Catherine Tyson

Communications Specialist

Office: Discovery 2, suite 101
Email: [[cmtyson]]
Phone: 757-221-1835
Duties: As a Communications Specialist, serves as a writer, both in beat areas on campus and on general assignment, posting stories to the W&M News site. Works with our Media Relations team to pitch faculty as experts to local, regional and national news outlets. Catherine covers the science departments in the College of Arts & Sciences. For story ideas related to the School of Computing, Data Sciences & Physics, please reach out to Randy Ready, rready@wm.edu. For stories related to the Batten School & VIMS, please reach out to John Wallace, jwallace@vims.edu.
Beats: Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Computational and Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Geology, Mathematics, Neuroscience

About Catherine

I grew up in the rolling hills of southwest Virginia as part of a big family in a tiny town. At William & Mary, I pursued my interests in the sciences and humanities with a chemistry major and a minor in Russian and post-Soviet studies. Realizing that I enjoyed talking about science more than being in the lab, I started working for VERGE scientific communications, a PR startup. I took a nine-month hiatus from communications when I received a Fulbright grant in 2023. My husband and I traveled to France, where I conducted a sociology-focused project, exploring how the war in Ukraine is impacting Orthodox Church communities.

Heading back to Williamsburg, I was delighted to begin working for my alma mater — first as alumni engagement communications manager and currently as a communications specialist with University Communications. In this role, I get to put my science hat back on and talk to the brilliant professors and students who conduct research in chemistry, biology, geology and more at William & Mary.

In my free time I enjoy rowing with the Williamsburg Boat Club, singing on my church choir and taking long walks around Williamsburg.