The Dr. Karen Klomparens Endowment in Support of Graduate Fellowships was seeded by Dr. Stephanie and Edward (Ned) Watts in honor of Dr. Karen Klomparens. With her graduate students, Dr. Klomparens, a Professor of Plant Biology and former Director of MSU’s Center for Advanced Microscopy, published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and three books on the topic of ultrastructural development of sporulating structures in fungi. Prior to becoming Assistant Dean for Graduate Student Welfare in 1994, Dr. Klomparens was on a Fulbright-supported sabbatical at Cambridge University.
With great compassion and energy, Dr. Klomparens’ passions as a Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost of Graduate Education focused on improving completion issues for doctoral students, interdisciplinary graduate education, and inclusive excellence. Klomparens and her colleagues developed a FIPSE (U.S. Department of Education) and Hewlett Foundation-supported program on “Setting Expectations and Resolving Conflicts between Graduate Students and Faculty.”
The program has been used in a variety of settings inside and outside of academia. Klomparens also served a 2-year term as the Chair of the Big Ten (CIC) graduate deans group and served on the CGS Board of Directors and Executive Committee, the AGS Executive Committee, and the GRE Board of Directors.
As Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Provost for Graduate Education at Michigan State University from 1997 until 2014, Dr. Klomparens demonstrated an unwavering commitment to graduate education at the university. Her commitment to diverse groups of graduate students of all disciplines and at all stages, as well as the mentorship that she provided to countless faculty members, will not be forgotten. This endowment, Stephanie and Ned Watts highlight, “is in honor of an incredible woman, scientist, scholar and leader.”