Karen Howell
All Stories

Karen Howell, Director of Community Engagement, is leaving Carthage at the end of the year. Karen’s last day on campus will be Wednesday, Jan. 2.

Karen joined the Carthage community in 2012 as Executive Assistant to the President. In addition to her work supporting the President’s Office, she worked to redirect the College’s community engagement efforts to better support experiential learning opportunities for Carthage students. In 2017, she moved to Career Services to pursue this work on a full-time basis.

Some of her major contributions to the College’s community engagement initiatives include:

  • A model for community engagement which emphasized collaboration and the importance of mutually beneficial partnerships. In 2017, Karen presented Carthage’s community engagement model and approach to partnerships at the Midwest Campus Compact Summit.
  • A systemic approach to community engagement data collection. In so doing, Carthage has been better able to tell the story of its impact on the Kenosha and Racine communities

In addition to her work in community engagement, Karen led representatives from the Division of Student Affairs, the Financial Aid Office, and the Business Office in a collaborative effort to develop stable student employment job postings, on-boarding, and summer housing processes. This laid the groundwork for a more strategic, career-oriented approach to student employment.

Karen is leaving Carthage to join her husband, Mike, who relocated to Minnesota in August. According to Karen “it is bittersweet to be leaving Carthage and Kenosha. I have a long history here—I was born in Carthage, Ill., grew up on the Kenosha campus as my dad was the Director of Public Relations and Development, graduated from the College, and sent my daughter Abbi here in 2011. It has been an absolute privilege to have added this professional phase to my Carthage legacy and work with a current generation of Carthaginians who are so committed to student learning in all aspects of the college experience.”

Please wish Karen well as she prepares for her new adventure!