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UKIAH, Calif. – Mendocino College Human Resources Director Karen Chaty was recently honored for 35 years of service to the college.
“Karen is a tremendous support to me in my job as president,” said college Superintendent/President Kathy Lehner. “I would even venture to say that I couldn’t do my job without her. The knowledge she has gained from her years of experience, and her continual review of new laws and regulations, make her invaluable to me and to Mendocino College.”
Chaty was originally hired in 1976, when MC was still located at the Ukiah Fairgrounds.
“I was an administrative assistant to Dean Robert Barnett,” she said. “At that time, I assisted with the employment of part-time faculty and scheduling their classes.”
She remembered sharing an office with Arlene Colombini, who, Chaty said, “was one of the first College employees and a great mentor for me.”
Three years later, she moved to Personnel Services, as it was then known, along with some of her job duties, to work as the personnel technician, when the college first established the department.
Later renamed Human Resources, the department moved to temporary quarters several times as the new college campus was constructed, including a warehouse on Mazzoni Street and a building behind the Ukiah Theatre.
“We were so excited when we finally moved to the permanent Ukiah campus,” she said.
While working at Mendocino College, Chaty completed a bachelor of science degree in business administration from Sonoma State University and a master's degree in human resource management from Golden Gate University. She became the director of Human Resources in 1986.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Chaty's family moved to Southern California when she was a young child.
In the 1960s they lived in Fort Bragg, where she attended junior high and graduated from Fort Bragg High School.
Chaty then earned an associate degree from Santa Rosa Junior College while working as an administrative assistant for Santa Rosa Shoe Co., a manufacturing business.
She said that she always worked while attending college, completing her education without going into debt.
“It was also an opportunity to gain skills along the way,” she said.
As a bonus, she met her husband, Dennis, through a coworker at the shoe company.
When she was hired at Mendocino College, the couple moved to Ukiah, where Chaty’s family had settled. Her father, John Brumett, owned United Land & Timber Realty for many years.
Chaty said what she enjoys most about her job is resolving complex issues, opportunities to be creative and the many wonderful people with whom she has worked over the years. She said keeping up with the ever-changing legal aspects of human resources is the most challenging part of her job.
“Everything about the college has changed in the last 35 years,” said Chaty.
She said she feels fortunate to have started working in Human Resources early on, as she was able to learn the increasingly complex rules and regulations as Mendocino College and the California Community College system evolved.
“The college has had such a positive impact on our communities over the years, and I have very much enjoyed being part of it all,” said Chaty.
In her free time, Chaty and her husband have fun keeping up with their daughter, Melissa, who was Miss Mendocino County 2002 and Miss California 2007.
In August they traveled to San Diego where Melissa sang with the San Diego Symphony, and this fall they are going to New York, where she currently resides, to see her in the play “Camelot.”
