The oldest of four children, Kathleen Kish loved learning and sharing knowledge with her sisters. She was particularly interested in both science and language, and ultimately decided to pursue the latter. Dr. Kish proceeded earn a Bachelor of Arts from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964, and both a Master of Arts and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin—Madison in 1965 and 1971, respectively. Her first position in the field was lecturer in the Department of Romance Languages at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, followed by professor and chair. She moved to San Diego University as the professor and chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese in 1999, and remained there until she accepted the distinguished title of professor emerita in 2004.
The highlight of Dr. Kish’s career was when she received the American Counsel Education Fellowship. It is a serious competition, and during year she was selected, she was one of only 30 throughout the country. It was an extremely interesting year; she did a lot of travel and was encouraged to work away from home. Dr. Kish made lots of connections and learned aspects of education that the average person doesn’t do or see directly. It really broadened her perspective.
Although Dr. Kish has since retired, she continues to use her humanities and social sciences background as the founder and owner of Kish Academic Editing. She opened the firm in 2007, and, backed by her extensive experience editing original texts from the 16th and 17th centuries, offers editing services for dissertations, books, articles, and papers. She generally takes on topics that are of interest to her and that will teach her something.
When Dr. Kish isn’t working, she enjoys being active in her community. She has been the lead lector of St. Anne’s Church since 2018, a member of the Rossmoor Opera Club Board since 2016, a sustaining member of the Mingei International Museum since 2014, and a docent of the Mingei International Museum since 2008.