Robert Butsch

Senior Database Analyst
Academic Information Systems (AIS)

First UTSW job: I began as a part-time Programmer Analyst in 1988.

Best part of my job: It’s nice when you can find something you do better than anything else you’ve tried, and people will pay you to do it.

How co-workers describe me: Literal-minded. If they ask me, “What do you think about X?” I will likely reply, “It depends on what you mean by X.”

Surprising fact: I’m not really as literal-minded as I may appear.

Unusual memory: I would like to remind old-timers of the late, lamented Bioinstrumentation Resource Center (known in its early days, I think, as Biomedical Engineering), where I spent my first 10 years at UTSW. It was in a one-story building located on a spot now occupied by the JA Building. For several decades it supplied valuable mechanical, electronic, and computer services and expert advice to the campus, in the process providing practical and often highly innovative solutions to numerous challenges faced by UTSW researchers.

Final note: I’ve always said that I prefer working for people who are more intelligent than I am. I’ve managed to experience a lot of that here at UTSW, including in my present position here in AIS.