Dr. Joe Kirsch '64
Professor
Kirsch wanted to be a professor since his own undergraduate days at
Butler. He was a commuter student from Indianapolis who never
missed class and who dove into independent study with
characteristic intensity.
In 1968, Kirsch earned his doctorate from the University of
Illinois, a top-rated program that drew industry recruiters
offering lucrative jobs. Kirsch instead began looking for a place
where teaching was as valued as it had been at Butler. Wanting to
broaden his horizons, he joined the faculty of Fairleigh Dickinson
University in New Jersey. Two years later, his graduate school
mentor wrote to him about an opening at Butler. He returned to
Butler in 1970 as a faculty member in the chemistry department.
Kirsch has held the endowed John Hume Reade Professorship in the
Sciences since fall 1993. He is his college's coordinator of the
Engineering Dual Degree Program and the site director and an
instructor for the AP high school teacher summer workshops held on
campus. "I'm not stuck," he says. " I've had so many opportunities
and a variety of things to do that keep me busy."