Beach, Kathryn Rice (1915-1987)

Kathryn Rice Beach

When Kay Beach retired in 1979, the School of Family Resources and Consumer Sciences lost a caring, dedicated and efficient administrator. As Associate Dean of Student Affairs in the School from 1974 to 1979, Beach was responsible for registration, academic counseling, advisory assignments, recruiting, certification, and placement. It was a position in which her sincere interest in helping students navigate difficult academic, financial and personal questions shone through, and she loved it.

But these five years were only a small part of the thirty-two years during which Beach was a faculty member. After earning her BS in Home Economics Education from Stout State University in 1937, Beach taught secondary home economics in Wisconsin for several years. She then continued her studies at Michigan State University and the UW with the intention of returning to high school teaching. After earning her MS in 1947, however, she decided instead to stay at UW. From 1947 until 1974, as she climbed the ranks from instructor to full professor in the Home Management and Family Living Program Area, she taught courses in general home economics, family relations and family economics. She was known for the progressive attitudes she demonstrated in such courses as "Family Relationships," in which she recognized the changing nature of family structures and responded sympathetically to the issues concerning students in the 1960s and 1970s. She was also the administrative assistant to the dean from 1962 until 1973, when she accepted the position as Associate Dean.