Our Event Planners
Let our experienced team of program planners put the pieces together to make your event successful. The staff brings over 30 years of combined event experience and has recently completed the ASAE Hotel Operations training program.
Kara Krall, Conference Coordinator, joined the office in January 2006. Her previous experience includes planning events for the Penn State Alumni Association, working in both the sales and operations departments at Penn State's Java Company and working for the Wood Company in the campus dining services division. Kara has planned programs such as the Mushroom Short Course, Agricultural Bankers Conference,4-H Capital Days and 4-H State Achievement Days, and the Professional Crop Producers Conference.
Melissa Maurer, Conference Coordinator, has been with the office since April 2005 and has worked on such events as the Ice Cream Short Course, Conservation Leadership School and the Plant Physiology Symposium. She has done community relations and event planning for community television including C-NET locally and C-SPAN in Washington, DC. Melissa received her BA degree in Public Relations from Penn State.
Mary Seaton, Assistant Director of College Relations and Director of Conferences and Short Courses
Kim Swistock, Conference Coordinator, came to the Office of Conferences and Short Courses in July 2007. She began her career at Penn State in 1983 working in several departments on campus. Kim has a variety of experience ranging from student accounts to budget management. More recently Kim has been working with processing grant proposal submissions and planning grant writing workshops. Her responsibilities in the conference office include serving as the lead planner for such programs as the International Society of Chemical Ecology 25th Meeting, the Sanitation Short Course and Ag in the Classroom.
