Mary Washington alumna Cathie O’Connor Woteki ’69 and husband Tom in the doorway of the ‘Drs. Catherine O’Connor Woteki ’69 and Thomas H. Woteki Laboratory,’ in the Jepson Science Center, Room 416. K Pearlman Photography.
Cathie O’Connor Woteki ’69 and husband Tom have both led distinguished careers in government, industry and academia. Cathie got her start in STEM as an assistant in a lab in college – much like the one named for them last month in the University of Mary Washington’s Jepson Science Center – where she prepped solutions and lab equipment for experiments.
“I learned so much from that experience and my interactions with faculty,” said Cathie, who earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and chemistry at Mary Washington and went on to shape food safety policy for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the White House. “I want to provide the same kinds of experiences for today’s students that I had in college.”
The Wotekis visited that fourth-floor lab for an unveiling, where UMW President Troy Paino, Provost Tim O’Donnell and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Keith Mellinger expressed their gratitude to the couple for their generous gifts. Current and retired science faculty and university staff gathered in the space, which Professor of Biology Lynn Lewis, director of the Irene Piscopo Rodgers School of Science, said will hold introductory and upper-level chemistry courses and be used for the Irene Piscopo Rodgers ’59 Summer Science Institute.
The couple have made gifts to the Class of 1969 50th Reunion Scholarship and the Fund for Mary Washington, but their greatest impact has come from their contributions to the Beyond the Classroom (BtC) Endowment since its inception. Read more about UMW Chemistry Classroom Naming.
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