Reflections: Kae Hutchinson

Kae Hutchinson
Curriculum & Institutional Effectiveness
Dean of Instruction

In 1966, when Kae Hutchison was just out of graduate school and looking for a job, she became one of the original instructors at what would soon become Bellevue Community College. It began when she met Louis Kahn who was in charge of the Bellevue School District's adult education program at Newport High School. Kae was hired to teach group piano lessons for the program. When Louis Kahn became Dean of Instruction for the newly founded college, he invited Kae to teach music.

At that time, the Bellevue Community College campus was still under construction and classes were being held in portables at Newport High School. Kae began teaching part-time and developing the music department. She was very involved in the early planning of facilities for the college, and soon moved into a full-time position. Kae later became the division chair for the creative arts department, which included music, drama, dance, cinema, and fine arts.

From this position, she moved over to Continuing Education. The program started with a staff of two and a budget of $100,000. Kae eventually developed the program until it was a leader in the state for continuing education. When Kae left the program to take a position in the instruction office, there were two divisions with a total of over 30 full-time staff and a budget of over $5 million.

Kae's career at Bellevue Community College spanned over three decades and several positions. After overseeing budget and enrollment, Kae went on to serve as the interim Dean of Instruction. Over the last few years, she has maintained the instruction office, organized professional development faculty seminars and mentoring programs.

Kae recently retired to start her own consulting business. "I will miss the people-the professional circle of colleagues. BCC has fostered growth and learning in a lot of us here. There was always a new and exciting challenge to undertake."

Looking back over the years, some of the highlights of Kae's career are building the continuing education program and seeing it continue to flourish after she left; working on bringing international students to campus, which included a trip to Japan; teaching interdisciplinary classes with Pauline Christiansen and Bob Purser; and organizing a series of workshops within the creative arts division at which the faculty shared their disciplines with their colleagues. "I had a lot of fun in those workshops, practicing a dance routine, casting a sculpture, and learning in more detail about what my colleagues do each day."