Kate Johnston

Kate Johnston serves as the Director of Student Success & Career Integration at Hamline University, where she provides strategic and cross-functional leadership across three key student support units: the Center for Academic Success and Achievement (CASA), the Career Development Center (CDC), and the Writing & Communication Center (WCC). Directing a dedicated team of staff and managing operational budgets, Kate leads initiatives related to advising academic support from a holistic approach and the seamless integration of career development into the academic curriculum.

At the core of Kate’s administrative leadership is a deeply rooted, student-centered philosophy. A teacher at heart who believes in educating the whole person, she anchors decision-making in student success, access, and equity. Drawing on strengths-based and appreciative advising methodologies, she empowers students to stretch outside their comfort zones, achieve personal and academic growth, and transition into meaningful post-graduation careers. Since joining Hamline in 2021, Kate has driven institutional innovation and strategic alignment. Her work spans operationalizing university persistence goals for undergraduate students, designing data-backed academic interventions, expanding pre-orientation engagement, and leading grant-funded curricular initiatives like vocational discernment courses.

Prior to her leadership at Hamline, Kate was a faculty member in the Modern Languages Department at Franklin College (Indiana) from 2010 to 2021. In addition to teaching Spanish language, literature, culture, and global studies courses, she served as a first-year academic advisor and coordinated the college’s First-Year Seminar, overseeing course development, assessment, and faculty training. Her ongoing research interests include leader humility, second language acquisition, the impact of study away experiences, and first-year student success & retention strategies.

Kate holds a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education and Spanish from Butler University, a Master of Arts for Teachers in Spanish from Indiana University, and a Máster Interuniversitario Hispano-Norteamericano en Lengua Española y Culturas Hispanas from la Universidad de Salamanca. She is actively pursuing her PhD. in Management & Public Service at Hamline.