Welcome Eric Butt, Director of Environmental Health & Safety
Safety, Service, and Leadership: Eric Butt Joins FSU EH&S - May 26, 2026
Date - May 27th 2026
Florida State University Facilities welcomes Eric Butt as the new Director of Environmental Health & Safety (EH&S). Eric brings over 20 years of experience in industrial management, occupational health and safety, and industrial hygiene. Most recently, he served as the Director of EH&S at Purdue University.
His career at Purdue spanned 14 years, during which he held various roles, including Occupational Health and Safety Manager and Assistant Director, before stepping into the Director position over three years ago.
A board-certified safety management professional, Eric holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Indiana University and a Master of Public Administration from Purdue University Global. He is actively involved in the EH&S DirectorsRound Table and has previously served with several professional safety and industrial hygiene organizations.
At the helm of (EH&S) at Purdue, Eric has enhanced the Integrated Safety Plan (ISP), which guides the university's complex system for managing safety in research and operations. He has also developed a succession plan for EH&S and defined career paths for positions at Purdue. Eric emphasizes the importance of collaborating with stakeholders to ensure safe, compliant research. He states, "EH&S must routinely partner with our customers to help them with solutions to where they are deficient or struggling. When we find hazards on campus, I often like to reflect on the resources and services that EHS is providing to ask if they are adequate for the new complexities and scale of the university."
Eric cites honesty, integrity, family, respect, happiness, and health as his core leadership values. He believes his leadership style will strengthen EH&S efforts at FSU by fostering a work environment that “operates with a continuous improvement mindset, has a high degree of ethical commitment, is goal-oriented, everyone works on professional development, and that we all lead by example.” FSU’s reputation as a leading research institution and its strong financial position initially drew Eric to the role. He notes that it was the "incredible hospitality of everyone I met that sealed the deal for me. I'm really looking forward to getting to know the EHS team and working to provide the team with the tools they need to be successful." Eric finds FSU's culture of student success and deep history and traditions inspiring and looks forward to interacting with the research community and the MagLab.
Eric grew up on a farm in northern Indiana, where he raised everything from corn to goats. He is a nature lover who stays active by competing in sprint and Olympic-distance triathlons, cycling, water skiing, kayaking, and hiking. Eric married his high school sweetheart, Natalie, a nurse eager to connect with the Tallahassee community. Their oldest son, Eric Jr., studies music education at Ball State University, while their youngest son, Nick, a high school senior, runs track and cross country. The family also has two four-legged members, Honey, a Cavapoo, and Bodie, a giant Yorkie. A fun fact about Eric is that he can do a flip on a wakeboard!