Most Reverend John R. Gaydos has announced that Kathleen M. Trauth, Ph.D., P.E. will serve as the Chair of the Executive Committee for Fr. Augustine Tolton Regional Catholic High School and also as the chair of the search committee for the first principal. Dr. Trauth has been representing the St. Thomas More Newman Center on the Executive Committee for the last several of years, and before that she served on the inter-parish committee involved in assessing interest in a Catholic high school and in initial fund raising efforts. In 2009, she was the chair of the committee charged with providing community recommendations to Bishop Gaydos as to potential names for the high school.

Professionally, Dr. Trauth is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Missouri. Her current activities include teaching water resources courses, advising undergraduate and graduate students, and conducting research. Dr. Trauth is the faculty advisor for the student chapters of the Society of Women Engineers and the Institute of Nuclear Materials Management, and is involved in programs that help first semester freshman become integrated into the University. She is a licensed professional engineer in New Mexico and Missouri.

Her husband, John Gahl, is also a Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Missouri and is currently a member of the Newman Center Parish Council. John and Kate have two daughters in Catholic education—Ginny is a sophomore at Helias Interparish High School and Martha is a 7th grader at Columbia Catholic School.

“My husband and I are both products of Catholic primary and secondary education, and I am very excited to be expanding my role in helping to make the high school a reality for families in the mid-Missouri region. “