Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D.: 1970-2026

Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D.: 1970-2026

Jennifer Buehler, Ph.D., associate professor of educational studies at Saint Louis University, died Friday, Aug. 28, 2026. She was 56 years old.

Buehler joined the University in 2009 as an assistant professor in SLU's School of Education. She became an associate professor in 2015 and served as director of graduate programs in educational studies from 2017-2022. She taught a variety of courses about the methods of teaching English, writing pedagogy, content area literacy and urban education.

"Jennifer was an extraordinary teacher, scholar, colleague and friend," said Gary Ritter, Ph.D., dean of the School of Education. "She brought warmth, wisdom, kindness and grace to our community every day. Her passing leaves an enormous void in our School of Education and in the lives of so many people who were fortunate enough to know her."

Molly Schaller, Ph.D., professor of education at SLU, said, "I want to just talk about her in the present tense. She is one of the most thoughtful, diligent, exacting faculty members I've ever known. It's an unbelievable loss."

Buehler's primary expertise was young adult (YA) literature, which honors the questions and concerns of adolescence. In addition to teaching a course about it, she wrote about the history of the field, developments regarding racial diversity in publishing, and approaches to teaching that bring out the complexity of YA literary texts.

"Jennifer was passionate about literature, not just because she loved to read - which she did, and she read expansively and ravenously - but because she saw urgent relationships between literature and the world. Her students adored her for this ability to show them why the books they loved mattered," said Rachel Greenwald Smith, Ph.D., professor of English at SLU.

During her years hosting a YA lit podcast for the National Council of Teachers of English, Buehler interviewed many of the field's most distinguished authors, including Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, A.S. King and Judy Blume.

Buehler spent a sabbatical researching in the Judy Blume archive at Yale University, which anchored her recent work on a project about book bans. This project was supported by a Jockey Hollow Fellowship from Yale University, as well as awards from Saint Louis University.

Buehler trained as an ethnographer, which was evident in everything from her research to how she prepared for each semester's courses, according to Schaller.

"Watching her take notes - we had such good humor about it. You'd have a 10-minute meeting, and she'd come away with two full pages of notes," Schaller said. "She thought through her pencil. She was always trying to capture the details in order to make sense of the whole."

Buehler received the Promising Researcher Award from the National Council of Teachers of English for her ethnographic study of how staff members produced "toxic" school culture at an underperforming, racially divided high school. She went on to examine the experiences of dropout and disconnected youth who returned to school after an interruption in their education.

At Saint Louis University, she was named a Woman of the Year in 2016. She also received many honors for her mentoring and teaching, including the Excellence in Graduate Faculty Mentoring Award in 2013, the Undergraduate Faculty Excellence Award in 2022, the Spirit of the Billiken Award for Undergraduate Mentoring in 2023, and the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award in 2024.

"In my career, I have never known a better teacher of college students than Jennifer Buehler," Ritter said. "She was exceptionally bright, deeply thoughtful and utterly devoted to her students. What appeared effortless in the classroom was actually the result of her meticulous preparation, combined with her intellect, compassion and skill. She had a remarkable ability to make students feel seen, valued and capable of more than they imagined. Her influence extended far beyond the classroom and will continue to be felt through the lives and careers of the many students she mentored."

A former high school teacher, Buehler earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan's Joint Program in English and Education. She received a Master of Arts in English from Eastern Michigan University and a bachelor's degree in American studies from Yale University.

She is survived by her husband, Mark Patrick, and their son, Ethan.

Buehler's family is planning a memorial service on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, from 1-5 p.m., at the St. Francis Xavier College Church Ballroom on SLU's campus. More information can be found at jenniferbuehler.net. The School of Education and Saint Louis University will also plan an opportunity to gather and celebrate Buehler's life and contributions. Additional details will be shared when available.