Kathleen Kitto named vice provost and dean of the Western Graduate School

Kathleen Kitto has been named the vice provost for research and dean of the Graduate School at Western Washington University.

Kitto has been acting vice provost for research and acting dean of the Graduate School since March 2012.

"I'm very pleased to regularize Kathy Kitto's position as dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for Research. In a variety of roles, Kathy has served Western extremely well for many years. It did not take me long at all when I became Provost to see that Kathy is adept at finding elegant solutions to difficult issues and that her administrative acumen is critical to facilitating work in the Graduate School and to fostering research on campus. I look forward to continued work with Kathy as we remove the modifier ‘acting’ from her title,” said Western Provost Brent Carbajal.

At Western, Kitto also served as associate dean of Western’s College of Sciences and Technology since its inception in 2003 until 2011, and was special assistant to the Provost for Strategic Initiatives from fall 2011 until fall 2013. She is a professor of Engineering Technology and served as chair of that department for seven years. She also served as director of Western’s Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center.

“I enthusiastically look forward to continuing my service to the Western community as dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for Research, having had the deep pleasure of providing advocacy, leadership, and oversight for both interrelated units since March of 2012,” Kitto said. “I have had the delight of working toward a robust professional development program for graduate students, a more comprehensive infrastructure for our research, scholarly, and creative work, improved communications, shared governance, and transparency, all while working with a very dedicated and supportive staff, administration, and campus community. As many well know, I am deeply devoted to Western, and will tirelessly dedicate myself to furthering the advancement of the Graduate School and Research and Sponsored programs."

Kitto is active in her discipline and is the lead principal investigator on a National Science Foundation project to advance the careers of women within the sciences, engineering and mathematics. She is the lead PI on a second NSF project designed to enhance materials engineering educational outcomes through innovative applications built for smart devices.

She has co-authored three textbooks, written numerous scholarly publications and has served on many review panels and boards. In 2010, Kitto received Western’s Diversity Achievement Award. She was a member of the team that received Western’s Team Recognition awards in 2010 and 2009.

Western’s Graduate School: The purpose of graduate study at Western is to provide students quality graduate education with opportunities for research and professional development. Graduate programs are intended to prepare able students for teaching, entering professions, career advancement and further advanced study.