Karen Kovarik has been a systems support specialist with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) since October 1993. Her responsibilities at FAPRI are to help manage the data generated by the analysts within CARD and to help retrieve outside data for use in FAPRI’s models. Kovarik also coordinates publication of the annual FAPRI U.S. and World Outlook, which gives FAPRI’s projections for U.S. and world commodities for a ten-year period.

Before joining FAPRI at ISU, Kovarik worked in the health field as a data/records manager. She also worked in the Career Planning and Placement office at Luther College in Decorah.

Kovarik grew up on a dairy farm in Calmar, Iowa. She and her husband, Steve, have two sons, Jeremiah and Zachariah. Outside of work, she loves to quilt and work on household projects, and her latest thrill is rock climbing with her sons.