennifer Duncan Hatch Streightoff.
Frank D. Streightoff received a bachelor of science degree from the
California Institute of Technology in 1940 and a master of science in
botany from Butler in 1956. He went on to earn additional undergraduate and graduate degrees at Butler — a B.S. in business administration and M.B.A. in 1960 and 1963, respectively. Streightoff spent
most of his career as a biologist and patent attorney at Eli Lilly and
Company; however, his lifelong love for the arts and his desire to preserve our cultural heritage for future generations fuels his generosity
toward his alma mater. He and Bobbye Jo are active in community
theatre and are patrons of the symphony near their Texas home. Ann
Mitchell Streightoff studied music through Butler University, and her
precious 1760 Landolfi cello is now part of the music department at
Butler, having been presented as a gift to the University by Frank and
Bobbye Jo in 1999.
Wood Grand Hall
Concept rendering, Performance Hall
As a Butler University undergraduate student, Billie
Lou Carpenter (Wood) immersed herself in university activities including Delta Delta Delta sorority,
the Butler Young Republicans, the Elementary
Education Club, Future Leaders of American and the
Women’s Recreation Association. Years later, Billie
Richard and Billie Lou was appointed to the Commission on the Future
Lou Wood
of Butler University, where she was among 200 volunteers who helped chart the course that the University would follow
into the 21st century. She currently serves on the board of trustees, and
along with her husband Richard Wood is a vital part of the Butler
University campus scene, frequently visiting Clowes Memorial Hall and
Hinkle Fieldhouse. They are inaugural members of the Million Dollar
Donor Society. Wood Grand Hall will be the lobby/entryway to the
mid-sized performance venue, the soon-to-be-completed final phase of
Butler’s Performing Arts Complex.
Lilly Hall
Named Offices and Classrooms
George & Doris Barrett Classroom 110
Lilly Hall
When young George Barrett enlisted as a medic with
the Navy just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, he
could not foresee that he would survive a terrible
attack and go on to serve his country in two more
wars during 20 years of active service with the U.S.
Navy and Marines. While in the fleet reserves in the
early 1960s, George enrolled at Butler, earning his bachelor’s degree in
history and political science in 1965 and a master’s in history in 1972.
“I got along great with fellow students half my age,” he chuckles. His
second career, teaching social studies at Northview Junior High School,
spanned more than 20 years. George attributes the successes he has had
in life to his Butler University liberal arts education.
George and his wife Doris Griffith Huesing Barrett, Butler class
of 1941, are very involved with Butler activities. “We truly love the
University and feel it’s important to give back to Butler.” Very active in
the cultural life of Central Indiana, they are pleased to see that Butler is
helping to strengthen many other Indianapolis area arts groups while
building the University’s presence in the community. The couple made a
generous gift to the Butler’s Performing Arts Complex, and Lilly Hall
Classroom 110 was named in their honor.
Married in 1992 (after both their first spouses passed away), they
have four grandchildren between them, two of whom are Butler alumni:
Doris’ grandson Ben Lawton, class of 1995, and George’s granddaughter
Elizabeth Barrett, class of 1998.
Batt Family Classroom 120
This classroom in Lilly Hall was dedicated to the Indianapolis Children’s
Choir by George and Ruth Batt, Bill and Martha Sue Batt, Bob Batt,
Susan Batt and Gracia Johnson Floyd, Butler class of 1969. The
Indianapolis Children’s Choir maintains offices in Lilly Hall and is one
of six Indianapolis cultural organizations with which Butler collaborates
on a formal basis.
Corbin/Roudebush Classroom 124
This classroom in Lilly Hall was dedicated to the Indianapolis Children’s
Choir by Carl and Florence Hulen Corbin and Judy Roudebush. The
Indianapolis Children’s Choir maintains offices in Lilly Hall and is one
of six Indianapolis cultural organizations with which Butler collaborates
on a formal basis.
J. Robert Dietz Theatre Lab, Room 328
The Lilly Hall theatre lab was named by Harry “Mickey” Dietz and his
wife Gail Poleschuk Dietz, both class of 1970, in memory of Mickey’s
uncle, J. Robert Dietz, professor, actor, director and a member of
Butler’s class of 1943. The elder Dietz was an early veteran of the
National Players, acting with Tours 2, 3, 5 and 6 of America’s longest
running classical touring company. National Players has enjoyed nearly
60 consecutive seasons of touring. Dietz later performed with the
Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
Lilly Hall
Dr. Charles A. Henzie
Percussion Studio, Room 320
Dr. Charles A. Henzie, a 1936 Butler alumnus and former Butler music professor and director, was remembered
and honored by his former students, colleagues, associates,
friends and family who collectively raised the funds to
name the percussion studio in his honor. Henzie is fondly
remembered for his 33-year tenure at Butler, where he
served as a Jordan Conservatory professor, director of the marching
band and the director of graduate programs for the Jordan College of
Fine Arts. Henzie involved himself in the community by serving as
director of music for the Market Square Arena dedication, band coordinator for the 500 Festival and the NCAA Tournament parades, and
director of Hook’s Indiana All-State Marching Band, just to name a few
of his many activities. He received several prestigious music awards and
honors, including the Manual High School Alumnus of the Year award
in 1993 and the Butler University Alumni Association Butler Medal in
1972. Henzie was inducted into the Butler University Athletic Hall of
Fame in 1996 in recognition of his 20-year career as marching band
director. He died in June 1999 at age 85. A portrait of Henzie by
alumna Nancy Cole, class of 1952, hangs outside the percussion
studio.
Lilly Hall
Albertsons/Osco Student Lounge
A
lbertsons/Osco Drug, Inc. enjoys a long-standing, mutually
beneficial relationship with Butler’s pharmacy program. A
lounge for pharmacy students was built in the early 1990s
with a sizeable gift from Osco Drug, Inc. Then, in the early 2000s,
Osco donated a similar amount to renovate the space, which was
renamed the Albertsons/Osco Lounge in 2002. The pharmacy department now offers state-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms along with
the Albertsons/Osco Student Lounge. In addition, Albertsons/Osco has
been donating to a scholarship for pharmacy students since 1965.
Pharmacy
The Bulldog Lounge
D
onors Rebecca (class of 1988) and Dominic (class of 1986)
Merlina and Gary Butkus (class of 1988) and Jason Range,
made a joint gift commitment to the ButlerRising Campaign
to name the faculty-staff lounge in the yet-to-be-constructed Health
Education Center, part of the Butler University College of Pharmacy
and Health Sciences. Becky Smith Merlina and Gary Butkus are both
1988 graduates of Butler’s College of Pharmacy. Becky is a member of
the Ovid Butler Society Executive Committee; Gary serves on the
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Board of Visitors; and they
both serve on the Butler University Alumni Association Board of
Directors. Becky’s husband, Dominic (Dino) Merlina received his B.S.
in business administration in 1985 and his B.S. in education in 1986,
both from Butler. Gary’s partner, Jason Range, received his J.D. from
the University of Detroit and is a Ph.D. candidate at Wayne State
University. All the donors live in Indianapolis.
Pharmacy
Kevin Erow Collection
of Antique Pharmacy Equipment
This antique collection was a gift from the class of 1997 in
memory of their classmate, Kevin Michael Erow, a Butler
pharmacy student who died at the age of 23 in his fifth
year at Butler. A member of the American Pharmaceutical
Association, Kevin died before completing all of his
coursework. Located in the lobby of the Pharmacy
Building, the collection includes antique urns, jars, scales, medicine jars,
and boxes and a mortar and pestle.
Pharmacy
The Ribordy Center for Community
Pharmacy Practice
Pharmacy
The vision of the Ribordy Center for
Community Pharmacy Practice is to
create a patient-focused community
pharmacy practice that empowers pharmacists to promote wellness and disease prevention, and to ensure positive
drug therapy outcomes for patients.
Denis and Carolyn Ribordy
The center is named for its principal
donors, the Denis and Carolyn Ribordy family of Northwest Indiana.
Denis Ribordy graduated from Butler’s College of Pharmacy in
1952 and he went on to graduate from Stanford University’s Graduate
School of Business in its small business executive’s program. He was the
president and founder of Ribordy Drugs, Inc. The company began when
he bought his first store in Gary, Ind.; in 30 years, Ribordy Drugs grew
to a retail drug chain with 26 stores. The company was sold to Walgreen
Co. in 1985. Ribordy has served as a Butler trustee, chairman of the
Annual Fund and member of the Ovid Butler Society Executive
Committee. He received a 1983 Alumni Achievement Award. Denis and
Carolyn Ribordy also have received the Butler Medal.
Ribordy has been a member of the Indiana Pharmacists’
Association, the National Association of Drug Stores and the National
Association of Retail Druggists. He has served as vice president, president and director of the Indiana State Board of Pharmacy.
Carolyn is also a graduate of Butler’s College of Pharmacy and
worked as a registered pharmacist. They have four children: Cheryl;
Scott, who graduated from Butler in 1981; Nancy, a 1985 Butler graduate; and Mark, a 1987 Butler graduate.
Denis & Carolyn Ribordy
Lecture Hall, Room 204
Pharmacy
Denis E. Ribordy graduated with a B.S. in pharmacy
from Butler University in 1952, after which he studied
at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Ribordy became a partner of the Hill Drug Co. in
Augusta, Georgia, and bought his first drug store in
Gary, Indiana in 1955. Within 30 years, Ribordy
Denis and
Drugs grew to a chain of 26 stores in northern Indiana.
Carolyn Ribordy
From 1981 to 1999 he was director of NiSource
Industries and was chairman and CEO of AAA- Chicago Motor Club
from 1994 to 1997. He was also president of the Gary Junior Chamber
of Commerce, the Indiana State Board of Pharmacy, Northwest Indiana
Association of Commerce and Industry and the Better Business Bureau
of Indiana. He is an emeritus member of Butler’s Board of Trustees.
Carolyn Ribordy was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma at Butler and
received her B.S. in pharmacy in 1954. She was very active in campus
activities and honoraries and served as secretary and vice president of the
American Pharmaceutical Association. She and Denis have four children: Cheryl Blakey, Scott Ribordy (Butler 1985, B.S. in business
administration), Nancy Ribordy (Butler 1985, B.S. in public-corporate
communications) and Mark Ribordy (Butler 1987, B.S. in business
administration). In 1996, Denis and Carolyn made a significant gift to
fund the renovation of a large lecture room in the Butler Pharmacy
School, and room 204 was named in their honor.
Edward J. Rowe, Ph.D.
Lecture Hall, Room 103
This pharmacy lecture hall was named in honor and
appreciation of Edward J. Rowe Ph.D. by his dedicated
and grateful pharmacy colleagues. Rowe received his B.S.
in pharmacy in 1937 and his Ph.D. in 1941, both from
the University of Wisconsin, after which he joined the
faculty of the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy. His
teaching duties transferred to Butler when that institution merged with
the Indianapolis College of Pharmacy in 1945. At that time, Rowe was
named head of Butler’s pharmacy department, a position he held for all
of his 41 years at Butler before retiring in 1982. He received Butler’s
Baxter Award for excellence in teaching in 1955 and again in 1956. He
was a past president of the American Institute of the History of
Pharmacy and the American Association of College Honor Societies. He
also served 25 years as secretary-treasurer of the National Association of
Boards of Pharmacy, District IV, and was a past national president of
Rho Chi Society. He was also a member of Sigma Chi fraternity. Rowe
died in October 1995 at age 84. His wife, Dr. Margaret E. Rowe, also
taught at Butler; she died in 2003.
Pharmacy
Walgreens Healthy Horizons Lab
Walgreen Company, a longtime Butler supporter, made a major commitment to the ButlerRising Campaign to name the Walgreens Healthy
Horizons Lab, to be located in the yet-to-be-built Health Education
Center. The lab will house Butler’s current Healthy Horizons program,
which promotes healthy living by providing students, faculty and staff
with a comprehensive health promotion and wellness program. Begun in
2003 by a team of Butler faculty and staff, the program focuses on
Butler becoming a proactive employer in the promotion of healthy
behaviors and engages students, faculty and staff in becoming active
partners in the process.
The Walgreens Healthy Horizons Lab will provide an area for
patient education as well as student learning experiences regarding
health screenings for diabetes, cholesterol and blood glucose. There will
also be areas for consultation and education in blood pressure measurement, healthy behaviors and self-care education. All first-year pharmacy
students will undergo comprehensive screenings and health assessments
in the Walgreens Healthy Horizons Lab and will develop their own personal health portfolios. The lab will be also a rotation site for fourth-year
pharmacy students.
Pharmacy
Robertson Hall
Robertston Hall
Robertson Hall, which currently serves as the Butler
University Welcome Center and houses the Offices of
Admissions, Alumni and Parent Programs and Financial
Aid, was named in memory of Mrs. Carrie Robertson.
Mrs. Robertson, a member of the Butler University
Board of Directors, announced to the board in 1926 that
Carrie
she had made provisions for a chapel to commemorate the
Robertson
lives of her husband and herself. Her husband Alexander
M. Robertson was a partner in the Robertson & Perry Grocery firm in
Indianapolis.
Mrs. Roberston was a leader in Indianapolis club work. She was a
charter member of the Indianapolis Propylaeum and the Indianapolis
Women’s Club. She served for 25 years as president of the Matinee
Musicale and in 1912 was made honorary vice president for life of the
National Federation of Music Clubs. She was also a charter member of
the Second Presbyterian Church and was active in its work for more
than 60 years.
She died on Aug. 8, 1941. Robertson Hall was completed in 1942
with donations from Robertson and members of the Irwin, Sweeney and
Miller families. The building housed the Butler School of Religion until
1958, when the school separated from Butler to form Christian
Theological Seminary.
In 1966, the building was renovated into a women’s residence hall
and renamed Robertson Hall. The building was again renovated in 1997
into the university welcome center. It was rededicated during Butler’s
Homecoming in September 1997.
Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall
Ruth K. Duckwall Williams earned a bachelor of arts
degree from Butler University in 1939. Prior to her death
in 1997, Mrs. Williams bequeathed to Butler some property in Hamilton County. By prior agreement with Mrs.
Williams, the property was sold after her death and the
proceeds provided for a new 140-seat recital hall named in
honor of her parents, Paul Duckwall and Iva Eidson Duckwall, a faculty member of the Jordan Conservatory of Music (now Jordan College
of Fine Arts). Occupying the space of the former Sweeney Chapel,
Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall was constructed with a 300-square-foot
floor of white oak and walls of oak and mahogany. Acoustician Charles
Boner of Texas tuned the hall to enhance the sound quality of all types
of performances. Dedicated in December 2004, Eidson-Duckwall
Recital Hall is now a prominent addition to performing arts venues on
campus.
Robertston Hall
Ford Salon
Robertston Hall
Respected and admired Wabash, Ind. physician Dr. James Ford (born in 1812) served
Butler as commissioner from 1850 to 1852
and as a founding member of the board of
directors from 1852 to 1861. Dr. Ford nurtured the fledgling University into maturity
Edwin Holton and helped shape Butler’s future, often proJames Ford
Ford
viding and soliciting the human and financial resources needed to assure its success.
Quoted from his 1888 History of the Ford Family, he refers to his
attendance at “every sitting of the Trustees”:
“Two and one-half days were spent on horse-back in going, and as
many in coming, and two in the University, making one week spent
each trip, cost me in money spent, and time lost from business, over
fifty dollars for every trip that was made. It was not regretted then,
and is a source of pleasure now. Man should not live for self only!”
He resigned his position with Butler and left Wabash in the early
years of the Civil War to serve the United States Army as Surgeon with
the 8th Regiment Indiana Volunteers. His great-grandson, philanthropist
and Wabash native Richard Edwin Ford, made a generous gift in honor
of his great-grandfather’s legacy and his commitment to Butler University, enabling the University to create an elegant gathering place beneath
the Eidson-Duckwell Recital Hall. The Ford Salon is also named in
honor of Richard Ford’s grandfather, Edwin Holton Ford, as well as all
of Ford’s descendants who attended or will attend Butler. The Ford
Salon was dedicated June 29, 2006. Edwin Holton Ford attended Butler
from 1878 to 1879 and later founded the Ford Meter Box Company in
Wabash.
The Johnson Room
Robertston Hall
The Johnson Room in Robertson Hall is named for former
Butler University President John G. “Jack” Johnson. The
room is used for receptions and special functions throughout the year and features a portrait of Johnson painted by
artist Edmund Brucker.
Johnson became the 22nd president of Butler University on Sept. 1, 1978. The new position was a return to Butler for
Johnson, who worked at the University in the mid-1960s.
Originally from Irwin, Pa., Johnson received his formal education
from Carnegie Institute of Technology. He served in the U.S. Army
Artillery in Europe during World War II, after which he went into private
business in Pittsburgh for about five years. He was named the associate
secretary and then executive secretary at Carnegie Institute of Technology
from 1954 to 1960. He then accepted a position as associate secretary and
then executive director of the American Alumni Council, where he stayed
until 1963.
It was then that Johnson first joined Butler as vice president for
development (1964–66). He left to return to Carnegie-Mellon, where he
was the vice president for development until 1978, when he became
Butler’s president.
Johnson served as president of Butler until December 1988, after
which he served for two years as the university’s chancellor. During his
presidency, Johnson held positions on many corporate and community
boards, maintaining a promise he made at his inauguration to get Butler
involved in the Indianapolis community.
Weedman Lobby
Robertston Hall
Dedicated in December, 2004 the lobby of the EidsonDuckwall Recital Hall was named in honor of Sidney
Weedman by National City Bank of Indiana, which made
a generous gift to provide for refurbishment of the space.
Weedman, a 1960 Butler graduate (B.A., theatre) and a
vice president at National City Bank, has a long and laudable record of community service and volunteerism. Organizations he
has assisted include the Indiana Sports Corporation, Indianapolis
Convention and Visitors Association, Commission for Downtown, 500
Festival, Indianapolis Zoological Society, Eiteljorg Museum and the
1987 Pan-American Games. He is an alumnus of the Stanley K. Lacy
Leadership Series. Weedman spearheaded some of the city’s most ambitious projects: beautification of Monument Circle; renovation of the
Circle Theatre; and the relocation of Washington Street and site clearance for the development and construction of the Indianapolis Zoo,
White River walkway, National Institute for Fitness and Sport and the
Eiteljorg Museum.
Weedman taught technical theatre and television classes at Butler.
He served as the public relations director and advancement director of
Clowes Memorial Hall from 1966 to 1973 and was general manager
from 1973 to 1978, during which time he also worked as general manager of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. He served on the university’s Commission on the Future from 1985 to 1987 and was named
president of the Alumni Association in 1990. He represented the association on Butler’s Board of Trustees from 1990 to 1994. For his loyalty
and service to his alma mater, Weedman was awarded the Butler Medal
in 1991. Weedman’s wife Sharon also attended Butler as did two of their
three daughters.
Lynn House
Dorothy Black Lynn, a 1923 graduate of Butler
University, was a social leader and philanthropist who supported may causes in Indiana. At Butler, she majored in
English, served as senior class vice president and was a
member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Upon graduating she worked briefly for International Harvester before
joining Eli Lilly and Company as a secretary. Mrs. Lynn made her mark
in the community as founder and president of the Indianapolis chapter
of the English-Speaking Union, a trustee of Hanover College, a member
of the President’s Council at Purdue University and a board member for
the Indianapolis Museum of Art. She also worked alongside her husband, Lilly executive Charles Lynn, to carry out his broad civic and educational interests. Mrs. Lynn was awarded the prestigious Butler Medal
in 1975 and left a very generous bequest to Butler. In her honor and in
gratitude for her generosity, Butler named one of the new Apartment
Village buildings for her: the Dorothy Lynn House. Mrs. Lynn was honored posthumously in October 2006 along with 42 other members of
the University’s Million Dollar Donor Society.
Student Housing
Parker House
Student Housing
Dr. Dorothy Inez Parker grew up in Bargersville, Ind.
and attended Butler University, where she received her
bachelor of science degree in botany in 1932. As a student,
Parker was active in Scarlet Quill (an honor society for
senior women), YWCA, the German Club and the
Woman’s League. She received her master’s degree in 1934
and her Ph.D. in botany in 1936 from the University of Cincinnati
before becoming a biology teacher at Brenau College, the University of
Cincinnati and St. Mary’s College in Indiana.
Parker worked for the Rockefeller Foundation as a bibliographer
and librarian and was instrumental in establishing agricultural programs
and libraries in Mexico and other Latin American countries, as well as in
Africa and India. Parker was an international authority on development
of agricultural libraries and information service networks. She was the
foundation’s associate director for agriculture upon retiring in the 1970s.
Parker then served a six-year term on the board of directors for Western
College in Oxford, Ohio, and she worked to restore flood-damaged
manuscripts in Florence, Italy.
Parker was living in White Plains, N.Y. at the time of her death
in 1999. She left the entirety of her estate, nearly $3 million, to Butler
University. In gratitude, Butler named one of the new Apartment Village
buildings in her honor: the Dorothy Parker House. She was honored
posthumously in October 2006 along with 42 other members of the
University’s Million Dollar Donor Society.
Ross Residence Hall
Student Housing
Ross Residence Hall, built in 1954, is named for former
Butler president Maurice O’Rear Ross. M.O. Ross became
the 19th president of Butler in 1942. He held the position
for 20 years, longer than any other president.
During Ross’s presidency, Butler acquired its College
of Pharmacy Building, Atherton Center, the men’s dormitory and women’s residence hall, Holcomb Observatory, the Holcomb
Carillon Tower, the Holcomb Garden House, radio building and the
Hilton U. Brown Theatre. At the time of his retirement in August 1962,
construction was underway on Clowes Memorial Hall, Irwin Library and
Lilly Hall. Also underway was an addition to the men’s residence hall that
was later named Ross Residence Hall in his honor.
A graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan University, Ross earned his M.A.
and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. Ross joined
the Butler faculty as dean of the College of Business Administration in
1938. He held that post until September 1949, though he was named
the university’s president in 1942.
Born in Hillsboro, Ky., Ross served in the Navy Air Service in
World War I. After the war, he was a high school teacher, principal, football coach and superintendent of schools in Sturgis, Ky. He went to
Earlham College as a professor of economics from 1924 to 1931 and
then was named dean of the college. He left Earlham in 1937 to accept a
position as professor of finance at the University of Tennessee. He
returned to Indiana to teach at Ball State University in 1938; later that
year he began his career at Butler.
Louis Schwitzer Memorial Hall
Student Housing
Butler University’s women’s residence hall was named in
honor of Louis H. Schwitzer during the school’s
Homecoming on Oct. 24, 1964. Schwitzer made a substantial gift to the University to retire the debt on the
residence hall.
Originally from Austria, Louis Schwitzer attended
the Imperial Military Artillery Academy in Vienna. He later earned master’s degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering from the German
University of Darmstaadt and Karlsruhe. He then founded Schwitzer
Corp., which he developed into one of the chief suppliers of engineered
and precision products for the automotive industry.
Schwitzer, an industrialist and philanthropist, pioneered supercharging internal combustion engines and was the first to build them in
the United States. He served on the Society of Automotive Engineers
national council for many years.
In addition to his success in the business world, Schwitzer was
the winner of the first automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway. He won the 10-mile race in 5 minutes, 13.5 seconds on
Aug. 19, 1909.
A patron of the arts, Schwitzer was a member of the board of the
Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and owned a collection of fine paintings and glassware. In 1966, he received an honorary doctor of science
degree from Butler and an honorary doctor of laws degree from Indiana
Central College (now the University of Indianapolis). Schwitzer passed
away on May 9, 1967.
Butler University
Special
Places in
Memory
Hilton U. Brown Theatre
Special Places in Memory
The Hilton U. Brown Theatre served as a favorite outdoor
performance venue for more than 40 years before competition from newer, technically more modern facilities severely
reduced the theatre’s popularity. It had lain idle for almost
13 years before it was razed in May 2005 to allow for renovations to the Butler Bowl and construction of the new
Apartment Village for student housing.
The theatre was named for Indianapolis newspaperman and longtime Butler supporter Hilton U. Brown. Brown, an 1880 graduate of
Butler, received his master’s degree from the University in 1882. He was
the youngest man ever elected to Butler’s board of directors in 1885 when
he was 25. He became president of the board in 1903. When he
announced that he would retire in 1955 after 70 years on the board and
52 as its president, the board immediately elected him president emeritus.
Brown began his professional career as the principal of the Oaktown,
Ind., Academy. He returned to Indianapolis in July 1881 to become a
reporter for The Indianapolis News, where he worked until Sept. 20, 1958,
exactly five months shy of his 100th birthday.
Brown served as reporter, city editor, assistant to the managing editor,
managing editor and secretary-treasurer at The News over his nearly 80
years of employment. He was director of the American Newspaper
Publishers Association for more than 40 years, and he was the only man
ever twice elected national president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
He was also an elder of the Downey Avenue Christian Church and
president of the boards of the Christian Foundation, the Indiana Law
School and the Arthur Jordan Foundation. He was a member of the board
of the John Herron Art Institute.
Edward Gallahue Trustee Meeting Room
After the dedication of the Edward and Dorothy Gallahue
Science Hall, Room 300 was designated as the Edward
Gallahue Board of Trustees Meeting Room to honor Mr.
Gallahue for his service on the board of trustees as well as
his loyalty and support of Butler. Edward and Dorothy
contributed generously to make the science hall a reality.
“I have felt close to Butler since my childhood days in Irvington,” said
Gallahue of his many contributions to the University, including service
as trustee. A portion of the third floor of Gallahue was renovated in
2003, and the Gallahue Board Meeting Room, which had been used as
such for a number of years, was converted into much-needed office
space for the head of Butler’s chemistry department.
Sweeney Chapel
S
weeney Chapel was part of Butler’s School of Religion, housed in
Robertson Hall. In April 1941, the School of Religion boasted that
it had the best library of church history literature in the United
States. It held 30,000 volumes at a value of $100,000. On September 1,
1959, the College of Religion separated from Butler to become
Christian Theological Seminary, and the entire building became available for the University’s use. Sweeney Chapel was a much sought-after
site for alumni weddings for decades after CTS moved to his own campus. In 2004, the chapel space was renovated to accommodate the new
Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall. The chapel altar was lovingly restored in
2006 on behalf of Butler alumni who fondly remember the chapel by
Scott E. Phillips, class of 1986, and Tracy Barron Phillips, class of 1988.
The restored altar is now in Weedman Lobby outside the recital hall.
Bona Thompson Library (Now The Bona
Thompson Memorial Center)
T
he neoclassical Bona Thompson Memorial Center at 5350
University Avenue once served as Butler’s library – “the jewel of
the old campus” – and is the last remaining building of Butler’s
Irvington home where the University was located from 1875 to 1928.
Today, it houses the Irvington Historical Society, which has renovated
and restored the building to once again be a dynamic place for community gatherings and exhibits of art and history.
The Thompson family was involved in banking, cattle and other
commercial interests in Edinburgh, Ind., where Bona was born on May
17, 1878. Her two siblings died in early childhood, and she became the
focus of all her parents’ hopes. Bona’s father Edward G. Thompson
moved the family to Irvington in 1890, allowing Bona to complete high
school and attend Butler College while living at home. At Butler, she was
a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and according to yearbooks,
“was known for the brightness and cheerfulness of her disposition.”
Bona graduated in 1897, and two years later died of typhoid fever
at age 22, shortly after returning from Europe; the trip was a graduation
gift from her parents. Devastated, they gave $42,000 in cash to Butler
and donated land for a memorial library. Sadly, Bona’s mother, Mary,
died before the library was built; her father survived only long enough to
see it open in January 1903. Mr. and Mrs. John H. Thompson, relatives
of the Edward Thompsons, donated to the University additional funds
for the library and a portrait of Bona, painted by T.C. Steele. Today that
portrait hangs in Robertson Hall on the Fairview campus.
Built with Indiana limestone, the library, was designed by architects Henry H. Dupont and Jesse T. Johnson.
Home Plate — First Intercollegiate
Game at Fairview
A cast bronze plaque at the north end of the Jordan
Hall/Irwin Library mall marks the site of home plate
during the first intercollegiate game played on Butler’s
Fairview campus. It was a baseball game against the
University of Chicago on May 17, 1924 — and Butler
won 8-6! The plate lists the members of the 1924 Butler
Robert Keach Baseball team along with coach Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle.
The plaque was donated by J. Robert Keach, class of 1925, a member of
Sigma Chi fraternity. Keach, a charter member of Butler’s Athletic Hall
of Fame for his contributions in football, basketball and baseball, died in
April 1977.

Registry of Endowed Funds and Named Spaces

Transcription

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