Kara Barrell Named KU Employee of the Month for July 2026

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Congratulations to Kara Barrell, secretary, Psychology, on being named Kutztown University Employee of the Month for July 2026.

Barrell's nomination came from several individuals, which can be read below.

Greg Shelley, Psychology
"Kara is an exceptional administrative assistant. She was a graduate at KU with a degree in anthropology, so she knows how KU works from a student perspective. She is very skilled at computer systems and social media platforms and has zero apprehension when it comes to learning new systems, which seem to regularly come our way. Over the last several years, she has moved our department from paper and email based, to the year 2026. She does an excellent job anticipating my needs as a department chair, as well as from the department as a whole. She has also implemented a variety of new processes in our department that makes everyone's job easier."

Jessica Goggins, Communication Studies
"When I first started at the university over a year ago, Kara welcomed me with open arms; I could come to her with any questions I had, whether it was in person or via email. She has been a big help to Diana Lochiatto with helping her transition to her new role of being secretary of the five departments, and helping faculty move to Old Main. It was honor to work alongside Kara in my time of working in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. She is such a hard worker who goes above and beyond."

Diana Lochiatto, Society, History and Culture
"Upon my return to KU, Kara has been instrumentally supportive in helping me with my onboarding, training and move support needs. As a peer colleague, she stops by 1-2 times/week to see how I am doing, as well as to offer me direction, answer questions and offer advice on my settling in here at Old Main, KU, as well as 1:1 training for Banner and many other platforms we use here as KU admin. Finally, she is only one of two administrative personnel who has volunteered time and assistance while I manage packing up multiple departments in the middle of moving to Old Main. This kind of generosity of work spirit often runs low, and I appreciate her willingness to lead and give up her time to help another admin with a high workload. Spearheading social media efforts for her department, Kara consistently posts across platforms timely, consistent, relevant and informative content for her student audiences. She is a peer leader in maintaining up-to-date, relevant web data for her department. Kara works diligently and collaboratively with many campus offices, supporting multiple large campus events with some being public facing. In her role for about four years, Kara has grown in her role, in her skills, and I believe she embodies what it means to be a reliable, collaborative, positive contributor to our KU caring community of excellence."

Nominations are collected from students, faculty and staff, and the Employee of the Month is selected by the Human Resources Advisory Council. A winner will be selected each month, and out of the 12 monthly winners one will be selected as Employee of the Year. The Employee of the Month will receive a plaque, reserved parking and a monetary gift.

For more information on the award or to nominate someone, please visit the KU human resources website.