The Residential College is proud to announce that Katie Gass Grambeau, Marketing and Outreach Specialist, has received the 2026 Kay Beattie Outstanding Individual Award, one of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts' highest honors recognizing exceptional staff contributions to undergraduate education. The award recognizes employees whose sustained leadership, innovation, and service have made a significant impact across LSA.
After graduating from the Residential College in 2013, Katie returned to East Quad as a staff member in January 2022. Since then, her work has helped strengthen the College's visibility, improve student access to resources, modernize communications, and build stronger connections between students, faculty, staff, alumni, and campus partners. In 2025, Katie received her MS in Marketing from the U-M Dearborn College of Business, pursuing the degree part-time while working in the Residential College.
One of the projects highlighted in her nomination was a multi-year effort to secure official LSA branding for the Residential College's four academic majors. By working with LSA Brand Strategy and Advancement, Katie helped ensure that Arts and Ideas in the Humanities, Creative Writing & Literature, Drama, and Social Theory & Practice are now represented alongside other LSA academic departments with their own branded identities - an institutional change that will benefit the programs for years to come.
Her nomination also recognized work that has made opportunities more accessible for students. Katie has streamlined scholarship communications and application processes, expanded outreach about available funding, and helped identify new ways to use existing scholarship resources to support students with financial need. In one example cited by her nominators, she collaborated with advisors and RC leadership to help a student facing significant financial hardship remain enrolled through graduation while also creating a model for how similar funding could support future students.
Beyond individual initiatives, Katie's colleagues emphasized the lasting impact of her work across the Residential College. Her nomination highlighted leadership in launching the RC's redesigned website, improving digital accessibility, strengthening the visibility of the Keene Theater, expanding alumni engagement, and mentoring student employees and colleagues.
Those who nominated Katie described someone who consistently looks beyond immediate tasks to improve the College for the future, "She sees her work as not just supporting the now, but positioning success for the RC for the future."
Kristin Stein, Director of Admissions, Recruitment, and MLC Administration, praised Katie's willingness to embrace new ideas and improve systems that extend beyond the Residential College, "Through her early adoption of innovation, inclusive practices, and collaborative leadership, Katie consistently goes beyond what is expected of her role to improve systems and experiences for others." Katie regularly partners with Kristin on admissions materials and recruitment strategies, leveraging her expertise in marketing for the benefit of the RC and future RC'ers.
Student employee Claire Lee reflected on Katie's impact as a mentor, "Katie truly roots for my success beyond my academic life and the office." Claire will be a marketing intern at Nike this summer and hopes to have a career in product marketing, branding, and business.
Keene Theater Manager Jack Moody highlighted Katie's ability to turn ideas into lasting improvements, as was the case with the Keene Theater branding and visibility updates. "Though seven signs may seem like a small contribution, they have greatly improved wayfinding... and were met with much praise from staff and faculty who have long recognized the issue."
Katie's nomination repeatedly returned to one theme: a commitment to improving systems, removing barriers, and keeping students at the center of every decision. As her nominator wrote, she is "a leader among leaders" who regularly brings conversations back to one question: how can the Residential College better support its students and community?
Congratulations, Katie, on this well-deserved recognition!
