UMW Honors Couple’s STEM Contributions with Chemistry Classroom Naming
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.
Mellinger recalled a 2019 lunch, where Cathie posed the question: “What do you need?” Requests for undergraduate research funding were greater than the University could provide at the time, he said, so the Wotekis sponsored the endowment’s first significant campaign challenge, inspiring numerous alumni to make similar commitments in future years.
Gifts and pledges to BtC have since surpassed $1 million, providing experiential learning opportunities for dozens of UMW students for undergraduate research, internships, study abroad and academic conference travel.
“Thank you for being here and for your continued investments in our students and the University,” said Paino, acknowledging the importance of a public liberal arts and sciences education in addressing 21st-century challenges. “Cathie, you’re a wonderful example of a Mary Washington education. We’re so proud of everything that you and Tom have accomplished throughout your careers.”
Learn more about the Wotekis and how they’ve supported Mary Washington students through their gifts.
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