Karen Su

Karen Su is a Clinical Associate Professor and GLAS Director of Undergraduate Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Department of Global Asian Studies. She leads the UIC AANAPISI Initiative, a $7.1M grant program supporting Asian American, Pacific Islander, and low-income students, spanning 2010–2026. Her academic work includes teaching courses like GLAS 120 (Introduction to Asian American Studies) and GLAS 263 (Gender & Sexual Diversity), while coordinating internship programs and co-teaching Study Abroad courses.

Prof. Su’s research focuses on diversifying children’s literature, particularly through biographies of Asian American figures. She is a recipient of the 2022 Many Voices Prize and has been honored with UIC’s CAPE Award (2010), College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Service Award (2022), and Award of Merit (2008). Before UIC, she pioneered Asian American resource centers at the University of Pennsylvania and other institutions.

Her creative work includes four biographies in Carson Dellosa’s Leaders Like Us series (grades 1–4), featuring Grace Lee Boggs, Philip Vera Cruz, Yuri Kochiyama, and Dalip Singh Saund. She actively contributes to the Banyan: Asian American Writers Collective and is available for school/library author visits.