Meet Our New Board Member, LtCol Dale G. Derr

LtCol Dale G. Derr (USAF, Retired), class of 1975, is the Kutztown Area School District Education Foundation’s newest board member, having joined us in July 2023.

Prior to his service in the Air Force, Dale was an enlisted Marine Corps reservist from 1976 to 1979. He graduated from Kutztown State College (now Kutztown University) in 1979 with a B.S. in Secondary Education Biology. He became an Air Force officer in 1980 and went on to serve for 20 years.

 Dale’s military career included assignments in the following areas: weapons of mass destruction defense, nuclear weapons mishap mitigation and response, emergency preparedness, military assistance to civil authorities, disaster relief coordination, and war scenario electronic modeling and simulation. During his service years, he earned a Master of Education degree in Counseling and Guidance from Boston University (1987). He is a distinguished graduate of the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany and is also a graduate of the USAF Squadron Officer School (1985) and the USAF Command and Staff College (1993). In 1990, he was named a USAF Technical Training Master Instructor and Instructor of the Year.

 Following his armed services career, Dale served as the Pennsylvania 23rd Judicial District (Berks County) Court Administrator and later as the Berks County Director of Veterans Affairs, where he was the chief benefits advisor for 23,000 military veterans and 10,000 family survivors.

 LtCol Derr is also an accomplished athlete. He wrestled at the varsity level for all four years at Kutztown Area High School and at Kutztown State College. Dale was named an NCAA All- American Wrestler in 1979 and, while on active duty, was a three-time Mediterranean region wrestling champion, the 1981 European champion and a member of the 1981 USAF National Team as part of the Olympics Development Program. He was inducted into the Kutztown University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Kutztown Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022. For 2024, Dale will be inducted into the Pennsylvania Chapter of the United States Wrestling Hall of Fame.

 LtCol Derr’s volunteer work includes many forms of church and community service to aid the homeless, the elderly, and the physically challenged. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Prospectus Berco, a Reading-based non-profit organization that supports people with developmental and physical disabilities in Berks County.

 LtCol Derr was the 2022 KASDEF Distinguished Alumni. He is looking forward to supporting the vision, goals, and opportunities for the Kutztown Area School District.