Brown CS News

After forty-five years at Brown, Kathy Kirman Billings, Project and Financial Manager for Brown CS Technical Staff (tstaff), is retiring. Above everything else, she describes the Department as a tight-knit community: “People care about each other and look out for each other. I’ve gotten to know so many students over the years, and I’m still friends with some of them.”

Kathy joined Brown CS in March of 1986, originally as part of the administrative staff (astaff). Housed at 151 Thayer Street, the department had at the time only 13 faculty members, and she remembers camaraderie forming in a tiny break area next to the machine room, where the coffee pot was always on. Potluck meals were regular events, originally at the Pembroke Fieldhouse, then moving in-house, causing An Wang Professor Emeritus of Computer Science John Savage, Department Chair at the time, some concern for the Department’s carpets.

Prior to Brown CS, Kathy had worked for six years in Brown’s Office of Development, and one of her major projects was helping to establish the Brown University Sports Foundation, which raises money for the University’s athletic programs. Over time, she says, it felt like half of Hollywood’s A-list had come through the office: Howard Cosell, John F. Kennedy Junior, and Jane Fonda, whom Kathy joined for a workout session in Sayles Hall as part of a fundraiser. (Fonda’s daughter, Vanessa, is a Brown alum.)

One of Kathy’s most interesting brushes with fame occurred in the 1980s, when Steve Jobs and his team came to Brown to make a sales pitch for the original Macintosh. The now-famous Jobs charisma was on full display, and a faculty member who will remain nameless noticed Kathy looking a bit smitten and hissed in her ear: “Stay away from him!” We have to wonder how her life might have been different if she hadn’t listened. 

One of the best parts of being with Brown CS, Kathy notes, was the opportunity to grow and self-educate. At a time when the department ran on hardware custom-built by Senior Electronics Technician Max Salvas, she remembers students and faculty being extremely supportive while she learned Emacs and vi, two text editors, as well as bb, a custom-built editor created by faculty member Steve Reiss.

“If you wanted to learn something,” she says, “you could always do it. We were empowered.”

Kathy remembers being one of the CIT’s first inhabitants in the era when Brown CS was limited to the fourth and fifth floors: “There was so much space! One of my first memories, of course, is the terrible day when we heard that [faculty member] Paris Kanellakis had died in a plane crash. Trina Avery, who was Department Manager at the time, came into my office, and we were both crying. Paris could be gruff at times, but he was a tremendous guy. The entire faculty met in the Department Chair’s office, and that’s what I think of: everybody always came together in the tough times.” 

Brown CS has seen most of her life’s milestones, Kathy says. She met her first husband when he was a grad student here. Our department has seen her get married; give birth to a daughter, Hayley; go through a divorce. Most importantly, it saw her through some of her biggest struggles, including a terrible period in which her cousin, uncle, and both parents died. “It’s a really human place. People here have always had my back.” 

Thomas J. Watson, Jr. University Professor of Technology and Education and Professor of Computer Science Andy van Dam, she says, is the classic example: “Andy always had the time to sit down with me when I was having a bad day. He’ll drop everything if he sees someone upset.”

Brown CS is much bigger now, Kathy says, in just about every way imaginable: “And that’s wonderful, but the downside is that you can’t know everybody. I used to know every single PhD student, and now I’m lucky if I know half of them.”

She hopes that can change.

“Like many other places,” she says, “we were transformed by COVID. The Sunlab used to be packed, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. I’d like to bring it back to the way it was – there used to be a waitlist! And bring more life to the CIT in general. I’d also like to see more tstaff/astaff get-togethers, so staff members who don’t work directly with each other can get to know one another.”  

What does this next phase of life hold for Kathy? There are no set plans, she says, nor does she feel that she needs them. “I’ll figure it out,” she shrugs. “Things always work out.”

Kathy has seen entire generations of students pass through her office, and she smiles when we ask for her advice to new arrivals on campus: “You know, I always say I gave my first-born to Brown!” (Hayley graduated in 2015 and is now a Principal at Ethos Capital.)

But the words that come next are serious and heartfelt.

“Respect each other, especially now,” she says. “Pay attention to women, because the good-old-boy network is still out there in the world. Remember that you might perceive something in a certain way, but it may not be accurate, so try not to take things personally. Money isn’t everything, so stick to your morals no matter what. And hold onto your compassion! Be aware of other people, find that empathy.” 

We agree. Thanks for your empathy, Kathy, and for everything else.

For more information, click the link that follows to contact Brown CS Communications Manager Jesse C. Polhemus.