Katie Gnau

Katie Gnau is an early childhood education specialist who has taught in both inner city and suburban schools, at the university level, and most recently at one of Chicago’s most respected informal education institutions, the Lincoln Park Zoo. She started her career in the Chicago Public Schools as an educator in early childhood special education inclusion classrooms. Most recently, Katie has been the Manager of Student and Teacher Programs at the Lincoln Park Zoo. Katie began her tenure at Lincoln Park Zoo by representing the zoo through the Early Elementary Science Partnership, a partnership with The Field Museum, Chicago Children’s Museum, The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Northwestern University, University of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. As Manager of Student and Teacher Programs, Katie continued to network with colleagues in both formal and informal education, developed a reporting protocol for the department, managed multiple program budgets, provided support to zoo colleagues in understanding the complexities of the Chicago Public Schools, and launched several new initiatives, including the Zoo Explorers facilitated field trip program. Katie also holds a part time faculty position in the Kendall College School of Education.

Katie received an M.A. in Teaching from National-Louis University- (Chicago, IL) and a B.A. in International Studies with minors in Economics and French from Monmouth College (Monmouth, IL)