Spotlight: Michael Butler

Level: Master's
Program: Public Affairs

Michael Butler believes in fairness, he has from a very young age. He said he remembers the instant he realized there should be justice in the world. That moment is stitched into his memory like the stitching on the baseball that created it.

“When I was younger I used to play baseball and I remember playing against this really nasty team. After the game was over I knew they cheated and I remember telling my father it wasn’t fair. My father said life wasn’t fair,” Butler said, “So, I got into public service because I wanted to make life fair.”

That idea, of wanting to make life fair, is why Butler is working on his master’s in Public Affairs through the Truman School at the University of Missouri. While at the school he’s had the opportunity to work on research projects that work towards correcting social injustices. For example, he recently conducted research on payday loan industries. He’s also researched, in his personal time, issues concerning the right to work.

Butler has many awards to show for his accomplishments while in school, one of the latest is the Dr. Stanley Botner Scholarship. He said the Botner award insured he would stay at Mizzou and complete his degree on time. He’s hoping that day will come in May of 2011.

Butler currently works as a legal assistant at the Missouri House of Representatives and he hopes to find a similar job as a public servant after graduation.