Throughout her career Karen devoted extensive energies to her teaching and service. Karen was an early proponent of active learning in her classes, and she devoted significant time and energy developing materials to help her students learn. She was recognized for her excellent teaching through her receipt of the GVSU Outstanding Teaching Award in 1993. Her excellence of teaching in the classroom provided opportunities for dissemination of activities and practice-based scholarship that promoted active learning of different mathematical topics and led to professional opportunities such as co-organizing local conferences focused on teaching (e.g., Math in Action and Conversations Among Colleagues). 

 

Karen also devoted time and expertise to service to the unit, college and university and was a voice that consistently advocated for equity and inclusion throughout her career. She served in a variety of capacities including Chair and Assistant Chair of the Department of Mathematics, the Faculty Personnel Policy Committee (also served as chair), Outstanding Teacher Award Committee (also served as chair), the math department Personnel Committee (also served as chair), the CLAS Personnel Committee, and the University Academic Senate (serving as Vice-chair for a year).

 

In her role as chair of the math department, Karen oversaw a host of important issues such as the development of the applied math emphasis in our major, hiring of new faculty, annual faculty reviews, staffing and scheduling for our courses, and much more. But through it all, her work as chair was focused in the same way that her long standing service to GVSU was: on students.