COLCHESTER, Vt. - The Saint Michael's College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) announced Katie Kirby has earned its 2025 Dr. Dave Landers Faculty Mentor Award thanks to her support and dedication to the College's student-athletes. An Associate Professor of Philosophy and Ethics, Equity Studies Program Co-Director, and Junior Seminar Program Director, Kirby will now be considered for the Northeast-10 Conference Dr. Dave Landers Faculty Mentor Award.
 
"Professor Kirby perfectly exemplifies each of the NCAA Division II core values through her commitment to supporting Saint Michael's student-athletes in any way she can," said men's ice hockey senior captain/SAAC president David Ciancio (Scituate, R.I./Seahawks Hockey Club). "She pushes us in the classroom, cheers us on during our games, and creatively finds ways to promote engagement between more faculty and student-athletes. Beyond her work teaching and promoting games, Professor Kirby encourages student-athletes to join clubs, attend guest speaker events, and attend plays. She focuses on exposing student-athletes to everything that Saint Michael's has to offer, making us more prepared to succeed after graduation."
 
Kirby has served on the faculty since 2006 and earned a number of additional honors due to her work in the Saint Michael's Community over the years. She won the 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Society Appreciation Award, 2019 Norbert A. Kuntz Service Award, and 2024 Senior Class Appreciation Award. Kirby has been involved through such endeavors as leading academic study trips to Guyana and South Africa, working with the baseball team as its faculty affiliate, and organizing Staff & Faculty Knight cheering sections at home sporting events, a growing venture that will also support students at theater productions, dance and music events, and art shows. In 2011, Kirby earned the Vermont Campus Compact Award for Excellence in Community-Based Teaching.
 
Women's volleyball sophomore Grace Almeida (Clifton Park, N.Y./Shenendehowa) said Kirby is particularly interested in supporting students' extracurricular activities, which includes providing student-athletes a platform to promote their events in her classroom. "She attends as many events as she can and always shows her school spirit, wearing purple or whatever the theme of the game may be," said Almeida.
 
Also a Student Disability Advocacy Alliance Faculty Adviser, Kirby is co-creator and co-leader of a mindfulness, meditation and prayer student retreat to Saint Anne's Shrine in Isle La Motte and teaches two Community-Engaged Learning (CEL) courses that pair students with elders at the Saint Joseph's Residential Care Home in Burlington. Kirby holds a bachelor's degree from Salisbury University and a master's degree and doctorate from Fordham University.
 
"Professor Kirby shows passion for many different things," said women's basketball first-year Kelli Cieplicki (Colchester, Vt./Rice Memorial). "She starts off each class with asking what activities are happening throughout campus, and she makes an effort to attend each. When she does attend, she shows up cheering for her students and non-students. She always demonstrates good sportsmanship and she has brought pom-poms to basketball games, traveled to Saint Anselm for the men's ice hockey team, and goes to students' art collections and many other activities. Professor Kirby also puts on a retreat for students. This retreat is for finding calm, peace and groundedness, with hopes for students to find new methods for dealing with stress and other commotion in life."
 
Dr. Dave Landers Faculty Mentor Award
2017      Ray Patterson
2018      Paul Olsen
2019      Joan Wry '79
2020      Patricia Siplon
2021      Dr. Ruth Fabian-Fine
2022      Steven Doyon '88
2023      Paul Olsen
2024      Alicia Norris
2025      Katie Kirby