Kathleen Dyer, PhD

Katie Dyer was born and raised near St. Louis, Missouri. After earning a bachelor's degree in Human Development and Family Studies in 1993 from the University of Missouri-Columbia, she stayed on for graduate school in the same program.  She earned a master's degree (1995) while studying the development of morality and identity in emerging adulthood under Dr. Jeffrey Arnett, She earned her PhD (2001) while studying under Dr. Mark Fine; her doctoral dissertation was about the cultural context of parent-infant cosleeping in Mexican American families. 

Dr. Dyer moved to California's Central Valley in 2000. From 2000 to 2004, she worked in medical education, teaching evidence-based medicine for the Family Medicine Residency program through the UCSF Fresno Medical Education program. She developed a tool for assessing evidence based medicine competency (the "Fresno Test of Evidence Based Medicine") that is still in widespread use worldwide. 

Even while working in medicine, Dr. Dyer also worked as a part-time lecturer in Child and Family Science at the California State University, Fresno. In 2004, she assumed a position on the tenure track in that program. She was tenured and promoted to Associate Professor in 2010, and promoted to Professor in 2018. 

She was chair of her department for two terms, from 2015 through 2023. During that time, she led her department through a name change, a move to a different college, five faculty hires, and two curriculum revisions. She established a committee structure for the department, created a process for annual review of grading practices, and initiated a departmental graduation celebration. She was twice recognized by departmental faculty for outstanding service as department chair. 

Dr. Dyer is deeply committed to public higher education. Teaching has been her top priority during her career in the California State University system, the largest 4-year public university system in the U.S., and one that strives to overcome structural inequalities by serving all students. She has received teaching awards during her time at Fresno State, despite teaching a difficult research methods course. She has written textbooks that fill curricular gaps for students in Human Development and Family Science. Dr. Dyer's research agenda revolves around higher education -- including academic disciplinarity, pedagogy, and academic standards in the academy.  

Her service work has been extensive. Her service within the Academic Senate includes serving as both department and university-wide senator, as a member of the Senate Executive Committee, chairing the Academic Standards and Grading subcommittee, leading two Senate tasks forces (student ratings, and post-pandemic planning), and chairing the Senate subcommittee on Student Ratings.  She has also chaired and revitalized the university-wide Council of Department Chairs, and has provided extensive leadership related to reforms of student ratings of instruction, both at Fresno State and in the CSU system more generally. For this work, she received the Provost's Award for Service in 2021. 

Most recently, Dr. Dyer served as interim chair for Fresno State's Department of Public Health, and is currently serving as interim associate dean for Fresno State's Craig School of Business. She has also been busy as a founding member of a professional organization, the Lilienfeld Alliance for the Teaching of Rational Skepticism, which promotes the use of refutation to teach critical thinking. 

Dr. Dyer is a founding member, and a member of the Executive Board, of the Lilienfeld Alliance for the Teaching of Rational Skepticism in Higher Education. This professional organization strives to connect academics who teach critical thinking using a refutational approach.