17�Թ� Moment: Leveling up with Dr. Kathryn Washington

17�Թ� Moment: Leveling up with Dr. Kathryn Washington | S8 Ep. 20

17�Թ� is full of exciting events and research. Listen each week to learn more about the people making the most of their moments at 17�Թ�.

Podcast: S8 Ep. 20
Date: July 15, 2025
Title: 17�Թ� Moment: Leveling up with Dr. Kathryn Washington | S8 Ep. 20
Host: John Rollins

JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the 17�Թ� Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with 17�Թ�, faculty, staff, students and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at 17�Թ�, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. If you've driven around Beaumont lately, there's a chance you might have seen a billboard with my guest today, featured on it for her recent promotion. Dr Kathryn Washington, associate professor in the Educational Leadership Department here at 17�Թ�, is joining me today on the 17�Թ� Moment. Dr. Washington, welcome to the show.

KATHRYN WASHINGTON: Thank you for having me. I'm sure you have seen it.

JOHN: Yes, I love it. So, your family did that right?

KATHRYN: Yes, my family did that. Spearheaded by my husband, who didn't think I was expressing enough grandeur about the recent tenure and promotion, and I think it was because he saw all the hard work that went into it, and he said he wasn't going to let that go by.

JOHN: I think it's great. I think that kind of support is awesome and well deserved.

KATHRYN: Thank you.

JOHN: So let me start by once again saying “Congratulations” on your promotion from assistant professor to associate professor. For the listeners who may be tuning in right now, could you explain that career progression, like what that means in higher education, because maybe not everybody knows what that step means.

KATHRYN: Okay, it's a lot of hard work, and I, thanks to the billboard, have had practice on explaining what that actually means, but when you are assistant professor on a tenure track, that means that you have a period of time to show your research skills, your scholarly work, your teaching, your service, all the things to add value to whatever university you're in. And so, after you do about five and a half years, you have touch points. Like at your second year, they check in to see how you're doing. In your fourth year, you go on a review. But then eventually, when you get to your five, and I think it's five and a half years, you start the process of reviewing all your work, meaning all of my publications, all of my presentations, all of my service here at Lamar locally, statewide, and even nationally. I've been doing service, but a lot of this stuff I was already doing at K-12, but you go through all of that, and they review your work to see that you would add value and be a great addition to make tenure. And when you make tenure, I wouldn't say you can just, you know, slack off, but you have, you know, all of your colleagues, not only just in your department, but across the university, and say, hey, they are, you know, they are. They see the value that you add. And so, you then end up on a tenure track. And then, once you become that, you can also keep going if you want, which some of my friends are making me still keep going. I'm locked in, and then you can also progress to full professorship. So that's pretty much the trajectory I'm on, because, like I said, all of the friends and colleagues that I've worked with to get to this point, they still want to keep researching. They still want to present. So, we'll talk about that a little bit, and what I'm doing now.

JOHN: Fantastic. I didn't really give you a chance to officially introduce yourself, so let's hear a little bit more about your background and what brought you here to 17�Թ�.

KATHRYN: Well, I am a former Cardinal. I got my undergrad in Elementary Education with a specialization in Mathematics in 1991 and I wore my class ring. I still have it. Coin rings were popular back then, and so anyway. I graduated in 1991 and I started my teaching career here in Beaumont. I was in BISD for four years until I got married. And my husband’s job was in Houston, so I had to move away and started my career there. So, I was in K-12 in various school districts in Houston area, Southeast Texas area, for about 28 years, and in between that time, I always thought this is how you do when I retire, that I would, you know, love to teach at the university, because that's my first love. And what ended up happening was that as soon as I got my doctorate from Sam Houston State (I’m a bearcat too), but then, of course, my master's from Prairie View too, so I can't leave them out. But at any rate, my leadership started after I got from Sam my doctorate and started as adjunct at the University at Sam. And then I started after Sam. It was Houston Baptist, which is Houston Christian University. I would adjunct for them, just to keep my chops fresh, right? So, whenever it happened, I'd be prepared. Well, lo and behold, Lamar had a position open. I said, “Well, you know, I'll try it,” and I talked it over with my husband, and Lamar called, and I'm here and loving every minute of it. I really am.

JOHN: Fantastic. So let me ask you this, you know, you speak about a love for education and leadership and all these things which have obviously brought you to where you are right now. But where did this spark from? Where did this this initial inspiration to lead and educate come from?

KATHRYN: Well, that's a great question. I call #ServantLeadership is our family business. So as way back as my grandfather, he went around. I come from a family of teachers and preachers, yeah. So I am a TK (teacher’s kid) and I am a PK (preacher’s kid). So anybody out there listening knows what that means. And so my grandfather was a pastor. He pastored several churches in the Church of God, in Christ in Houston area, and he went around and started Bible colleges throughout the nation. So that's where it started. As a matter of fact, I dedicated my master's thesis to him, because by that time he had passed away, but the seed was there, and then from there, my father, who is still a pastor here in Beaumont, Texas for the last 45 years. So that's why I say I'm a strong PK. My mother was a teacher. She went to Lamar, and she was a teacher and got her degree in music, but the leadership and the servant leadership has always been our family business. We were raised to help those in need and so fun fact, when I came to Lamar, I wanted to do computer science because I was not going to teach, because everybody else was teaching, and I would hear all the different things, but got the teaching bug by substituting in between and just seeing the light bulb go off, and they said they understood it when I explained it to them, and so that's how I switched my major, took my mathematics out of engineering and applied that in elementary education. Never looked back. Started with, like I said at MacArthur, which is now Pietzsch MacArthur, and that's where that came from. It comes from a family of educators and servant leadership. I saw it firsthand, and the passion of giving back being in service for other people.

JOHN: I've heard individuals before who have been on the podcast bring up that light bulb moment. So, I love that you just did, because I do feel like that is such an inspiration for what you all do on a daily basis. So, let's segue into that. Okay, tell us more about your role in the Educational Leadership Department. What does your day-to-day kind of look like? I know you work a lot with graduate students online, and it's predominantly online. So how does that work?

KATHRYN: Yes. So wow, we have one of the largest colleges and leadership programs in the graduate school, not only here at Lamar, but in the nation. I have students from all over the nation. I've had some international students, like China, Australia, and so we get a taste of it all. A lot of them, even though they're in those particular areas, they originated from the United States, and they get these certifications to help them in those particular countries, it's different, a little bit different. So I work with them online. Currently, this is how large we are. I have 765 students in my class right now. And I have been in a class where we had 1,200 students in it now with it's a team taught. So it's more than just me, right? But if you can imagine, with the 700 I have about 250 myself that are just in my section, so the day in the life of me, I teach on Monday, right? I teach, or we teach on Monday nights. It's recorded via Teams. It used to be Adobe Connect, but now teams, and then the rest of the week I'm either and, well, I am not either, but I'm answering emails for those students that need help. And I'm also working on other projects or research or committee meetings. I'm on, like a curriculum committee, so we have those meetings. I'm on several different boards, so I have those board meetings. I have a writing circle that that helps us with writing to do the scholarly and articles that we're doing and the researching part of it. So the day in my life, to me, you have to be a self starter, because it's not like you have an 8 to 5 job, because our students are all across the country, so they are in different time zones. Right, but I do try to cut it off by 8:00 p.m. Try to cut it off by 8:00 and then pick it up at 8 a.m. the next day. So those that are like, if they tell me they're out of the country sometime, I'll respond, because, of course, it's daytime when it's nighttime, different hours. So, we adjust. And so it is busy, but I like it. It's a different busy, because when you're in K-12 and you are in leadership, it's a constant busy. It's nonstop as well. And so when I came to Lamar, I thought, maybe that'll ease up, but no. And then I can't forget about my Collegiate 100 that I advise, and so I get to touch the undergrads with that program.

JOHN: I’m so glad you brought this up. I was about to ask. So, yeah, tell us more about this Collegiate 100.

KATHRYN: The Collegiate 100 is my passion project. I call them and I tell them that, that they are my passion. Like I said, I come from servant leadership, and I always wanted to give back to the next generation. So, this is my give back to the next generation of Cardinals, creating the leaders on campus. And I told them, if they allow me to, I will help them be great. They can learn from whatever I have learned through all my years of in leadership, in different things and different opportunities bringing those. So, the Collegiate 100 was formed with seven members. I called them The Magnificent Seven. And fun fact, the first president is in my program, currently, right now, in a master's program. He graduated, and he's in education and a coach, and I encouraged him and he really didn't need much encouragement. He was just driven. And I'm proud to say he sent me a message saying that he will graduate August 1, so I get to see him graduate with his master's. We started with seven, and now we went up to 71. Now I had 11 graduate in May, so we are down to about 60. If you do the math, about 60. I have some more that will graduate in August and quite a few in the fall. But my objective is to, number one, make sure they graduate, and number one that they become the leaders they want to be. So, they tell me their desires, what they want to do, and I kind of guide them into that. And just to let everyone know that the Collegiate 100 is sponsored by the 100 Black Men of Greater Beaumont, and they are under the umbrella of the 100 Black Men of America, okay? And so, under the 100 Black Men of America, this is national and international. The 100 Black Men of Greater Beaumont is this surrounding area, what we call the Golden Triangle, right? The local chapter, and so they can have, and I found out that the President wanted to has been trying to get one started here, because they could have one a chapter on the college level, as long as it's within 25 miles. And of course, Lamar is, so why not? Yeah, and so we're one of over 70 chapters throughout the nation. But I am biased, and I say we are number one. We have won three national championships with their leadership and Career Institute and so they have proven that they're number one, and the National Vice Chair is always calling and seeing what we're trying to do. So that's why he came down to our induction ceremony, so he could see them and encourage them and tell them the impact that they're making throughout the nation, which they doing wonderful things under the, you know, umbrella of mentoring, community service, financial literacy. We talk about, of course, them getting and their graduation and their next step in career, but health and wellness, we talk about all of those different things. I just traveled with them to New Orleans, to the 100 Black Men Conference, and some of them hadn't traveled before. Can you believe? And some of them had never been to a conference before, and just to see that in their eyes, and just opening up their world to more than just what they see at home and abroad and a lot of them are first generation college students. So just encouraging them to see like-minded folks, not just where they are currently, but across the nation. So, they got a chance to see some of the other collegiates throughout the nation. And through that they've been able to get internships with JD Finish Line, Coca Cola, Wells Fargo and so it just leads into opening their frame of reference, right, that there's out there and they can do, and just be encouraging them to do and want to be great, yeah? And again, the next Cardinal leaders.

JOHN: Exactly. Expand that knowledge. Another Lamar program doing amazing things.

KATHRYN: They definitely keep me busy.

JOHN: Based on what you just told me, I believe it. So, let's go ahead. We've got a little bit of time left. Do you want to wrap up with this? We can talk about some of the things you all might have in the pipeline for your department.

KATHRYN: Yes, I'm glad you brought that up. Here at Lamar in the College of Education, they asked me, what you know? What are you going to do next? And so I am currently working on an e-journal for the College of Education, me and Dr. Shelton. Kay Shelton is helping me with that. We're in the process of getting the e-journal up and running, trying to get it registered with the Library of Congress to make sure it's legit and ready to go. So, we're working on that, and then I'm also working on a webinar series to help our students with the certification exam for the principalship, the 268 exam and 368 exam, to help them pass that test, because once they finish with us to get certified, and some of them are having trouble with that. So that's a passion that I'm working on, along with presentations that I'm continuing. My regular research, and articles I have coming up with International ICP, that's coming up. It's going to be virtual, but just those different conferences, and with me working with the membership for RW, which, you know is the granddaddy of them all of American Educational Research Association that continued work. So, you can see my plate is full, so I don't think I'm slowing down. I think it is continued. But shout out to my department, my dean, Dr O'Connor, this was one of his dreams about the e-journal, and so being able to see that come to fruition, I’m very excited about that. So, kudos to him. And he was excited when I said I was going to go and work on that.

JOHN: So, a lot of great work coming out of the College of Education and Human Development, for sure. Dr Washington, thanks again for joinig me on the podcast. Thanks for all you do to prepare and educate our future leaders. Such an important job. So we enjoy and are appreciative to have you here at Lamar.

KATHRYN: Thank you so much, and thank you for having me.

JOHN: Yes, of course. That's a wrap on another episode. Search 17�Թ� moment wherever you get your podcasts. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time you.