Karen Haley, EdD, is a professor in the Postsecondary, Adult, and Continuing Education (PACE) program in the Graduate School of Education, and is the the 2024 Graduate Mentoring Excellence Award recipient.
Dr. Haley completed a bachelor’s in mathematics from Washington State University, a master’s in student personnel administration from Western Washington University, and a doctorate in higher education administration from North Carolina State University. Prior to becoming a faculty member, her higher education career included work in orientation, residence life, student activities, career services, and retention. Dr. Haley has also worked in publishing and bookstore management in the private sector.
Her primary research interests are student learning within a student affairs context, graduate student development, and postdoctoral scholar and faculty career paths. Of particular interest are underrepresented students' career choices, pursuit of graduate level education, and career choices. These topics directly relate to her teaching content and methods for both master’s and doctoral level coursework. Dr. Haley’s favorite part of her work is meeting with students and helping them see their future possibilities!
Dr. Kim Stave, a 2020 graduate of PSU's Doctor of Education program, had Dr. Haley as her advisor, mentor, and dissertation chair. She says: "Dr. Haley was the reason I applied for PSU’s Ed.D. program in the first place. Having been introduced to her by one of her former M.Ed. students, she invited me to coffee to hear about my research interests and aspirations for a doctoral degree. She graciously listened to my unorganized ramblings about my dreams and fears and answered my endless questions with kind assurance that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way and that I could, indeed, do it. Thanks to Karen’s encouragement, I left feeling a sense of hope and confidence I had never previously felt regarding my potential for getting into a doctoral program and actually achieving the degree."