Executive
Editor, Reading Department, Macmillan/McGraw Hill
Publishing
Celebrating her 25th anniversary at Macmillan/McGraw Hill and 35
years in the publishing industry, Kathy (Hirschy) Mayer graduated
from Mount Saint Mary College in 1974 with a degree in biology.
According to Kathy, “I was lucky enough to find a job shortly
afterwards.”
She went to work at Cambridge Book Company, a small supplemental
textbook publishing house where she learned a lot about textbook
publishing. From there she went on to become the science project
editor at Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich located in New York.
Since 1984 Kathy has worked at Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. “I’ve had
the good fortune to work with many terrific educators to help
publish a slew of elementary textbook programs. Most of the
materials I worked on were science texts, as I was the Executive
Editor of the Health and Science Department, but I’ve also been
involved in other disciplines, such as social studies, health, and
mathematics. For the past few years, since the Science department
moved out of the New York office, I’ve been working in the Reading
department where I am now learning about Reading and Language Arts,
for me a totally new subject area. We recently completed a Reading
program specifically for the states of California and Texas, as
well as a Reading program for the national market. We are presently
revising an intervention and an ESL Reading program. But we are
also looking ahead and trying to see what new and exciting things
elementary teachers will want to see in their reading program in
the next few years. Let’s just say my education continues in all
things digital,” said Kathy.
In 1976, Kathy married Bob Mayer, a Marist alum, who has been
working in the apparel industry for the past 35 years. Kathy and
Bob have two daughters, Christine and Elizabeth.
Christine followed in her mother’s footsteps and attended Mount
Saint Mary College where she received her degree in elementary
education in 2005. Elizabeth, their younger daughter, decided to
break tradition and attended Johnson & Wales in Providence,
Rhode Island where she will be graduating this spring with a degree
in restaurant management.
Kathy said, “Once Christine graduated from the Mount, she didn’t
let any grass grow under her feet. She went to get her master’s in
literacy at St. John’s University. While getting her masters,
Christine was also teaching second grade at Our Lady of Perpetual
Help in South Ozone Park, New York. Teaching at OLPH for the past 4
years, Christine has put to good use her knowledge of elementary
education taught to her by the teachers at the Mount.”
When asked why she supports the Mount Kathy stated, “The Mount
provided both my daughter and me with a solid liberal arts
foundation in which we have both been able to build upon. In
addition to a strong education, however, I would be remiss if I
didn’t mention the wonderful friendships that were started at the
Mount and have continued all these years. Bob and I treasure our
life-long Mountie friends—friends who shared with us many of life’s
ups and downs. They’ve been there through the weddings, babies,
graduations, sicknesses, and vacations, too. It’s only fitting that
we give back some of what we received—and continue to receive—from
the Mount.”