Rate My Professor Kathleen McAteer

Kathleen McAteer serves as Senior Associate Vice President and Vice Provost for WSU Tri-Cities and Everett, and Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at Washington State University Tri-Cities. She holds the position of Associate Professor (Career Track) in Biology within the School of Biological Sciences. McAteer obtained her B.Sc. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, in 1990, and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of South Carolina in 1995. Following her doctorate, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 1996, served as a Teacher-Scholar at the University of Washington from 1997 to 1998, and undertook additional postdoctoral work at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory from 1999 to 2002. Her professional career at WSU Tri-Cities commenced in 2002 as Assistant Research Professor and Lecturer. She advanced to Biological Sciences Program Coordinator from 2008 to 2013, Clinical Assistant Professor from 2012 to 2019, Coordinator for Undergraduate Education in 2014, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs from 2014 to 2018, Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in late 2018, Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in 2019, and her present leadership roles. Throughout her tenure, McAteer has contributed to numerous committees, including the Provost’s Council, WSU Research Council, WSU Student Success Council, University Academic Advising Executive Council, and the Chancellor’s Executive Cabinet at WSU Tri-Cities.

McAteer’s research specializations encompass protein dynamics and function, DNA structure and interactions, host-pathogen interactions involving pathogens such as Yersinia and Salmonella, systems biology and omics approaches, and biotechnology applications. Notable publications include “Controlled activation of protein rotational dynamics using smart hydrogel tethering” (Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2014), “A multi-omic systems approach to elucidating Yersinia virulence mechanisms” (Molecular BioSystems, 2013), “Studying Salmonellae and Yersiniae host-pathogen interactions using integrated ‘omics and modeling” (Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, 2013), “An experimentally-supported genome-scale metabolic network reconstruction for Yersinia pestis CO92” (BMC Systems Biology, 2011), and “A Bayesian integration model of high-throughput proteomics and metabolomics data for improved early detection of microbial infections” (Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, 2009). She has earned significant honors, such as the WSU Tri-Cities Women of Distinction Award in 2018, President’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-Tenure Track Faculty in 2015, Million Women Mentors Higher Education Award in 2015, Chancellor’s Award for Faculty Excellence in 2014, and Smith Teaching & Learning Award in 2014. McAteer has presented public lectures on educational initiatives, including “The AVID College Completion Project at Washington State University Tri-Cities” at the AVID National Conference in 2018 and Pave The Way Conference in 2017.