Kathleen McAteer

Outstanding Career Faculty Achievement (Career Track)

Vice Chancellor, WSU Tri-Cities
Associate Professor, Career Track
Biological Sciences

The chief academic officer at WSU Tri-Cities and an active faculty member, Kate McAteer is creating an inclusive, diverse, and equity-centered campus and building relationships across disciplines and the greater community.

Kate consistently leads by example. She skillfully blends her administrative strengths and love of teaching with research in structural biology and, most recently, student success. In addition to teaching biology and molecular biosciences courses and mentoring students, she regularly seeks out local industry opportunities for undergraduate research and internships.

In her role as vice chancellor, Kate expanded the academic leadership team to include valuable college-level perspective and helped bring the new Chancellor’s Summer Scholars program to fruition. She led campus faculty through inclusive design-build workshops for the new academic building and also hosted the first system-wide retreat for faculty and staff in the School of Biological Sciences.

She is a member of the WSU System Council and over the years has served on more than fifty committees, working groups, and task forces. Her civic engagement work ranges from elementary school science presentations to hosting women in STEM events on campus to volunteering at leadership development trainings in the Tri-Cities.

A gifted teacher, scholar, and administrator, Kate’s initiative-driven leadership has contributed to the growth of the Tri-Cities biology program and to the success of the campus overall.