ANN ARBOR—Barbara Butterfield will, subject to regental approval, serve as associate vice president for human resources and affirmative action and chief human resource officer for the University of Michigan. Provost Nancy Cantor and Robert Kasdin, executive vice president and chief financial officer, made the announcement after concluding a nationwide search.

Pending approval by the U-M Regents, Butterfield’s appointment will be effective on or before Feb. 1, 2001.

“Barbara is known for her skills as a leader and as a strategic thinker,” Cantor said. “She is one of very few individuals in the country who has the expertise and knowledge to manage and direct the HR operation at the University. We are thrilled that she will be joining us and look forward to collaborating with her in building an even better community at Michigan.”

Butterfield has held positions in a variety of settings, including serving as senior vice president and chief human resource officer at the American Intercontinental University, vice president for human resources and vice president for faculty and staff services at Stanford University, and vice president for human resources at the University of Pennsylvania. She also held high-level human resource positions at Duke, Michigan State and Southern Illinois universities. She holds a Ph.D. in education administration from Southern Illinois University.

Nationally known, Butterfield is a member of the Committee to Visit Human Resources at Harvard University. She provides professional development for senior women scientists through the National Science Foundation, and has been active for many years with the College and University Professional Association-HR, including serving as president in 1997.

“With her past experience and enormous talent,” Kasdin added, “Barbara is well positioned to lead the Department of Human Resources and Affirmative Action during this upcoming exciting period of development and change.”

Butterfield was lured out of retirement to join the University, primarily, she said, because of the people she met and talked with during interviews. She will be postponing a “dream” of creating a wildlife rehabilitation center in Arizona to join “the U-M team that works so well together,” she said.

She “shares the same values and outlook” with those she has met here, and looks forward to a “collaborative approach toward an exciting future. The University really has an extremely principled, knockout team.

“I share the view that the University of Michigan is very successful and the confidence of those who are affiliated with the University in its future. This is embodied in its leadership team and in the faculty and staff.”

And, Butterfield said, “what better way to cap a career in higher education than to join the University of Michigan. I love large research universities because of the nature of the institution and the excitement you see everywhere.”

human resources and affirmative actionRegentsNational Science Foundation