As a high school student, Diana Mutz studied flute with a Butler professor, and for the past three years she’s taken harp lessons from adjunct Wendy Muston. Mutz’s daughter Lucy, now 16, danced in Butler Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker for six years and has studied harp with Muston for eight years.
“So even though I didn’t graduate from Butler,” Mutz said, “I sometimes feel like I did because I have all these connections through dance and music at Butler.”
Mutz is the newest member of the Jordan College of Fine Arts’ 17-member Board of Visitors, whose job is to support the mission and objectives of college through development, direct contact with students and by providing links to the Indianapolis arts, business and professional communities.
She said her main goal is to get the community involved with Butler and Butler involved with the community.
Just like she and her family have done.
Mutz said when Lucy was in The Nutcracker, “I was practically in The Nutcracker too, staying up till 1 a.m. curling her hair for the Party Scene.” Mutz grew to appreciate the Dance Department and admire the professionalism of the choreographers, administrators and professors. And Lucy learned how to work hard, commit to a project and be poised in a sometimes-chaotic environment.
“The way they treated those children was astoundingly wonderful,” she said. “It really gave Lucy an amazing gift because I think it gave her a fairytale Christmas every year. And watching her do that and my experience with it gave me a love of Butler that I had never had before.”
Mutz graduated from Vassar College in 1985 with a bachelor’s in psychology, and she earned her MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in 1989. She’s been a stay-at-home mom for most of her career, home-schooling both of her children.
Ron Caltabiano, dean of Butler’s Jordan College of Fine Arts, said he’s happy to have Mutz on the Board of Visitors because “she deeply believes in the mission and objectives of Jordan College and is already enthusiastically using her skills and contacts to help us achieve those goals.”
Said Mutz: “I want people in the community to have the same kind of wonderful experiences with Butler that I’ve had.”
