Like father, like daughter. Kathy Schwaig’s dad was a Baptist minister, a skilled orator behind the pulpit but a man who was quiet in everyday life. Schwaig readily admits that she too is a bit shy, yet she’s the first female dean of the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. In this role, the fifty-three-year-old is tasked with raising funds for the school and fostering community partnerships. Not exactly jobs for a wallflower. And like her father, Schwaig rises to the challenge.
Under her leadership, the business school has flourished, most recently with the introduction of two undergraduate development programs, the launch of the Women’s Leadership Institute, and a brand-new number twenty-two spot on Bloomberg’s prestigious business school rankings for the college’s part-time MBA program.
In her time away from KSU, Schwaig works on earning her master’s in liberal arts from Johns Hopkins (just for kicks); raises a young daughter, Emma Grace, with her husband, Mike; and serves on the boards of Alliance for Children Everywhere, Junior Achievement of Georgia, Process Logic, and The Edge Connection. Through it all, she channels her father. “When I speak, very often, I feel him,” she says. “He was strong in character and conviction, and passionate about what he did.”
Words of Wisdom
