College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

Dean's Arts & Humanities Award
Awarded to an alumni and friends of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who has enhanced the appreciation of the arts and humanities on a local, state, national or international scale. Award established in 2005.

M. Burton Drexler
Professor Emeritus
ISU Theatre
Ames, Iowa


A long-time fixture on the Iowa State University and Ames arts scene, Burt Drexler has directed 26 plays on campus, including Shakespeare’s “Othello,” “Henry IV,” and “The Taming of the Shrew,” as an ISU professor of theatre. He also coordinated the theatre program for several years before making his Ames acting debut in the ISU Alumni Association’s 1998 Alumni Days production of Frank Brandt's “Our Town.”

Drexler continues to be active in the arts both on and off campus. He has also served or is currently serving on various community arts boards, including the CoMotion Dance Theatre, the ISU Retirees Committee, ACTORS (Ames Community Theatre), the Octagon Center for the Arts, and the Brunnier Art Museum. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native makes frequent return trips to the Great White Way, where his reviews of musicals and plays appear in the Ames Tribune.

Drexler holds degrees from Johns Hopkins University (B.A.), the University of Minnesota (M.A.) and the University of Illinois (Ph.D.). He is a member of Iowa State University’s Order of the Knoll.

Burton Drexler