Greetings! My name is Kate Chester, and I am the director of public relations and community engagement for Portland Community College. I’ve worked at the college for 11 years; prior to PCC, I managed public affairs for Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, and before that worked as a television publicist with The Lippin Group, based in Los Angeles.

After receiving my bachelor’s from the University of Notre Dame, majoring in Government and International Studies, I attended the University of Southern California and obtained my master’s in Public Relations. I’ve worked in the field ever since, albeit in different industries and in different West Coast cities.

In 2017 I completed a second master’s degree, in Conflict Resolution, at Portland State University, and would like to build on that learning via Pacific’s PhD program. Specifically, I’m interested in international peace building within education — I’m working on a research project in Cyprus and headed there next week (so I’ll be Zooming with you, 10 hours ahead, for a couple of weeks!). My hope is that the research and writing skills we’ll garner in our PhD program will open doors to me professionally to work in the conflict resolution field. This would be in partnership with my current communications work.

On a personal level, I have two cats — Mr. Pancho and El Zorro/Thaleb — who I adore…

I look forward to working with, learning from, and getting to know each of you on this journey! And now to see if I can successfully post a photo…I don’t take many of myself, but I found one that was taken of me at my brother’s wedding — a happy day with happy memories…!