Marcus Butts -- IT Work in a Crisis

Working on the computer help desk for Duke University Press, Marcus Butts has his share of crises to deal with on a typical day. Sometimes, those crisis aren't typical, such as the day a car crashed into a utility pole outside his building, causing a power outage.

As he and other members of the Duke University Press IT department began shutting down the servers, they were ordered to evacuate the office because of a possible fire in the building. Once the smoke cleared, panicked calls about lost data and other computer issues came flooding in.

"You just have to remain calm and put yourself in the user's position," Butts said. "They're trying to do their work. If I start panicking, they'll start panicking, too."

Butts, who received a 2006 Presidential Award in the clerical/office support category, has a reputation for healing frazzled callers along with their computer problems, said Martin Leppitsch, assistant IT manager at Duke University Press.

Clerical/Office Support

Presidential Award

Marcus Butts, Duke University Press

Presidential Meritorious Award

Sheila Riley, pediatric ophthalmology

Wendy Morris, ophthalmology

Diane Dunlap, OB-GYN

Eva Dianne Poole, nursing administrator

"[Butts] troubleshoots and repairs not only a hardware or software problem, but the frayed and deadline-stressed nerves that accompany them," Martin wrote in nominating Butts for the award.

Stephen Cohn, director of Duke University Press, wrote, "Marcus is -- completely unflappable. He's in a pressure cooker of a job -- but he always has a positive attitude -- and he works at the problem until it is fixed."

Since joining the Duke University Press IT team in 2004, Butts, 35, has "raised the bar of professionalism" for everyone in the IT department, wrote Pamela Spaulding, IT manager at the press.

Butts says he's just doing "what Duke is paying me to do."

"I can't take full credit. My coworkers and managers set me up to succeed," he said. "I won the award because of the support of my managers and my coworkers who nominated me."

He also credits his belief in God with giving him the knowledge, strength and calm to work through crises. "God is the key to my work," Butts said.

No two days at his job are ever the same, Butts said. Because there are two components to any computer problem -- the computer and the user -- he said he never knows what challenge awaits him when the phone rings. He believes whatever the issue, "it's not your problem; it's our problem," and works with the caller to untangle the glitch. And the technology puzzles fascinate him.

"Sometimes it's an adrenaline rush to try to solve problems," he said. "Technology is constantly changing, so you have to change with technology. It's a constant learning process."

Butts comes from Elizabeth City and followed two of his brothers to Durham. He also draws support from his "church family" at St. James Baptist Church in Durham. He has an associate's degree from Durham Technical College, and he plans to pursue a bachelor's degree in computer information systems.

Butts loves being outdoors. He goes fishing when the opportunity arises and plays pick-up basketball games on campus. "And I'm just starting to play golf," he said.

As if he didn't have enough stress in his life already.