2019 Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence

Citation for Michael Butler

Through his mix of lecture courses, freshman seminars, and capstone seminars, Professor Butler, step by step, has offered an intensive examination of the conduct of American diplomacy in the twentieth century. Grounded in academic scholarship, his teaching is infused with extensive experience as a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. Department of State, holding a variety of high­ranking positions in Portugal, Romania, Spain, Argentina, Norway, El Salvador, and Finland, where he served as acting Ambassador (Chargé d'Affaires) in the U.S. Embassy.

His reputation as a talented, caring, and extraordinarily dedicated instructor is supported by  student praise, noting his “fantastic enthusiasm and willingness to encourage discussion and debate in class" and his "outstanding grasp of the diplomatic and political history of the 1920s-1930s" and commenting, “one of the most academically and scholastically invigorating courses I have taken at William & Mary." Alongside his classroom teaching, he has advised senior thesis projects and independent studies, with the students producing excellent final research products under his guidance.

It is fitting that he now be recognized with the Arts & Sciences 2019 Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence.