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The Man Behind the Bandana
Getting to know R-N philosophy prof Jeff Buechner
Sarah Rahman
Issue date: 10/22/07 Section: News
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Anticipating the trademark bandana and whether-or-not his dog Andrew will accompany him today, students of Intro to Logic wait for Jeff Buechner, philosophy professor at Rutgers-Newark, to come in and teach. Of course, accompanied by humorous anecdotes and entertaining digressions.
After striding in with books in-hand and donning the usual cargo shorts, he scopes out the class with a smile on his face and sits himself on the stool facing everyone, but not on the desk as he prefers, he explains, since the paint always leaves markings on his pants.
Now that everyone has finally gathered themselves and gotten settled, Buechner begins his philosophy.
Teaching some of the fastest-filling classes at R-N and having the best-ranked ratings on the all too imperative Ratemyprofessor.com, Buechner has become a hit among students and faculty alike with his infectious charisma and a teaching style that makes a difficult subject, all too simple.
Originally doing graduate work in math at Harvard University, Buechner stumbled upon philosophy through the advice of a professor.
"One of my professors at Harvard was a logician, and he convinced me to go into philosophy, even though it was a time when there were few jobs in that field," explains Buechner.
Buechner worked as a mathematician for awhile, but then transferred to Rutgers-New Brunswick from Harvard for his masters in philosophy. Most recently, he received his Ph.D from there as well in 2003.
Today, Buechner is a full time lecturer at R-N, but not yet tenured. However, he is also a visiting research fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center and professor of one class at R-NB.
"I just love it," he explains. "Philosophy was really easy for me to get into. Asking questions like, 'Is the mind a computer? Why do we think the way we do?' It's all so interesting to me."
Buechner is also co-director of the Merck Summer Institute on Bioethics, a program that takes 25 high school students from the Newark public school system and introduces them to various ethical issues regarding biomedical developments, according to Barry Komisaruk, associate dean of the R-N graduate school and coordinator of the Institute. And from one colleague to another, Komisaruk describes working with Buechner as, quite simply, "a trip."
After striding in with books in-hand and donning the usual cargo shorts, he scopes out the class with a smile on his face and sits himself on the stool facing everyone, but not on the desk as he prefers, he explains, since the paint always leaves markings on his pants.
Now that everyone has finally gathered themselves and gotten settled, Buechner begins his philosophy.
Teaching some of the fastest-filling classes at R-N and having the best-ranked ratings on the all too imperative Ratemyprofessor.com, Buechner has become a hit among students and faculty alike with his infectious charisma and a teaching style that makes a difficult subject, all too simple.
Originally doing graduate work in math at Harvard University, Buechner stumbled upon philosophy through the advice of a professor.
"One of my professors at Harvard was a logician, and he convinced me to go into philosophy, even though it was a time when there were few jobs in that field," explains Buechner.
Buechner worked as a mathematician for awhile, but then transferred to Rutgers-New Brunswick from Harvard for his masters in philosophy. Most recently, he received his Ph.D from there as well in 2003.
Today, Buechner is a full time lecturer at R-N, but not yet tenured. However, he is also a visiting research fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center and professor of one class at R-NB.
"I just love it," he explains. "Philosophy was really easy for me to get into. Asking questions like, 'Is the mind a computer? Why do we think the way we do?' It's all so interesting to me."
Buechner is also co-director of the Merck Summer Institute on Bioethics, a program that takes 25 high school students from the Newark public school system and introduces them to various ethical issues regarding biomedical developments, according to Barry Komisaruk, associate dean of the R-N graduate school and coordinator of the Institute. And from one colleague to another, Komisaruk describes working with Buechner as, quite simply, "a trip."
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