- Lacy School of Business Students Drive Real-World Change with Indianapolis Vision Zero Initiative
At the Lacy School of Business, our students don’t just learn about data analytics – they apply it to real-world challenges that make a tangible impact on our community. This fall, a group of senior students partnered with the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW) to contribute to Vision Zero, the city’s ambitious initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2035.
Through this collaboration, students worked on multiple projects analyzing live traffic data to identify high-risk areas across Indianapolis. One focus area was Michigan Road, where a significant number of traffic-related fatalities have occurred. By examining detailed data – including traffic speeds, patterns, and street usage – students developed actionable recommendations for improving safety, such as where medians or other traffic-calming measures could be most effective.
- From Courtroom to Classroom: Professor Hilary Buttrick’s Journey in Teaching Business Law
For Professor Hilary Buttrick, the path to teaching business law wasn’t a straight line – it was a slow realization that the things she loved most had been pointing her toward the classroom all along.
As an English major at DePauw University, she gravitated toward analyzing arguments, challenging assumptions, and helping classmates think through tough questions. But as graduation neared, she didn’t yet have a name for the career she was meant to pursue.
“Someone suggested I look into law school,” the associate professor of business law recalled. “No one in my family had ever gone, and I didn’t really know what it would be like. But it seemed like a way to leverage my strengths in critical thinking and argumentation.”
- Thinking Like a Business Leader: Inside First-Year Business Experience and Top Dawg
Before most first-year students have even settled into campus life, they’re handed a challenge: Here’s a real company. Here’s a problem. Now go figure out what to do about it.
That’s the heartbeat of the First-Year Business Experience (FBE), a course that throws students into the world of business from day one, letting them learn by building, creating, presenting, and discovering. It’s the class that nudges them out of the familiar and into the mindset of someone who asks hard questions, digs for answers, and thinks like a business professional from the start.
Teams begin the semester by diving into a publicly traded company – an intentional decision that gives students access to real data and real insight.
- Passion, Purpose, and Play: Manolo Ferreres’ Journey in Business and Soccer
When Manolo Ferreres first stepped onto Butler’s campus, he carried more than a suitcase and a soccer ball – he carried a dream.
Growing up in Deltebre, Catalonia, Spain, he had already built a life steeped in discipline and ambition, balancing his studies in economics with his passion for soccer. Moving to the United States meant stepping into a world that was entirely new: a different culture, different people, and new expectations. “At the beginning, it was kind of difficult,” he recalled. “Everything was new. But over time, people here made it easier. The professors, the classmates – they were always willing to help and guide me.”
- Butler Entrepreneurship Named 2026 TechPoint MIRA Awards Finalist for Community Impact
Lacy School of Business (LSB) is proud to announce that Butler Entrepreneurship has been named a 2026 TechPoint MIRA Awards Finalist for the Community Impact Award, recognizing organizations that are transforming Indiana’s tech and business ecosystem.
Launched in January 2025, Butler Entrepreneurship is more than a program – it’s a campus-wide movement that empowers students, faculty, and alumni to transform ideas into ventures that create measurable social, economic, and community impact. Rooted in the belief that business can be a force for good, the program equips students with the skills, mentorship, and resources they need to launch ventures that generate revenue, create jobs, and strengthen local communities.
- Dr. Matthew Lanham Named One of Poets&Quants’ 50 Best Undergraduate Professors
We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Matthew Lanham, Assistant Professor of Business Technology and Analytics for Butler University’s Lacy School of Business, has been named one of Poets&Quants’ 50 Best Undergraduate Professors for 2025.
This recognition honors faculty who demonstrate outstanding teaching excellence and a profound impact on their students’ lives. Dr. Lanham’s teaching philosophy emphasizes experiential learning, student growth, and real-world application, preparing students to think like leaders and problem-solvers.
- Building Business from Scratch: Inside Butler’s Real Business Experience
You walk into a classroom, and it hits you: by the end of the semester, you won’t have merely learned about business – you’ll have built one from scratch. That’s the challenge sophomore students face in the Lacy School of Business’ Real Business Experience (RBE), a program that doesn’t just teach entrepreneurship – it throws you into it.
Teams of six, randomly assigned across majors, take on CEO, CFO, and CMO roles. Over the next few months, they brainstorm ideas, prototype products, manage budgets, handle suppliers, and sell to real customers. Mistakes aren’t hypothetical; they’re costly. Every decision matters. Every setback teaches a lesson.
- Data4Good: Using Data as a Force for Good
This Friday, October 31, marks the registration deadline for the 4th Annual National Data4Good Analytics Competition – a national platform where undergraduate and master’s students apply data and technology to solve real-world challenges. The Data4Good Competition is open to undergraduate and master’s students across the U.S. Teams compete within their regions for cash prizes, with regional winners advancing to present at Johns Hopkins University’s Carey School of Business.
