Rudy Buchheit
Dean of the College of Engineering
Dr. Rudolph G. Buchheit (he/him) is Professor of Chemical and Materials Engineering and the Dr. Rebecca Burchett Liebert Dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Kentucky. He has served as Professor and Chair in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Associate Dean in the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. He has also served a Senior Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories New Mexico. He earned a BS at Loyola University Maryland, and MS and PhD in Materials Science from the University of Virginia.
Dean Buchheit's work in the area of diversity, equity and inclusion has focused on developing allyship and promoting advocacy for under-represented groups among majority men in the STEM disciplines. He has been a regular organizer and participant in conferences and workshops related to diversification and equity in STEM. He served as a member of the Ohio State University Advance Advisory Board, and was the lead Advocate Training Coordinator under Ohio State’s Advocates and Allies program sponsored by the National Science Foundation. He is a member of the American Society of Engineering Education Dean’s Diversity Committee. At the University of Kentucky he is a member of College of Engineering Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee and the University’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Team. His research has focused on metallurgy and corrosion and he published over 300 technical articles, patents, books and book chapters on these subjects. He is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, and the Association of Materials Protection and Performance.
Spotlight: Dean Rudy Buchheit
“The path to change is long, challenging and uncomfortable. It is filled with opportunity for missteps. But none of that can be reason for silence and inaction.”
Employee Recruitment and Retention
In addition to his role on the DEI Leadership Team, Dean Buchheit also serves as co-project lead for Employee Recruitment and Retention. He brings a wealth of knowledge to this initiative. Within a year of taking office, Buchheit welcomed more than 20 new tenure-track faculty members to the college, nearly half of whom are from underrepresented groups.