Commemoration of Joy Butler
In memory of Dr Joy Butler who sadly passed away on September 16th 2019
The Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) community lost a treasure and valued member of its community. Dr Joy Butler passed away on Monday 16th September 2019 at home, just as she wished, and was surrounded by a loving circle of friends after a six-year battle with cancer.
Joy was a pioneer in so many things in her career and life– moving countries three times, developing innovations in teaching and learning, and most significantly leading, shaping and supporting an international movement around sport and physical education. Her research and teaching have been developed around constructivism, complexity thinking, situated ethics and community wellness. With respect to TGfU, Joy was the founder and directed the first TGfU Conference in 2001. At this conference Joy proposed that an international committee be formed which became the TGfU International Task Force in 2002. She served as chair for 8 years. Joy’s goal was to allow a more democratic participation in the governance. Joy was also instrumental in steering the task force through its development into Special Interest Group (SIG) status within AIESEP (International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education). Within the TGfU SIG there is an Executive Committee and an International Advisory Board (IAB), which represents approximately seventeen countries with the goal to keep communication and sharing open more globally.
She also directed the 4th International TGfU Conference in 2008. Joy also made strong connections across the globe giving presentations and workshops on TGfU in many different countries, including Botswana, China, Latin America, Finland, Singapore, Australia, Spain, Taiwan, Hong Kong, UK and Colombia.
Joy was a pioneer in so many things in her career and life– moving countries three times, developing innovations in teaching and learning, and most significantly leading, shaping and supporting an international movement around sport and physical education. Her research and teaching have been developed around constructivism, complexity thinking, situated ethics and community wellness. With respect to TGfU, Joy was the founder and directed the first TGfU Conference in 2001. At this conference Joy proposed that an international committee be formed which became the TGfU International Task Force in 2002. She served as chair for 8 years. Joy’s goal was to allow a more democratic participation in the governance. Joy was also instrumental in steering the task force through its development into Special Interest Group (SIG) status within AIESEP (International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education). Within the TGfU SIG there is an Executive Committee and an International Advisory Board (IAB), which represents approximately seventeen countries with the goal to keep communication and sharing open more globally.
She also directed the 4th International TGfU Conference in 2008. Joy also made strong connections across the globe giving presentations and workshops on TGfU in many different countries, including Botswana, China, Latin America, Finland, Singapore, Australia, Spain, Taiwan, Hong Kong, UK and Colombia.
We would like to share some of our moments with Joy and reflect on how she influenced our academic and personal lives.
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"My deep respect for Joy developed through our early career days. Joy and I were mutual-mentoring colleagues and who became very dear friends. We started by meeting for lunch in Lebanon, NH to plan and plot our professional hopes and dreams. Joy always encouraged and supported me throughout my career. I will always miss her straight forward, inclusive and fair ways." warmly, Linda Griffin
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"In loving memory of Joy, a true friend, a valued and trusted colleague....someone to confide in, laugh, think and share ideas with, and who pushed boundaries. Our 20+ years of working together, first in program accreditation and then of course on TGfU teaching and scholarship, was so rewarding and so much fun. Always treasured and always remembered with much love." Steve Mitchell
"I didn't get the privilege of meeting Joy until the last few years of her life. As an early career researcher she is one of the people I was looking up to and wanting to learn from. Whenever we spoke she was kind and very patient with me and she was always willing to give advice about my work. She recognised and understood the need to support early career individuals and tried to implement that throughout her life. I will miss her encouragement and insights." Ellen Gambles
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