Kat is a middle grade and young adult author whose work has been praised by Publisher’s weekly and Kirkus as “emotionally-nuanced” and “viseral.” She is an Associate Professor of Education at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, where she prepares preservice teachers in literacy and writing instruction. A member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, the National Writing Project, and the National Council of Teachers of English, Kat is frequently invited to speak at state and national conferences. 

Kat started writing as a child and uses her positions as a college professor and author to serve as an advocate for prioritizing time for creativity and effective writing instruction in schools. In 2008, she opened Michiana Writers’ Center as a way to support writers of all ages through classes and workshops in the South Bend/Mishawaka area. In 2013, Kat founded the Get Inked Teen Writing Conference at Saint Mary’s College, which brings together young writers and published authors. 

Although, technically Kat lives 0.25 miles across the Michigan state line, she graduated from Indiana University, South Bend and has worked in Indiana all of her adult life—first as a teacher for South Bend Schools, and currently as a professor at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame.  

Kat’s writing explores the core issues teens face today, especially those related to family dynamics. Her first book, Hanging with My Peeps, is a contemporary middle grade novel following a family about to lose their home due to the layoffs in Elkhart’s RV industry and their salvation via an unlikely ally and 43 chickens. Kat’s young adult novel, Junkyard Dogs, is also set in Indiana and addresses issues of teen poverty and homelessness. It is inspired by her own experiences growing up in poverty and also by South Bend’s 2006 Manhole Murders, which made national news. Her work has also appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Jack and Jill Magazine, Cleaver, and Women on Writing.