Kate will be speaking Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at Pay Dirt.
Originally from Rochester, NY, Kate moved to South Bend to earn her PhD in Biology from the University of Notre Dame. After earning her doctorate in 2021, Kate found a unique opportunity to serve as the aquatic ecologist at the St. Joseph River Basin Commission and to become a professor of biology at Holy Cross College. In her SJRBC role, Kate manages the water quality monitoring program, analyzes historical water quality data, assists community partners with grant writing and data interpretation, gives watershed presentations at regional outreach events, and serves as the AmeriCorps member supervisor for the SJRBC. At Holy Cross College, Kate serves as part-time professor of biology, and has developed and taught a series of new courses at the college, including Biodiversity, Environmental Science, Aquatic Ecology, Environmental Sociology, and Human Ecology, which allow students to earn credits towards Environmental Science and Public Health minors. She is also an academic advisor for biology majors. Kate loves teaching students about the river, and she is passionate about her opportunity to pursue a career in watershed stewardship and undergraduate teaching. When she’s not in the classroom or working on watershed projects, Kate enjoys running and training for half marathons, bird watching (especially for great horned owls and meadowlarks), urban gardening, reading anything by Daniel Quinn, Terry Tempest Williams, and other nature writers, creative writing, and spending time with her husband, her mom, and her English bulldog, Luna.
