Bio for BCLL

Karen is committed to helping students who participate in the Latina/o community, and those from other historically underserved communities, reach their goals and aspirations through higher education. She currently has the honor of working as the Faculty Director of the Miramontes Arts and Sciences Program (MASP) at CU Boulder. MASP is one of many programs at CU that supports first-generation students and works to address conditions that have created disparate outcomes for CU undergraduate students. Through her work in MASP, she knows how critical scholarship funding is for students both financially and as a pathway into support communities, like MASP. Karen also sees first-hand the vital contributions of students connected to the Latina/o community!

Karen was born and raised in Boulder and attended Boulder High School, and she is grateful for the educational foundation and introduction to social justice she received at Boulder High and from her family. Karen received her BA in English from Swarthmore College and her PhD in Western American/Native American literature from the University of Illinois. Karen has been teaching at CU Boulder since 2000, and she also co-founded the CU Dialogues Program and served as its director from 2010-2024. Karen’s teaching/research focuses on how classroom-based critical dialogue practices impact student learning of course content and help develop students’ sense of belonging in classrooms across the curriculum. She has been recognized by a Boulder Faculty Assembly Award for Leadership and Service and two student-nominated Marinus Smith Awards for her positive impact on CU undergraduate students.