John Buckwalter

Contact Information



Professional Biography

Former Dean, John Buckwalter joined Kansas State University as dean in 2013, he has embraced and enhanced the College of Health and Human Sciences' commitment to "focus first on people" in the areas of research and teaching.

The college enrolls nearly 3,000 graduate and undergraduate students. It includes the departments of apparel, textiles and interior design, human nutrition (and dietetics), hospitality management and kinesiology; a gerontology program; and the School of Family Studies and Human Services.

A strong advocate for students, he instituted the Professional Mentoring Program, which pairs upper level students as well as graduate students with mentors in their field of interest. In less than two years, the program has grown to serve more than 200 students.

To reinforce his commitment to promoting a culture of excellence within the college and to creating an environment where students access a transformational educational experience, Buckwalter hired two associate deans. Bronwyn Fees, associate dean for academic affairs, collaborates in development, implementing and assessing college wide efforts in student success, faculty development and distance education. Michelle Toews, associate dean for research, works to expand research productivity and undergraduate research experiences.

He was recently elected to the board of the directors of the Board of Human Sciences, a group that advances the intellectual integrity, stature and centrality of the human sciences in public and land-grant universities and other institutions. He is also a member of the American Physiological Society and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Prior to moving to Manhattan, Dr. Buckwalter spent six years at the University of Texas at Arlington. He served as associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Education and Health Professions. There he helped develop a college strategic plan for research, a college-wide plan to highlight faculty research capacity and a program to enhance internal and external grant competitiveness of the faculty.

He was professor and chair of the department of kinesiology, where he was responsible for recruiting and hiring faculty, faculty and staff evaluations, teaching assignments, academic probation and student grievances and budget planning.

Before becoming an administrator, Dr. Buckwalter spent the majority of his academic career at the Medical College of Wisconsin, where he began as a post-doctoral fellow and rose to the rank of associate professor of anesthesiology. In Wisconsin, he developed a primary research agenda related to the autonomic and cardiovascular control of blood flow during exercise. He has published more than 40 peer reviewed journal articles using both animal and human experimental models.

Dr. Buckwalter's research has been supported by a number of sources including grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association.

For the 2011-2012 academic year, Dr. Buckwalter was one of about 50 individuals nationwide selected for the American Council on Education's Fellowship program, one of the nation's oldest designed to train senior academic leaders. As part of the fellowship Dr. Buckwalter spent the year on the campus of Texas Christian University shadowing and being mentored by the chancellor and provost of the institution.

He has a Ph.D. and an M.S. in kinesiology with emphasis on exercise physiology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and a B.A. in Spanish and a B.S. in physical education and health from Centenary College. He was certified to teach K-12. As an undergraduate he studied abroad in Costa Rica.

He is a former Division I college basketball player. Dr. Buckwalter was a volunteer coach on his children's sports teams, a USA Swimming Stroke and Turn judge and an English as a Second Language tutor.