Karen Thomas
Karen Thomas has spent more than 25 years in the trenches of daily journalism. She worked as a feature writer for 13 years at The Dallas Morning News, specializing in family issues, narrative writing and column writing. Prior to joining the Morning News, Thomas was a national correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and also covered education on a national, state and city level. Thomas was recently appointed as the inaugural Meadows School of the Arts diversity officer and a special Adviser to Dean Sam Holland, and is a Professor of Practice in journalism.
Her writing awards include the Texas Society of Plastic Surgeons’ Media Award for Excellence, the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism’s “Let’s Do It Better!” Award and the National Association of Secondary School Principals’ Benjamin Fine Award. Thomas has been selected a fellow in several programs, including the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellowship in Health. Thomas holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in narrative writing from the University of Georgia, a Master of Science degree in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism/English from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.