Kathleen Verville

Kathleen (Kate) Verville has been a leader in the Department of Biology and at Washington College, more broadly, almost since she joined the faculty in 1985. Despite being a junior faculty member at the time, within two years, Dr. Verville was acting chair of the department and creating the premedical committee in response to student needs. 

In the nearly four decades since, the premedical committee has helped students successfully navigate the process from early in their college career through applying to medical schools, and Verville has remained deeply invested in their success. She remained chair of the premedical committee from its founding until 2020, when she purposefully stepped back while continuing to serve on the committee. Around the same time, Verville helped to create a coordinator staff position to manage a larger pre-health program at Washington College, multiplying the impact of her initial accomplishment. 

The expansion into a pre-health approach was driven by student requests, and Verville made responding to students a guiding principle throughout her career, including in the courses she taught, the research she undertook, and the terms she served as chair of her department and of the Division of Natural Sciences. She taught first-year students in general biology, upper-level biology courses in her specialties of microbiology and immunology, first-year seminars in pathogens, courses for non-majors, and a field course and research project with colleagues at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. 

Verville has a passion for biology education and contributed to her field through service to the Association for Biology Laboratory Education (ABLE). Her commitment to students and emphasis on education was recognized in 1996 when she received the Washington College Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Teaching.