"The big picture is, I have a deep belief that education—especially higher education—can help make our country a better place."
Kate Belknap, C’83, rarely turns down an adventure, but in her junior year at Sewanee, she experienced a moment of serious doubt. Sitting in a medieval literature course taught by Professor Emeritus of English Bob Benson, Belknap faced the prospect of reading The Canterbury Tales in its original Middle English. “I remember looking at that book at the beginning of the semester and thinking to myself, ‘No way,’” she says. “But, lo and behold, [Benson] figured out a way to make it undaunting.”
Belknap admits her Middle English is rusty these days, but she points to a larger takeaway from Benson’s class. “I can’t say I remember the specific details of The Canterbury Tales particularly well, but I remember what it felt like to take on a pretty big challenge and be successful,” she says. “That was a great lesson.”
As an English instructor at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) in Grand Junction, Belknap now has daily opportunities to spark students’ curiosity and confidence. In appreciation for her Sewanee experiences, she and her husband, Bill Bruchak, recently provided a major gift to reinforce the University’s mission and strengthen multiple programs.
A portion of Belknap’s support establishes the Belknap-Bruchak Endowed and Cornerstone Scholarships, as well as endowed funds for field hockey, women’s soccer, and the Center for Teaching. Additionally, her gift includes significant contributions to the Sewanee Fund and for renovations to the Fowler Center. “The big picture is, I have a deep belief that education—especially higher education—can help make our country a better place,” Belknap says. “That’s my underlying motivation.”
Belknap came to the Mountain from Dallas, Texas, with plans to major in biology and pursue a career in medicine. After a rough battle with organic chemistry, she recalibrated her goals. “I discovered at Sewanee that my talents really fell more in the humanities,” she says. “I had some fantastic professors who helped me see that.”
Benson, in particular, was an important mentor, she says. “He had this really cool combination of academic rigor and the ability to take complex thoughts and make them understandable for an 18-year-old.” Belknap’s freshman year was also Benson’s first year at Sewanee, and Belknap got to know her professor’s family as their regular babysitter. Caring for faculty members’ children gave her a unique perspective on academia’s fabled ivory tower. “It was kind of neat seeing people you respect and admire, and they’d be struggling to get dinner to the table on time, too.”
Athletics also claimed a significant chunk of Belknap’s college schedule—she played women’s soccer and field hockey throughout her Sewanee career, captaining both teams for two years. In 1982, she was named a regional All-American in field hockey, and in 2022 she was inducted into the Sewanee Athletics Hall of Fame. Belknap says she’s especially proud of her teams’ big wins and solid records, noting Sewanee’s field hockey team came to be ranked fourth nationally during her time on the Domain. Overall, her experience as a Tiger “was extremely formative in many ways,” she says. “I think it helped me become a better student and a better person.”
If athletics set Belknap up with valuable life skills, then her two years as a student trustee pushed her to put these talents into practice. The role came with significant responsibilities, including serving on a curriculum committee with faculty, administrators, and fellow trustees. During her senior year, she was asked to speak about Sewanee at the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas’s annual convention. After her presentation, the Rev. Steve Swann, founder and former headmaster of the Episcopal School of Dallas, gave Belknap his business card. “He said, ‘When you graduate, call me. I have a job for you.’” Belknap followed through on the offer and landed her first teaching position.
In 1996, Belknap earned a Master of Humanities degree from the University of Dallas and accepted an adjunct professorship in CMU’s English Department. She went on to receive an Ed.D. from Southern Methodist University in 2023. For her dissertation, she researched how faculty learn to teach in the absence of formal instruction—a topic of personal relevance. Belknap credits her sister, Laura Belknap Calley, C’89, with helping her flesh out the idea. “She taught in higher education for a while at the community college level,” Belknap says. “Even though she had a background in teaching high school, she said [college instruction] was different—she needed so much more support.”
To engage her students at CMU, Belknap uses a wide range of strategies, including providing opportunities to participate in hands-on learning. A dedicated outdoors enthusiast, she worked for many summers as a river ranger at Dinosaur National Monument in Dinosaur, Colorado. Currently, she leads whitewater rafting trips with Yellow Jacket River Guides, a women-owned-and-staffed company in Salmon, Idaho. One of her CMU courses focuses on the Colorado River, and Belknap gives students the option of joining a rafting excursion. She jokes that her diverse resume and teaching style are byproducts of having “a really short attention span.”
Belknap’s endowed scholarship gift qualified her for membership in the Sewanee Women’s Alliance (SWA), and she recently decided to join. Launched in 2025, the SWA works to raise scholarship funding benefiting all students at the University. “Here at CMU, almost 50% of our student body is first-generation,” Belknap says. “Literally on a daily basis, I get to see what a difference a college education can make in the life of a person.”
Associate Vice President for Advancement Terri Griggs Williams, C’81, says scholarship support continues to be a critical fundraising priority, and Belknap’s generosity magnifies the SWA’s success. “We’re grateful to have so many amazing Sewanee women leading the charge to bring deserving students to the Mountain,” she says. “To date, the SWA has raised $3.3 million toward scholarships, which is a huge win for expanding Sewanee’s reach and profoundly shaping students’ journeys.”
Belknap says she arrived at Sewanee believing she was one of the weakest students in her class, but professors like Bob Benson shifted her mindset. She still checks in with him over the phone every few months. “A lot of the things I learned at Sewanee, I’ve forgotten—sorry, Bob,” she says. “But the things I haven’t forgotten are how to think for myself and solve really complex problems.” This type of knowledge is intrinsic to a Sewanee education, Belknap believes. “It’s embedded in Sewanee’s DNA.”
