LEWISTON, Idaho – A retirement reception for Kathy Martin, Lewis-Clark State College’s Dean for Community Programs and Governmental Relations, will be held on Nov. 28 at 4-5:30 p.m. at the LCSC Center for Arts & History, located at 415 Main St.
Martin, who has been when the college for 23 years, will officially retire on Dec. 21. The reception is free and open to the public.
Martin came to LCSC in 1995 when she was named the director of Distance Learning. She also served as interim assistant vice president for LCSC’s Extended Programs during 2001-02. In 2002, she was named Dean for Community Programs. In this role, she has several responsibilities, including overseeing the directors of e-Learning Services (formerly Distance Learning), LCSC outreach centers in Coeur d’Alene, Grangeville, and Orofino, Summer School & Special Programs, Continuing Education & Community Events, AmeriCorps and Service Learning, the Center for Arts & History, Clearwater Valley Educational Talent Search, and the Region II Idaho Small Business Development Center. In 2012, she added the role of Governmental Relations where she works with area elected officials on items important to the college and the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley by monitoring legislation and policy initiatives as well as advocating for the college.
Martin also has been heavily involved in numerous committees and activities on campus, including President’s Council, Provost’s Council, Dean’s Council, and several search committees. She served as chair of the college’s Professional Staff Organization and received the Outstanding Professional Staff of the Year award in 2002. She also chaired the Compensation Review Committee and the Instructional Calendar Committee. She also was on the planning committee to establish the Chinese Remembering event at the Center for Arts & History, and she attended a conference in Beijing and Shanghai in 2007.
She has been involved with several organizations in the Valley, including the Lewis Clark Valley Chamber. She was chair of the Lewiston Chamber in 2006 and was part of the transition when the Lewiston and Clarkston chambers combined. She continues to serve on the chamber board as an ex-officio representative for LCSC, and she also chaired the chamber’s Idaho Government Affairs Committee for seven years. She was instrumental in establishing annual legislative forums with local legislators and she remains active on that committee. She also has been involved with the North Idaho Legislative Tour for nearly two decades. The tour brings Idaho state legislators to various cities in northern Idaho every other year to promote business and industry, as well as show what the needs are in these areas.
Martin participates in numerous collaborative activities and events to benefit community organizations. Her professional organizational memberships include University Professional Continuing Education Association and Association for Continuing Higher Education.
In 2003, Martin was appointed by former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to serve on the Lewis and Clark Trail Committee, which helped plan and execute events to celebrate the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial. She was also appointed to serve on the Idaho Women’s Commission during 2006-2009.
She has received honors for her work at LCSC. In 2014, the Idaho Business Review named her as one of its 50 Women of the Year and she was the only woman for northern Idaho honored. Earlier this year, she was one of two recipients of LCSC’s inaugural Women’s Leadership Awards. The award honors those who exemplify leadership in their field of expertise or work place, serve as a role model to other women and girls, who give back to and are respected in the community, and who advocate for positive change to close the leadership gap for women. The winners are chosen by a selection committee consisting of community leaders and LCSC personnel.
Martin originally is from Lewiston and attended high school in Pierce. She married Randy Martin, who later taught business and served as Chair of the Business Division at LCSC before he retired in 2016. When they married, Randy was in the Air Force and the couple lived in various cities, including Rapid City, S.D., where she worked for another college, San Antonio, and Miami, where she worked for private industry.
Kathy completed her bachelor’s degree at Barry University in 1989 and earned a master’s degree at Troy State in 1992. After Randy retired in 1991, they opened a business and she worked as the director of administration/corporate president of American Knights Security, Inc., in Miami for nearly three years before accepting the position at LCSC.
Kathy and Randy have one daughter, Heather Markwalter, who works at Walla Walla Community College, Clarkston.