College of Consumer and Family Sciences
Assistant Dean for Engagement
Assistant Director for Extension

Office: Matthews Hall, Room 110
Phone: (765) 494-8252
Fax: (765) 496-1947
E-mail: kzotz@purdue.edu 

Dr. Zotz received her EdD from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana in organizational management and leadership. Her master’s degree is from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, in home economics education, and her bachelor’s is from Illinois State University, Normal, in home economics education.

Dr. Zotz has been invited to present at over 35 international, national, and regional conferences in the areas of leadership development, diversity, policy education, poverty programs, community education, and coalition building. Since 2001, she has received more than $14 million in grants directed at addressing issues in these areas and assessing the progress made to improve the quality of life for families and individuals. She also served as a reviewer for six years for the Journal of Extension.

For five years she served on the National Extension Leadership Program (NELD) Advisory Council. Three of those five years were served as chairman to plan and implement the program to a cohort of 25 interns. In partnership with the Experiment Station Council on Organization and Policy (ESCOP) and the Academic Council on Organization and Policy (ACOP) chairman, Dr. Zotz worked with the ESCOP/ACOP chairman and a committee of faculty representing both programs towards merging the two leadership programs into one leadership program representing the philosophy of the land-grant system — research, academics, and engagement — to foster partnerships among the faculty participants from the three entities. As result of her role with NELD, she served for two years on the national Extension Council on Organization and Policy.

She has also served on committees for the United States Department of Agriculture and on the Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program Competitive Grants and Cooperative Agreement Programs, USDA Economic Research Service, Peer Review Committee. In addition, she served as an expert panel member for the National Family Nutrition Program Evaluation with NASULGC, USDA, and Food and Nutrition Service professionals.

Currently, Dr. Zotz works actively with over 85 Purdue Extension Consumer and Family Sciences educators located in Indiana’s 92 counties, faculty in the College of Consumer and Family Sciences and other colleges and departments on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, and with her counterparts in land-grant universities around the United States. One of her primary roles is to link the needs of state agencies and county Extension programs with Purdue’s research faculty.

Dr. Zotz actively partners with many state agencies and organizations. She does guest lectures in graduate classes pertaining to careers in the field of Consumer and Family Sciences and about Purdue Extension. She is frequently the keynote speaker at county annual Extension board meetings where she talks about "Addressing 21st Century Indiana Issues in Consumer and Family Sciences."

In addition, she has presented over 100 programs to statewide audiences and served on many committees on three campuses, statewide, and nationally. She is the recipient of many awards and honors for her leadership roles on the campus and with professional organizations.

Each year, she hosts a conference for Purdue Extension educators with a focus on their personal and professional development. A lifelong learner herself, Dr. Zotz believes people should reinvent themselves to meets the needs of the current economies. Based on her own research and the research of other university scholars, she concurs with the leadership research that proves leaders are made, not born.