[3][4] She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Arts degree in international relations from Columbia University.

Butenis joined the U.S. Foreign Service in 1980 and served consular tours in Karachi, Pakistan; San Salvador, El Salvador; New Delhi, India; and Bogotá, Colombia.

As the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad from 2007 to 2009,[5] Butenis won the State Department's Baker-Wilkins Award as the Outstanding Deputy Chief of Mission (2008).

[7] Butenis' final career assignment was as the Dean of the School of Professional and Area Studies in the Foreign Service Institute.

Butenis sparked controversy in Sri Lanka in late 2009 when leaked diplomatic cables sent by her on verifying the accountability of war crimes that allegedly happened in the final stages of Sri Lankan Civil War (1983–2009) became public.