History

In October 2004, Susan Bulkeley Butler a former member of Purdue’s Board of Trustees and a 1965 alumna of the Krannert School of Management, donated $3.65 million to endow the Center for Leadership Excellence and a chair with the same name. Butler, who retired in 2002 from Accenture as the first female managing partner, served on the Campaign for Purdue Steering Committee, the President's Council, Women of Purdue, Krannert School of Management Dean's Advisory Council and Purdue Research Foundation board of directors. She also was a member of the Board of Directors for Leadershape and Junior Achievement. In 2003, she created the Susan Bulkeley Butler Institute for the Development of Women Leaders, which offers leadership training for women. Butler, an inspirational speaker and author, published Become the CEO of You, Inc, a how-to primer on planning and developing one’s career and personal potential. In 2010, she published Women Count: A Guide to Changing the World, a book that explores what needs to happen in the next decade to bring equality in sight.

Starting in 2018-19, the center has two new endowments from two first-time donors to Purdue who came along to continue to support the efforts of the center. These endowments partially fund the research project grants.

One such endowment, the Ketan and Tanuja Sheth Family Endowment, has funded seven Butler Center Research Project Grants since 2019. Read about Tanuja Sheth here.

In fall 2024, the goals and mission of the ADVANCE-Purdue (and the Purdue Center for Faculty Success) was integrated into the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence. ADVANCE is a National Science Foundation program designed to develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. ADVANCE-Purdue is an institutional transformation project that targets recruitment, retention, and advancement of women STEM faculty at Purdue University.

Past Directors

Linda Mason, Professor and Dean of The Graduate School

October 2022 - December 2022

Mangala Subramaniam, Professor, Chair and Director
June 2017 - September 2022

Patrice Buzzanell, Professor, Communication, Emeriti Faculty
January 2015 - May 2017

Ileana Cortes Santiago, Interim Program Director
October 2014 - December 2014

Katie Pope, Managing Director
April 2012 - September 2014

Beverly Davenport Sypher, Professor, Brian Lamb School of Communication
July 2007 - March 2012

Ellen Kossek, Basil S. Turner Professor of Management
Research Director, Susan Bulkeley Butler Chair for Leadership Excellence, 2013-20