Saint Joseph College Professor Karen Palmunen, Ph.D. Honored for Work on Behalf of First-Year College Students
Karen Palmunen, Ph.D., associate professor of French and director of the First-Year Seminar Program at Saint Joseph College, has been recognized as a recipient of the 2012 Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate Award presented by the National Resource Center for the First-Year Experience and Students in Transition at the University of South Carolina and Cengage Learning.
The award, now in its 23rd year, honors college faculty, administrators, staff and students for their outstanding work on behalf of first-year students and for the impact their efforts have on the students and culture of their institutions. Dr. Palmunen is one of ten award recipients who were chosen from 140 nominations. This year’s honorees will be formally recognized on February 19 at the Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience in San Antonio, Texas.
A resident of Kensington, Conn., Dr. Palmunen has been a member of the Saint Joseph College faculty since 1972. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from Brown University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Kansas. Dr. Palmunen has served in a leadership position as director of the First-Year Seminar since the program’s establishment at Saint Joseph College in 2002.
