Dr. Kate Halischak joined the Oregon State University staff in July of 2006 as Associate Athletic Director/Director of Academics for Student-Athletes.
Since arriving at OSU, Halischak has worked to create sustainable programs of support that provide student-athletes with the opportunity to achieve their potential for intellectual, social and personal development. In the 2016-17 academic year, OSU student-athletes reached their highest GPA ever and earned an OSU record 149 Pac-12 Conference Academic team honors.
She oversees seven full-time academic staff and 50 part-time student employees. Despite the administrative nature of her work, Halischak sees her interaction with student-athletes as foundational, saying, “Seeing them every day is still the thing that makes me happiest.”
Her peers awarded her the prestigious Karel J. H. Murphy Professional Faculty Leadership and Service Award in September of 2009. The award honors a professional faculty member who has provided outstanding leadership and service throughout their career both within their department and in programs and organizations across Oregon State University.
In 2016, Halischak was elected President of the OSU Faculty Senate.
Halischak spent 12 years at the University of Notre Dame as Director of Academic Services for Student-Athletes. While at Notre Dame the program sustained an 88 percent graduation rate, consistently rated among the top 10 in every NCAA graduation rate report, captured the American Football Coaches Association academic achievement award four times (100% graduation rate twice), and won the USA Today NCAA Academic Achievement Award in 2003 with a graduation rate of 92 percent.
In addition to working with student-athletes, she has worked as an assistant professor of English, an academic advisor and director of a multi-disciplinary liberal arts program.