Kristen Butterfield

Presidential Award of Excellence, 2019

University Honors Program

Educational Program Coordinator

Warm. Approachable. Responsive. Dedicated. Fun.

These are just a few of the words that students and colleagues use to describe Kristen Butterfield. Serving as program coordinator for UNH’s honors program since 2017, Kristen provides guidance, advice, perspective and mentorship to some of the university’s most accomplished students. 

Kristen is a UNH alumna and an honors program graduate, so she understands well the path of her advisees. She is dedicated to our students’ success and shares extraordinary empathy with them. And she is especially cognizant of the situations of multicultural, first-generation, low-income and LGBTQ+ students.

After earning a graduate degree elsewhere, Kristen returned to her alma mater in 2013, working first in the admissions office. Now with the honors program, she puts in countless hours helping high-achieving students realize their unique potential. She is an engaged member of our community and has served as a core facilitator for the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs’ annual Martin Luther King Jr. leadership summit and as an ally for the Diversity Support Coalition. She is a social justice educator and serves on the board of directors for the Waysmeet Center.

There are more titles and accomplishments that reflect her contributions to UNH, including her work helping to launch the Navigators Program for transfer students at the College of Liberal Arts. She also made a yearlong commitment to provide diversity training for the staff of Psychological and Counseling Services.

But it’s her impact on individual students that best speaks to her contributions. In the many nominations that students wrote for Kristen, this was a recurring theme: “I chose UNH because of Kristen. I stayed at UNH because of Kristen. Kristen has helped me face and overcome challenges that were both academic and personal.”

One student nominator put it this way: “Kristen Butterfield is one of the best parts of the UNH community and the University Honors Program. What she does for students is exactly what our university should celebrate.”