SENCER Center for Innovation
Central Plains
About SCI-Central Plains
Butler University is the host institution for the SENCER Center for Innovation Midwest (Central Plains Region). Our leadership team includes Dr. Margaret Brabant, Dr. Donald Braid, Dr. Joseph Kirsch, Dr. Robert Holm and Dr. Laura Behling. Dr. Holm and Dr. Behling serve as co-directors.
As a SENCER Center for Innovation, Butler University brings the ideals of SENCER to faculty, staff and students at Butler and to interested institutions in the central plains region. The SCI assists Butler in achieving its educational mission with regard to civic education and engagement, general education (core), and STEM majors courses. The SCI also provides Butler and regional institutions with leadership for the following activities: developing or enhancing civic education and civic engagement at the local level, in the Midwest, and nationally; faculty development, course development, curricular development and faculty/undergraduate research support; unique, out of classroom learning opportunities; and strategies to connect k-16 science education with civic education.
We explore SENCER ideals with colleagues at regional conferences, explore innovations in education and the development of new programs through civic partnerships, continue and expand Butler’s leadership role in civic engagement in the community, and develop new teaching methods - all in the context of educational citizenship in the community.
About the Host Institution: Butler University
Butler University is a nationally recognized comprehensive university that blends the liberal arts with high quality professional programs. The 290-acre campus is located in the heart of Indianapolis. Butler offers more than 55 undergraduate degrees, one first professional and 18 master’s degrees through six colleges: Business, Communication, Education, Fine Arts, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Pharmacy and Health Sciences. The colleges provide the infrastructure for a key part of Butler's mission - "to provide the highest quality of liberal and professional education and to integrate the liberal arts with professional education."
Ovid Butler founded the University in 1855. Currently, 4,034 Butler undergraduates study with 336 full-time faculty members (fall 2010). Butler students represent 45 U.S. states and 52 countries. The faculty is dedicated to fulfilling Butler’s core commitment of “providing the highest quality of teaching and to achieving the highest ideals of student learning.”
Butler students also benefit from outstanding opportunities for experiential education in the nation’s 13th largest city. Ninety-five percent of Butler graduates have participated in some form of internship, student teaching, clinical rotation, research or service learning. The Butler Way guides students not just to make a living but to make a life of purpose, in which individual flourishing is intertwined with the welfare of others.
More Information
Upcoming Events
Butler University Annual Undergraduate Research Conference
April 20, 2012
Wm. David Burns, keynote speaker
Central Plains
Co-Directors
Dr. Laura Behling
Associate Provost, Butler University
lbehling@butler.edu
Dr. Robert Holm
Director of Butler University Institute for Research and Scholarship
rholm@butler.edu
Leadership Council
Dr. Margaret Brabant
Butler University
Dr. Donald Braid
Butler University
Dr. Joseph Kirsch
Butler University