Missouri S&T honored Dr. Beth Kania-Gosche, professor and chair of the department of education at Missouri S&T, as the 2024 Woman of the Year today (Thursday, April 4) during a reception at Hasselmann Alumni House. 

The Woman of the Year award is given annually to a full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty member who is a woman and serves as a role model for S&T students, contributing to the university through research, scholarship, teaching and service. As part of the award, Kania-Gosche received a $2,000 stipend funded by Missouri S&T graduate Cynthia Tang, founder and former chair of Insight Industries Inc.

The event also honored Missouri S&T’s Women’s Advocate Award recipient, Dr. Rachel Kohman, director of Kummer Student Programs at Missouri S&T.

Kania-Gosche joined the university in 2019 as the founding chair of the education department. Prior to joining Missouri S&T, she served as professor and associate dean of the school of education at Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri.

Since joining S&T, Kania-Gosche has been a key player in securing grant funding, contributing to the establishment of the Kummer Center for STEM Education and the Child Development Center. She has been instrumental in establishing S&T’s bachelor’s degree in education, and added emphasis areas in early childhood, educational studies, and world language education.  

“Missouri S&T graduates are known for their exceptional educations, unparalleled teacher training, and readiness to enter the classroom on Day One of their appointments,” writes one faculty nominator. “All this is thanks to Dr. Kania-Gosche, who has created one of the most respected and highly ranked education programs in the state of Missouri.”

“We talk a lot about ‘the pipeline’ of workforce development,” writes another nominator. “Beth is actually installing the pipe.”

At Missouri S&T Kania-Gosche has taught Reading in the Content Area and Assessment of Student Learning. She serves on the Missouri Advisory Council for Certification of Educators, is a member of the Missouri Team on the Path Forward Literacy Initiative and was the president of the Missouri Association of Colleges for Teacher Education between 2018 and 2021.

Kania-Gosche holds a Ph.D. in educational studies from Saint Louis University, a master’s degree in education from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and a bachelor’s degree in English education from Southeast Missouri State University-Cape Girardeau.

About Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.