Karen was awarded the 2009 Distinguished Faculty Award at the School of Fine Arts Commencement Ceremony. She was the keynote speaker for the Montana Alliance for Arts Education at the 2007 and 2008 Montana Educators Conferences and the National Dance Association (NDA) Pedagogy in the 21st Century Conference. She was honored with an Individual Fellowship Award from the Montana Arts Council and The University of Montana Service Award for her service and outreach in dance education. She links her choreography to the academic curriculum and her work is performed in elementary schools throughout the Northwest. Her 50-minute piece, A CoMotion in Motion (linking dance with Newton’s Laws of Motion), was performed in June 2007 at the NDA conference in Saratoga Springs, NY. Her textbook Inclusive Creative Movement and Dance was published in 2006 by Human Kinetics, and she has authored numerous articles about dance education. Recently Karen launched the Montana Model Dance in Education Project (MoDE), providing qualified dance teachers for Montana public schools. She serves as core faculty in the Creative Pulse program for Master Teachers.