Dr. Kate Tirabassi Recognized Again, This Time For Support of Students And Colleagues
Another year, another significant recognition for Dr. Katherine (Kate) Tirabassi, Professor of Communication, and Affiliated Faculty in English at Keene State College.
Dr. Tirabassi was presented with the 2023 Faculty Distinguished Service Award during the college’s recent Faculty Excellence Appreciation reception.
Two years ago, Dr. Tirabassi was chosen as the 51st recipient of the Keene State College Distinguished Teacher Award.
Dr. Tirabassi is recognized this year for service described by the Office of the Provost as “significant, impactful, and deserving of this special recognition by her peers and the College’s academic community.”
The Office of the Provost also said: “On a campus filled with hard-working and dedicated faculty, the level of commitment, and service must be profound, sustained, and broad, and added that Dr. Tirabassi’s support of our students and her colleagues clearly fits these qualifications.
Roles such as Integrative Thinking and Writing Coordinator and Director of the Center for Research & Writing are part of her service work, which also includes Dr. Tirabassi’s participation on numerous committees and initiatives impacting the College, its curriculum, and support for faculty and student writing.
Said Tirabassi, in response to the recognition: “My motivation in any of the service work that I do is to seek out opportunities to enrich, enhance, and improve the teaching and learning community that I’ve come to know and love at Keene State, and to make meaningful and lasting connections with the wider local community.”
Dr. Tirabassi has served on the Sabbatical Leave Committee (2013), Eder Scholarship Award Committee (2015, 2018, 2019), Fred Fosher Award Committee (2012, 2013, and 2019), and the First-Year Research and Writing Award Committee (2018-Present).
“Kate is the kind of colleague that, through her service, makes Keene State College feel like a community,” colleague Amber Davisson, Associate Professor of Communication, said. “She finds opportunities to gather people from across disciplines together and support one another, she tackles the hard work of committees on campus that do heavy lifting, and she celebrates the work of the students and faculty on this campus.”
The teaching award that Dr. Tirabassi received in 2021 recognizes excellence in teaching, encouragement of independent thinking, rapport with students, and student advising. Student-nominated candidates must be full-time, tenure-track faculty with at least three years’ teaching time at Keene State.
Dr. Tirabassi joined the Keene State faculty in 2007. She earned a B.A. from Saint Michael’s College, her M.S.T. from University of New Hampshire, and her Ph.D. from University of New Hampshire.
