Kate DiTullio

Kate DiTullio ’13, ‘14 did not take a straight path to or from UMass Lowell — and that’s the point, she says.

A transfer student who found her footing in the History Department, DiTullio says UML gave her a sense of belonging after two earlier colleges weren’t the right fit. She credits the relationships she built with faculty and classmates as one of the most important parts of her experience. 

“There’s something special about the community that I found here,” she says.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in history and a Master of Education through UML’s accelerated Bachelor’s-to-Master’s Program, DiTullio spent more than a decade teaching in diverse settings. She began at Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School, later teaching abroad at the American School of Marrakesh in Morocco and then in Brooklyn, New York.

Across classrooms that ranged from lacking resources to highly affluent, she found a consistent truth: “People are the same, but people are different at the same time. And it's a beautiful thing,” she says. “Everyone has something that they can teach me, and I have some things I can teach them, and we can learn from each other.”

A trip to England and Scotland during college sparked a love of travel and eventually led her to teaching overseas. But when the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended her time in Morocco, she was forced to pivot.

In New York City, DiTullio became involved in an inclusive church community that reignited her interest in faith, an area she had distanced herself from earlier in life. That experience, combined with her background in teaching and history, led her to pursue graduate study at Yale Divinity School, where she enrolled in fall 2025.

Looking back, she sees continuity rather than disruption.

“Every experience built on the last one,” says DiTullio, who returned to campus recently to speak with students about what they can do with a history degree. “None of it was wasted.”

Now back in the classroom as a student, DiTullio is exploring how her interests in education, history and faith intersect as she prepares for a career as a school chaplain.

Her advice to current students reflects her own journey: stay open, embrace uncertainty and trust that each step — planned or not — has value.

Quoting philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, she says, “Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards.”