Honors College Director
Kathy J. Cooke, a historian, has served as the chief administrator for undergraduate honors programs on three coasts—Quinnipiac University in the Northeast, the University of South Alabama along the Gulf Coast, and now at Cal State Los Angeles.
Cooke focuses the work of honors on helping students reach their fullest potential by practicing leadership, engaging in community, and creating knowledge and culture. In Honors at Cal State LA, students progress through an honors curriculum, mature in their majors, develop thesis projects, and move toward the next phases of their careers in graduate school or the workplace. Together, the staff, students, and faculty in honors are fortunate to share deep intellectual curiosity and the desire to create knowledge and culture that engages with the larger public—starting with our own campus and extending to our region, the nation, and the world.
As the Director, Cooke has many goals for the Honors community. First among them is to bolster the Honors College's inquisitive spirit and engagement by welcoming everyone with true inclusion and belonging. She and her team not only are creating more unique course opportunities but also are bringing students to campus lectures and events as well as global opportunities to explore human rights and the work of Nobel Peace Prize awardees. The Honors College is also, under her leadership, exploring ways to transform the educational experience through the strategic use of modern technology such as AI.
Dr. Cooke’s research and teaching have been funded and supported by academic institutions, including the University of Chicago, California Institute of Technology, the University of Wyoming, Yale University, Harvard University, and Cornell University, as well as private, state, and national agencies including the American Philosophical Society, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, the David Mathews Center for Civic Engagement, and the Alabama Humanities Alliance. Her most recent award is a $453,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Dr. Cooke has presented her research at professional conferences around the world, with over forty appearances planned or made at venues from South Korea to Svalbard, and Portland (Oregon) to Portland (Maine). She has published seventeen articles in academic journals such as Isis (the Journal of the History of Science Society), Journal of the History of Biology, Mt. Sinai Journal of Medicine, Endeavor, Honors in Practice, and the Journal of the History of Sexuality. Her Ph.D. is in history from the University of Chicago.
What led you to work in this field?
"When I was young, I noticed that one of my aunts had a PhD and that got my attention. I grew up on a dairy farm and really enjoyed the work—milking cows, driving tractors—but I also loved to read. So I went to college as a first generation student (because even though I had an aunt with a PhD, my Mom and Dad hadn't gone to college) and then on to graduate school in history. I learned in my first job that I love teaching, but I also love sharing my own curiosity with students. Honors is a great place to learn new things together, and so when I had the opportunity to get involved in honors education, I jumped at it!"
What are three words that your close friends would use to describe you?
Energetic, always doing new things, and sincere.
If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
I would like to be able to be in multiple places at once.