CofC Faces to Know: Bucky Buchanan

Name: Bucky Buchanan

Hometown: Charleston, South Carolina

Education: CofC ’08 alum with a B.S. in physical education; M.S. in health, exercise, and sport science; M.A. in sport-exercise psychology

Job title: Assistant Director for Fitness, Campus Recreation Services (CRS)

How long have you worked at the College? Started working here in January of 2013 as a visiting instructor and transitioned into CRS and student affairs by August of 2013.

What are your job responsibilities? Mainly overseeing the day-to-day operation of the fitness center and related programming. More generally, I’m working to improve the health and wellbeing of the CofC community.

What do you like most about your job? I love getting in front of students. Whether it’s teaching, coaching or presenting, I love connecting with them that way. I enjoy the process of working with students who are navigating their age-related challenges. I’m fortunate that I see a good number of students from freshman status through to graduation, and I get to watch them grow into themselves.

I also weirdly enjoy talking with parents of prospective students. We see a good bit of them when they’re checking out the campus. I also really enjoy collaborating with other departments and working in a team.

What question do you get asked most in your job and what’s your typical answer? It’s probably, “So you run the gym?” It’s true, but that only feels like a small portion of what we’re doing. I’d say that’s actually just a small part of the job. We’re housed within the Division of Student Affairs and we work with students. Working with students, to me, means a good bit more than just running the gym.

What’s your favorite location on campus and why? I honestly don’t think I just have one favorite location. Every day after lunch, I take a short walk around campus. That’s probably my favorite thing to do on campus – just walk through it.

What are your hobbies? I’m fortunate that my work world involves a good bit of my hobbies. I enjoy a good sweat. I also play disc golf when I can and train in martial arts.

What personal and/or professional accomplishment are you most proud of? I’ve got a few, but my favorite College-related one is that I didn’t swim in high school but swam in college. Even earned a scholarship. It’s a pretty wild story, but I swam all four four years in college. Was team captain my last two years. Won a conference championship. Pretty cool considering I actually hate swimming. My best friends to this day are my teammates from that time.

Name a creative work (book, movie, performance, etc.) you enjoyed recently – why? My favorite relatively recent book is Behave: The Biology of Humans at Their Best and Worst, by Robert Sapolsky. It’s not exactly a casual weekend read, but it’s very impactful and important content.

What was your favorite TV show growing up? I’m a little weird with my TV habits, but I really liked M*A*S*H.

What’s next on your bucket list? Given the last 2.5 years, I’m just looking forward to a real vacation. Really anywhere would do. It’s on the horizon, though, for this summer.

What is something your campus colleagues would be surprised to know about you? I’m an extreme introvert. I usually don’t come across this way, especially if you ask my students after a lecture. It feels like a performance to me, and I love doing it. However, I need a massive recharge after a lecture. I also prefer to just hang out with myself.

What was your first job? I was a program director for a not-for-profit and worked in Title I schools with at-risk minority groups. Quite eye-opening, and, as I like to tell my students, it’s frontline community service–type of work. Get out there and see for yourselves.

What’s your favorite Lowcountry restaurant? I do not discriminate when it comes to food. I eat and eat a lot of it. There’s a restaurant in Mt. Pleasant called Opal. The have probably my favorite appetizer and all kinds of yummy pastas. Wear your stretchy waistband pants!

Describe your perfect day: This one is easy. I’m naturally an earlier riser. A no-alarm, sunrise wakeup, followed by coffee and a small bite to eat. A walk with my dogs and wife. Then a gym session. Another bite to eat. A dip in the ocean. A lazy afternoon around the house. Then an early dinner with a cocktail (or two).

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