VP Butterfield steps down for Stanford post

Vice President for Human Relations Barbara Butterfield, who has primary responsibility for overseeing the University's employees, will leave the University in June to take a similar post at Stanford University. Butterfield, who has held the position for four years, will be Stanford's first human relations vice president. In her post, she managed the second-largest workforce in the city. Butterfield said last night she "has mixed feelings" about the new position, saying she will miss her staff and the administrators she has become attached to during her tenure on campus. The human relations head said she is moving to Stanford to be near her husband, who will soon become an out-patient of a cardiology program in Palo Alto. He is currently a patient at Duke University's program, forcing Butterfield to travel between North Carolina and Philadelphia every weekend. "The position at Stanford lets me balance both sides of my life," Butterfield said. Butterfield's duties at the University include setting and accomplishing goals for the University's work environment and improving employee relations. She said she is most proud of her department's focus on ethics, equality, diversity and balance in the work place, saying those are the values she has tried to instill in the administration's human resources planning. She added that she has recently concentrated on "conservation of the University's assets." President Sheldon Hackney yesterday praised Butterfield's work at the University, calling her a "rare talent in the field of human resources in higher education." "She helped build a sense of community among University employees," Hackney said. "It's because of her set of values. She cares about how people deal with each other and she's able to transfer that to policies and programs." Hackney said Butterfield has provided University employees with more extensive career advancement activities, more rational salary policies and better equity studies. He also praised her for helping to organize diversity awareness programs. Staff and Labor Relations Director Rogers Davis, who worked in Butterfield's department, said the outgoing vice president is extraordinary at unifying employees and bringing "a positive attitude to the issue of staff relations." Stanford University Provost James Rosse, who said he hired Butterfield based on her experience and accomplishments, said she will be the highest level administrator involved in developing human resources policies and programs. He said her duties at Stanford will be roughly the same as those at the University. Hackney, who said he learned of Butterfield's resignation on Friday, said he has not yet begun to search for her replacement and said he is doubtful the administration will fill the position before Butterfield leaves in June. Hackney said he will search for someone with Butterfield's same values and abilities to bring employees together. "If I could clone her, I would do it," Hackney said.

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