Join Utah in honouring Dr Rusty Butler
09.03.2016
Utah Valley University (UVU) officially announced the retirement of Dr Ross “Rusty” Butler, Associate Vice President, International Affairs and Diplomacy. Dr Butler - an extraordinary individual with a great vision, a diplomat by nature, a globally-minded educator and a very passionate and generous advisor, who is always eager to help people and those in need both in the State of Utah and globally – will be missed.
I am confident that many officials at the United Nations (UN), including foreign diplomats, are grateful to Dr Butler for his leadership and promotion of UN activities in the State of Utah (and vice versa) for more than two decades. Thanks to him, UVU became famous for hosting UN Permanent Representatives from many countries, who both enjoyed local hospitality and provided engaged learning experiences for students and faculty on how to advance many aspects of the UN agenda, such as gender equality, climate change, theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Post-2015 development agenda.
As an Mountain Partnership (MP) focal point for the last ten years, Dr Butler was able to transform UVU into a leading institution in North America in advancing the sustainable mountain development (SMD) agenda of the UN. As a result, UVU is now known internationally as a regular host of the International Women of the Mountains Conferences, major international gatherings advocating for both gender and SMD agendas of the UN in the State of Utah, the Rocky Mountains region and globally.
There is a category of people who enjoyed special favours from Dr Butler: the students at UVU. I was always surprised how he was, and continues to be, very generous in providing funds and support to them as part of their engaged learning experiences on the local, regional, and global levels. He created a tradition at UVU to annually visit the United Nations during sessions of the General Assembly, and as a rule, he included students as members of the delegation.
I also know that many of my compatriots in the Kyrgyz Republic will always appreciate the support and friendship of Dr Butler and his wife, Danielle, both to the government and the people of our mountainous nation located in Central Asia since 1999. That same year, Dr Butler invited me (as the Ambassador of the Kyrgyz Republic in the United States and Canada) and my wife, Cholpon, to visit the State of Utah. It was a trip, which laid the groundwork for the partnership and friendship between the people of our two nations. As a highlight of our relationship, the Governor of the State of Utah, Olene Walker, visited Kyrgyzstan during the summer of 2003, and the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Askar Akaev, paid a reciprocal visit to Utah in September 2004. Since then, thanks to the leadership of Dr Butler, UVU and the State of Utah was visited by many educational, cultural, and business groups from Eurasia.
Utah Valley University will host a reception honouring Dr Butler on 16 March 2016. It would be great if you would be able to join us in thanking him for his leadership and friendship by attending this reception or sending him a direct note of appreciation.
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News by Dr Baktybek Abdrisaev, Utah Valley University
Photo: FAO/Sudeshna Chowdhury
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