College Sports Information Directors of America

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Kara Fisher – Michigan State University, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications

CoSIDA Achievement Award (University Division)

by Jamie Baldwin, Michigan State Director of Athletic Communications/CoSIDA Special Awards Committee

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ’Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” - Fred Rogers

This was a quote (in a shortened version) that I had always planned to use in the feature story on Kara Fisher, Michigan State assistant director of athletic communications, when I learned that she was going to be the 2020 recipient of the CoSIDA Achievement Award (for the university division). As we fast forward two months, the world looks like a very different place than that February day these awards were announced. We may not even be able to gather to celebrate Kara and the other award winners in Las Vegas because of the challenges the world is facing — the right answer at the moment, because the helping needs to be elsewhere right now.

The one enduring trait that everyone who has worked with or knows Kara (after the inevitable ‘she’s awesome!’) is her willingness to step up and help anyone.

Need someone to distribute credentials on her lone Friday night off in October? Her hand goes up. Need a softball or baseball scorer? She volunteers. Want someone to spearhead putting together football quotes after a long day in the stat booth? She’s your girl. Selection Sunday, and everyone needing some direction on what needs to be pulled together for all possible opponents? Well, her women’s basketball selection show isn’t until tomorrow, so sure. Bring it on.

Kara and her husband and fellow MSU SID Zach Fisher juggle both personal and professional life together - talking work at home and figuring out dinner during office discussion.

More subtly (but yet perhaps the biggest impact), she’s helped countless students and interns find their way. Have a stat crew question? Kara was the good soldier that not only knows the ins and outs of Stat Crew, but also stuck with Next Gen longer than anyone else in trying to help iron out wrinkles for everyone else, and now has mastered NCAA LiveStats. She interprets the rest of our staff for the scared freshman student worker who is maybe too intimidated to ask questions. She knows the names of the parents of the department interns and when they are coming to visit next.

“Kara is so dedicated and flexible. She found the time for committee work while in the Bahamas with her women’s basketball team and while en route to New York City for her football team’s participation in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl,” noted Shuler. “She adds levity and positivity to a work environment, whether it is in an office setting, a regular-season event or during the long, exhausting hours of a conference tournament.”

Taylor Drake signed up for the inaugural year of the CoSIDA mentoring program and fortuitous luck paired her with Fisher.

“If I had to pick a mentor for myself, I could not have picked a better one than Kara. From our first interaction we just clicked,” stated Drake. “We had the same energy, the same love for our jobs. When I was torn between two different job opportunities earlier this year, Kara helped me through it. Sometimes our schedules got a little crazy and difficult, but she knew just when I needed a little extra love and would always come through at the right time normally with a funny gif that always put a smile on my face.”

Fisher is a strong representative of what we all aim to be in this profession — a fantastic mix of professionalism, knowledge, expertise, empathy, levity, and humor. Her greatest asset is the feeling she leaves with others — that they matter, that they are in on the joke, that they are a part of what we’re all trying to achieve.

When it comes to recipients of the Achievement Award, I’m not sure there’s a more deserving honoree than Kara Fisher.

Gallery: (4/9/2020) Kara Fisher, 2020 Achievement Award

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