Purdue News
Purdue News
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October 22, 2001 Accenture executive endows professorship in Krannert SchoolWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A Purdue University alumna and Accenture executive has endowed a professorship in operations management in the Krannert School of Management.
Susan B. Butler, a 1965 Krannert School bachelor's degree graduate, has made a gift of $750,000 to endow the Susan Bulkeley Butler Chair in Operations Management. Butler is managing partner in the office of the CEO of Accenture in Irving, Texas. She is a native of Abingdon, Ill. "We are fortunate to have successful alumni, such as Susan Butler, who help us move toward our goal of preeminence in business education," said Richard A. Cosier, Krannert School dean and Leeds Professor of Management. "Now that our new facility, Rawls Hall, is fully funded, the Krannert School's fund-raising priority has shifted to endowed professorial chairs and scholarships." Rawls Hall, for which groundbreaking will take place on Nov. 16, is the Krannert School's third building. The Krannert Building and the Krannert Center will both continue to provide classroom and office space for the school's undergraduate, graduate and executive programs. The announcement was made as part of Discover Purdue, a yearlong effort to inform people about Purdue's programs and possibilities. Earnings from the Butler-endowed gift, which includes Butler's gift and others, totals $1.5 million, and will help fund the salary of the professor who holds the new chair. The gift's principal will remain intact in perpetuity. "I am where I am in large part because of what Krannert has given me," Butler said. "From my success, I am honored to be able to be able to 'give forward' for the future of Krannert: its preeminent faculty, its innovative students and its supportive environment." In today's competitive academic environment, universities use endowed academic chairs and professorships – the ultimate peer recognition for faculty – to reward, retain and recruit top scholars for exceptional performance in teaching, research and service. Underscoring their strategic importance, Purdue President Martin C. Jischke calls endowed professorships, "one of the measures of a world-class university." Purdue has 68 distinguished and named professorships that are either fully endowed, partially endowed or annually funded. By contrast, Indiana University has 347. The University of Illinois has 219; the University of Michigan, 245; Penn State University, 208; Georgia Institute of Technology, 76. Butler and other Purdue alumni who work at Accenture last year also contributed $1 million to endow a professorship in information technology at the Krannert School. One of those alumni, Joe W. Forehand, a Krannert School master's degree graduate, is the Chairman and CEO of Accenture. Butler's current gift came in answer to a challenge gift by alumni Harold H. Greenberg and Al R. Schleicher. Greenberg is a 1962 Krannert School graduate, who is CEO of Royce Corp., Group of Marketing and Construction Cos., in Tucson, Ariz. Schleicher is a former IBM executive who is director of Rational Software Corp. in Napa, Calif. U.S. News and World Report ranked the Krannert School undergraduate program third nationally in production/operations management in its 2001 survey and second in MBA production/operations management in its 2000 survey. The Wall Street Journal ranked operations management at the Krannert School third nationally in its 2000 survey. Accenture, formerly Andersen Consulting, is an $11.44 billion global management and technology consulting organization that employs 75,000 people in 46 countries. Writer: J. Michael Lillich, (765) 494-2077, mlillich@purdue.edu Sources: Richard A. Cosier, (765) 494-4366, rcosier@mgmt.purdue.edu Susan B. Butler, (917) 452-7760, susan.b.butler@accenture.com Martin C. Jischke, (765) 494-9708 NOTE TO JOURNALISTS: Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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