Kate West is an Emmy-nominated broadcast journalist with 20 years of experience covering the news for various local television stations across the country. Currently, she’s an assistant professor of instruction in the journalism and media department at the University of Texas primarily teaching the broadcast journalism classes. She also serves as the Director of Reporting Texas and is the assistant graduate advisor for the master’s professional track.
Prior to UT, Kate was the morning reporter for the Emmy award-winning KXAN News Today from 2004-2018. While working at the NBC affiliate, she set her alarm for 2 a.m. to wake up Austinites. Before coming to the Live Music Capital, Kate was a reporter and anchor at the ABC affiliate in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the CBS affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, and the CBS affiliate in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
Kate’s passion is focused on helping improve the mental health of journalists. She has written a book titled, Journalists Break News, Don’t Let it Break You. Normalizing Mental Wellness in News, that aims to prepare student journalists and working professionals for the mental health challenges associated with the job. The department is also one of the first in the country to offer a course titled, Journalism and Mental Health, dedicated to preparing students for the day-to-day mental health issues of covering crime, politics and dealing with workplace culture - something that is impactful for local journalists not just foreign or war correspondents.
Kate graduated with a bachelor’s in communication from the University of Massachusetts and earned both her master’s and Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. Kate has also served as an assistant professor at the University of Georgia in the Department of Telecommunications.
