Timothy Bucci has been a professor of culinary arts at Joliet Junior College for 13 years. He has taught all classes related to culinary arts including professional cooking, international, garde manger, fabrication, center of the plate and cost and portion. His dedication to the craft and the culinary arts field sets him apart from others in the industry. His focus is on relating to students in a way that portrays his passion for food and cooking and establishes ground rules for understanding the basic fundamentals in cooking is the foundation for the student’s career.

He has spent 36 years working in restaurants, hotels and schools which gives him a wide variety experiences that can be advantageous to the student success. He currently passed the Certified Master Chef Exam on his first attempt. The exam is an 8 day intense exam which focuses on all areas in the culinary arts field. It is an extremely mentally and physically demanding exam with a 27% pass rate and a 10% pass rate on the first attempt. There are only 67 master chef in the United States, 4 of which are in Illinois and only Timothy Bucci is the only faculty member in the state of Illinois who is a master chef.

He finished his education with an Associates in Culinary Arts at Joliet Junior College and prior obtained his Bachelor of Liberal Arts at Purdue University Northwest. He was part of the phi theta kappa honor society ad top of his class at both schools.

Timothy Bucci consistently donates time to the Bridge Teen Center in Orland Park, Illinois, local churches and will periodically prepare meals for the homeless. He also performs demonstrations at local conferences and organizations to promote culinary arts and Joliet Junior College.

Timothy Bucci has been teaching for 24 years. Currently teaching at Joliet Junior College and taught prior at Le Cordon Bleu of Culinary Arts Chicago Campus. His philosophy is try to relate to all students and get them to appreciate and respect the food they work with you. He also tries to instill a passion for the craft by making students understand that this is an extremely rewarding field and we have the gift and ability to make people happy.

Some of Timothy Bucci’s other accolades includes being a member of the American Culinary Federation Olympic team from 2010-2012, American Culinary Federation Educator of the Year in 2009 and earned over 60 medals in American Culinary Federation sanctioned competitions with 30 of them were gold medals and 26 silver medals. He also coached two student teams and two student culinarians to American Culinary Federation National Championships. He consistently tries to better himself and others through practice, hard work and competing.