WKU News

Congratulations to Dr. Katrina Burch, Interim Department Chair and Associate Professor in the WKU Department of Psychological Sciences, who was awarded the 2025 Kentucky Psychological Association (KPA) Researcher of the Year award.

Dr. Burch was formally recognized at the 2025 KPA Convention held in Lexington earlier this month for her “excellence in research and her commitment and service to advancing applied psychology.”

Dr. Burch’s research focuses on workplace mistreatment, discrimination, and work-life challenges.

“I have never been driven by an innate curiosity in my program of research,” Dr. Burch said. “Rather, what I have been driven by is research in service of others. Work is a central component of every individual’s identity, and therefore, our workplaces and workspaces should be inclusive of our individual identities regardless of any external or internal defining characteristic that makes us unique.” 

Dr. Burch said she believes that the health and well-being of employees is not an individual responsibility, but the responsibility of the organization to support its employees. 

The KPA aims to represent the interests of psychologists in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and promote psychology as a science and a profession toward improving people’s lives.

The Researcher of the Year award is one of five awards presented every year by the KPA at their annual convention and the only award presented in recognition of research excellence.