About
Dr. Kathleen (Kathy) Gilboy, Ed.D. is an assistant professor and the instructor for the special education courses. She graduated from Carroll in 1987 with a BA in both Elementary Education and Special Education. She received her Master of Science in Learning Development from Montana State-Northern and received her Doctorate in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in higher education from Concordia University-Portland.
Kathy retired from teaching in public schools for 26 years, 23 of those years were as the Special Educator in the East Helena, MT school district, primarily at East Valley Middle School. Her area of expertise is in behavior management of special needs students.
In her free time, she enjoys camping with her family, knitting and cross-country skiing.
Courses Taught:
Introduction to Exceptional Children, Students with High Incidence Disabilities, Students with Low Disabilities, Collaboration and Conferencing Techniques for Special Education, Assessment and Evaluation in Special Education, Methods for Teaching Students with Learning and Behavior Disorders, Methods of Administering Special Education, and Methods of Teaching Middle School.
In the fall of 1981, after my parents sent my older brother back to ASU for his junior year, we packed up the Mercury station wagon with everything we thought I might need for my freshman year at Carroll College, left my five younger siblings at home and traveled from Casper, WY to Helena, so I could start my college career. After unpacking and moving into Guadalupe Hall, then an all-girls dorm, my mom and dad left me at the top of Guad Hill. Man, was I a little scared yet excited to start the next chapter of my life. I immediately fell in love with Carroll and made many lifelong friends as well as met my husband, Tim. I chose to attend Carroll College for two reasons. First, I knew I wanted to attend a small, Catholic, liberal arts college, and Carroll College was exactly that. Secondly, growing up in a large Irish Catholic family, I wanted to feel the family connection and again, Carroll fit the bill perfectly.
As a child, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. It wasn’t until I arrived at Carroll, that I realized I wanted to be a special education teacher. One of my younger siblings has Down syndrome and I knew I wanted to be an advocate for those with disabilities like my parents were for my sister, Mary Anne. This was my drive to become a special education teacher. In December of 1986, I graduated from Carroll with a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education and Special Education. My first teaching job was at Trinity School, a two-room schoolhouse just outside of Helena in Canyon Creek, MT. I taught third through sixth grade for three years. However, my passion was in special education and when the opportunity came to work in East Helena as a special educator, I jumped at the chance. After 23 years in East Helena, primarily at East Valley Middle School, I completed my public school teaching career as the special education teacher. Along the way, I completed a master’s degree in Learning Development at Montana State University-Northern in 2002. It was always a dream of mine to come back to Carroll College and work with future special educators and in August 2013, my dream came true...I was hired to teach at Carroll! Since my tenure at Carroll, I completed a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership with an emphasis in higher education from Concordia University-Portland in March of 2019.
Tim, a Carroll College grad and special education teacher in East Helena, and I have three children: Katie, a Carroll graduate, is a Title 1 reading and math tutor at Radley Elementary in East Helena as well as the cross country, swimming, and track coach for the high school; John is the manager of Planet Gyros restaurant in Helena; and, Thomas, also a Carroll graduate, is applying for graduate school and is living in Boise, Idaho.
I enjoy cross country skiing in the winter, which is about all I enjoy about winter except for Christmas! My favorite season is summer when I can enjoy my favorite activities like camping and sitting on my deck in the early/late evening enjoying the sun, watering my flowers, and watching the birds. I enjoy cooking and trying new recipes, but I also love to go out to dinner.