Alumni Service Award Recipient
College of Design, April 1, 2014
Nedret and Mark Butler, both earned bachelor of art degrees in architecture in 1972 and bachelor of architecture degrees in 1973 from the College of Design at the University of Minnesota. They completed master of architecture degrees from MIT in 1976 and taught architecture at Iowa State University in the 1980s before moving back to Turkey where they founded their Istanbul-based architectural design firm M&N Butler Mimarlar. In addition, they are developers and owners of Sumahan on the Water, an Ottoman factory turned five-star boutique hotel on the Bosporus. They are described as enthusiastic alumni and devoted members of the University community, and are credited with establishing a permanent home for University students to study and teach in Istanbul — the Istanbul Learning Abroad Center, which opened in 2013. They have given their own funds to this effort and have participated in the education of almost 100 University of Minnesota students.
Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.