Finance Office
Office of Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer
The Feb. 2025 employee spotlight is on Katherine Daugherty, a Financial Analyst with Treasury and Financial Management. Below, Katherine shares some thoughts about her journey to MSU and her time working in MSU Finance. Enjoy!
I first came to study here at MSU in the late 1970’s. Since my parents originally met at MSU, they would not give me the $25 application fee to apply to the University of Michigan; MSU was the only place I applied. Through being a TA with Accounting 201 I met my husband, a fellow Accounting 201 TA. After graduating, we took jobs in Chicago but returned to Michigan when my husband bought into a business in Lansing. We finally moved to East Lansing in 1992, and the prospect of working at MSU was always on my mind.
Fast forward to 2009, while still working at a firm in East Lansing, I took an opportunity to transfer to Belgium. As a result, I thought it would be fun to “retire” early.
It was not; I was bored.
In 2010, I joined TheStateNews, and in 2015 I moved to Treasury, and have loved working for my alma mater ever since. I have learned a lot these ten years working at MSU – compared to the corporate world, in my experience, Higher Ed puts much more emphasis on training and development of employees. In my daily responsibilities, I manage our day-to-day cash balances. At first, I had nightmares about the size and scope of the funds I would manage and communicate each day. I struggled with all I did not know!
However, MSU has a great educational culture, and I found that everyone I worked with was helpful and invested in getting me up to speed.
I also manage the endowment accounts, and one of my favorite things is to read the biographies of our donors attached to their gifts. There are nearly as many reasons for why people love MSU and want to give back as there are endowment accounts, which total close to 4,800. My husband and I also plan to establish a future gift agreement to give back to the institution that has been so good to us.
This decade has not been without its challenges, however: when I was a young accountant with a long daily commute, the thought of “working from home” was unbelievable. When COVID-19 hit and working from home was made mandatory, I was miserable by the second week. I was overjoyed when we were allowed to return to the office and enjoy our amazing campus. Nowadays, I come into the office each day, but I have grown to really appreciate the flexibility to work remotely when necessary. I live close enough to campus that I could walk, and I feel lucky every day to be here.
Although we now have a Wolverine and a Fighting Illini in the family, East Lansing was a great place to raise children, and now that I am nearing retirement age, I’m starting to think about what comes next. I have grandchildren now, so I’m looking forward to spending more time with them and my family. Hopefully, it will not be as boring as my short-lived retirement fifteen years ago!
I still have my 90-year-old parents living about an hour away, and they still love to come to campus – a favorite activity is to eat lunch at one of the dining halls. They are very proud their oldest child works for Michigan State University.
Go Green!
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