Cathy Brotherton
Professor, Computer Information Systems
Norco College School of Math, Engineering,
Computer Science & Game Development
(Retired in June 2020)
- 31 years of dedicated service
Some of Cathy Brotherton’s students weren’t even born yet when she began teaching,
that’s how long she’s been making an impact on the Riverside area’s education system.
With more than 31 years of being an educator under her belt, 30 of them at Norco College,
her daily goal is to encourage people to be lifelong learners.
“I love to teach but I am also a learner myself because of the challenge it brings,”
says Cathy. “But learning can only take you so far if you are not also applying it.
I am a learner and a doer because I can’t just sit by and watch. I want to encourage
my students to become lifelong learners and doers as well.”
Cathy’s road to teaching began in college at Cal Poly Pomona, where she initially
hoped to become a math teacher and follow in the footsteps of the high school teachers
who had so inspired her. She ended up graduating with a degree in Business Administration
instead. Soon after entering the workforce, however, Cathy learned that the world
of cost analysis and finance wasn’t for her. Hired for her “people skills” at leading
aerospace and defense company General Dynamics, she began teaching other employees
how to use email off mainframe computers. That led to instructing them on how to use
personal computers and software at the start of the PC boom, in a time when computer
science degrees were brand new and few homes had computers.
Cathy was the first female executive trainer at General Dynamics. When the opportunities
to teach computer information systems at Long Beach City College and then Norco College
presented themselves, she jumped at the chance to make a difference in the classroom.
“I am a teacher by the grace of God and I love my role,” Cathy states. “Like many
teachers, I want to prepare my students to be successful in their futures. That goes
back to being a lifelong learner, so I try to incorporate things into our lessons
that enable them to do this, to continuously be learning.”
To view the Computer Information Systems program page, click here.
To view the Computer Science program page, click here.