‘She’s connecting to us’: How one professor has impacted the lives of her students

For 32 years, Kate Rousmaniere has spent her teaching career at Miami University in the department of educational leadership, where she has taught a variety of engaging courses for students.

Before her time at Miami, Rousmaniere taught high school social studies. While she loved being in the classroom and working with students, she discovered a love for research while earning her PhD, which led to her pursuing a career in academia.

“I really liked research and since I’ve been at Miami, I’ve worked with a lot of graduate students and been able to talk about research,” Rousmaniere said. “[I] also [worked with] some undergraduate students, too.”

On top of her work at Miami, Rousmaniere has worked with the Myaamia Center, the University Senate and has served as the chair of her department. She also got involved with the Oxford community, serving as an elected township trustee and at one point, mayor of Oxford.

Rousmaniere is also involved with organizations such as Coalition for a Healthy Community, Oxford Seniors and more. She has also written three books and is in the process of writing her fourth; a biography of a professor she studied with as a graduate student.

While Rousmaniere loved many things about her time at Miami, she said she really enjoyed her time with both faculty and students, whom she’ll miss the most.

“I love the students, I love learning [and] I love seeing students learn,” Rousmaniere said. “Even now, after over 30 years teaching, I’m still so excited when students are engaged in something and learn something.”

After she leaves Miami, she said she hopes that students will remember her for helping them think differently about the world and that people will remember her emphasis on the importance of research.

Mackenzie Morgan, a sophomore primary education major, had Rousmaniere for Intro to Community-Based Leadership (EDL 232), a course for her minor. Morgan said the students would refer to Rousmaniere as “Dr. Kate.”

“She’s the sweetest,” Morgan said. “She’s so cute. I always tell my friends about her because she’s honestly one of the nicest and most caring professors I’ve had. She really cares and she’s always reaching out to us to see if we have any questions or any problems or anything like that with our assignments.”

Morgan said that contrary to classes she has taken with other professors, Rousmaniere set hers up so that students are constantly engaged, even when it comes to the online content. When they had discussion boards, Morgan said that instead of just replying to a message from one student, she actually had her students communicate back and forth and engage with each other.

While there were many things Morgan enjoyed about taking a class with Rousmaniere, she said that the thing students will miss most is her smile and how much she genuinely cares about them.

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“How kind, caring and passionate she is will definitely be her legacy,” Morgan said. “She really is one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. She is always smiling every time we have class. She’s asking us about our lives. She’s connecting to us.”

powers40@miamioh.edu