Undergraduate Academic Affairs

September 13, 2016

Cathy Beyer reflects on her career at UW

Undergraduate Academic Affairs

Headshot of Cathy BeyerAfter 30 years of working at the University of Washington, Catharine Beyer retired. During that time, she spent 17 years working in the Office of Educational Assessment and three in the Interdisciplinary Writing Program. We chatted with her to learn more about her time at the UW.

What drew you to the UW?
At 37, we moved to Seattle with our two kids so my husband could start a Ph.D. in applied math, his long-held dream. I had taught college writing courses and worked as an editor for an engineering consulting firm, so, I applied for a lecturer position in the UW’s Interdisciplinary Writing Program (IWP). The last thing I was told in my interview for the job was, “Microsoft is hiring technical writers; you might check over there.” This was 1984. Had I checked with Microsoft, I might be a millionaire today, but I got the job in the IWP and took it.

In your 30-year career at the UW, what work have you done that you believe is the most important to others?
Institutionally and nationally, my big assessment projects — the UW Study of Undergraduate Learning and the UW Growth in Faculty Teaching Study, both of which resulted in books co-authored by beloved colleagues — would probably be considered my most important work. I loved that work, don’t get me wrong, but I think my teaching work might be more important over time. Not only did I have the honor of helping 13-years worth of students become better writers and thinkers, but I learned a ton about what undergraduates and faculty members experience that I then could carry into my later assessment work.

What have you found through your work that has most inspired you?
Our students are always inspiring. They are amazingly bright, interested in and knowledgeable about such diverse things. Sometimes they are shockingly brave — recovering from failure and loss or navigating an environment that feels unwelcoming, for example. They come to us from great pinnacles of success, but they have to start over here, and what counts for success is often very different from what mattered before. They come here hoping to be challenged and to grow. We owe them an experience that does that for each one of them.

What advice do you have for students, faculty and staff about the value of teaching and learning?
Because learning is complex, the ways we assess it must also be complex. Generic tests and surveys of students’ experience can’t tell us much about what our students have learned in college or how to improve our work. If we want to get that kind of information, we need to talk with students about their learning. We need to get faculty involved in looking at students’ work over time and discussing it together, identifying the growth (or lack of it) they find there. We need to also track learning that doesn’t fall neatly within our academic boundaries but that may inform them or have value beyond them.

You’ve always had a rocking chair in your office. What meaning do rocking chairs hold for you?
Rocking may well be our first memory of comfort. I have always had a rocking chair in my office at the UW and elsewhere because I want whomever is talking to me — friends, interviewees, colleagues — to feel at home, comfortable and accepted in my presence. My rocking chairs are always big, capable of accommodating every size, age, color, temperament, mood and shape.

What’s next for you?
Really, I have no idea. I’ve written a letter to the mayor and the chief of police asking them what changes they are making to get rid of discriminatory policing, but beyond that I’m reading, doing a little creative writing, and researching Angry Birds — once such an amazing, creative, beautiful set of games and now in the toilet. I want to find out what happened there. Other than that, I’m hoping to have the chance to get bored.