West Virginia Wesleyan College has appointed Katherine Warr Abbiate ’71 as the Senior Advancement Officer in the External Relations Office. Abbiate who lives in Blairstown, NJ, will be traveling as a full-time development officer. She has worked the past 10 years in the New Jersey school system in various classroom roles and served previously in administrative and financial roles for the banking and corporate world.

“We are very pleased to have Katherine join our College community and External Relations staff,” commented Peggy Cooning, vice president for external relations at the College. “Not only will we benefit from her professional background and experiences, she brings an alumna and parent perspective that will be valuable as she reaches out to encourage support of our College.”

Abbiate has worked in a volunteer leadership role with her local and district Rotary organizations, which includes the establishment of a not-for-profit organization “Help the Children Hear.”  She earned a B.A. in sociology from Wesleyan. She and her husband Robert have three daughters: Nichole, Danielle and Amanda, a 2003 Wesleyan graduate.