KCARE Staff
Susan Metzger, Director
Susan Metzger serves as director of both KCARE and the Kansas Water Resources Institute (KWRI). Susan is also associate director for agriculture and extension in the K-State College of Agriculture.
In her KCARE leadership role, Susan will use her considerable experience to help secure and administer funding for the KWRI, the Fertilizer Research Fund, the Ogallala Aquifer Program, and others. She will work closely with the KCARE team of Watershed Specialists to support their efforts to improve water quality throughout the state and their work with Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) projects. She also will represent KCARE with local, state and federal agencies and help coordinate work with water and soil conservation issues associated with increased cotton acres in Kansas.
Susan has broad experience representing Kansas State University and Kansas agriculture. Before her work at K-State, she was the Deputy/Assistant Secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture, where she served the farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses of Kansas and assisted in the development and delivery of tools to grow the state’s agricultural economy. Prior to that, she was the Chief of Planning and Policy for the Kansas Water Office, where she was the team leader in the development and implementation of the Long-Term Vision for the Future of Water Supply in Kansas.
Susan received her B.S. in biological sciences from the University of Mary Washington in Virginia, and was awarded a Master’s degree in biological sciences from Old Dominion University. She received her Ph.D. in leadership communications from K-State.
Susan Pope Brown, Research Assistant
Susan Brown works as a research assistant for KCARE. Her responsibilities include updating the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) watershed plans, creating ArcGIS watershed maps, and assisting the program’s watershed specialists. In addition to this work, Susan submits annual reports for Kansas Water Resources Institute (KWRI) and organizes the annual grant proposals for the National Institute of Water Resources (NIWR).
Susan has been at K-State, and specifically at KCARE, for 13 years. Prior to this, she worked as a research associate for the Forage Quality Lab at the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station in Franklinton, Louisiana. Susan was also a research associate for the Agronomy and Dairy Wastewater Treatment research projects at the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station in Stephenville, Texas. She has her B.S. in Animal Science from Texas A&M University and a M.S. degree in Animal Nutrition from K-State.
Contact Susan.
Randy Griffith, Grants Specialist
Randy Griffith is the grants specialist for KCARE. His responsibilities include the day-to-day financial management of awards as well as the KCARE accounts.
He has worked at K-State for 35 years in various departments, but Randy’s connection to K-State began as a student when he received a B.S. in Business Administration (Marketing). His previous professional experience includes positions in the Admissions Office, Global Campus, Financial Services, and the College of Engineering. He has been with KCARE for 15 years.
Contact Randy.
Melissa Harvey, Marketing and Communications Coordinator
Melissa Harvey joined the KCARE team as a marketing and communications specialist in 2017. She is responsible for developing materials for print and online publication, writing articles for the KCARE website, and working with faculty and staff to write any other articles for publication. This is Melissa's first position at K-State, but she has worked as a writer and communications coordinator at the University of California, Davis, as well as a consulting science writer and editor at the International Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya. She also has eight years of experience as an English and math teacher in the U.S. and in England. Melissa received her B.A. in English, from Washington and Lee University, in Virginia.
Contact Melissa.
Amanda Schielke, Extension Assistant
Amanda Schielke has been with KCARE for over eight years as an extension assistant. She writes grants and reports for four state watershed specialists, and she also works on Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) Nine Element Plans. In addition to these responsibilities, she assists with water monitoring data analysis for the Little Arkansas River WRAPS group.
Amanda grew up on a farm in southeast Kansas implementing best management practices for conservation. This formative experience led her to the University of Kansas, where she graduated with a B.S. in Organismal Biology. Since then, she has focused her attention on water conservation and environmental programs on both the county and district level.
Contact Amanda.
