Spotlight
Green turns text into treasure
By Carolyn
Gonzales
Calculator
and spreadsheet, needle and thread and pen and paper are all
a part of Kathryn Kate Greens toolkit.
A certified
public accountant (CPA) working for Terry Yates, vice provost
for research, Green makes sure that indirect costs associated
with contract and grant funding are distributed properly.
At
some universities our counterparts handle the grants cradle
to grave. At UNM, the post-award is handled by the controllers,
she said.
She said
that splitting the activity pre- and post-award can provide
a system of checks and balances.
Since
research is mainly a faculty, provostial area, it makes sense
for us to handle it up front. Since post-award involves more
accounting, its logical for it to go to business and finance,
she said.
Green also
looks at cost sharing for sponsored projects. More and
more often funding agencies are looking for a show of support
from the institution or a third party, another university or
another award. For instance, a third party, say APS, may volunteer
or dedicate teachers time. Meanwhile, federal regulations
are getting tighter and tighter. Now every penny must be documented
and a separate account established for cost sharing, she
said.
She and
her husband, KOAT journalist Rod Green, lived in Denver and
Florida where she designed costumes for several dance
companies. This is the Greens second stint in Albuquerque.
They lived here for a few years in the 1970s and have been back
since 1986. The couple has three adult children.
An 11-year
UNM employee, Green came to UNM as an accounting technician
in 1991 and earned her CPA through the Anderson Schools of Management
in 1995. Her UNM time has been accounted for in chemistry, the
Center for High Technology Materials, General Accounting and
Contracts and Grants.
It was
while taking classes that her particular art form evolved. I
was a doodler, she said. She would write continuously
what the professors said as a way to concentrate. It mustve
worked. I passed the CPA exams, she said.
What started
as simple cursive writing changed with the color of ink. Switching
from blue to brown ink within a line allowed text to transform
into a mountain peak or the top of Elvis Presleys head.
As she continued writing, the lines of text became lines of
color transforming into art. She created an image of a mountain
at sunset with cottonwoods turning color in the foreground.
The text that she used to create the image is University
of New Mexico, over and over again, line after line, color
upon color.
She created
a profile of Elvis Presley using the text, Elvis Aron
Presley repetitively. She has used the Hail Mary prayer
to create the image of the Madonna. The Book of Genesis and
Celtic blessings have also come to life on paper.
Green has
sold some of her pieces, but has a hard time determining the
value.
The walls
in Greens office in Scholes Hall feature some of her artwork.
The job involves dollars and cents, but the lady behind the
desk is much more.