Timothy Butler

Dr. Timothy Butler, is an Associate Professor of Global Supply Chain Management in the Mike Ilitch School of Business. He also serves as the Wayne State University Faculty Athletics Representative to the NCAA since the fall of 2019.

With more than 35 years of service to Wayne State, Dr. Butler teaches operations management, supply chain management, quantitative analysis and quality improvement in both on-line and traditional (in-person) formats. Dr. Butler was a leader in the development of the Ph.D. program for the Mike Ilitch School of Business, serving as chair of the faculty Ph.D. program development committee and as the founding director of the program. He was also instrumental in the development of the General Motors / Wayne State Supply Chain Case Competition which has engaged over 800 students from around the world over the past 10+ years. Dr. Butler led the first Global Supply Chain Study Abroad trip to Europe and has led four study abroad programs to Central Europe and Italy.

His research focus is operations and supply chain management, examining process operations, efficiency, and operations strategy. Dr. Butler's research has appeared in numerous top tier Operations Management and Supply Chain journals, including Journal of Operations Management and Decision Sciences. As a member of INFORMS research institute, he served on the Health Care Applications Group Council, and served as President of the Southeast Michigan Chapter. Dr. Butler has served on the editorial board of Health Care Management Science, The International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, and Journal of Logistics and Transport (Poland). In 2015, Dr. Butler was awarded the William J. Fulbright (Specialist) Scholarship, whereby he traveled and lectured in Poland and China.

Dr. Butler received his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1989. He is an active volunteer in Grosse Pointe and Detroit. He and his wife, Beverly, live in Grosse Pointe Woods.