This fall, Roger Butters joined the faculty of Hillsdale College as a visiting associate professor in the department of economics.
Butters first became interested in economics during his undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University after his mission work in Brazil. According to Butters, the economics class seemed most applicable to his experiences while working with the poor of Brazil.
“When I came back from Brazil and continued my undergraduate education, this was a problem that weighed heavily on my mind: why do I enjoy so much wealth, and other people don’t?” Butters said. “It was sitting in an economics classroom that I found the answer to that question.”
Butters worked briefly as a stockbroker for Fidelity Investments, but discovered that his true passion was teaching. This led him to obtain his Ph. D. at the University of California, Davis. Butters later became an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he served as the president of the Nebraska Council on Economic Education for the last nine years. As president of this council, he coordinated programming for teachers and students statewide in grades K-12, in addition to developing online competitions in economics and fundraising efforts.
“I spent a lot more time teaching adults and being out in the community doing economic education,” Butters said. “It was a lot of fun, but I enjoyed the classroom much more.”
Butters first came into contact with Hillsdale College while teaching with Professor of Ecnomoics Gary Wolfram as a part of the Economics for Leaders program, a week-long seminar for high school students to help them develop both their leadership skills and their understanding of economics. During this time, he became interested in teaching at the college, and applied for the teaching position when it became available.
With the growing number of students interested in the field of economics, the department at Hillsdale welcomes his arrival.
“I don’t know Dr. Butters as well as I would like yet but he strikes me as an innovative and energetic person,” said Assistant Professor of Economics Christopher Martin. “Because of his teaching experience, he has built up a lot of effective techniques to escape from the ‘chalk and talk’ trap when teaching economics.”
Wolfram also agrees that presenting the topics in an engaging manner will help to stir up interest in economics, especially for the principles of economics classes taught by Butters.
“Having someone who can make the topics interesting and exciting is a real asset to the department,” Wolfram said.
Butters proves his effectiveness at engaging students in lecture by demonstrating the concepts they learn about. One such demonstration of competition and price level involved a skit about making muffins during class.
In addition to the courses he teaches, Butters is creating teaching software for economics classes through McGraw-Hill. The software, which contains approximately 220 short videos on the core concepts of economics, can be used to present the material in a more concrete, understandable way. He has been working on the project for three years, and expects to complete the first version by this spring.
Butters hopes to share his enthusiasm for the field of economics with his students, and also to impart the importance of acting on the principles learned in class.
“If I could have my students walk out of my class observing the world, instead of seeing it, I think that that would be a huge triumph.” Butters said. “That’s what economics really gives you the tools to do, to observe what’s going on. When you do that, the world opens up, and makes it possible for you to change it.