Over Hills, Plains, and Oceans: Professor Kate Stevenson’s 40+ Year Journey Building Bridges Through Language

A Retrospective for International Week 2026

When Associate Professor of Foreign Languages Kate Stevenson sent her retirement letter to President Polly Peterson last October, she set in motion a reflection on more than four decades of opening doors to the world for University of Jamestown students. As International Week 2026 unfolds, her story illuminates the profound impact one educator can have in transforming a campus into a global community.

A Life Intertwined with Jamestown

Stevenson’s connection with Jamestown College began long before she joined the faculty in 1980. “Jamestown College was a part of my formative life for as long as I remember,” shared Stevenson. Her earliest memories include campus visits in the 1960s when her cousin Daniel Sillers served as college president, and attending plays, organ recitals, and concerts as a Jamestown High School student in the 1970s.

That early exposure planted seeds that would grow into a remarkable career. Since 1980, both Jamestown College and the University of Jamestown have been her professional home, where she has taught German, French, Communication, ESL, and Unruh School of Character and Leadership courses, while also finding time to study New Testament Greek, Chinese, Russian, Latin, Italian, and Spanish.

The Philosophy: Language as Cultural Gateway

For Stevenson, language learning isn’t merely academic—it’s transformational. “Language learning isn’t just the center of my life, it is what makes me tick,” she explained. Drawing on cultural scholarship, she emphasized that “language is the most profound carrier of culture. It shapes the mind of the speaker and holds the depth of wisdom and worldview of an entire world culture.”

Her teaching philosophy is refreshingly direct: “A monolingual person is like someone who has never used a mirror. They’ve nev

er been able to see what it is they’re doing.” She compared understanding another language to the concept of music for someone who cannot hear—to the uninitiated, it seems like magic, “but it is the product of work, commitment, and good guidance.”

Global Experiences, Local Impact

Stevenson’s work has taken her far beyond North Dakota’s borders. As a Fulbright Exchange teacher in 1989, she taught at the Oken Gymnasium in Offenburg, Germany, a year that coincided with the fall of the Berlin Wall. She has traveled with students and choirs to Germany, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy, China, England, and Costa Rica, and pursued projects in Canada (Quebec), France, Germany, and French Polynesia.

But perhaps her greatest impact has been in bringing the world to Jamestown. Through her work with the Cosmopolitan Club Scholarship program spearheaded by Hazel Guild Stroth (‘33) which brought young women from the Frankfurt, Germany, area to campus for nearly 60 years and countless other international initiatives, Stevenson helped create what she refers to as a multiplier effect. One international student meeting other students, sharing cultures at football games, in classrooms, and at her home, creates ripples of international connections that extend far beyond campus.

Building an International Community

The walls of Stevenson’s office tell the story: photographs spanning decades show students and colleagues from Japan, Germany, France, South Korea, Poland, Bulgaria, Iran, Jordan, China, Hong Kong, India, Nepal, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia, Ghana, Senegal, Liberia, South Africa, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkey, Serbia, Croatia, Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, Brazil, and beyond. Many became leaders in their fields; one German scholar earned her doctorate at Oxford and became a professor in Augsburg; another works for the U.S. Consulate as an economic advisor in Frankfurt.

International Week itself evolved from Stevenson’s early “Foreign Language Week” initiatives in the 1980s and is now organized by the Look Beyond Committee with input from faculty, staff and student members. Over the years, these celebrations have included multicultural restaurant nights, fashion shows featuring traditional dress from around the world, cultural simulation games, multilingual chapel services, and theatrical performances.

The Legacy of Language Learning

Stevenson’s impact extends to the classroom innovation she championed. She became trained in oral proficiency interviewing and helped students understand language learning not as a linear progression but as a three-dimensional experience that deepens with every level achieved. She also integrated language learning with the University’s Journey to Success framework, showing how studying languages connects to looking inward, outward,

beyond, and forward.

“I have been that guide for others,” Stevenson reflected, “and I have been guided by so many people, and in so many instances, that I have become a better person for it.”

A Door Held Open

As she prepares to retire at the conclusion of the 2025-2026 academic year, Stevenson expressed gratitude for her “extraordinarily rich intellectual community” and the opportunity to work with “dedicated colleagues and talented students from all corners of the globe.”

“I hope that my role on campus has been to hold a door open to the world of language learning and to train new generations of international communicators,” she said.

Her closing message to students and the campus community? “Laugh and share love in as many languages as you can. And it will make you a happier person. And it will brighten your world.”

As International Week 2026 unfolds with an event focusing on Japanese tea culture and a tasting demonstration of foods from Norway, France and Venezuela, Professor Stevenson’s legacy lives on which is a testament to the power of one educator’s vision to transform a campus into a global crossroads, one student, one language, one connection at a time.

Professor Kate Stevenson will retire at the end of the 2025-2026 academic year. The Foreign Language Department continues to offer programs in German, French, Spanish, and Latin under the leadership of Professor Ernesto Fundora.