John R. Butler

Office Address

Professional Experience

• Currently serve as director of communication and strategy for the affiliated funds of Painters District Council No. 30 (PDC 30) and as assistant fund administrator for the PDC 30 Health and Welfare and Pension Fund
• Strategic communication and organizational development consulting, primarily for labor organizations and multi-employer benefit funds and independent scholar in the field of public argumentation
• Prior appointment as assistant professor and director of forensics (speech and debate), Department of Communication, Northern Illinois University

Education

• Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh, Department of Rhetoric and Communication, Emphasis: Public Argument
• M.A., Northern Illinois University, Department of Communication, Emphasis: Rhetorical Studies
• B.A., Northern Illinois University, Department of Political Science, Major: Political Science/Public Law; Minor: Black Studies

Leadership and Public Service

• Member of NIU Board of Trustees since December 2007; served as board chair (Jan 2017-June 2017; 2013-2015); board vice chair (2015-2017; 2009-2011); secretary (2017-2019); executive committee member (2013-present); 2009-2011); chair of the Research and Innovation, Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee (2017-2019); chair of Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Personnel Committee (2009-2011); chair of Finance, Administration, Facilities and Operations Committee (2014-2017); and chair of Ad Hic Committee on Governance (2014-2017). Formed (during service as board chair) three ad hoc committees: Sponsored Research and Technology Transfer (2013-2014), Enrollment (2014-2017) and Governance (2014-2017)
• Elected as NIU Board of Trustee’s representative to the University Civil Service Merit Board to several one-year terms from May 2019-present; and prior July 2018-June 2019
• Member, board of directors, Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture, Chicago (2014-2021)
• Participant, National Labor Leadership Initiative, Midwest Regional Program, a program of The Worker Institute, School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), Cornell University and the AFL-CIO, Class of 2019
• Pro bono consulting in strategic communication for organizations involved in workforce development, child care, food distribution, litigation, grass-roots civil rights advocacy and municipal elections
• Served two terms as student regent, Illinois Board of Regents, 1992-1994
• Member and served as president of Sigma Nu Fraternity, Theta Eta Chapter, NIU, 1989-1992

Notable Awards and Recognitions

• Distinguished Alumni Award, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, NIU, 2014
• Certificate of Appreciation, Recognition of Valuable Contributions to NIU Women’s Studies and LGBT Studies Program, 2014
• Alumni Speaker, 1st Annual Lavender Graduation, NIU, 2010
• Recipient, 15th Annual Eychaner Award, NIU Presidential Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Prism, 2009

Publications

• [with Philip Dalton] Public Policy Argumentation and Debate: A Practical Guide for Advocacy, Second Edition (New York: Peter Lang, 2021)
• [with Philip Dalton] "Getting Clipped: Denial and Masculinity Politics in the 2002 U.S. Senate Race in Montana," Western Journal of Communication3 (May-June 2010): 226-248
• "Transgender DeKalb: Observations of an Advocacy Campaign," Journal of Homosexuality 45 (2/3/4 2003): 277-296 (reprinted in: Queer Theory and Communication: From Disciplining Queers to Queering the Discipline(s), Gust A. Yep, Karen E. Lovaas, and John P. Elia, Eds. (New York: The Haworth Press, Inc., 2003) 277-296
• "Somalia and the Imperial Savage: Continuities in the Rhetoric of War," Western Journal of Communication 1 (Winter 2002): 1-24
• "Carol Moseley-Braun's Day to Talk About Race," Argument and Advocacy 32 (Fall 1995): 62-74