Karen Hausdoerffer

Karen Hausdoerffer serves as a Lecturer in Environment & Sustainability and Director of the Graduate Writing Workshop at Western Colorado University's Clark Family School of Environment & Sustainability. She teaches across six different departments and also works with adult English Language Learners through the Gunnison Library.

Education:

• MFA in Fiction from University of Idaho (2003)
• Teaching Certificate in Elementary Education from University of New Mexico (1998)
• BA in Creative Writing and English from Stanford University (1997)

Her research and teaching interests focus on environmental justice movements that connect human rights and environmental issues, fiction for young readers that engages with multicultural complexity, and innovative approaches to English Language Learner education. She has taught students from kindergarten through graduate levels and recently led student travel to Majkhali, India, as part of Western's sister city program. Her personal creative work includes published poetry, nonfiction, and short stories, with a novel represented by Folio Literary Agency.

Karen has developed significant expertise across multiple disciplines, teaching in various programs including Environmental Management, Global Sustainability, Sustainable & Resilient Communities, Water Studies, Food Systems, and Climate Action Planning. She has directed the Graduate Writing Workshop while maintaining an active creative writing practice.

Her work with students spans formal academic settings and community engagement, particularly through her involvement with the diverse immigrant community in the Gunnison Valley. She values moments of connection and shared learning with students as career highlights, demonstrating her commitment to interdisciplinary education that bridges environmental studies, creative writing, and social justice.

Based in Kelley Hall 207, Hausdoerffer actively contributes to Western Colorado University's educational mission while maintaining her creative writing practice and community engagement in the Gunnison Valley, which she describes as offering 'vast tracks of wild lands surrounding towns filled with creative, dedicated people, and a diverse immigrant community.'