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Master Teacher–Robert Carlson
Robert Carlson, a Butler instructor for 30 years, is the college’s Master Teacher Award winner for the 2019–2020 academic year.
Carlson will also represent Butler as a recipient of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD) Excellence Award. NISOD assists community and technical college staff in professional development as well as helping faculty meet the needs of students.
According to NISOD, the Excellence Award recognizes community and technical college faculty who perform “extraordinary work on their campuses.” Those chosen have “demonstrated outstanding commitment and contribution to their students and colleagues.”
Carlson teaches chemistry and physics at Butler. He said he strives to get his students to perform at levels they did not think were possible, in order to prepare them for the next step in their education.
Carlson said he is honored to earn the accolades, even though it has not been a goal of his.
Typically, award winners travel to Austin in late May to attend a banquet and awards ceremony, where they are awarded a medallion. The in-person NISOD gathering for this year was canceled, however, due to CDC recommendations.
At Butler, Carlson's photo will be added to the wall collection of previous Butler Community College Master Teacher recipients, awarded since 1973. Carlson did speak for the virtual commencement, available to view on Butler's YouTube channel.
After teaching and coaching at Oberlin High School in western Kansas for five years, Carlson joined Butler as a faculty member in 1990. At the time, faculty aided with enrollment, which was all done in person in one day. He recalls the 600 Building before the lower level was constructed and three working oil wells operating on campus in the middle of the parking lots.
Carlson has been a facilitator with the Grizzly Adventures challenge course since its creation in 2003. He was involved this year in the creation of a chemistry video that was shown to thousands of grade school children during a Wichita Thunder hockey game in January at INTRUST Bank Arena.
Carlson is a big believer in peer tutoring and has created several initiatives for students to take advantage of, including a weekly tutoring program called Magical Mystical Fridays.
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He also created Carlson’s Corner on the Andover campus, in which he pulled around a wagon loaded with tutoring materials.
Carlson also has a personal website with nearly 400 videos for tutoring purposes that he shares with interested students. It is all in effort to help students be successful.
A native of Smith Center, Carlson attended Colby Community College and credits chemistry and physics instructor Max Pickerill for igniting his passion to teach those same subjects. After Colby, Carlson earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degree from Fort Hays State University, but has also done
course work at Kansas State University, the University of Kansas, Wichita State University, Emporia State University, and Montana State University.
“I like taking classes because I think it keeps me grounded on how the students feel when I teach,” Carlson said.
While he may someday retire from Butler, Carlson never wants to retire from teaching. He wants to travel and instruct in other schools and other locations to get immersed in different cultures. He said he would like to take classes from MIT and Harvard in the future.
